Explanation of the Diamond Sutra: Why All Minds Are Not Mind

Original Text of Chapter 18: The One Body Contemplating All Realms: Subhuti, what do you think? Are all the grains of sand in the Ganges River said by the Buddha to be sand? Yes, World-Honored One, the Tathagata says they are sand. Subhuti, what do you think? If there were as many Ganges Rivers as the grains of sand in one Ganges River, and the number of grains of sand in all those Ganges Rivers, would the number of Buddha-worlds be as many as that? Would it be great? Very great, World-Honored One.

Explanation: Subhuti, what do you think? For example, regarding all the sand in the Ganges River, does the Buddha also call it sand? Subhuti replied: It is so, World-Honored One, the Tathagata also calls this sand sand. Subhuti, what do you think? For example, if there were as many Ganges Rivers as the grains of sand in one Ganges River, and then the number of grains of sand in all those Ganges Rivers, the number of Buddha-lands would be as many as that. So, are these many Buddha-lands numerous? Subhuti replied: World-Honored One, they are extremely numerous. The sand in one Ganges River alone is already countless; how much more so the sand in all those Ganges Rivers as numerous as the sand in one Ganges River? That is beyond counting and beyond imagination. The number of Buddha-lands is thus, and the Buddha-lands themselves are also inconceivable.

Original Text: The Buddha told Subhuti: In all those lands, all sentient beings have various kinds of minds, all of which the Tathagata knows completely. Why is this? The Tathagata says that all these minds are not minds; they are merely called minds. What is the reason? Subhuti, the past mind is unattainable, the present mind is unattainable, and the future mind is unattainable.

Explanation: The World-Honored One told Subhuti that among all sentient beings in these many Buddha-lands, their various kinds of minds are all completely known by the Tathagata, without exception. Why is this said? Because the Tathagata says that all these various minds of sentient beings are not true minds; they are provisionally named minds. They are not truly existent minds; they are merely given the provisional name "mind." Why is this said? Subhuti, these so-called minds are all characterized by birth, abiding, change, and cessation, and are impermanent. The mind that has passed is unattainable because it has already vanished; the present mind is constantly flowing and changing, impossible to grasp, and thus also unattainable; the future mind has not yet arisen and is even more unattainable. A mind that is unattainable and ungraspable is not a true mind; it is merely an illusory, false appearance.

Why does the Tathagata know all the various minds of sentient beings? Here, "Tathagata" refers to two aspects: one is the Tathagata with the five aggregates, including the Reward Body Buddha and the Emanation Body Buddha; the other is the Tathagata as the Dharma Body Buddha, without the five aggregates. The Emanation Body Buddha, through practice over three countless eons, has attained all-knowing wisdom, with perfect and unobstructed spiritual powers and paths. His wisdom can thoroughly see all the mental activities of countless sentient beings in the ten directions, knowing all their thoughts at once. Wherever sentient beings' conditions are ripe, he will manifest there, proclaim the Dharma, and liberate them. The other, the Dharma Body Buddha Tathagata, can know the mental activities of sentient beings. The Tathagata-garbha knows the mental activities during the functioning of the seventh consciousness, and then coordinates with it to generate the current functioning. Therefore, it is said that the various minds of sentient beings refer to the deluded seventh consciousness, not the indestructible Tathagata-garbha, because the Tathagata-garbha is singular and not manifold.

The Tathagata-garbha knows the mental activities of sentient beings, primarily discerning the mental activities of the seventh consciousness, the manas. The content discerned and contemplated by the six consciousnesses in the process of perceiving the six sense objects is transmitted to the manas. Based on this, the manas generates mental factors such as intention and then makes its own deliberation and choices. The Tathagata-garbha discerns the intention and volitional mental factors of the manas, and all the decisions and plans of the manas are known by the Tathagata-garbha. Thus, it follows the manas's choices, generating the physical, verbal, and mental activities of the six consciousnesses. Therefore, because the Tathagata-garbha knows the mental activities of the manas, it can manifest the physical, verbal, and mental activities of the six consciousnesses according to the manas's choices. The content contemplated by the manas is also the content discerned by the six consciousnesses, so the Tathagata-garbha's knowledge of the manas's mental activities is equivalent to knowing the mental activities of the six consciousnesses. The Tathagata-garbha also knows the karmic seeds of sentient beings. After knowing them, it emits these seeds, thereby knowing what mental activities will arise in sentient beings.

These seven consciousnesses, in reality, do not exist as seven consciousnesses. Superficially, they appear to exist, but this existence is false. Sentient beings mistakenly perceive and know them, but in truth, they are all the Tathagata-garbha. The seven consciousnesses formed by the Tathagata-garbha emitting consciousness-seeds are essentially still the Tathagata-garbha. Sentient beings mistakenly see the seven consciousnesses, but their essence is the Tathagata-garbha. It is all the Tathagata-garbha itself playing within the illusory realms it has manifested. Therefore, the Tathagata says that all minds are not minds. Here, "not minds" does not refer to the Tathagata-garbha but to the seven consciousnesses, meaning that there is no true, real seven deluded consciousnesses; they are all the eighth consciousness, the Tathagata-garbha, provisionally named as various minds, provisionally named as the seven consciousnesses.

Later, the three minds are further explained, consistently referring to the seven deluded consciousnesses. The seven deluded consciousnesses are utterly unattainable because they are not real dharmas; they are illusory and subject to birth and cessation. Hence, they are said to be unattainable. The three minds of past, present, and future primarily refer to the six consciousnesses, especially the mind consciousness, while the manas does not have distinctions of past, present, and future. These minds cannot be grasped or retained; they arise and cease in each moment, never pausing. Therefore, it is said that these minds are unattainable, and indeed they cannot be obtained.