The Inner Meaning of the Diamond Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra

Prajñā is the great supramundane wisdom, utterly different from worldly wisdom; hence it is not translated simply as "wisdom." Worldly wisdom is the wisdom for surviving within the world of the three realms: the wisdom in the human realm of the desire realm in fields such as politics, economics, humanities, science and technology, education, society, and philosophy; the wisdom of the devas of the desire realm who at all times enjoy pleasures and the freedom of supernormal powers; the wisdom of the devas of the form realm, who abide in sublime states of meditative concentration (dhyāna), with no distinction of male and female and no need for food or drink, but who simply enjoy the bliss of dhyāna; and even the wisdom of the devas of the formless realm, who, though without physical bodies, possess profound dhyāna, their minds abiding in samādhi enjoying the blessings of meditative concentration. All of these belong to the scope and wisdom-realm of the three realms of existence, and none of them transcends birth-and-death and saṃsāra.

Supramundane wisdom—prajñā—however, is neither inside nor outside the three realms and is not subsumed under the dharmas of the three realms. Therefore prajñā is not directly translated as "wisdom," lest worldly people misunderstand and say, "We too have wisdom—lofty wisdom in the fields and professions of politics, economics, culture, and psychology." But all such wisdom belongs to the impermanent, conditioned dharmas of the mundane world; it is brought forth by the prajñā wisdom of the vajra mind (Vajracitta), and it exists and develops only by relying on that prajñā wisdom. The prajñā wisdom of the vajra mind is boundless and immense: the universe and empty space lie within it. Countless buddha-lands, countless Lotus Treasury Worlds (Kusumatala-garbha-vyūhâlaṃkāra-lokadhātu-samudra), and countless oceans of worlds are established within empty space, all jointly manifested by the vajra minds—the tathāgatagarbhas—of immeasurable, boundless sentient beings. This is called the one true dharma realm; the ten dharma realms (the four noble ones—śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, bodhisattva, buddha—and the six realms of ordinary beings) are all produced by Him.

No matter how far humanity's spacecraft can fly, however far they go they cannot fly beyond empty space, and empty space does not lie outside the vajra prajñā mind. One buddha-land is called one trichiliocosm (three-thousand-great-thousand-world), comprising one billion each of the southern Jambudvīpa, the northern Uttarakuru, the western Aparagodānīya, and the eastern Pūrvavideha; likewise there are one billion each of the four great oceans, the seven golden mountains, the hells, Mount Sumeru, the moon palace, and the sun palace; and one billion each of the Heaven of the Four Kings, the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, the Yāma Heaven, the Tuṣita Heaven, the Nirmāṇarati Heaven, the Paranirmitavaśavartin Heaven, and the first dhyāna heaven of the form realm—all manifested by the substance of the vajra prajñā mind, the tathāgatagarbha. Where could a spacecraft possibly fly to? Moreover, without the tathāgatagarbha, sentient beings could not exist, let alone manufacture things like spacecraft; even commerce and politics, bearing and raising children and propagating descendants—all activities whatsoever would have to cease. Yet prajñā wisdom can produce the myriad dharmas, trillions of dharmas, immeasurable dharmas—wisdom that the mind consciousness of worldly beings cannot imagine. Only a Buddha can completely and thoroughly understand the wisdom, functions, seeds, and virtuous marks of the tathāgatagarbha; hence the Buddha is called the possessor of the wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā).

Pāramitā means "reaching the other shore." That shore has no birth and death, no suffering, no pleasure, and no feelings of any kind. The shore of our five aggregates (pañcaskandha) is this shore of birth and death, where we are born and die without end, with the three kinds of suffering (the suffering of suffering, the suffering of formations, and the suffering of decay), the eight kinds of suffering (the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death; the suffering of association with the hateful; the suffering of separation from the beloved; the suffering of not getting what one seeks; and the suffering of the blazing of the five aggregates), as well as immeasurable, boundless afflictions, delusions, karma, and suffering. The five aggregates are on this shore, arising and ceasing, ceasing and arising; because sentient beings cannot see through this, they never feel weary of it and lack the mind to renounce, having no wish to escape the ocean of suffering of birth and death.

But the vajra mind, the tathāgatagarbha, on that other shore has never known the suffering of birth and death. It existed from before beginningless kalpas and has never ceased for a single instant, nor will it ever cease in the future. It has no lifespan; even to speak of it as "infinite life" is to make it finite—He is infinite upon infinite, with neither lifespan nor life. He does not undergo suffering. When sentient beings fall into the Avīci hell, their physical bodies become as vast as the hell itself, with instruments of torture applied to every part, the pain so great that they have only the single thought of seeking death; yet their tathāgatagarbha feels not the slightest pain, for He has no feelings corresponding to worldly dharmas, and therefore He has no suffering. When sentient beings ascend to the heavens to enjoy pleasures, the tathāgatagarbha never enjoys anything—He does not even glance at it (for He has no eyes); He does not know it or discriminate it, and He has no physical body with which to enjoy it. When the deva's ears hear celestial music, He does not hear; when the nose smells celestial fragrances, He does not smell; when the tongue tastes ambrosia, He does not taste; when entering the jeweled pools to bathe, He does not touch; when the deva's son recollects the past and looks forward to the future, He does not think.

Such a pure mind creates not the slightest worldly karmic action (and yet neither is it that He does not act: everything the five aggregates need is provided by Him, everything is transformed and brought forth by Him; He selflessly gives everything, yet never seeks the slightest reward). How could He have birth and death? Whoever creates bodily, verbal, and mental actions undergoes birth and death; He does not undergo the suffering of birth and death. The body of the five aggregates creates karmic actions life after life, and of course it must have birth and death, with sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress (śoka-parideva-duḥkha-daurmanasyopāyāsa). Only by understanding the tathāgatagarbha and realizing its pure, unconditioned nature can one escape the suffering of birth and death, reach the other shore of nirvāṇa, and attain the bliss of quiescence and coolness.