The Profound Meaning of the Diamond Sutra from the Yogācāra Perspective (120)

Original text:须菩提。所言善法者。如来说即非善法。是名善法。

Explanation: The World-Honored One further said to Subhūti: Subhūti, the wholesome dharmas I speak of—compared with the wholesome dharmas recognized by sentient beings—the Tathāgata says are not wholesome dharmas; there is no wholesome dharma in any actual sense; they are all merely appearances. Therefore they are provisionally named wholesome dharmas.

Wholesome dharmas are divided into many levels and layers of meaning. There are worldly wholesome dharmas, and there are transcendent wholesome dharmas; there are small wholesome dharmas, and there are great wholesome dharmas; there are even wholesome dharmas in the ultimate sense. Worldly wholesome dharmas are the five precepts and the ten good deeds. When the World-Honored One first came to the Sahā world, he first taught the wholesome dharmas of humans and gods, allowing sentient beings to cultivate in accordance with them and gain worldly merit; this is the small good. Only after sentient beings have gained worldly merit can they continue to follow the World-Honored One in studying the Āgama path of liberation and escape from the suffering of the three realms; this is the middle good. Then, over more than twenty years, the World-Honored One expounded the principle of prajñā, allowing sentient beings to cultivate in accordance with it, realize the true reality of prajñā, become bodhisattvas of true meaning, and then give rise to various profound prajñā wisdoms; this is the superior good. Afterward, the World-Honored One further proclaimed the profound principles of the Vaipulya Yogācāra teachings, gradually bringing the Mahāyāna bodhisattvas to possess profound wisdom of the varieties of paths; this is the great good. Finally, the World-Honored One proclaimed the ultimate meaning of the One Buddha Vehicle, such as the Lotus Sutra and the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, delivering all sentient beings to enter the path to buddhahood and cultivate the dharma of becoming a Buddha, so as to attain the perfectly complete fruit of buddhahood; this is the ultimate good.

These wholesome dharmas all have corresponding dharma-marks, and these dharma-marks all manifest and are conjured forth from the formless mind-substance—the tathāgatagarbha—which is free of the four marks. These dharma-marks are all accomplished by the tathāgatagarbha, which, in accordance with various conditions, streams forth seeds. Appearances exist, and sentient beings can see them, but the existence is not real existence, and the marks are not true marks; their essence is the true suchness of the tathāgatagarbha. They are all things within the one true dharma realm of true suchness, never outside true suchness. All the marks of wholesome dharmas are like vessels made of gold: they all come from gold, and their essence is all the tathāgatagarbha of gold. Therefore they are all one true dharma realm—the substance of true suchness. Thus all these false appearances of wholesome dharmas, these dharmas that are not really existent, are given the name "wholesome dharmas." Although the name is "wholesome dharmas," their substance is the principle of true suchness.