Explanation of the Diamond Sutra: Separating from Marks and Quiescent Extinction, Fourteen

"Mark" (lakṣaṇa) refers to all the myriad dharmas of the threefold world, all worldly marks. In the Diamond Sutra, this "mark" first refers to the four marks: the mark of self, the mark of others, the mark of sentient beings, and the mark of a life span; second, it refers to the Buddha's thirty-two marks; third, it refers to the marks of the six sense objects—form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas—as well as all marks in the threefold world. "Leaving" means departing from, not corresponding to, not possessing, not having. Then who can leave these marks, not correspond to these marks, and not have these marks? Obviously, only the vajra-prajñā mind-essence and the Buddhas.

Because the vajra mind can leave these marks and not correspond to these marks, He is quiescent and extinguished. If He did not leave these marks, there would be the duality of subject and object, there would be the knower and the known, and toward the realms of the six sense objects there would be feeling and perception; then, like the seven consciousnesses, He would be in clamorous realms, the mind could not be stilled, He would not be a quiescent and extinguished mind, and He could not be called a mind-essence of nirvāṇa.

Quiescence and extinction means that He Himself has no form and does not see form, so the mind is quiescent and extinguished; He Himself does not emit sounds and does not listen to sounds, so the mind is quiescent and extinguished; He Himself does not emit fragrances and does not smell scents, so He is quiescent and extinguished; He Himself has no taste objects and does not taste flavors, so the mind is quiescent and extinguished; He Himself has no touch objects and does not receive touch objects, so the mind is quiescent and extinguished; He Himself has no mental objects and does not discriminate or receive mental objects, so the mind is quiescent and extinguished. No matter how clamorous the six sense objects are, the vajra mind Himself remains in a state of quiescence and extinction, the same as the state of quiescence and extinction of an arhat abiding in the realm of Nirvāṇa without remainder. So this topic is precisely to reveal the essential nature of the vajra mind.

Original text:尔时须菩提。闻说是经。深解义趣。涕泪悲泣。而白佛言。希有世尊。佛说如是。甚深经典。我从昔来。所得慧眼。未曾得闻。如是之经。

Explanation: At this time, Subhūti, after hearing the Buddha expound this Diamond Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, deeply comprehended all the dharma principles and purports of this Diamond Sutra. Because Subhūti had already deeply realized and understood the principles of this sutra, overwhelmed with both sorrow and joy, with tears of gratitude, he said to the World-Honored One: Rare and precious World-Honored One, You are able to expound such a sutra of profoundly deep purport; since ancient times, the wisdom-eye I have attained has never heard such a sutra of such profoundly deep principles.

Since it says "deeply comprehended the purport," this shows that Subhūti's understanding of the principles of the Diamond Sutra was not merely intellectual understanding, but that he had deeply realized them. Realization has many levels, some shallow and some deep. The shallow one is the realization content of the ten abodes stage, attaining the general-characteristic wisdom of the tathāgatagarbha; somewhat deeper is attaining the specific-characteristic wisdom of the tathāgatagarbha, when the bodhisattva is at the ten practices stage and the ten dedications stage; realizing even more deeply, one possesses the wisdom of the varieties of paths. The text does not indicate whether Subhūti realized the specific-characteristic wisdom of the ten practices stage or the ten dedications stage, but it has already shown that Subhūti deeply realized and understood the purport of the tathāgatagarbha in the Diamond Sutra, so it was not a shallow awakening.

