Chapter One: The Meaning and Overview of the Diamond Sutra

The Meaning of the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra

Prajñā is the supreme wisdom beyond the mundane world, fundamentally distinct from worldly wisdom; therefore, it is not translated simply as "wisdom." Worldly wisdom pertains to the intelligence for survival within the Three Realms (Triloka). This includes wisdom in various fields within the human realm of the Desire Realm (Kāmadhātu) such as politics, economics, humanities, science and technology, education, society, and philosophy; the wisdom of celestial beings in the Desire Realm who enjoy pleasures and exercise supernatural powers at all times; the wisdom of celestial beings in the Form Realm (Rūpadhātu) who dwell in sublime meditative states, devoid of gender distinctions and the need for food, yet experiencing the bliss of meditation; and even the wisdom of celestial beings in the Formless Realm (Arūpadhātu) who, though lacking physical form, possess profound meditative concentration and enjoy the blessings of their meditative state within that concentration. All of these belong to the sphere and realm of wisdom within the Three Realms and do not transcend the cycle of birth and death (saṃsāra).

The wisdom beyond the mundane world—Prajñā—is neither inside nor outside the Three Realms and is not encompassed by the dharmas of the Three Realms. Therefore, Prajñā is not directly translated as "wisdom" to avoid misunderstanding by worldly people who might say, "We also possess wisdom; we have superior wisdom in politics, economics, culture, psychology, and all fields and industries." However, all such wisdom belongs to the impermanent dharmas of arising and ceasing within the mundane world; they are born from the Prajñā wisdom of the Vajra Mind (Vajra Citta) and rely on this Prajñā wisdom to exist and develop. The Prajñā wisdom of the Vajra Mind is immeasurable, boundless, and vast. The universe and empty space are contained within it. Immeasurable Buddha-lands, immeasurable Flower Store Worlds, and immeasurable World Oceans are all established within empty space, collectively manifested by the Tathāgatagarbha (Buddha-nature, Matrix of the Thus-Come-One) of the Vajra Mind of limitless sentient beings. This is called the One True Dharma Realm. The Ten Dharma Realms (Four Sagely Realms and Six Mundane Realms) all arise from It.

No matter how far human spacecraft can fly, they cannot fly beyond empty space, and empty space does not extend beyond the Vajra Prajñā Mind. One Buddha-land is called a Trisāhasramahāsāhasralokadhātu (Great Trichiliocosm), comprising one billion Jambudvīpas (Southern Continents), one billion Uttarakurus (Northern Continents), one billion Aparagodānīyas (Western Continents), and one billion Pūrvavidehas (Eastern Continents). Similarly, there are one billion of each of the Four Great Oceans, Seven Golden Mountains, hells, Mount Sumerus, Moon Palaces, and Sun Palaces. The heavens of the Four Heavenly Kings (Cāturmahārājika), Trāyastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, and Paranirmitavaśavartin, as well as the heavens of the First Dhyāna in the Form Realm, each number one billion. All are manifested by the Tathāgatagarbha, the substance of the Vajra Prajñā Mind. Where can a spaceship reach? Moreover, without the Tathāgatagarbha, sentient beings cannot exist, let alone create things like spacecraft. Even commerce, politics, bearing children, reproducing offspring, and all undertakings would cease. The Prajñā wisdom can produce ten thousand dharmas, a trillion dharmas, immeasurable dharmas—wisdom arising from the conscious minds of worldly beings cannot conceive of this. Only the Buddha can fully and thoroughly comprehend the wisdom, functions, seeds, and virtuous characteristics of the Tathāgatagarbha. Therefore, the Buddha is called the One Possessed of Omniscient Wisdom (Sarvajñā).

Pāramitā means "reaching the other shore." That shore is without birth and death, without suffering, pleasure, or any sensation. This shore of the Five Aggregates (Pañcaskandha: form, sensation, perception, mental formations, consciousness) is the shore of birth and death, where life and death are endless. There are the Three Sufferings (duḥkha-duḥkhatā - suffering of suffering; vipariṇāma-duḥkhatā - suffering of change; saṃskāra-duḥkhatā - suffering inherent in conditioned existence) and the Eight Sufferings (suffering of birth, aging, sickness, death; suffering of encountering the unpleasant; suffering of separation from the loved; suffering of not obtaining what is sought; suffering of the raging Five Aggregates), as well as immeasurable and boundless afflictions, karmic obstructions, and suffering. On this shore, the Five Aggregates arise and cease, cease and arise. Sentient beings, because they cannot see through this, never grow weary of it; they lack the mind seeking liberation and do not wish to escape the sea of suffering in birth and death.

