Commentary on the Diamond Sutra: How Bodhisattvas Subdue Their Minds

Chapter 3: The Orthodox Doctrine of Mahayana

This section primarily discusses how bodhisattvas eradicate the four appearances and sever the view of self and others. This is the fundamental and correct path of Mahayana bodhisattva practice, the most crucial aspect, hence this section is named "The Orthodox Doctrine." Bodhisattvas teach and liberate all beings of the three realms, four modes of birth, nine abodes, and twenty-five categories, leading them into nirvana without residue. Yet, they must not give rise to improper thoughts, such as thinking, "These beings were liberated by me; I have liberated so many beings." If a bodhisattva thinks this way, they are not a true bodhisattva. A true bodhisattva should use the wisdom of the true reality of prajna to eradicate the four appearances, leaving no notion of self, others, sentient beings, or a lifespan in their mind.

How Bodhisattvas Subdue Their Minds

Original Text:

*The Buddha told Subhuti: "All great bodhisattvas should subdue their minds thus."*

Explanation:

The Buddha said to Subhuti: "All great bodhisattvas should subdue their minds in this manner."

"Mahā" (摩诃) means "great" in Chinese. In Buddhist scriptures, "great bodhisattvas" generally refer to those who have realized the mind and attained enlightenment, possessing the virtues of sages. Strictly speaking, only bodhisattvas who have attained the stages (bhūmis) or above can be called "great bodhisattvas" or "dharma-body great beings." They have realized one or more aspects of the Buddha’s dharma-body, possess one or more aspects of the wisdom of non-arising forbearance (anutpattika-dharma-kṣānti), and one or more aspects of the wisdom of knowing all paths (sarvajñatā-jñāna). They embody the moral character and mind of sages and are also called "partial-realization Buddhas."

The Buddha said that great bodhisattvas should subdue their minds thus. The mind that can be subdued is necessarily the deluded mind. The true mind never gives rise to thoughts; it has no perceptions or ideas, does not cling to the three realms or six dusts, and does not create actions of body, speech, or mind. It is pure and free from afflictions, thus requiring no subduing. In contrast, the deluded seventh consciousness (manas) has ignorance and afflictions. It constantly clings to appearances and attaches to the six dusts and all dharmas. It harbors the view of self and others, the clinging to self and others, the view of dharmas as self, and the clinging to dharmas as self. Therefore, it must be subdued to eradicate its ignorance and give rise to the function of wisdom.

To subdue the deluded mind of the seventh consciousness, one must understand its functions. The eye consciousness perceives form, differentiating coarse appearances such as colors (blue, yellow, red, white) and shapes (long, short, square, round, large, small). Simultaneously, the mental consciousness (sixth consciousness) differentiates subtle appearances like good/bad, beautiful/ugly, charm, and temperament. Within this, feelings of liking, disliking, suffering, pleasure, or neutrality arise, leading to actions of body, speech, or mind. The ear consciousness hears sounds, differentiating pitch, distance, and direction. Simultaneously, the mental consciousness differentiates categories and meanings, producing mental formations like greed or aversion, leading to feelings of suffering, pleasure, or neutrality, and subsequently to actions of body, speech, or mind. The nose consciousness smells scents, differentiating fragrant/foul and direction. Simultaneously, the mental consciousness differentiates types and intensities of scents, producing mental formations of liking or disliking, giving rise to feelings of suffering, pleasure, or neutrality, and subsequently to actions of body, speech, or mind.

The tongue consciousness tastes flavors, differentiating sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, etc. The mental consciousness differentiates food types, quality, and intensity of taste, producing minds of liking or disliking, giving rise to feelings of suffering, pleasure, or neutrality, and subsequently to actions of body, speech, or mind. The body consciousness perceives tactile objects, differentiating cold/heat, hunger/thirst, fullness, soft/hard, etc. Simultaneously, the mental consciousness differentiates mental objects like fatigue, lightness, comfort, exhaustion, etc., producing mental formations of liking or disliking, giving rise to feelings of suffering, pleasure, or neutrality, and subsequently to actions of body, speech, or mind. The mental consciousness differentiates simultaneously with the first five consciousnesses or can function alone. It recalls the past, plans the future, analyzes, reasons, and judges, producing feelings of suffering, pleasure, worry, joy, or equanimity, and generating subsequent actions of body, speech, or mind.

The mental faculty (manas, seventh consciousness) is also a mind. It is formless and without any characteristics, hence also called the "formless root." It has existed since beginningless time and ceases only when an arhat enters nirvana without residue. It is the consciousness of self-clinging, which since beginningless time has clung to the self, regarding all dharmas as "I" or "mine." It clings to the functions of the first six consciousnesses as "mine" and clings to the functions of the eighth consciousness as "mine." Greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, doubt, and wrong views continuously manifest. It is the root of karma creation, always directing the six consciousnesses to act according to its habits. Spiritual practice primarily involves cultivating and transforming the mental faculty. The mental faculty undergoes a transformation upon initial enlightenment and entry into the first bodhisattva stage, another transformation at the eighth stage, and is completely transformed into the wisdom of equality upon Buddhahood. The mental consciousness transforms into the wisdom of wonderful observation. The first five consciousnesses transform into the wisdom of perfect accomplishment. The eighth consciousness transforms into the great mirror wisdom. If one severs the self-clinging nature of the mental faculty and no longer clings to the self, upon death, one will extinguish their own five aggregates and eighteen elements and enter nirvana without residue. The Buddha said that what must be subdued are these seven deluded minds.

