The Profound Yogācāra Meaning of the Diamond Sutra (Twelve)

Subhūti's Request, Two

Original text: 时。长老须菩提在大众中即从座起。偏袒右肩。右膝着地。合掌恭敬而白佛言。希有世尊。如来善护念诸菩萨。善付嘱诸菩萨。世尊。善男子善女人。发阿耨多罗三藐三菩提心。云何应住。云何降伏其心。佛言。善哉善哉。须菩提。如汝所说。如来善护念诸菩萨。善付嘱诸菩萨。汝今谛听。当为汝说。善男子善女人。发阿耨多罗三藐三菩提心。应如是住。如是降伏其心。唯然世尊。愿乐欲闻。

Explanation: Subhūti is also known as Sudatta (Good Existence), the foremost in understanding emptiness among Śākyamuni Buddha's disciples. While still in his mother's womb, he already knew that all dharmas are empty and quiescent; this was due to the profound wholesome roots accumulated over many kalpas in previous lives. He entered the womb, dwelt in the womb, and emerged from the womb without confusion or delusion. When he was just born, the family's treasures all vanished into emptiness, demonstrating that everything is empty; a few days later, they all reappeared on their own. Subhūti is honored with the title "Elder" (sthavira). An Elder is someone who has prestige among the assembly, a person of virtue, one who is not in accord with the three poisons and afflictions. Subhūti attained the fruit of an arhat through cultivating the emptiness dharma of the Small Vehicle, and when the World-Honored One expounded the Great Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, he turned his mind toward the Great Vehicle and walked the bodhisattva path. When the Buddha expounds a sutra, he always relies on some particular condition as an opening, using the occasion as a springboard to expound an entire sutra; he rarely preaches without someone requesting the teaching, unless it is especially important. This sutra was requested by Subhūti.

Just after the World-Honored One finished his meal and sat down cross-legged, Subhūti rose from his seat in the midst of the assembly and, with palms joined, asked the Buddha: "Rare indeed, World-Honored One! The Tathāgata skillfully protects and is mindful of all bodhisattvas, and skillfully entrusts and instructs all bodhisattvas. World-Honored One, when good men and good women give rise to the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, how should they abide, and how should they subdue their minds?" At the very beginning, Subhūti first praised the World-Honored One as the rarest, most uncommon, and hardest-to-encounter sage in the world. The World-Honored One is indeed rare: in one trichiliocosm there is only one Buddha. One world-system with its sun and moon—from the hells beneath the four great oceans, to the earth, to Mount Sumeru, and up through the six heavens of the desire realm—is called a small world-system. One thousand small world-systems together with the first dhyāna heaven of the form realm constitute a small thousand-world-system; one thousand small thousand-world-systems together with the second dhyāna heaven of the form realm constitute a middle thousand-world-system; one thousand middle thousand-world-systems together with the heavens from the third dhyāna of the form realm and above constitute a great thousand-world-system. In such a vast world-system there is only one Buddha, and the duration for which he remains manifest in the world is extremely brief, while the interval between two successive Buddhas is very long. The shortest interval is between Śākyamuni Buddha and Maitreya Buddha: 5.67 billion years. For longer intervals, many times several great kalpas or even tens of great kalpas pass without a single Buddha appearing in the world, and at times even more distant stretches pass without a Buddha appearing. From this we can see that the World-Honored One is indeed rare and hard to encounter.