Diamond Sutra Commentary: All Dharmas Are Buddha-Dharma

Original text of Chapter Seventeen, Ultimately There Is No Self: 须菩提。如来所得。阿耨多罗三藐三菩提。于是中无实无虚。是故如来说。一切法皆是佛法。须菩提。所言一切法者。即非一切法。是故名一切法。

Explanation: Subhūti, the anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi attained by the Tathāgata is in fact neither truly existent nor false; it is the combination of the real and the unreal that together constitutes the great path of bodhi. Therefore, the Tathāgata says that all dharmas are buddha-dharmas; among all these dharmas there is the real and the unreal, and the true and the false together constitute all dharmas. Subhūti, the "all dharmas" of which I speak are not called "all dharmas" because there is truly something there; all dharmas are not truly existent dharmas, and therefore they are provisionally named "all dharmas."

Why does the Buddha say that the anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi attained by the Tathāgata is neither real nor unreal—it cannot be said to be real, nor can it be said to be unreal? Because attaining buddhahood as a dharma is a combination of the real and the unreal: if there were only unreal dharmas, the unreal dharmas could not be established; if there were only real dharmas, the real dharmas would have no conditions and no impetus, could accomplish nothing, and would achieve nothing at all. This real dharma is the source from which the five aggregates and the myriad dharmas of the world are born—the Dharmakāya Buddha, the tathāgatagarbha, the undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna). And the unreal dharmas are the dharmas of the five aggregates and the world manifested by the undefiled consciousness. Thus we know that attaining buddhahood as a dharma is jointly accomplished by the tathāgatagarbha and the body of the five aggregates working in harmony. If attaining buddhahood is said to be unreal, yet it is all done by the tathāgatagarbha and is all of the nature of the tathāgatagarbha; if attaining buddhahood is said to be real, yet it involves the participation and operation of the Buddha's unreal five aggregates—apart from the five aggregates, no figure of a Buddha can be found, and apart from the five aggregates, it would not be called a Buddha at all. Therefore, the anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi attained by the Tathāgata is neither real nor unreal.

Why is it said that all dharmas are not all dharmas, and are named all dharmas? Because all dharmas in their outward appearance have no self-nature of their own existence; they are all manifested by the tathāgatagarbha in accordance with various conditions, empty and illusory like flowers in the sky or phantom shadows. Therefore one must not take all dharmas as dharmas truly possessing a self-nature of their own. Since all dharmas appear to exist phenomenally, there is no harm in giving these dharmas provisional names, to facilitate verbal communication among sentient beings and to meet the needs of living in the world.

For example: cultivating the dharmas of precepts, meditation, and wisdom is a surface activity of the body and mind of the five aggregates; the body and mind of the five aggregates have no self-nature, being functional attributes operated behind the scenes by the tathāgatagarbha, so it is provisionally named cultivating precepts, meditation, and wisdom. Reciting and reading sūtras is also a surface activity of the body and mind of the five aggregates, without self-nature, and is provisionally named reciting sūtras. Harsh speech and verbal abuse are actions and deeds of the body and mind of the five aggregates, a surface phenomenon that merely deceives the eye, and is provisionally named harsh speech. Seeing one's true mind and seeing one's nature is a wisdom-realm of the body and mind of the five aggregates, without self-nature, provisionally named seeing one's true mind and seeing one's nature. Contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) with deliberation is an activity of the body and mind of the five aggregates, an unreal arising-and-ceasing dharma, insubstantial like a mirage, provisionally named contemplative practice with deliberation. Walking, standing, sitting, and lying down are actions and deeds of the body of the five aggregates, without self-nature, existing by illusion, provisionally named walking, standing, sitting, and lying down. In short, all dharmas are merely provisional names.

Original text: 须菩提。譬如人身长大。须菩提言。世尊。如来说人身长大。即为非大身。是名大身。

Explanation: Subhūti, the largeness of the human body, for instance, is one dharma among all dharmas. Subhūti replied: World-Honored One, the "largeness of the human body" of which the Tathāgata speaks is not truly a great body; it merely takes the name of a great body.

Why is the great body of which the Tathāgata speaks "not a great body"? Because the size and appearance of the human body is only a false appearance conjured up by the tathāgatagarbha, without any substantial mark of largeness or smallness. The so-called mark of a great body is an illusion piled up by the tathāgatagarbha from the seeds of the four great elements; its largeness or smallness, length or shortness, are all spoken of relatively—one must refer to some object for comparison before it can be designated as large or small, long or short. And the object of comparison is itself not real, having no reliability or comparability. Therefore, the largeness of the human body is not a great body; it is a great body in name only, with no substantial talk of largeness or smallness.

原文：须菩提。菩萨亦如是。若作是言。我当灭度。无量众生。即不名菩萨。何以故。须菩提。实无有法。名为菩萨。是故佛说。一切法无我无人。无众生无寿者。

Explanation: Subhūti, it is the same with bodhisattvas: only when the mind-ground does not cling to a single dharma-mark, yet one practices the bodhisattva practice, is one a true bodhisattva. If a bodhisattva makes a vow to liberate sentient beings, saying: "I shall liberate immeasurable sentient beings," then such a bodhisattva is not yet a true bodhisattva, not yet having realized the true reality and entered into it. Why is this said? Subhūti, because in the ground of actual principle there is no dharma that can be called a bodhisattva or called a self. Therefore, the Buddha says that among all dharmas there is no self, no person, no sentient being, and no life span—these four marks.

