Explanation of the Diamond Sutra: What Is Spoken Is Not Spoken, Twenty-One

Original text:须菩提。汝勿谓如来作是念。我当有所说法。莫作是念。何以故。若人言如来有所说法。即为谤佛。不能解我所说故。须菩提。说法者无法可说。是名说法。

Explanation: Subhūti, do not say that the Tathāgata has such a thought: that the Tathāgata is going to expound the Dharma for sentient beings and broadly benefit them. The Tathāgata has no thought or idea of expounding the Dharma for sentient beings. Subhūti, you must not think this way; do not harbor such an idea. Why do I tell you not to hold such a notion, not to think that the Tathāgata wishes to expound the Dharma? Because if someone says that the Tathāgata has Dharma to expound, or that the Tathāgata has already expounded the Dharma, that is slandering the Buddha—such a person has not truly understood the Dharma teachings I have spoken. Subhūti, one who expounds the Dharma has no Dharma that can be spoken; this is provisionally called expounding the Dharma.

Since the Tathāgata possesses great loving-kindness and great compassion, why does the World-Honored One not allow Subhūti to think that the Tathāgata has the thought of expounding the Dharma to deliver sentient beings? Why does the Tathāgata have no thought of expounding the Dharma to deliver sentient beings? The Tathāgata is divided into the three bodies of the Tathāgata, so we must discuss the three bodies of the Tathāgata separately. If we correctly understand the respective virtues, capacities, and functions of the three bodies of the Tathāgata, we will know why the Tathāgata has no thought of expounding the Dharma to deliver sentient beings. The three bodies of the Tathāgata are: the Dharmakāya Buddha (dharma-kāya-buddha), the Sambhogakāya Buddha (saṃbhoga-kāya-buddha), and the Nirmāṇakāya (nirmāṇakāya) Tathāgata. Among these, the Dharmakāya Tathāgata is the true-suchness mind-substance, the principle-substance of the undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna). He is formless and without appearance, having no body of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) and no thirty-two marks, yet He contains and harbors the myriad dharmas. The Sambhogakāya Tathāgata and the Nirmāṇakāya Tathāgata, however, both have bodies of the five aggregates and possess the thirty-two marks; these bodily appearances are all transformed from the Dharmakāya Tathāgata.

Now, for the Tathāgata to expound the Dharma, He must make use of the five aggregates to expound it; without the five aggregates, the Dharma cannot be expounded. Only with a body of the five aggregates and the mind of the seven consciousnesses can there be a thought of expounding the Dharma; without the five aggregates and the seven consciousnesses, there is no thought of wishing to expound the Dharma. Since the Dharmakāya Tathāgata has no body of the five aggregates, He cannot expound the Dharma, because He lacks the instrument for expounding it. If someone says that the Dharmakāya Tathāgata has also expounded the Dharma, and moreover expounded the entire Tripiṭaka and twelve divisions of scriptures, that is slandering the Buddha. Because the true-suchness mind-substance has no mouth and no tongue, and does not correspond to mental sense-objects, how could it expound the Dharma? Since true suchness cannot expound the Dharma, yet one still says the Tathāgata has expounded the Dharma, that is a mistaken understanding of the nature of true suchness and a slander of the World-Honored One; such a person has not truly understood the nature of true suchness as taught by the World-Honored One, and does not comprehend the meaning of the Dharma spoken by the Buddha.

Among the three bodies of the Tathāgata, the Dharmakāya Tathāgata does not expound the Dharma, because He lacks the instrument of the five aggregates. Only the Sambhogakāya Tathāgata expounds the Dharma unceasingly day after day, delivering bodhisattvas who have attained the bhūmis, while the Nirmāṇakāya Tathāgata constantly expounds the Dharma in worlds throughout the ten directions, delivering foolish ordinary beings and the great bodhisattvas. Although the Sambhogakāya Buddha and the Nirmāṇakāya Buddha can constantly expound the Dharma, they too have no Dharma that can be spoken. Although they have expounded the Tripiṭaka and the twelve divisions of scriptures, and have spoken of Buddhist teachings as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, the Dharma they expound is not truly existent dharma; it is provisionally existent dharma born by relying on various conditions and causes—scattering when conditions cease, arising when conditions converge, illusorily arising and illusorily ceasing, provisionally named "dharma."