The Tathāgatagarbha, the substance of the Vajra Mind, on that other shore, has never experienced the suffering and calamities of birth and death. It existed since beginningless kalpas (aeons) ago, never ceasing for even an instant, and will never cease in the future. It has no lifespan; even saying "immeasurable lifespan" implies a measure, but It is immeasurable beyond immeasurability, having no life and no death. It does not experience suffering. When sentient beings fall into the Avīci Hell (Uninterrupted Hell), their physical bodies become as vast as the hell itself, with instruments of torture applied to every part, causing agony so intense that the only thought is to seek death. Yet, their Tathāgatagarbha does not feel the slightest pain. It has no sensation corresponding to worldly dharmas; therefore, It experiences no suffering. When sentient beings ascend to heaven to enjoy pleasures, the Tathāgatagarbha never partakes in the enjoyment. It does not even glance at it (as It has no eyes). It does not cognize or discriminate, nor does It have a physical body to experience enjoyment. When celestial beings hear heavenly music with their ears, It does not hear. When they smell heavenly fragrances with their noses, It does not smell. When they taste ambrosia with their tongues, It does not taste. When they bathe in jeweled pools, It does not touch. When celestial beings recall the past or envision the future, It does not think.

Such a pure Mind creates not a single worldly karmic action (yet it is not that It does not create; everything needed by the Five Aggregates is provided by It, everything is manifested by It. It selflessly offers everything yet never seeks the slightest reward). How could It have birth and death? Whoever creates bodily, verbal, and mental actions experiences birth and death. It does not experience the suffering of birth and death. The Five Aggregates body creates karmic actions life after life, so of course, there must be birth, death, sorrow, lamentation, and distress. Understanding the Tathāgatagarbha and realizing its pure, unconditioned nature enables one to transcend the suffering of birth and death, reach the other shore of Nirvāṇa, and attain the bliss of tranquil extinction and coolness.

Overview of the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra

The Diamond Sutra is the essence of the six hundred volumes of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra. Its full text expounds the true nature of the indestructible Vajra Mind. Vajra is the hardest treasure in the world; no force can destroy it, yet conversely, it can destroy everything. Similarly, the Tathāgatagarbha is like Vajra—indestructible yet capable of destroying all dharmas. How does It destroy? As long as the indestructible Vajra Mind exists, all dharmas, though seemingly existent, are empty. If the Tathāgatagarbha were to withdraw the seeds of the Seven Elements (Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Space, Consciousness, and the Element of Enlightenment/Suchness), all dharmas would instantly vanish, and even the illusory appearances would cease. The World-Honored One (Buddha) used the nature of Vajra as a metaphor for the True Suchness Mind (Tathatā Citta) of every sentient being, which is exceedingly appropriate. The unborn and unceasing nature of the True Suchness Mind far surpasses the solidity of Vajra. Vajra is a mundane material form (rūpa dharma); when the world is destroyed, it too ceases to exist. However, the Vajra Mind Tathāgatagarbha does not perish with the destruction of the world because the Vajra Mind Tathāgatagarbha is impervious to water—water cannot drown It; impervious to fire—fire cannot burn It; impervious to wind—wind cannot destroy It. The three calamities (water, fire, wind) cannot affect It, nor can the most modern weapons. The Vajra Minds of all sentient beings throughout the ten directions are likewise—unborn, unceasing, and never perishing.

Because the Vajra Mind exists, sentient beings have the repeated birth and death of their Five Aggregates physical bodies in life after life. Only when sentient beings eradicate the view of self (satkāyadṛṣṭi) and then extinguish the clinging to self (ātmagrāha), completely severing all greed and attachment to the Three Realms (Desire Realm, Form Realm, Formless Realm), and upon death enter the Nirvāṇa Without Remainder (Anupādhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa), extinguishing the Five Aggregates and the Eighteen Elements (Āyatana), will the Five Aggregates of future lives cease to arise forever. Yet the substance of the Vajra Mind still does not perish; It exists alone, independent of external conditions. Therefore, the Vajra Mind is called the Independent Mind (Sva-saṃvedya-citta), capable of existing alone without relying on other conditions, needing no one to give birth to or manifest It. However, Bodhisattvas who attain the fruit of liberation (Vimukti-phala) do not enter the definitive stage (of Nirvāṇa). Before the Seventh Ground (Bhūmi), they do not take the attainment of the Fourth Fruit (Arhatship) and thus do not enter the Nirvāṇa Without Remainder. Bodhisattvas still utilize the Five Aggregates physical body life after life to cultivate the Buddha Path, benefiting themselves and others, until Buddhahood, never ceasing their actions to benefit others.

