The Profound Meaning of the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sutra from the Consciousness-Only Perspective (Second Edition)
Chapter Fourteen Receiving and Holding the Dharma According to the Teachings, Thirteen
Original text:尔时。须菩提白佛言。世尊。当何名此经。我等云何奉持。佛告须菩提。是经名为。金刚般若波罗蜜。以是名字。汝当奉持。
Explanation: At that time Subhūti said to the Buddha: World-Honored One, what should this sūtra be named? How should we uphold and hold it? The Buddha told Subhūti that this sūtra is called the Diamond Prajñāpāramitā. Because this name encapsulates the entire Diamond Sutra, you should properly understand the principles within it, and then comprehend and uphold them.
Subhūti asked the World-Honored One to name this sūtra, and inquired how to practice and uphold it. The World-Honored One said: This sūtra is called the Diamond Prajñāpāramitā. Only after clearly comprehending the meaning of this name can one practice and uphold it. The meaning of the sūtra's title has already been explained at the beginning of this text. The diamond is the hardest treasure in the world; nothing can destroy it, and conversely it can destroy everything. It is used as a metaphor for our true mind, the tathāgatagarbha. No matter what power anyone uses, this mind can never be destroyed. Apart from it, all worldly dharmas are transformed and generated by Him, all possess the nature of arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing, and all are unreliable dharmas.
Why is the Prajñāpāramitā also an empty mark?
Original text:所以者何。须菩提。佛说般若波罗蜜。即非般若波罗蜜。是名般若波罗蜜。
Explanation: Why is this said? Subhūti, the Mahāyāna dharma of prajñāpāramitā that the Buddha taught to sentient beings is not an actually existent prajñāpāramitā; there is not truly a prajñāpāramitā. It is provisionally named prajñāpāramitā, and its dharma-mark is also empty.
Prajñāpāramitā is an Indian term, translated into Chinese as "great wisdom reaching the other shore," a metaphor for the nirvanic state of the vajra mind (vajra-citta), or the prajñā mind, which is free from this shore of birth and death. Both this shore and the other shore are states, provisional names, not entities, not ultimate reality; there is no substantial mark of this shore or the other shore. Therefore prajñāpāramitā is an empty mark, provisionally named prajñāpāramitā. By the same principle, the six pāramitās are also empty marks, without real substance, not ultimate reality. Pāramitā is a provisional name; the six perfections also have no substantial essence or mark; they are empty marks of arising, ceasing, and change conjured forth by the vajra mind. Upon reaching the shore, one abandons the raft. After attaining buddhahood and completing cultivation, there is no need to practice the pāramitā dharma anymore.
All dharmas that can only be established and exist by relying on the vajra mind are illusory empty marks and false marks, without substance or an independent self-nature. The Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra evolved from the vajra mind; sentient beings can attain the buddha path only by cultivating in accordance with prajñāpāramitā. After attaining buddhahood, one abandons the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, with no need to study it further, no need to rely on it further. The appearance of the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra was proclaimed by the buddhas in accordance with the matured causes and conditions of sentient beings' cultivation. If the causes and conditions are not complete, the buddhas will not proclaim the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, and this sūtra will have no occasion to appear before sentient beings. Therefore the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra is an interpretation and annotation of the nature of the vajra mind, not the vajra mind itself; therefore it is not the true mark, but a false mark. And the principles interpreted in the sūtra, named prajñāpāramitā, also do not represent the vajra mind itself; therefore they are also not the true mark, but an empty mark. For such an empty mark, the name prajñāpāramitā was given.
