Commentary on the Diamond Sutra: The Unconditioned and the Superiority of Merit, Chapter 11

Original text of the Diamond Sutra: 须菩提。如恒河中所有沙数。如是沙等恒河。于意云何。是诸恒河沙。宁为多不。须菩提言。甚多。世尊。但诸恒河尚多无数。何况其沙。

Explanation: Subhūti, suppose there were as many Ganges Rivers as there are grains of sand in the Ganges River—what do you think, are the grains of sand in all those Ganges Rivers many? Subhūti said: Very many, World-Honored One. Those Ganges Rivers alone are already countless, let alone the sand in them.

Original text of the Diamond Sutra: 须菩提。我今实言告汝。若有善男子。善女人。以七宝满尔所恒河沙数、三千大千世界。以用布施。得福多不。须菩提言。甚多。世尊。佛告须菩提。若善男子。善女人。于此经中。乃至受持四句偈等。为他人说。而此福德。胜前福德。

Explanation: Subhūti, I now tell you truthfully: if there are good men and good women who fill as many three-thousandfold great thousand worlds as there are grains of sand in all those Ganges Rivers with the seven treasures and use them for generosity (dāna), would the merit they obtain be great? Subhūti said: Very great, World-Honored One. The Buddha told Subhūti: if good men and good women, in this Diamond Sutra, receive and hold even the entire Diamond Sutra or just a four-line verse, and expound it for others, the merit thus obtained far surpasses the aforementioned merit of giving the seven treasures.

The earlier part of this chapter is easy to understand, but the latter part—that the merit of receiving and holding the Diamond Sutra and expounding it for others surpasses the merit of giving the seven treasures—is not easy to understand. Let us look at why this is so. The merit of giving the seven treasures is all conditioned merit; such merit can be consumed and enjoyed to its end, and the vast majority of it is enjoyed within worldly dharmas. When one lacks the aspiration for the Path and lacks wisdom, great merit can easily lead to committing great evil karma, and one will then undergo the retribution of that great evil karma.

This is like the demon king Pāpīyas: when he was a human, the blessings he cultivated were very great, and after death he was born in the highest heaven of the desire realm—the Heaven of the Devas Who Control Others' Enjoyments (paranirmita-vaśa-vartin)—as its lord, governing the sentient beings of the desire realm. He always wishes for the sentient beings under his control to become ever more numerous, and is unwilling for them to decrease. If a practitioner of the Path attains the first dhyāna, he comes to obstruct them; even when the Buddha is expounding the Dharma, he goes to create obstacles, because he does not want sentient beings to leave the desire realm and escape his control. In the Dharma-ending age, in order to destroy the Dharma, he often takes on various guises and infiltrates Buddhism to undermine the Dharma, speaking the true Dharma as false and the false Dharma as true. Sentient beings cannot discern this, and practicing in accordance with it, none can attain liberation—all remain under the demon king's control. When Pāpīyas' demonic blessings are exhausted, he will fall into hell to undergo evil retribution. Therefore, having blessings without wisdom and without the Path is not a good thing either.

Now, reciting the Diamond Sutra and realizing the vajra mind (vajra-citta)—that merit is boundless and vast, and one can obtain immeasurable majestic virtue and benefits. First, one eradicates the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa), severs the three fetters, will never fall into the three evil destinies to suffer, and can obtain the merit and benefit of liberation; second, one's wisdom becomes ever deeper and sharper, and with wisdom there will be more and greater merit; third, having the precepts of meditative concentration (samādhi) and the precepts of the Path, one no longer commits evil bodily, verbal, and mental actions, suffering diminishes ever more, the wholesome dharmas one cultivates grow ever more numerous, and pleasant feelings grow ever greater—boundless pleasant feelings in the heavens and among humans.

Fourth, one's lifespan grows ever longer. If one is a bodhisattva in the heavens practicing the bodhisattva path, the lifespan ranges from thousands to tens of thousands of years, and in other Buddha-lands the lifespan is also extremely long. When one cultivates to the eighth bhūmi as a bodhisattva, one can sever segmented birth-and-death (pariccheda-maraṇa), and one's lifespan is no longer segment by segment, period by period; the lifespan can be endlessly long. Fifth, one can alter the structure of the seeds of the four great elements at will, and can manifest at will all material things—the necessities of sentient beings' lives, the seven treasures and hundreds of treasures, mountains, rivers, and the great earth, even great thousand worlds. Sixth, one can attain profound dhyāna and meditative concentration (samādhi), manifest immeasurable superknowledges and meditative absorptions, divide into countless bodies, and liberate immeasurable multitudes of beings. Seventh, one can transform supremely splendid material wealth to vastly benefit the multitude, and can even transform three-thousandfold great thousand worlds, practicing the bodhisattva path to benefit and bring joy to sentient beings. Eighth, one ultimately accomplishes the Buddha Way, perfects bodhi, and becomes the Honored One of the three realms, with merit and wisdom inexhaustible and endless.

After receiving and holding the Diamond Sutra and attaining realization, one's wisdom grows ever vaster, and one gains the ability to expound the Buddha-dharma for others so that they too can attain realization. The merit of the dharma-giving itself is very great, and when sentient beings benefit, the merit becomes even greater. Throughout the three immeasurable kalpas of accomplishing the Buddha Way, by liberating sentient beings from the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death, and forming karmic bonds with immeasurable sentient beings, one will in the future have numerous disciples who follow and learn, and one can thereby establish one's own Buddha-land. The establishment of a land must be composed of disciples at various levels; without disciples one cannot establish a land, much less accomplish the Buddha Way. Only by leading disciples in cultivation, and only when the disciples have accomplished their attainment, can one's own cultivation advance to the next stage and attain a higher fruit. Therefore, receiving, holding, and reciting the Diamond Sutra and realizing the vajra mind (vajra-citta)—this merit is immeasurably vast.

The vajra mind (vajra-citta) is also an unconditioned mind, without mental activity of the dharmas of the three realms, doing nothing. Precisely because it does nothing, it can do everything and accomplish all dharmas. The merit contained within the unconditioned mind is extremely great; it can never be erased, can be destroyed by no one, and can be taken away by no one. How supreme this unconditioned merit is is beyond words—it far surpasses the conditioned merit of giving the seven treasures; it is incomparable and unspeakable.