Moreover, the five aggregates of the one who expounds the Dharma are also illusorily arising and illusorily ceasing—existing when causes and conditions gather, ceasing when causes and conditions disperse—and none of them is real dharma. Therefore, the act of expounding the Dharma with a body of the five aggregates is illusory and unreal, provisionally named "expounding the Dharma"—it is merely giving a provisional name to this phenomenon. Since there is no Dharma that can be spoken, the Tathāgata likewise has no thought of expounding the Dharma, and there are also no sentient beings to be delivered; thus the Tathāgata has no thought of delivering sentient beings. Furthermore, the Tathāgata constantly abides in the Land of Eternally Tranquil Light, His mind ever in tranquil cessation, without thought or conception, not mindful of the dharmas of the three realms, with no dharma to be mindful of and no dharma to think about. As for the enterprise of expounding the Dharma and delivering sentient beings, He neither is mindful of nor thinks about it; still less would other miscellaneous thoughts arise. Yet He is not hindered from cooperating with the Sambhogakāya Buddha and the Nirmāṇakāya Buddha in expounding the Dharma and delivering sentient beings, benefiting and bringing joy to sentient beings. Although He cooperates, His mind remains without thought or conception, tranquil and unconditioned.

Original text:尔时慧命须菩提白佛言。世尊。颇有众生。于未来世。闻说是法。生信心不。

Explanation: At this time, the venerable monk of great wisdom, Subhūti, said to the World-Honored One: World-Honored One, will there be many sentient beings in the future age of the Dharma's decline who, upon hearing such profound Buddhist teachings, can give rise to faith?

Subhūti asked this question with such concern because this Dharma is so profound and difficult to understand, dismantling all marks of dharmas, making it very hard for sentient beings to accept. Moreover, sentient beings, since beginningless kalpas, have been habituated to grasping at marks, constantly dwelling within existence, and it is very difficult for them to pull themselves out of the mire of marks and empty their own minds. If they are sentient beings whose good roots and merit are not deep and abundant, attached to worldly marks and to name-marks, upon hearing such a profound Mahāyāna definitive dharma (Mahāyāna-nītārtha-dharma) of true reality, they will not give rise to faith; some will become alarmed and unsettled, doubting and disbelieving. Only those who have accumulated deep good roots and merit over successive lifetimes can joyfully accept it with faith.

Original text:佛言。须菩提。彼非众生。非不众生。何以故。须菩提。众生众生者。如来说非众生。是名众生。

Explanation: The World-Honored One said: Subhūti, those sentient beings appear on the surface to be sentient beings, but in reality they are not sentient beings; yet they also cannot not be called sentient beings. Why is this said? Subhūti, the so-called sentient beings called "sentient beings"—the Tathāgata says they are not real, that there are no truly existent sentient beings; they are provisionally named sentient beings, merely names.

Here the World-Honored One once again dismantles the mark of sentient beings: the mark of sentient beings is an illusory mark, not a mark of dharma, not truly existent. It is only by relying on the true mind of suchness, the tathāgatagarbha, and relying on karmic conditions, that the body of the five aggregates can be illusorily produced. The illusory mark formed by the conjunction of the five aggregates and the eighteen realms—we give it a provisional name and call it "sentient being"; there is no substantial self-nature existing therein; it is merely a false appearance that deceives the eye. Therefore, those bodies of the five aggregates are not sentient beings, yet one also cannot say they are not sentient beings. We give this false appearance the name "sentient being," and the name has thus been established. All marks are names, and each has its own name, not to be confused with one another. The illusory appearance of the five aggregates is represented by the name "sentient being"; when we speak of a sentient being, it indicates this kind of appearance—the body of the five aggregates. Therefore, the Buddha said: "They are not sentient beings, nor are they not sentient beings; this is provisionally called sentient beings." All worldly dharmas with marks are merely names. Therefore, this chapter is called "Non-Speaking, Yet Speaking" (Fei Shuo Suo Shuo Fen). The Tathāgata did not expound the Dharma, and the Dharma that was spoken is also not truly existent speech; it is all illusory transformation, without real meaning.