The Diamond Sutra: Profound Consciousness-Only Meaning (129)

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Not Annihilated and Not Extinguished

Original text: 须菩提。汝若作是念。如来不以具足相故。得阿耨多罗三藐三菩提。须菩提。莫作是念。如来不以具足相故。得阿耨多罗三藐三菩提。

Explanation: The World-Honored One again said to Subhūti: Subhūti, if you have such a thought in your mind, believing that the Tathāgata did not attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi because of being endowed with all the major and minor marks, then quickly extinguish this thought. Subhūti, do not have such a thought, believing that the Tathāgata did not attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi because of being endowed with immeasurable major and minor marks of adornment. Subhūti, it is precisely because the Tathāgata was endowed with immeasurable major and minor marks of adornment that He attained anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.

Because sentient beings have shallow wisdom, they cannot view and understand all dharmas in a comprehensive and harmonious way, and their views become narrow and deficient. Therefore, as soon as sentient beings see the World-Honored One break through the four marks, break through the marks of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas, and also break through the thirty-two marks of the Tathāgata, some of them will believe that the Tathāgata's attainment of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi seems achievable without being endowed with all the marks, that bodhi can be attained and buddhahood accomplished without them; that those marks are dispensable and unimportant, and buddhahood can be attained even without complete major and minor marks; that buddhahood can be attained even without perfecting all merits; or they believe that attaining buddhahood is not accomplished through marks, that marks are unimportant and dispensable; that attaining buddhahood does not require all marks, does not require the marks of the five aggregates, does not require the thirty-two marks; that the Buddha has no body of the five aggregates and is only a mind. These ideas and viewpoints are also slandering the Buddha, similar to the thought of annihilatory emptiness (uccheda-śūnyatā), harming oneself and others, and one's practice will not achieve success. The Tathāgata must address these wrong views (mithyā-dṛṣṭi) and correct them, so that people's views and understanding can be protected and kept impartial, walking in what is true and correct.

Why is believing that the Tathāgata can attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi without being endowed with all the major and minor marks a thought of annihilatory emptiness? Because if one holds such an idea, one will neglect or deny the existence and functioning of the mind of ultimate reality, the tathāgatagarbha, and deny the real existence of the tathāgatagarbha's functions and effects—this is annihilationism. When each bodhisattva practices the bodhisattva path at the causal stage, every wholesome karma he cultivates is stored as a seed in the tathāgatagarbha. When the causes and conditions are complete, he will sequentially receive the retributions of wholesome karma, great and small, until he becomes a Buddha, and the retributions are never exhausted; moreover, the retributions become ever more sublime. These retributions include the adornment and major and minor marks of the bodhisattva's physical body of the five aggregates; include the environment in which the bodhisattva lives and the buddha-land in which he dwells; include all the disciples and close relatives under the bodhisattva's seat; include all the bodhisattva's meditative concentrations (samādhi) and immeasurable superknowledges; most importantly, they include the bodhisattva's boundless wisdom and virtues and abilities; as well as the purification and transformation of the karmic seeds in the bodhisattva's tathāgatagarbha.

Thus, when the bodhisattva becomes a Buddha, the karmic seeds have been completely transformed and purified without remainder, and ignorance has been severed without remainder; therefore the eight consciousnesses can be transformed into the four wisdoms. When the four wisdoms are perfectly luminous, omniscience (sarvākārajñatā) manifests. And the Buddha's four wisdoms are precisely the Buddha's eight consciousnesses. Since the Buddha has eight consciousnesses, He has the five aggregates; otherwise the eight consciousnesses would have no place of support. And the Buddha's five aggregates are endowed with the thirty-two marks and eighty minor marks because, through the Buddha's cultivation of wholesome dharmas over three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas, all the seeds of wholesome karma were stored in the tathāgatagarbha; when the conditions ripened and He became a Buddha, the seeds manifested, and the appearance of the five aggregates thus obtained was one of extreme adornment and major and minor marks, perfectly endowed with the thirty-two marks and eighty minor marks, peerless and supremely sublime.

If one says that when the Buddha attained buddhahood, He did not attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi through complete major and minor marks of adornment, there are enormous faults. First, it would cause sentient beings to mistakenly believe that the Buddha does not possess the seeds of wholesome karma cultivated over immeasurable kalpas. But in fact, during the Buddha's cultivation over immeasurable kalpas, He perfectly cultivated all wholesome karma, and the seeds were all stored in the Buddha's tathāgatagarbha; when He became a Buddha, He thereby obtained the most sublime adornment of major and minor marks.

It would cause sentient beings to mistakenly say that even after attaining buddhahood, the adornment of major and minor marks was not obtained, perhaps because the Buddha's tathāgatagarbha did not store the seeds of wholesome karma. But the fact is that as long as the tathāgatagarbha exists, it will, by suchness (dharmatā), store the seeds of wholesome karma without the slightest omission.

Third, it would cause sentient beings to mistakenly say that neither the Buddha nor sentient beings have a tathāgatagarbha, that the tathāgatagarbha is only an expedient teaching, and therefore it did not store all the seeds of wholesome karma from the Buddha's cultivation process, so when the Buddha attained buddhahood, He was not endowed with the adornment of major and minor marks. Based on the above faults, we should say that the Buddha attained anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi because of being endowed with the major and minor marks.

If one says that when the Buddha attained buddhahood, He did not obtain the retribution of the seeds of wholesome karma, that there were no seeds of wholesome karma, then that is equivalent to saying that the Buddha fundamentally had no tathāgatagarbha. This is the most fundamental and most serious wrong teaching and wrong view, a fundamentally annihilationist thought, extremely harmful to people, and such wrong views should be quickly eliminated. One should firmly believe that the tathāgatagarbha truly exists and has real functions and effects, capable of storing the seeds of wholesome karma cultivated by Buddhas and bodhisattvas over immeasurable kalpas; in the future when they attain buddhahood, these seeds of wholesome karma will all manifest, and the Buddha will obtain the sublime retribution of the adornment of major and minor marks, thereby attaining anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. If there were no tathāgatagarbha, the seeds of wholesome karma could not be stored, and when attaining buddhahood the seeds of wholesome karma could not manifest; the Buddha could not be endowed with the major and minor marks, and then He would not yet be a Buddha, would not yet have attained anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.

At this point everyone should understand: if one says that when the Buddha accomplished the Buddha-way, He did not attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi because of being endowed with the thirty-two marks, that is an annihilationism that denies the real existence of the tathāgatagarbha, and it would carry immeasurable great faults. Therefore, the World-Honored One, in the manner of exhorting Subhūti, indirectly exhorted all sentient beings not to have annihilationist thought, and not to believe that the Buddha's attainment of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi was not achieved through being endowed with the marks. One should say it this way: the Buddha attained anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi because of being endowed with the marks. Only thus does it accord with what the Buddha taught, fit the essence of the Buddha-dharma, and not contradict the Mahāyāna dharma of ultimate reality.