Commentary on the Diamond Sutra: What Does It Mean to "Give Rise to the Mind Without Abiding Anywhere"?

Chapter Ten: Adorning the Pure Land, Original text: 是故须菩提。诸菩萨摩诃萨。应如是生清净心。不应住色生心。不应住声香味触法生心。应无所住而生其心。

Explanation: Therefore, Subhūti, all bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should give rise to a pure mind in this way. They should not give rise to mind dwelling on form; they should not give rise to mind dwelling on sound, smell, taste, touch, or dharmas. They should give rise to their mind without abiding anywhere.

This passage is a summary of the preceding ten chapters, telling all bodhisattva-mahāsattvas how to give rise to a pure mind. They should give rise to a pure mind as described earlier. What was said earlier? It said that one should practice the pāramitās by emptying all dharma-marks: empty the mark of giving and cultivating merit, empty the marks of self, person, sentient being, and life span, empty the mark of the Tathāgata's physical form, empty the marks of dharmas and non-dharmas, empty the mark of Buddha-dharma, empty the mark of the Tathāgata expounding the Dharma, empty the mark of resolving on bodhicitta, empty the mark of the stages of fruition, empty the mark of realizing bodhi, empty the mark of attaining dharma, empty the mark of adorning the Buddha-land, and so on.

After emptying these marks, the mind gains nothing and seeks nothing; it does not dwell on the mark of material form to give rise to various mental activities, does not dwell on the mark of sound to give rise to various mental activities, does not dwell on the mark of smell to give rise to various mental activities, does not dwell on the mark of taste to give rise to various mental activities, does not dwell on the mark of touch to give rise to various mental activities, and does not dwell on the mark of dharmas to give rise to various mental activities. In short, one should not give rise to various mental activities by dwelling on the marks of the six sense objects. When not dwelling on the marks of the six sense objects, there is no abiding; dwelling on the marks of the six sense objects means there is abiding, and abiding is non-abiding—abiding in what is not Dharma, the mind is impure, and great wisdom has not arisen. Because the marks of the six sense objects are in fact not real marks; they are called the six sense objects, but in reality they are empty. How can one dwell on what is empty? Being unable to dwell is non-abiding; even dwelling is empty. Therefore one should resolve on bodhicitta and practice the bodhisattva's conduct without dwelling on form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or dharmas; one should resolve on bodhicitta and practice the bodhisattva's conduct without abiding anywhere.

Specifically, how does one practice the Path without dwelling on form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas? One must understand form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas clearly: which dharmas belong to material form, which dharmas belong to sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas, what dharmas are included among the six sense objects, which dharmas one is particularly attached to and craving for, what mental intentions one holds when giving and cultivating merit, what one seeks, on what basis one makes choices, and what the aims and aspirations are when one resolves on bodhicitta and cultivates the Dharma—whether one is craving certain worldly dharmas. One must deeply observe one's own mind and dig deep into one's own thoughts; only then can one master one's own mind and purify one's thoughts, be without desire and without seeking, so that one's conduct is pure, gradually according with emptiness, gradually according with tranquility, and thereby swiftly realize the nirvāṇa of the Greater and Lesser Vehicles.

The World-Honored One said that therefore all bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should give rise to a pure mind, should not give rise to mind by dwelling on form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas, but should give rise to mind without abiding—dwelling on no dharma at all. Bodhisattvas live in the world, practice the bodhisattva path in the world, and interact with sentient beings; the deluded minds of the seven consciousnesses arise ceaselessly, producing all kinds of actions and karmic formations, constantly discriminating the six sense objects. The nature of these consciousnesses is precisely to discriminate the six sense objects and to know them. To know the six sense objects, one must inevitably give rise to discrimination on the basis of the six sense objects, must confront the six sense objects and contact them, and thus dwells on the six sense objects. Therefore, as long as there is the discriminating activity of the deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses, one is dwelling on the six sense objects; it is not a mind that abides nowhere. But through cultivation, when the bodhisattva contacts the six sense objects, if after discriminating them he does not give rise to feelings and experiences, he can avoid dwelling on the six sense objects; the mind has no attachment, no imagining, no thinking, and gradually becomes empty and pure—without marks, without wishes, without doing.

The bodhisattva also has another mind, the tathāgatagarbha, which is the truly non-abiding mind, the mind that abides nowhere even without cultivation. It gives rise to mind and functions at all times, yet knows no dharma whatsoever; it may seem dull and foolish, but in reality its capacity of mind is vast and its wisdom incomparable. The tathāgatagarbha manifests moment after moment, unceasingly, within the bodhisattva's bodily, verbal, and mental actions, constantly cooperating with the operation of the seven consciousnesses, yet there is not a single dharma in its mind; it does not discriminate the six sense objects, does not know the six sense objects, and does not dwell on the six sense objects. Therefore the tathāgatagarbha is a non-abiding mind. When the eye faculty contacts form and the eye consciousness discriminates form, dwelling on form in its discrimination, the tathāgatagarbha does not see the appearance of form, does not discriminate whether form is beautiful or ugly, and does not dwell on form. When the ear hears sounds, the nose smells scents, the tongue tastes flavors, the body feels tangibles, and the mind discerns dharmas, the tathāgatagarbha does not hear, does not smell, does not taste, does not touch, does not think, and does not discriminate—it completely does not dwell on these dharmas. Therefore the tathāgatagarbha mind is a non-abiding mind. So for the deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses to become pure, it should learn from the tathāgatagarbha, reducing dwelling and attachment, reducing knowing, and thereby give rise to fewer thoughts and mental activities.

When the Sixth Patriarch was awakened, it was upon hearing the Fifth Patriarch expound the Diamond Sutra that, when it came to "give rise to the mind without abiding anywhere," he awakened to the Way. He awakened to that tathāgatagarbha mind which originally abides nowhere, knew the merits and functions of the tathāgatagarbha, and uttered the five "how unforeseen is self-nature": how unforeseen is self-nature, intrinsically pure; how unforeseen is self-nature, never born and never ceasing; how unforeseen is self-nature, inherently complete in itself; how unforeseen is self-nature, never moving or wavering; how unforeseen is self-nature, able to give birth to the myriad dharmas.

Chapter Ten: Adorning the Pure Land, Original text: 须菩提。譬如有人。身如须弥山王。于意云何。是身为大不。须菩提言。甚大。世尊。何以故。佛说非身。是名大身。

Explanation: Subhūti, suppose there is a person whose body is as towering as the King of Mount Sumeru. What do you think—is this body great or not? Subhūti said: Extremely great, World-Honored One. Why? The Buddha said it is not a real physical body; only thus is it called a great body.

If there is a "great," there is a measurable quantity; as long as there is a number, it is not immeasurable, and thus it is small. A body with a measurable quantity, no matter how towering, is subject to arising and ceasing—arising and perishing life after life, perishing and arising again and again; it is not real in nature and does not last forever. But the non-arising, non-ceasing tathāgatagarbha has no quantity whatsoever: it has no length of time, no size of form, no marks at all, and yet it can contain all marks. The worlds of the ten directions are all within it. Therefore it is the immeasurably great, the truly great, and nothing can compare with Him.