The Profound Meaning of Vijñaptimātratā in the Diamond Sutra (Part 23)

When the Buddha was nearing parinirvana, there was a 120-year-old elder who practiced non-Buddhist paths. He had been Ananda's father for five hundred lifetimes and had attained the concentration of neither perception nor non-perception. Yet he still dwelled in the human realm. The Buddha instructed Ananda to summon him and revealed that even within that concentration, subtle thoughts remained—that the most subtle perceiving mind was still not the true self. By extinguishing it, one could transcend the three realms and attain liberation, freeing oneself from the cycle of life and death. Upon hearing this, the elder immediately realized the fourth fruition of Arhatship. He addressed the Buddha, saying, "I cannot bear to witness the Buddha's parinirvana. I shall depart first." With these words, he entered parinirvana without residue.

Parinirvana without residue means that sentient beings have eradicated the view of self and self-attachment, no longer harboring any clinging. They willingly relinquish their five aggregates and eighteen realms. Thus, suffering has no basis to depend upon, and they depart from and abandon suffering. By extinguishing all suffering, they attain liberation beyond the three realms, leaving only the Alaya-vijnana to exist alone, with no self remaining. Bodhisattvas liberate all sentient beings within the three realms—the four modes of birth, nine abodes, and twenty-five categories—instructing them to achieve the fourth fruition of Arhatship, freeing them from the cycle of life and death. At life's end, they all enter parinirvana without residue, attaining liberation.

The World Honored One continued: "Thus, having liberated immeasurable, countless, boundless sentient beings, in truth there are no sentient beings who attain liberation." Having liberated so many beings, yet not a single one has been liberated—what does this mean? "Liberation" here refers precisely to entering parinirvana without residue as previously explained: it means completely abandoning and extinguishing the self composed of the five aggregates and the eighteen realms (the six sense faculties, six sense objects, and six sense consciousnesses). Then no sentient beings remain. Where there are five aggregates, there are sentient beings; without the five aggregates, they are not called sentient beings. Without the eighteen realms, they are likewise not called sentient beings. Thus, no sentient beings have been liberated, and the solitary Alaya-vijnana that remains is not a sentient being. Therefore, not a single sentient being has been liberated; there are no sentient beings who have attained liberation. Even when the five aggregates and eighteen realms have not yet been extinguished, there are likewise no sentient beings, because the appearance of the five aggregates and eighteen realms is illusory—it is provisionally existent, not truly existent; it is temporarily existent. There are no "sentient beings" to speak of; all are merely the appearances and nature of the Tathagatagarbha. The Tathagatagarbha itself requires no liberation. Thus, having liberated immeasurable sentient beings, in truth not a single one has been liberated. Bodhisattvas should liberate sentient beings in this manner, without entertaining the notion of liberating sentient beings.