The meaning of prajñā is great wisdom, mainly referring to the wisdom innately possessed by the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha. For example, His wisdom capable of transforming and generating all dharmas, His wisdom of not entering birth and death yet manifesting the mark of arising and ceasing (utpāda-nirodha-lakṣaṇa), His wisdom of being able to generate all dharmas yet not mixing with any dharma, and His various kinds of wisdom of the middle way not adhering to either extreme. These wisdoms are utterly different from the wisdom of the consciousness of the seven faculties. The wisdom of the seven-faculties consciousness corresponds to worldly dharmas. Even the wisdom of eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa), the wisdom of realizing the tathāgatagarbha, the wisdom of knowing the seed-functions of the tathāgatagarbha, and the wisdom of the Buddha's omniscience (sarvākārajñatā) are all generated later through cultivation, not innately possessed original wisdom, and differ greatly from the innate wisdom of the tathāgatagarbha. Therefore, the wisdom of prajñā still refers to the wisdom of the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha. The body of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) has birth and death; the ten thousand dharmas, the hundred million dharmas, all have arising and ceasing and are unreliable. Only the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha, has no arising or ceasing, is not on this shore of birth and death, and is provisionally said to be the other shore. The title of the entire Diamond Sutra contains these principles. Only after realizing them can one truly comprehend them fully, and then one can practice and uphold them.
The Buddha said prajñāpāramitā is not prajñāpāramitā; it is named prajñāpāramitā. The name "prajñāpāramitā, the great wisdom on the other shore" is used to summarize the nature of the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha. The tathāgatagarbha truly and really exists, but that name does not truly and really exist; it is a provisional name given to Him by the World-Honored One. His provisional names are countless, all used to manifest the nature of the tathāgatagarbha. The Sixth Patriarch once said: "I have a thing, without head or tail, without name or word, without back or front—do you all recognize it?" Shenhui said: "It is the source of all buddhas." The Sixth Patriarch said: "I told you it has no name and no word, yet you still call it the source buddha-nature." At such a moment one should use zen repartee to hint at the source of all buddhas, and should not speak names; the name is not He. All dharmas are just names, not truly existent. The tathāgatagarbha does not belong to the arising-and-ceasing myriad dharmas, and therefore is a truly existent dharma.
Original text:须菩提。于意云何。如来有所说法不。须菩提白佛言。世尊。如来无所说。
Explanation: Subhūti, what do you think? Has the Tathāgata spoken any dharma? Subhūti said to the Buddha: World-Honored One, the Tathāgata has spoken nothing; the Tathāgata has not spoken any dharma.
The World-Honored One clearly taught the buddha-dharma for forty-nine years; why then does he say he spoke no dharma? The Buddha has three bodies: the Dharmakāya, the Sambhogakāya, and the Nirmāṇakāya. The Dharmakāya Buddha is the Buddha's vajra mind; He is formless and markless, without eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind, without the five aggregates and eighteen realms. Since He has no body of the five aggregates, He cannot speak dharma. The Sambhogakāya Buddha and Nirmāṇakāya Buddha have bodies of the five aggregates and the eighteen realms, and can teach the dharma with mind and mouth. The Sambhogakāya Buddha resides in the palace of the eighteenth heaven of the form realm, teaching the great bodhisattvas on earth the content of cultivating the wisdom of the varieties of paths.
The Nirmāṇakāya Buddha, in order to fulfill sentient beings' wish to seek the dharma, manifests a buddha body in accordance with sentient beings' faculties to deliver sentient beings and proclaim the buddha-dharma. The Nirmāṇakāya Buddha can divide into countless bodies going to worlds in the ten directions to transform and deliver sentient beings, expounding the buddha-dharma. But the Sambhogakāya Buddha and Nirmāṇakāya Buddha are manifested by the Dharmakāya Buddha; apart from the Dharmakāya Buddha, there is also no Sambhogakāya Buddha or Nirmāṇakāya Buddha. When the latter two kinds of buddhas speak dharma, they cannot be apart from the Dharmakāya Buddha. Therefore, whenever a buddha speaks dharma, there is the buddha who speaks dharma and the buddha who does not speak dharma; the buddha who speaks dharma cannot be apart from the buddha who does not speak dharma. Thus Shākyamuni Buddha taught dharma for forty-nine years, yet said he had not spoken a single word. Here the Tathāgata refers to the Dharmakāya Buddha, and the Dharmakāya Buddha does not speak dharma. Understanding the concept and meaning of the three bodies of the Buddha, one will know whether the Buddha has spoken dharma. Therefore, saying the Buddha has spoken dharma is slandering the Buddha, and saying the Buddha has not spoken dharma is also slandering the Buddha.
