The Profound Meaning of the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sutra from the Consciousness-Only Perspective (Second Edition)
Chapter Two The Causes and Conditions of the Dharma Assembly, One
Original text:如是我闻。一时。佛在舍卫国祗树给孤独园。与大比丘众千二百五十人俱。
Explanation: The Diamond Sutra is a prajñā sutra narrated by Ānanda recounting what he originally heard the Buddha teach. It opens with "Thus have I heard," indicating that it was personally heard by Ānanda from the Buddha's own proclamation, and he is now relaying it. The Buddha has the thirty-two marks; the Buddha's cousin Nanda has thirty-one marks; and Ānanda's appearance also closely resembles the World-Honored One's. When Ānanda compiled the sutras, if he had not said "Thus have I heard," people might have suspected that the World-Honored One had returned to personally expound the Dharma, or suspected that Ānanda himself was expounding it. To avoid misunderstanding, "Thus have I heard" was used, so that everyone would know it was Ānanda relaying the Dharma the Buddha proclaimed while alive, and they would accept it with faith and without doubt. At the Dharma assembly of the World-Honored One's parinirvāṇa, Ānanda asked the Buddha what should be used as the opening when compiling the sutras thereafter, and the World-Honored One said to use "Thus have I heard."
When the Buddha expounded sutras, regarding time he only said "at one time," without specifying a particular time, because what is a certain date in India is a different date in other countries, yet another date in each of the heavenly realms, and still another date on other celestial bodies—all differing—so the time is not specifically indicated. Secondly, the location was the Jeta Grove Anāthapiṇḍada Park in Śrāvastī, and the audience was the Buddha's constant retinue of one thousand two hundred fifty-five great bhikṣus.
The so-called great bhikṣus, except for Ānanda, had all attained the fourth fruit of arhatship. They cultivated the Small Vehicle Dharma of the Four Noble Truths—suffering, its accumulation, its cessation, and the path—as well as the Middle Vehicle's twelve links of dependent origination: ignorance conditions (produces) volitional formations (karmic actions); volitional formations condition consciousness (the six consciousness minds); consciousness conditions name-and-form (the fertilized egg and the four aggregates of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness); name-and-form conditions the six sense bases (the entrances of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind); the six sense bases condition contact (the six faculties contacting the six sense objects); contact conditions feeling (experiencing suffering, pleasure, or neither-suffering-nor-pleasure); feeling conditions craving (greedy craving); craving conditions grasping (grasping, view-grasping, self-grasping, etc.); grasping conditions existence (existence in the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm); existence conditions birth (the birth of a life); birth conditions aging, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress. They cultivated the Small Vehicle and Middle Vehicle Dharmas within the four great Āgama divisions, attaining the first through the fourth fruits as well as the fruit of the pratyekabuddha.
The first fruit is the eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa), acknowledging that the five aggregates and eighteen realms (six faculties, six sense objects, six consciousnesses) are suffering, empty, impermanent, and non-self. In this way, the three fetters binding oneself (the view of self, doubt, and the fetter of attachment to rites and precepts) are severed, the karmic offenses of the three evil destinies are extinguished, one does not descend to the three evil destinies to undergo retribution, and after seven more returns among humans and gods, one enters nirvāṇa without remainder. Cultivating upward from the first fruit, when the afflictions of greed, anger, and delusion become attenuated, one attains the second fruit, and after one more return among humans and gods, one enters nirvāṇa without remainder. Cultivating further to attain the meditative concentration of the first dhyāna, severing the minds of greed and anger, one attains the third fruit; in a later life one attains the fourth fruit in the Five Pure Abodes (ākaniṣṭha heavens) and enters nirvāṇa without remainder, or attains the fourth fruit in the intermediate state (antarābhava) and enters nirvāṇa without remainder. The third-fruit practitioner cultivates more deeply, severing the conceit of self (the feeling that there is an "I" or that "I am useful"—both are conceit), severing the subtle fetters of craving for the three realms, no longer even craving the states of meditative concentration or the form-body of the heavens. When self-grasping is completely severed, the manas, the seventh consciousness, no longer grasps at the five aggregates, eighteen realms, and the world of the three realms; at the end of life, one will extinguish oneself entirely, no longer being reborn, with only the tathāgatagarbha remaining—this is called entering nirvāṇa without remainder. In this way all suffering is extinguished, and there is no more suffering to rely upon; this is called the extinction of suffering. But Ānanda, in order to serve as the Buddha's attendant, could have attained the fourth fruit yet did not, because the Buddha would not use a fourth-fruit great arhat as his personal attendant.