Original Text:

*"All classes of beings — whether born from eggs, from wombs, from moisture, or by transformation; whether with form or without form; whether with perception, without perception, or neither with nor without perception — I cause them all to enter nirvana without residue and liberate them."*

Explanation:

All classes of beings — whether egg-born, womb-born, moisture-born, or transformation-born; whether with form or without form; whether with perception, without perception, or neither with nor without perception — I cause them all to enter nirvana without residue and liberate them.

Beings of the three realms are divided into four modes of birth, nine abodes, and twenty-five categories. Egg-born refers to sentient beings not gestated in a womb and not born from parents. The mental faculty, carrying the alaya-vijnana, directly enters an eggshell. When external conditions like temperature are met, the embryo develops and hatches (e.g., chickens, ducks, snakes, birds). Womb-born refers to beings whose mental faculty, carrying the alaya-vijnana, enters the intermediate state (antarābhava) and then a mother’s womb. When the six sense faculties mature, they are born (e.g., all humans, most animals, some ghosts, some asuras). Moisture-born refers to beings born under certain conditions of temperature and humidity (e.g., near water, coastlines, damp soil, or air) without accumulated merit (e.g., insects, bacteria, some asuras).

Transformation-born refers to beings born through transformation (e.g., devas of all heavenly realms, beings of other lands, non-human beings like ghosts and spirits, hell beings, some asuras, and a small portion of animals, as well as bodhisattvas and arhats with spiritual powers). Beings with form refer to those with physical bodies in the desire realm and form realm. The physical body is also called the aggregate of form. From conception in the womb until birth and final dissolution, it is sustained by the alaya-vijnana and the first seven consciousnesses, enabling various actions of body, speech, and mind. Without this, it is merely a corpse or insentient matter (e.g., plants, minerals).

The desire realm includes six heavens, the human realm, and the three evil destinies. The form realm has eighteen heavens: thirteen from the first to fourth dhyānas, plus five pure abodes (śuddhāvāsa) — Avṛha, Atapa, Sudṛśa, Sudarśana, and Akaniṣṭha. Anāgāmins (third-fruit practitioners) cultivate in these five pure abodes, severing their final afflictions and attachments to the three realms to attain arhatship (fourth fruit). They may then enter nirvana without residue or turn to the Mahayana path, taking rebirth to practice the bodhisattva way. Other beings cultivating in the five pure abodes, weary of the form body, abandon it and ascend to the formless realm.

The formless realm has four heavens: the heaven of infinite space, the heaven of infinite consciousness, the heaven of nothingness, and the heaven of neither perception nor non-perception. "Formless" means without physical body or form. Beings here possess only the mental consciousness, mental faculty, and alaya-vijnana, abiding in unmoving concentration. Formless realm beings also cultivate emptiness but fail to attain complete liberation due to incomplete understanding of emptiness. They remain in the six destinies. For example, the Buddha’s former teacher, Udraka Rāmaputra, attained the highest concentration of neither perception nor non-perception, mistaking it for nirvana. In truth, even this concentration contains extremely subtle perception. As long as deluded minds exist, one remains bound to the three realms. After his enlightenment, the Buddha intended to liberate his teacher but saw with divine eye that he had been reborn in the heaven of neither perception nor non-perception and would never emerge. The Buddha lamented, "After descending from heaven, he will fall into the three evil destinies and suffer."

Near the Buddha’s parinirvana, a 120-year-old non-Buddhist elder — Ānanda’s father for five hundred lifetimes — attained the concentration of neither perception nor non-perception. The Buddha instructed Ānanda to summon him and explained that even in that concentration, subtle perception remains, and that subtlest perceiving mind is still not the true self. Extinguishing it leads to liberation beyond the three realms and freedom from birth and death. Upon hearing this, the elder instantly attained arhatship (fourth fruit). He said to the Buddha, "I cannot bear to witness your parinirvana; I shall depart first," and entered nirvana without residue. Nirvana without residue means beings have severed the view of self and self-clinging. With no more attachments, they willingly relinquish their five aggregates and eighteen elements. With no basis for suffering, they transcend suffering, extinguishing all afflictions to attain liberation beyond the three realms, with no self remaining. Bodhisattvas liberate all beings of the three realms — the four modes of birth, nine abodes, and twenty-five categories — guiding them to become arhats (fourth fruit), transcending birth and death. At life’s end, they all enter nirvana without residue and attain liberation.

Original Text:

*"Though thus liberating immeasurable, innumerable, boundless beings, in reality, no being is liberated."*

Explanation:

The World-Honored One continued: "Though bodhisattvas liberate immeasurable, innumerable, boundless beings thus, in reality, no being is liberated. Though liberated, none are liberated."

What does it mean to liberate countless beings yet liberate none? "Liberation" here means entering nirvana without residue, as explained earlier — relinquishing the self composed of the five aggregates and the eighteen elements (six sense faculties, six sense objects, and six consciousnesses). When these are extinguished, no being remains. With the five aggregates, there are beings; without them, there are no beings. Without the eighteen elements, there are no beings. Thus, no being is liberated. The alaya-vijnana alone is not a being. Hence, not a single being is liberated; no being attains liberation. Even when the five aggregates and eighteen elements are not extinguished, there are still no beings, for the appearance of the five aggregates and eighteen elements is illusory. Their existence is provisional, not real. There are no "beings" to speak of; all are merely appearances of the tathāgatagarbha (Buddha-nature), all are its nature. The tathāgatagarbha itself requires no liberation. Therefore, though liberating immeasurable beings, in truth, not a single being is liberated. Bodhisattvas should liberate beings thus, without the thought of liberating beings.