The Profound Yogācāra Meaning of the Diamond Sutra (80)

Then, based on the five aggregates of sentient beings, the manifested appearance of life and the appearance of a lifespan are also non-marks; they do not truly exist. The life activities of sentient beings within a period of time—such as breathing, metabolism, eating, drinking, and eliminating waste—on the surface seem to truly exist and seem to have real meaning, but in fact they are also illusory appearances manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, bestowed by the tathāgatagarbha, and their essence is also the tathāgatagarbha. No matter how long this span of life lasts, the substance of that life is the tathāgatagarbha. Sentient beings have no true appearance of life; therefore, the appearance of a lifespan is a non-mark.

Why is it said that the four marks of self, person, sentient being, and lifespan are non-marks, unreal marks? Because the true reality of the dharmadhātu is free of all marks. If the four marks exist, they are false marks, illusory marks, marks of arising and ceasing (utpāda-nirodha-lakṣaṇa); then it is not the true reality of the dharmadhātu, nor is it the true mark. The true reality is the vajra prajñā, the indestructible mind, which is the Dharmakāya Buddha (dharma-kāya-buddha) of all buddhas. The Dharma body is free of all marks; it has no four marks, nor any marks at all. Therefore it is said that the true Buddha is without marks, and the true Buddha does not speak the Dharma. The Buddha who is free of all marks is the Dharmakāya Buddha of all buddhas, and only this is the Buddha in the true sense. A Buddha with the marks of the five aggregates is the Sambhogakāya Buddha (saṃbhoga-kāya-buddha), the Nirmāṇakāya (nirmāṇakāya), and the manifested Buddha—buddhas conjured forth by the Dharmakāya Buddha, not the true Buddha.

The World-Honored One told Subhūti: It is so, it is indeed so. If there is a person who can hear this Diamond Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, and after hearing it, is not startled, not terrified, and not frightened in his mind, you should know that this person is truly rare and exceptional; he is a person with extremely deep and abundant good roots and merit.

Why did the World-Honored One speak this way? Because the Diamond Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra entirely expounds the Mahāyāna doctrine of emptiness, teaching sentient beings to be free of the four marks, free of all marks, and not to grasp at any mark. Yet sentient beings, from beginningless kalpas until now, have constantly been attached to the four marks, grasping at all marks and refusing to let go. Within the minds of sentient beings, the self-grasping is deep and heavy, the self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) is deep and heavy; they see all marks as existent and do not see all marks as empty.

Because sentient beings have, since beginningless kalpas, deeply relied upon existence, when they hear the Diamond Sutra speaking of emptiness and nonexistence, they will surely be very fearful and alarmed. They will fear falling into emptiness, fear becoming empty and nonexistent; they will certainly refuse to throw away the crutch they have relied upon since beginningless kalpas, refusing to become without support or reliance. Thus they fear becoming utterly empty, fear that they will no longer exist. Therefore fear and terror arise in their minds. This is because those with insufficient good roots and merit have cultivated for only a short span of kalpas in past lives, and so they are like this. Conversely, those who hear this sutra speaking of the absence of the four marks, of being free of the four marks, and whose minds are not terrified—those are people who have already cultivated for a very long time, people whose planted good roots are already very deep. When such people hear the Diamond Sutra, not only are they not startled or terrified, they can also give rise to pure faith, and can even realize the vajra prajñā mind that is free of the four marks. It is evident that such people are truly rare and exceptional.