Original text:尔时。世尊食时。著衣持钵。入舍卫大城乞食。于其城中。次第乞已。还至本处。饭食讫。收衣钵。洗足已。敷座而坐。
Explanation: At this time, when the mealtime was approaching noon, the World-Honored One put on his robe, took up his alms bowl, and entered the great city of Śrāvastī to beg for food. After begging sequentially from house to house in the city of Śrāvastī, he returned to his original dwelling place. After the World-Honored One finished eating, he put away his robe and bowl, washed his feet, and then sat down cross-legged.
These were originally the World-Honored One's daily trivial matters, the same every day, utterly mundane. Since he begged for food, ate, and washed his feet like this every day, why was it written into the sutra and placed at the very beginning? It is not described when expounding other sutras, yet it is described here when expounding the Diamond Sutra—moreover, at a Dharma assembly proclaiming the Great Prajñāpāramitā. The Diamond Sutra is the essence of the six-hundred-fascicle Great Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, and the World-Honored One never spoke meaningless trivialities when expounding the Dharma, except under special conditions—even a smile would not appear casually.
The daily activities described in this passage are precisely the hidden meaning, revealing a truth and manifesting the ultimate reality of all dharmas. A person of the highest indriya and keen wisdom, merely by reading up to this point, can realize the truth and ultimate reality; the entire purport of the Diamond Sutra and of the six hundred fascicles of the Great Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra is thereby threaded through, and such a person becomes a bodhisattva of true meaning. The Avataṃsaka Sutra teaches that all dharmas are created by the mind alone—that is, created solely by the tathāgatagarbha mind. Are the World-Honored One's daily trivialities not a part of the myriad dharmas? Is there not the operation of the World-Honored One's true suchness mind therein? The answer is affirmative. All dharmas arise from the combination of the true and the false; the true mind alone can accomplish nothing; with the false mind alone, the false mind also cannot be established. It must be the combination of true and false that together manifests the myriad dharmas. Therefore, within our impermanent, arising-and-ceasing, empty and illusory phenomenal realm, the prajñā true mind is always operating. For example, in our daily eating, drinking, excreting, talking, laughing, walking, standing, sitting, lying down, and so on, the participation of the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha, must be present simultaneously; otherwise not a single dharma can be established.
The seventeen hundred koans of the Chan school all point to this truth. Therefore the Chan masters skillfully set up devices, using various methods of hinting and prompting—glances, gestures, laughter, anger, raising the fly-whisk, lowering the fly-whisk—to guide students into awakening. For instance, Deshan's staff (striking back and forth) and Linji's shout (great shouts and small shouts) were all acts of compassion. If they came to me, I would kick with my foot; after being kicked, a student whose conditions have ripened can realize the vajra prajñā mind. Yunmen, on the other hand, had his foot crushed by the door held by his master, and after letting out a great cry, he became enlightened. Such examples are too numerous to list. Upon awakening, one attains the patience of non-arising, and the wisdom of ultimate reality is developed—knowing that the self, persons, and sentient beings are illusory, without true birth, and that the tathāgatagarbha itself also does not arise. Acknowledging this principle is the patience of non-arising—it is just very hard to endure!
The first Chan koan in the Buddhist history of our Sahā world was personally demonstrated by the World-Honored One. At the assembly on Vulture Peak, after the devas had offered flowers, the World-Honored One, amid the great assembly of humans and devas, held that flower and smiled without speaking, plainly revealing His own true suchness mind to everyone. But none among the assembly of humans and devas knew what medicine the World-Honored One was selling, whereas Mahākāśyapa, upon seeing it, awakened and understood; with the eye of wisdom he contemplated and beheld the World-Honored One's true suchness mind, knew what medicine was in the World-Honored One's gourd, and broke into a smile. The World-Honored One knew that Mahākāśyapa had awakened to the bodhisattva Dharma and become an arhat-bodhisattva, and so proclaimed to the assembly: "I have the wondrous mind of nirvāṇa, the ultimate reality without marks, not established on words, a special transmission outside the teachings, entrusted to Mahākāśyapa." Thus Kāśyapa became the First Patriarch of the Chan school in the Sahā world.
What is the wondrous mind of nirvāṇa? Nirvāṇa is the state of the tathāgatagarbha being unborn and undying; the wondrous mind means the subtle and marvelous vajra mind (vajra-citta). Although the vajra mind, the tathāgatagarbha, is empty of mind, without a single dharma, it can manifest the myriad dharmas; though it does not have even the size of a speck of dust, it can manifest the universe and empty space—this is truly marvelous, and therefore it is called the wondrous mind. Ultimate reality means that the vajra prajñā mind is a truly existing, correct and real principle-substance, never ceasing. Without marks means this mind has no marks whatsoever: it has no form mark, so He cannot be seen; no sound mark, so He cannot be heard; no scent mark, so He cannot be smelled; no taste mark, so He cannot be tasted; no touch mark, so He cannot be touched; no dharma mark, so He cannot be discriminated. The Heart Sutra says He has no five aggregates, no six faculties, six sense objects, and six consciousnesses, no Four Noble Truths and twelve links of dependent origination (from ignorance to aging and death), no...—in short, not a single dharma, yet all the myriad dharmas arise and exist in dependence upon Him.
