The Profound Yogācāra Meaning of the Diamond Sutra (18)

Part Three: The Orthodox Doctrine of the Mahayana

Original Text: The Buddha told Subhuti, "All bodhisattva-mahasattvas should thus subdue their minds. All classes of sentient beings—whether born from eggs, born from wombs, born from moisture, or born by transformation; whether possessing form or formless; whether possessing perception, lacking perception, or neither possessing nor lacking perception—I shall lead them all into the complete Nirvana without residue and cause them to be liberated. In this manner, though liberating immeasurable, countless, and boundless sentient beings, in reality, no sentient being attains liberation. Why is this? Subhuti, if a bodhisattva holds the notion of self, others, living beings, or a universal self, then that being is not a true bodhisattva."

Explanation: This section primarily addresses how bodhisattvas eradicate the four notions and sever the view of self and others. Bodhisattvas teach and liberate all sentient beings within the three realms, four modes of birth, nine abodes, and twenty-five categories, leading them into complete Nirvana without residue. However, they should not give rise to irrational thoughts, such as believing, "I am the one who liberates these sentient beings; I have liberated so many sentient beings." If a bodhisattva thinks this way, they are not a true bodhisattva. A true bodhisattva should rely on the wisdom of true reality (prajna) to eradicate the four notions, having no notion of self, others, sentient beings, or a universal self in their mind.

The Buddha told Subhuti: "All bodhisattva-mahasattvas should thus subdue their minds." "Mahasattva" (摩诃萨), meaning "great" in Chinese, generally refers in Buddhist scriptures to bodhisattvas who have realized the mind and attained enlightenment or higher. They possess the virtues of sages. Strictly speaking, only bodhisattvas who have attained the stages (bhumis) can be called "great bodhisattvas" or "dharma-body great beings." They have realized one or more aspects of the Buddha's dharma-body, possess one or more aspects of the insight into the non-arising of dharmas (anutpattika-dharma-ksanti), and have one or more aspects of the knowledge of the way (marga-jnana). They embody the character and mind of sages and are also called "partial realization Buddhas" (分证即佛). If one merely possesses the zeal and goodwill of a bodhisattva, or has an intellectual understanding of some Buddhist teachings, but has not given birth to the wisdom of non-arising, they cannot be called a "mahasattva." When a bodhisattva first attains enlightenment and gains the insight into non-arising, realizing the non-self of persons, they can endure the understanding that the five aggregates and eighteen realms are illusory and devoid of self, having no real arising; while the Tathagatagarbha (Buddha-nature) neither arises nor ceases, having existed since beginningless time. In this way, the great wisdom of Mahayana non-arising arises.