The Profound Meaning of Consciousness-Only in the Diamond Sutra (141)

Subhuti, if a virtuous man or virtuous woman were to pulverize a three thousandfold world-system into fine motes, what do you think—would that multitude of fine motes not be exceedingly numerous?

Subhuti replied: Very numerous indeed, World-Honored One. Why is this? If that multitude of fine motes truly existed, the Buddha would not have spoken of it as a "multitude of fine motes".

Explanation: The World-Honored One said to Subhuti: If a virtuous man or virtuous woman were to pulverize this three thousandfold world-system into fine motes, how should you consider this? Is the number of these fine motes not exceedingly great? Subhuti replied: Very great indeed, World-Honored One. Why is the number of fine motes exceedingly great? Because if these fine motes truly existed, were truly real, the Buddha would not have spoken of them as fine motes.

How vast is a three thousandfold world-system? By calculation, it seems to include billions upon billions of earths, billions upon billions of Mount Sumerus, billions upon billions of Trayastrimsha Heavens, billions upon billions of heavens in the desire realm, billions upon billions of heavens of the first dhyana, billions upon billions of four great oceans, billions upon billions of seven golden mountains—all numbering in the billions upon billions, immensely vast. A single three thousandfold world-system is boundlessly vast, immeasurably vast. If it were pulverized into fine motes, how many would that number be? It would be utterly incalculable, for the three thousandfold world-system is already immense. When this immense entity is broken into minute fragments, with space added between them, the resulting fine motes would occupy a volume even greater than that of the three thousandfold world-system itself. Therefore, once a three thousandfold world-system is pulverized into fine motes, the number of those motes need not be counted—it is fundamentally beyond counting.

The Buddha said: If a virtuous man or virtuous woman were to pulverize a three thousandfold world-system into fine motes, what is your opinion? Is the number of these fine motes not exceedingly great? Subhuti said it is simply too vast to count; no matter how one counted, it could not be tallied. Even if we pulverized a single human body into fine motes, the number of those motes would be beyond counting. Pulverizing the body of a small animal into fine motes, the number would likewise be incalculable. What are called "fine motes" are formed by dispersing an object into its most minute, most subtle particles, reduced to a degree invisible to the naked eye, until they become the smallest unit of matter—this is what is meant by "fine motes." At that stage, they are still minute particles composed of the four great elements, extremely tiny, almost approaching emptiness, yet still possessing material form. These minute particles are also produced by the Tathagatagarbha, formed from the seeds of the four elements—earth, water, fire, and wind. They are exceedingly minute, almost non-existent, yet still present—still material particles composed of the four elements.

Is such an immense number of material particles not exceedingly great? Subhuti said it is indeed too great. Why is it so numerous? Why is it called "great"? The Buddha said: "If the multitude of fine motes truly existed, the Buddha would not have spoken of it as a 'multitude of fine motes'." Because Subhuti had already understood the true meaning of the Dharma taught by the World-Honored One upon hearing this Diamond Sutra, he said: If this multitude of fine motes were truly real—if they were permanent, indestructible, truly existing particles—then the Buddha would not have called it a "multitude of fine motes" (where "multitude" signifies an exceedingly great number).