"A special transmission outside the teachings" means that the Chan school's Dharma of seeing the mind and seeing the nature lies outside the scriptural teachings of the Tripiṭaka and twelve divisions; apart from the mark of written words, it can be transmitted separately on its own—it can point people into awakening without using language and words. The World-Honored One did not utter a single word yet caused Mahākāśyapa to awaken to the Way, whereas the scriptural teachings must use language and words to teach and guide. In the buddha-land of the Buddha Gandhakūṭa, the Buddha and the bodhisattvas sat together around a meal; the Buddha sniffed the fragrance of the food with his nose, and the bodhisattvas, upon seeing this, awakened to the Way—no need to expound the Dharma. However, although the Chan school does not establish written words, it is not that it does not use language and words; the Chan school also uses language and words to guide, and some people have awakened through reading the scriptural teachings.
Some say that Mahākāśyapa saw the Buddha's true suchness mind on the flower and thus awakened to the Way. But if the true suchness mind were on the flower, that flower would be beaming with joy, hopping and jumping about; it would be a sentient being with joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, and could also become a Buddha—but in fact it is not. If the true suchness mind were on the flower, it would have nothing to do with the World-Honored One; the World-Honored One would be neither a Buddha nor a sentient being, and could not hold up the flower and smile. Then where is the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha? This is a secret, requiring one's own diligent investigation. A ready-made answer is of no help for developing wisdom. Nevertheless, some devices can still be skillfully set up to lead people into awakening. When the World-Honored One was alive, he created many such devices, enabling disciples to awaken to the Way and transmitting them to later generations.
Once, the World-Honored One led his disciples to a mound of earth and stopped, then bowed to the mound. This was the beginning of the performance. Ānanda, not knowing what play the World-Honored One was performing—perhaps feigning ignorance—asked: "World-Honored One, why do you bow to that mound of earth?" The World-Honored One pointed at the mound with his finger and said: "The buddhas of the three times are all buried in that mound of earth." World-Honored One, what medicine are you selling in that gourd of yours! Although we are future buddhas, we have not yet become buddhas—how could we be buried? The present buddhas are all teaching and transforming sentient beings in their respective buddha-lands and are not buried! As for the ancient buddhas, they could not be buried here either! But where is "here"? When one's conditions for the bodhisattva's six perfections are complete and the conditions ripen, one will be able to investigate it out.
Once, just as the World-Honored One had settled onto the Dharma seat, Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva walked over, took the gavel, struck it once on the lecture table, and said: "The World-Honored One has finished expounding the sutra." With that, the World-Honored One descended from the seat—it was truly finished; the great Dharma of the tathāgatagarbha had been fully transmitted. In fact, the moment the World-Honored One entered the lecture hall and pushed open the door, the Dharma was already completely expounded; he could perfectly well have turned around and exited the hall, leaving the disciples dumbfounded. Layman Fu of the time of Emperor Wu of Liang, as well as the Chan masters of the Tang dynasty, all staged similar tricks; ordinary people simply cannot see through the device here—only bodhisattvas with deep roots of goodness can comprehend it.
The Second Patriarch of the Chan school was Ānanda. After the World-Honored One's parinirvāṇa, Ānanda asked Mahākāśyapa: "Besides transmitting the golden-threaded robe to you, what else did the World-Honored One transmit to you?" He was asking about the tathāgatagarbha. Kāśyapa called out: "Ānanda!" (Just transmitting this!) Ānanda did not understand and casually answered: "Yes!" Having answered, he should have understood, yet he still did not. Kāśyapa, having no alternative, continued: "Go and knock down the flagpole in front of the gate." Upon hearing this, Ānanda thought: I ask about the hidden meaning and you tell me to knock down the flagpole? His mind turned, and he realized: So that's how it is!—and he greatly awakened, thus becoming the Second Patriarch of the Chan school. From then on, the twenty-eight patriarchs of the Western Heaven transmitted it generation after generation, down to the Sixth Patriarch of the Great Tang, and on until the end of the Ming dynasty; after that, those who awakened became extremely rare and exceptional, but there are still some now—the Buddha would never abandon the sentient beings of this world.
This first chapter of the Diamond Sutra is itself a Chan koan: the World-Honored One transmitted the Dharma without opening his mouth to speak—it is just too hard to comprehend; only people of the highest indriya can understand it. The object of all Chan investigation is the tathāgatagarbha. In all worlds of the ten directions, no matter which buddha-land, it is this mind that is awakened to. Where is He, how does He operate, how does He produce the myriad dharmas, how does He give birth to the five aggregates and eighteen realms—apart from this, one has deviated from the direction.