The "wisdom-eye" in the text refers to the eye of wisdom, the wisdom-eye possessed by pre-bhūmi bodhisattvas (pūrvabhūmika bodhisattva) and by arhats and pratyekabuddhas, who have not yet cultivated to the dharma-eye of those who have entered the bhūmis. Wisdom includes the wisdom of the Small Vehicle's dharmas and the wisdom of the Great Vehicle's prajñā and Yogācāra. In the Small Vehicle, one has the wisdom-eye from the eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) onward; in the Great Vehicle, one has the wisdom-eye from seeing the mind onward, up until the tenth dedication stage, after which one has the dharma-eye. That Subhūti already had the wisdom-eye in past lives shows that in previous lives he had at least attained the fruits of the Small Vehicle; in this life, while in his mother's womb, he already knew that all dharmas are empty and quiescent, without the mystery of the intervening birth (the veil between lives). He was foremost in understanding emptiness among the Buddha's disciples, so Subhūti must have cultivated on the Buddha path for at least countless kalpas, with extremely deep roots of goodness. That even with Subhūti's roots of goodness cultivated over long kalpas, he had never heard such a profoundly deep sutra as the Diamond Sutra shows that the Diamond Sutra is a rare and hard-to-encounter, profoundly deep dharma treasure. If one's roots of goodness and merit are insufficient, one cannot encounter such a profoundly deep prajñā sutra. With shallow roots of goodness and meager merit (alpa-puṇya), one certainly cannot, upon hearing it, realize the vajra-prajñā mind.

Original text:世尊。若复有人。得闻是经。信心清净。则生实相。当知是人。成就第一。希有功德。

Explanation: Subhūti said: World-Honored One, if there is again a person who, after hearing this sutra, believes without doubt and gives rise to a pure mind of faith, able to accept and believe that this indestructible vajra mind abides eternally within the bodies of sentient beings, then he can realize this indestructible vajra mind and give rise to the wisdom of ultimate reality, knowing that the source of all dharmas is this indestructible vajra mind, knowing that the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha, is the ultimate reality of the dharma realm, real and not false, while all other dharmas are illusory marks. Then one should know that this person has accomplished the foremost, rare merit.

This person's merit and wisdom are both foremost, rare, and hard to obtain in the world. From then on, this person's merit will gradually increase and grow, his wisdom will become ever deeper, broader, and boundless, and he will be able to vastly benefit immeasurable sentient beings, ultimately attaining perfect buddhahood. Therefore, realizing the prajñā mind of ultimate reality—its merit is inconceivable, its wisdom is inconceivable, and no dharma in the world can compare. Even possessing immeasurable worldly treasures cannot compare with this merit; even being skilled and clever in all worldly arts and crafts cannot compare with this wisdom of prajñā ultimate reality. These worldly merits and wisdoms are all dharmas of arising, ceasing, and change, unreliable, and even while enjoying them, one is replete with afflictions. Because of these afflictions, sentient beings drift through the six realms, still living like beggars, wandering and begging, with unceasing suffering. Only by realizing the prajñā mind of ultimate reality, which neither arises nor ceases, can one gradually extinguish all afflictions, the mind gain coolness, and the mind-ground become ever purer and ever more abundant.

Obviously, this so-called ultimate reality is the wisdom-cognition that arises in those who hear the sutra after their faith has become pure; it is realized wisdom. The wisdom that realizes ultimate reality is not ultimate reality itself. The wisdom of ultimate reality itself neither arises nor ceases, neither increases nor decreases, and does not change, whereas the wisdom that cognizes ultimate reality has arising, ceasing, increase, and decrease; therefore it is not ultimate reality, not the originally existent true mark. It is provisionally named "ultimate reality" and should be called the wisdom of ultimate reality, the wisdom that arises from realizing ultimate reality.

As for the originally existent ultimate reality, it is formless and markless, without any worldly dharma-marks, without any marks of the six sense object realms; it has always revealed itself to people as markless, and therefore it is also non-mark. This non-marked vajra mind is also given the name "ultimate reality," using this name to display the true reality and non-arising-non-ceasing nature of the vajra mind, so that sentient beings can recognize and proclaim it.

After hearing this Diamond Sutra, to have pure faith, purely believe in this sutra, purely believe in the vajra mind, and moreover be able to realize the vajra mind—this is indeed accomplishing the foremost, rare merit, and is indeed rare and hard to obtain; this person's roots of goodness are extremely deep. When even the mark of realizing the vajra mind is broken through, and the mark of giving rise to the wisdom of ultimate reality is broken through, then one does not cling to the cultivation and realization of the Buddha dharma as real, does not give rise to arrogance, dispels all marks, and with the mind inwardly empty and tranquil, one will swiftly reach the other shore of nirvāṇa.