Why can sentient beings study the Buddha Dharma, practice, and become Buddhas? It is because of the cooperation of this Vajra Mind, which stores the seeds of wholesome karma. When the seeds fully ripen, one becomes a Buddha. Even bacteria, too small to be seen by the naked eye, possess this Vajra Mind. This Mind is the true substance for becoming a Buddha; it is the Dharma Body (Dharmakāya) that gives birth to all dharmas. One sentient being has one Vajra Mind; one Vajra Mind can accomplish one Buddha. In the ten directions, there are immeasurable and boundless sentient beings; thus, in the future, there will be immeasurable and boundless Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones. Physical bodies held by a Vajra Mind are called sentient beings; they have the life activities of the Five Aggregates and engage in bodily, verbal, and mental actions. Objects without a Vajra Mind operating alone, born from seeds without consciousness, are called inanimate objects. Mountains, rivers, the great earth, flowers, plants, and trees lack the Five Aggregates (form, sensation, perception, mental formations, consciousness) and have no bodily, verbal, or mental actions; they are not sentient beings and therefore cannot become Buddhas.

The Vajra Mind is different from things like the "soul" spoken of by non-Buddhists (Tīrthika). Non-Buddhists also believe that sentient beings possess an eternal, imperishable mental substance that can go to future lives. However, the mental substance they refer to, in terms of its nature, is the conscious mind (Manas or Vijñāna), which is subject to birth, death, and change—impermanent, empty, suffering, and without self—and strongly discriminative of good and evil. Therefore, it is not the eternally abiding Vajra Mind. The conscious mind has times when it ceases: it ceases during sleep, during unconsciousness, upon entering the state of No-Thought Concentration (Asaṃjñisamāpatti), upon entering the Cessation of Perception and Feeling (Nirodhasamāpatti), and certainly upon death. Since it can cease, it is not a real dharma and cannot go to future lives.

The nature of the Vajra Mind is utterly different from consciousness; It never perishes, not even for an instant, otherwise the sentient being would immediately die. It does not discriminate good from evil, right from wrong, self from other. It always follows along with the mental actions of sentient beings, cooperating with the seven consciousnesses, performing great acts of giving (dāna) to sentient beings without seeking any reward. It works tirelessly throughout the future, abiding in no dharma, selfless and egoless—this is the Buddha Mind. It has immeasurable names. Definitive meaning (Nītārtha) Buddhist scriptures everywhere describe It, calling It the Innately Pure Mind (Prakṛti-prabhāsvara-citta), Tathāgatagarbha, Ālayavijñāna (Storehouse Consciousness), Vipākavijñāna (Ripened Consciousness), Amalavijñāna (Undefiled Consciousness), the Eighth Consciousness (Aṣṭavijñāna), True Suchness (Tathatā), True Reality (Bhūtatathatā), Ultimate Reality (Bhūtakoti), Original State (Ādinidāna), Boundless, the One True Dharma Realm (Ekāni Punar Dharma Dhātu), and so on—too numerous to list.

It pervades all grounds (the nine grounds of the Three Realms), pervades all sense bases (twelve Āyatanas), pervades all elements (eighteen Dhātus), pervades all times, and pervades all dharmas. Any dharma without Its functioning cannot exist. The worlds of the ten directions are all manifested by It; not a single dharma exists outside Its Mind substance. It is the Tathāgata Buddha; no dharma exists beyond the palm of the Tathāgata Buddha's hand. In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the Buddha said: "Empty space within your mind is like a single cloud dotting the vast sky." How immense, then, must this Mind be? Yet, to speak of it as "large" or "small"—It is neither large nor small.

Realizing where this Mind appears, where It exists, and how It functions is the realization (kenshō, satori) of the Chan (Zen) School. If one merely understands the principle intellectually through the text, without knowing Its specific location, unable to observe how It functions or how It manifests the Five Aggregates, then it is not true realization but merely a superficial understanding at the level of consciousness. How can one studying the Buddha Dharma and practicing realize the Vajra Mind and understand Its function? One must use the method of Chan investigation (gōng'àn, kōan). The seventeen hundred kōans of the Chan School are all fingers pointing to It. From the time of the Buddha in the world to the records of the great virtuous masters of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, the kōans are all fingers pointing to the moon; every sentence revolves around this Mind.