Lecture on the Diamond Sutra: Why Bodhisattvas Do Not Receive Merit

Not Receiving and Not Coveting, Twenty-Eight  Original text:何以故。须菩提。以诸菩萨不受福德故。须菩提白佛言。世尊。云何菩萨不受福德。须菩提。菩萨所作福德。不应贪著。是故说不受福德。

Explanation: Why is it that the merit attained by bodhisattvas who are patient with the truth that all dharmas are without self surpasses the merit attained by bodhisattvas who give away the seven treasures as numerous as the sands of the Ganges? Subhūti, it is because the bodhisattvas do not receive merit. Subhūti said to the World-Honored One: World-Honored One, why do bodhisattvas not receive merit? The World-Honored One replied: All the merit that bodhisattvas create should not be coveted; therefore it is said that bodhisattvas do not receive merit.

Here, the bodhisattva that the World-Honored One implicitly refers to is the true bodhisattva at the level of ultimate reality. That true bodhisattva does not receive any feeling; toward all dharmas, it abides in neutral feeling. This true bodhisattva perfectly possesses all dharmas and does not crave any dharma; because there is no craving, there is nothing attained. When the bodhisattva's five aggregates give the seven treasures to the world, the meritorious retribution generated is received by the bodhisattva's five aggregates and the seven consciousnesses—the seven consciousnesses come to enjoy it—while the true bodhisattva, the tathāgatagarbha, does not gain a single fraction, nor enjoy a single fraction. And when the bodhisattva's five aggregates practice the perfection of generosity, the seven consciousnesses likewise do not crave merit.

When a bodhisattva practices giving, the mind contemplates the perfection of generosity through the emptiness of the three wheels. What is meant by the emptiness of the three wheels is that there is no true giver—the self; no true receiver—the other; and in between, no object of giving—the seven treasures. Why is there no giver? Because the giver—the five aggregates—is transformed and produced by the tathāgatagarbha. The physical body is formed by the tathāgatagarbha moment by moment outputting the seeds of the four great elements; it is as if a portion of the gold that is the tathāgatagarbha had been fashioned into a gold ring—the physical body. The seven consciousnesses are formed by the tathāgatagarbha moment by moment outputting the seeds of consciousness; that is like a portion of the gold that is the tathāgatagarbha being fashioned into a gold necklace—the seven consciousnesses. The physical body and the seven consciousnesses together constitute the five aggregates, and the five aggregates as a whole, this gold artifact, is the gold of the tathāgatagarbha.

From this we can see: do the five aggregates truly exist or not? What are the five aggregates? The five aggregates in their entirety are of course just the tathāgatagarbha, nothing else. Therefore, when a bodhisattva practices giving, there is no bodhisattva's five aggregates who gives—the self; likewise, there is no five aggregates that receives—the other. And what about the seven treasures given in between? The seven treasures are also material form constituted by the four great elements, formed by the tathāgatagarbha moment by moment outputting the seeds of the four great elements; they are the gold of the tathāgatagarbha, with a portion fashioned into gold earrings and so forth—these seven treasures. So what are the seven treasures really? The seven treasures are the gold of the tathāgatagarbha; there are no real seven treasures—everything is the tathāgatagarbha. And the substance of the tathāgatagarbha is also empty by nature; there is no substantial mark existing, without a single mark, utterly empty of characteristics. Therefore the entire perfection of generosity is the emptiness of the three wheels, utterly unattainable, and the bodhisattva need not cling to it at all.

Likewise, the merit attained by the bodhisattva is also empty. First, the bodhisattva's act of giving is stored as a karmic seed in the tathāgatagarbha; when conditions ripen, the tathāgatagarbha outputs the karmic seed again, actualizing the bodhisattva's merit. The form in which this merit is actualized manifests as material form and as the mental factors of the seven consciousnesses. Material form manifests simply as money, property, power, status, family, and so on, and all these forms of matter are formed by the tathāgatagarbha outputting the seeds of the four great elements; in essence they are all the tathāgatagarbha—there is no real material form. Material form and the tathāgatagarbha are neither the same nor different. Thus there is no real blessing to be attained; it is all the tathāgatagarbha taking its own mind as its object—"the non-illusory becomes illusory dharma."

When enjoying the blessings of these material forms, it is the illusory seven consciousnesses that come to enjoy them; it is the feeling mental factor of the seven consciousnesses that receives, feels, and enjoys. The feeling mental factor will feel comfort, happiness, pride, arrogance, and self-delight. And the feeling mental factor is the companion of the seven consciousnesses; as soon as the seven consciousnesses arise and engage with the objects of the six dusts, the feeling mental factor operates. The seven consciousnesses are formed by the tathāgatagarbha outputting the seeds of consciousness; they are in essence the tathāgatagarbha. The mind-substance of the seven consciousnesses is utterly unattainable, and so the feelings of the seven consciousnesses are also utterly unattainable. Therefore, when the bodhisattva's merit is actualized, both the merit and the enjoyment of it have no substance; in essence they are all the tathāgatagarbha.

When bodhisattvas realize this realm of wisdom, they will no longer crave merit, and will no longer have the mind to enjoy merit. Moreover, they dedicate all the merit they have cultivated to anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. The bodhisattva's practice is for the sake of attaining buddhahood as soon as possible, not for practicing the perfection of generosity in order to enjoy worldly merit. Only thus can the bodhisattva's practice reach an inner purity and emptiness, attached to not a single dharma—"with an empty mind, returning in triumph"—and attain the supreme fruit of buddhahood, perfecting the great way of bodhi.