The Tathāgata refutes the marks of dust-particles and worlds
Original text:须菩提。于意云何。三千大千世界所有微尘。是为多不。须菩提言。甚多。世尊。须菩提。诸微尘。如来说非微尘。是名微尘。如来说世界。即非世界。是名世界。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Subhūti, what do you think of this matter—are all the dust-particles in the trichiliocosm numerous? Subhūti replied: Extremely numerous, World-Honored One. The Buddha said: Subhūti, all dust-particles—the Tathāgata says they are not dust-particles; there is no real mark of dust-particles; they are all false marks, and these false marks are named dust-particles. The trichiliocosm composed of dust-particles—the Tathāgata says it is also not a world; there is no real mark of a world; it is all conjured forth, and these conjured false marks are provisionally named world.
The dust-particles in the trichiliocosm manifest from the four great element seeds contained within the tathāgatagarbha; they are not truly existent. These arising-and-ceasing granular materials are named dust-particles, so "dust-particle" is a provisional term, a concept. The world is the same: the tathāgatagarbhas of sentient beings sharing common karma, in accordance with sentient beings' karmic conditions, transmit the four great element seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind, manifesting the world in which sentient beings live. When the conditions are exhausted, the world disintegrates and perishes. Therefore the world is not truly and really existent; it is merely giving a name to the receptacle-world in which sentient beings live, called "world." Dharmas produced by causes and conditions are all not truly existent; they are all empty dharmas and false dharmas, merely provisional terms and concepts.
The great chiliocosm composed of numerous dust-particles is the external space in which the five aggregates of sentient beings exist; it is the material form (rūpa) portion of the mundane world. Here the Tathāgata has refuted the dharma-marks of this portion of material form. Then, does the five-aggregate world of the mundane realm have a real mark? It has no real mark; it is entirely illusory false marks, provisionally named world, provisionally named mundane realm, provisionally named世俗界, provisionally named five aggregates. Since the five aggregates are provisional names, then all the endeavors undertaken by the five aggregates—generating the bodhi mind, practicing the bodhisattva path benefiting self and others, teaching dharma and delivering sentient beings, realizing and attaining dharma, accomplishing the bodhisattva fruits and the buddha fruit, establishing buddha-lands—all of these are illusory and empty, without real marks. Then, in this illusory world, what is there for you, me, her, or him to be attached to? What is there to grasp and not let go of?
Why do all these false marks and false names exist? Because of that indestructible vajra mind. He accomplishes all these dharmas through causes and conditions; whatever is accomplished must perish; only what exists originally will not perish. Since beginningless kalpas, sentient beings have not recognized the true mark, and thus have taken false marks as the true mark and grasped them, hence the suffering of birth-and-death saṃsāra. Now, having studied the vajra dharma, one should quickly realize the ultimate reality, return to the true nature, reach the other shore of nirvāṇa, and no longer transmigrate through birth and death.
The Tathāgata's thirty-two marks are also non-marks
Original text:须菩提。于意云何。可以三十二相见如来不。不也。世尊。不可以三十二相得见如来。何以故。如来说三十二相。即是非相。是名三十二相。
Explanation: Subhūti, what do you think of this question—can one see the Tathāgata by means of the thirty-two marks? Subhūti replied: No, World-Honored One, one cannot see the Tathāgata by means of the thirty-two marks. Why is this said? Because according to the Tathāgata's intent, the thirty-two marks of which the Tathāgata speaks are also not real marks; they are provisionally named thirty-two marks.
Since the thirty-two marks are not real, they are also not the Tathāgata; then there is another true Tathāgata. We should not take the thirty-two marks as the Tathāgata, nor should we seek the Tathāgata in the thirty-two marks. The true Tathāgata is hidden behind the thirty-two marks; to behold His true countenance requires immense wisdom and merit. The thirty-two marks are not the Tathāgata; the five aggregates are also not self, not person, not sentient being, not life-span. We should not take any single aggregate or all of the five aggregates as self and grasp them without letting go. We must break through the marks of the five aggregates, thereby breaking through the marks of self, person, sentient being, and life-span.