A true bodhisattva is one who has already realized the true reality, and a bodhisattva who has realized the true reality should no longer grasp at worldly marks in the mind. The so-called worldly marks are the four marks. First, a bodhisattva should not have a mark of self, and then there should be no mark of a bodhisattva, and no mark of sentient beings to be liberated. These marks are the marks of the five aggregates, all false appearances conjured up by the tathāgatagarbha, not truly existent dharmas—just like the shapes of cats and dogs conjured from white clouds in the sky: there is no real cat or dog to be grasped; they are all just cloud-shapes. A true bodhisattva should not grasp at a mark of a bodhisattva, should not grasp at a mark of self, should not grasp at a mark of sentient beings; yet there should still be a self to liberate immeasurable sentient beings—only by practicing these bodhisattva practices without mind [of attachment] is one a true bodhisattva.

Original text: 须菩提。若菩萨作是言。我当庄严佛土。是不名菩萨。何以故。如来说庄严佛土者。即非庄严。是名庄严。须菩提。若菩萨通达。无我法者。如来说名。真是菩萨。

Explanation: Subhūti, if a bodhisattva speaks thus: "I shall adorn the buddha-land," then that is not a true bodhisattva. Why is this said? The Tathāgata says that the act of so-called adorning the buddha-land is not that there is truly a buddha-land to be adorned, not that there is truly such a thing as adornment; it is merely provisionally named adorning the buddha-land. Subhūti, if a bodhisattva has already penetrated the dharma of no-self and realized the non-arising of all dharmas, only then does the Tathāgata say that this bodhisattva is a true bodhisattva.

How exactly does a bodhisattva, practicing the bodhisattva path through three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas, adorn the buddha-land? Every bodhisattva's practice is carried out through the creation of bodily, verbal, and mental actions; every little bit of the bodhisattva's cultivation of wholesome dharmas and accumulation of wholesome karma is adorning the buddha-land. Thus adorning the buddha-land is accomplished through the bodhisattva's bodily, verbal, and mental actions. Why are all bodhisattva practices adorning the buddha-land? We should know where the buddha-land comes from, how it appears, and why buddha-lands differ from one another.

Through the bodhisattva's practice over three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas, the buddha path is accomplished, and only then can countless buddha-lands manifest. These buddha-lands are all manifested from the Buddha's undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna), manifested by the undefiled consciousness in accordance with the Buddha's seeds of wholesome karma. Where, then, do the seeds of wholesome karma come from? Of course, from the very beginning of the Buddha's cultivation as a bodhisattva learning the buddha-dharma, the seeds cultivated were stored away bit by bit in the tathāgatagarbha, and then the tathāgatagarbha manifested the buddha-land in accordance with those seeds.

A bodhisattva's practice includes making great pure vows, diligently cultivating precepts, meditation, and wisdom, extinguishing greed, hatred, and delusion, reciting, receiving, and upholding all buddha-dharmas, practicing the bodhisattva's six perfections, removing afflictions, eliminating ignorance, eradicating defiled seeds, storing pure seeds, and finally transforming consciousness into wisdom, attaining the great perfect mirror wisdom (ādarśajñāna), manifesting immeasurable buddha-lands, and vastly benefiting boundless sentient beings. Moreover, in the course of the bodhisattva's practice, because of differences in the power of vows and differences in specific conduct, the karmic seeds also differ, and thus the buddha-lands manifested upon attaining buddhahood also differ. Therefore, all the wholesome karmic actions of the bodhisattva's practice are adorning the buddha-land, and are all actions and deeds of the body and mind of the five aggregates; since the body and mind of the five aggregates are illusory and unreal, therefore adorning the buddha-land is not adorning the buddha-land, and is provisionally named adorning the buddha-land.

Finally, the World-Honored One concluded by saying that if a bodhisattva can penetrate the dharma of no-self, that one is a true bodhisattva. Why is this said? Because a bodhisattva who has penetrated the dharma of no-self will gradually penetrate all dharmas. All dharmas unfold with the self of the five aggregates as their center; when the self of the five aggregates is gone, there are no all dharmas. If the self of the five aggregates is unreal, all dharmas are unreal; if the self of the five aggregates has no substance, all dharmas have no substance. Thus, when a bodhisattva has penetrated the no-self of all dharmas, he realizes ever-deeper wisdom of the patience of non-arising, his bodhisattva fruit advances from bhūmi to bhūmi, and after the wisdom of the varieties of paths is perfected, it becomes the wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā), and the buddha path is thereby brought to completion.

Because the Buddha possesses the five eyes and six supernatural powers, He can thoroughly see all dharmas and thoroughly see all sentient beings; the minds of all sentient beings the Tathāgata fully knows and fully sees. The Tathāgata can both see sentient beings and see the tathāgatagarbha mind of sentient beings, and thereby knows the minds of sentient beings. Yet the sentient beings' present mind, past mind, and future mind are all unobtainable, because they are arising-and-ceasing, illusory and conjured, and cannot endure for long.