The Profound Meaning of Vijñapti-mātratā in the Diamond Sutra (46)

Why is that so? It is because these sentient beings no longer cling to the notions of self, others, sentient beings, or a life span. They neither cling to the notion of dharmas nor to the notion of no dharmas.

Explanation: The World-Honored One said: Why is that so? It is because these sentient beings, who can avoid clinging to the Tathagata’s bodily form and understand that all forms are illusory, have long since abandoned the notions of self, others, sentient beings, and a life span. Having first shattered these four notions, they further transcend all notions of dharmas, thereby attaining the state of no-form. This is because the inherently pure mind of self-nature has no dharmas whatsoever; all manifested forms are empty and illusory.

Dharmas are divided into conditioned and unconditioned dharmas, as well as dependent-arising and non-dependent-arising dharmas. The five aggregates are dharmas, the eighteen realms are dharmas, the three realms are all dharmas, and suchness is also a dharma—an unconditioned dharma. Everything that can be perceived is a dharma, whether visible or invisible; existence itself is dharma. There are true dharmas and false dharmas, dharmas subject to birth and death and dharmas not subject to birth and death, dharmas formed by causes and conditions and dharmas inherently existing without causes and conditions. From every angle and aspect, distinctions exist.

Dharmas include conditioned dharmas and unconditioned dharmas. Conditioned dharmas are empty and false; unconditioned dharmas are inherently existing dharmas, true dharmas that do not perish. Any dharma directly leading to Buddhahood is the ultimate dharma. The dharma of realizing the mind and perceiving true nature, the dharma of suchness, is the ultimate dharma. The methods to attain the ultimate dharma are expedient means. The notion of dharmas is existence; the notion of no dharmas is emptiness. Not knowing the existence of the true mind, not understanding that wonderful existence arises from true emptiness—this view of nothingness, this view of emptiness, is the nihilistic view of annihilation. If the eighth consciousness, the consciousness of true reality, did not exist, from where would all dharmas—whether manifesting as form, emptiness, or illusion—arise? If one claims they arise from empty space, this is the heresy of emptiness, for empty space cannot produce anything. If one claims they arise from Mahabrahma, the Primordial Mother, God, or Jesus, then from where did they arise? Those who hold the nihilistic view of annihilation deny everything, and thus they deny causality. For the law of karma is realized by the eighth consciousness, which stores karmic seeds, releases karmic seeds, and impartially actualizes the causes, conditions, and effects of sentient beings. Not a single dharma is omitted or disordered.

Thus, the differences among sentient beings—such as gender, appearance, parents, wealth, lifespan, living environment, and so forth—arise from the distinct karmic seeds contained within their eighth consciousness. These karmic seeds were created in past lives. Those who can give rise to a single thought of pure faith in the verses of the Diamond Sutra have not only shattered the four notions but also transcended all notions of dharmas, and further, they have abandoned the nihilistic notion of absolute nothingness. Those who have shattered the four notions and realized the fruition of the Mahayana or Hinayana paths do not fail to accept the eighth consciousness, the Alaya consciousness, upon which birth and death depend. Otherwise, they would not be genuine practitioners who have realized the path.