The Tathāgata has thirty-two major marks and eighty minor marks. The thirty-two major marks are not really existent marks, and the eighty minor marks are not really existent marks either; they are marks that arise from nothing and are empty even when present—marks conjured forth by the Tathāgata's undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna) in accordance with the wholesome karmic seeds of the Tathāgata's cultivation over three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas. Their nature is empty, their marks are also empty; the thirty-two marks are false marks. A wheel-turning sage king also has the thirty-two marks; the Buddha's cousin, the bhikṣu Nanda, has thirty-one marks; and Māra can also conjure up the thirty-two marks. If one recognizes people by marks, one easily mistakes them. If the marks perish, the person perishes, yet in reality the Tathāgata does not perish. Therefore one must discern true marks from false marks, must break through marks and attachments, in order to grow in wisdom and not be bound by marks.
Original text:须菩提。若有善男子。善女人。以恒河沙等身命布施。若复有人。于此经中。乃至受持四句偈等。为他人说。其福甚多。
Explanation: Subhūti, if there are good men and good women who give away bodies and lives as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, and if there is again someone who, within this Diamond Sutra, understands and upholds even one four-line verse and expounds it for others, the merit obtained will be even greater than giving away bodies and lives as numerous as the sands of the Ganges.
The World-Honored One has already said twice in the preceding text that upholding the Diamond Sutra and even a four-line verse and expounding it for others yields merit far greater than giving away the seven treasures of trichiliocosms, or seven treasures as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. Here he further emphasizes that it yields more merit than giving away bodies and lives as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. Giving away the seven treasures and wealth is external generosity (dāna); giving away one's physical body is internal generosity. Giving away internal wealth yields far more merit than giving away external wealth; the two cannot be compared. Because external wealth depends on internal wealth to exist; when external wealth is lost, it can be regained, but when internal wealth is lost, there is nothing left.
Since beginningless kalpas, sentient beings have firmly clung to their own physical bodies and lives, unwilling to let their bodies and lifespans suffer the slightest harm, let alone give them away in generosity. Unless one is a great bodhisattva who has made pure great vows, this is extremely difficult to accomplish. Because the equal-enlightenment bodhisattva's merit for attaining buddhahood is still insufficient, in order to accomplish the buddha path sooner, he devotes one hundred kalpas exclusively to cultivating merit, giving away his own internal wealth. Whatever part of the body sentient beings need, he gives that part; whatever they want, he gives. Even in times of famine, he transforms into a great body for sentient beings to eat, resolving their hunger. Only after accumulating sufficient merit for attaining buddhahood in this way does one become a candidate buddha, waiting in the inner court of Tuṣita for the conditions to mature, descending to the human world to accomplish the eightfold manifestation of becoming a buddha and perfectly fulfilling the buddha fruit.
Although giving away the physical body and life is so important and the merit so great, the World-Honored One says it still does not equal the merit obtained from upholding the Diamond Sutra and the four-line verse and expounding them for sentient beings. Because upholding the Diamond Sutra to see the mind and realize one's nature is the foundation for accomplishing the buddha path. After seeing the mind and realizing one's nature, wisdom can become ever deeper and broader, ultimately attaining the full wisdom of the buddha ground. However, the merit of giving external wealth and internal wealth should both be complete. Without the merit from giving external wealth, merit is incomplete, and one cannot see the mind and realize one's nature, cannot become a bhūmi-level bodhisattva and advance step by step. And by giving internal wealth, one directly and completely abandons the small self, reaching thorough selflessness, and only then can one realize the ultimate great self, as well as the self of permanence, bliss, self, and purity of the buddha ground.
The World-Honored One repeatedly emphasized the importance of generosity. Generosity of wealth, generosity of fearlessness, and generosity of dharma are all very important. Without the merit cultivated through the first two kinds of generosity, one cannot perform generosity of dharma, because dharma generosity performed without having realized the dharma often misleads sentient beings, bringing not only no merit but also retributive offense. Therefore practitioners should be skilled in cultivating the practice of generosity; this is the foremost content to be cultivated among the bodhisattva's six pāramitās and the myriad practices of the ten pāramitās.
