The Profound Meaning of the Diamond Sutra from the Yogācāra Perspective (47)

Original text: 何以故？是諸众生若心取相，即为著我、人、众生、寿者；若取法相即著我、人、众生、寿者；若取非法相，即著我、人、众生、寿者。是故不应取法，不应取非法。

Explanation: The World-Honored One said: Why is this so? Because if such sentient beings grasp at marks in their minds, becoming attached to marks, they are attached to the four marks. Being attached to the four marks, they must be attached to the marks of dharmas. Because they have not broken through the mark of self, standing from the standpoint and perspective of "I," they will perceive all dharmas as real — the coming, going, stopping, and moving of the five-aggregate body, wearing clothes and eating food, as well as views, opinions, and feelings, all entirely real — and at the same time there will be attachment to the other three marks.

The marks of dharmas are existent dharmas of the three realms; the three realms exist in dependence on the cognition of sentient beings, and only with a self can one cognize the dharma-marks of the three realms. Therefore, if one is attached to the marks of dharmas, one is attached to the four marks of self, person, sentient being, and life span; if one grasps at the mark of no-dharmas, holding that all dharmas are empty and that there is no mind of ultimate reality, the eighth consciousness, then one denies the root from which self, person, and sentient beings are born, as well as the substance on which the life span depends. Then self, person, and sentient beings would not be manifested by the eighth consciousness but would exist naturally, exist without cause, and thus would not be illusory; the functions of all conscious minds would be real, not supplied by the eighth consciousness. This is attachment to the four marks, and such a person is a sentient being of the ordinary kind, obstructed by the karma of birth and death. Therefore, when sentient beings study the Mahāyāna dharma, they should not grasp at the mark of even one dharma, nor should they grasp at the mark of no-dharmas, the annihilatory dharma.