Commentary on the Diamond Sutra: Why the Merit of a Bodhisattva's Giving Without Abiding in Marks Is Unthinkable and Immeasurable

Here, "marks" refers to the marks of sense objects—the six sense-object marks of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas. When a bodhisattva practices giving, he does not abide in the marks of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or dharmas, nor does he cling to these marks; by removing these marks, the three wheels are empty in the act of giving. He does not discriminate by the recipient's gender or age, status or wealth, power or position, nor by appearance, nor whether the recipient is an enemy or a loved one, but gives equally to all. He also does not calculate or ponder what benefits the giving might bring him from those people, does not seek in return the sense-object marks of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas, or the objects of wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep, and still less does he consider the value of the items given, whether precious or cheap. As long as there is someone in need, he gives unconditionally, without calculation or discrimination.

One who can abandon all marks, cling to no marks, and practice giving with the three wheels empty has a vast capacity of mind; one whose mind is empty is no longer an ordinary person—that is a great-minded bodhisattva in the true sense, possessing profound wisdom of the emptiness of marks, a person of great merit. After such great giving, wisdom and merit advance another level; the merit of the wisdom of emptiness is not limited by quantity, and the merit attained is thus immeasurable and boundless, inconceivable. The greater the capacity of mind, the greater the merit attained; merit is directly proportional to capacity of mind, the two mutually reinforcing. But one who gives while clinging to marks has a mind constrained and obstructed by those marks; with a small capacity of mind, the merit attained is small. How can a small vessel hold many or large things? Merit follows the vessel: a large vessel brings great merit, a small vessel brings small merit—this is inevitable. Therefore, when a bodhisattva practices giving without abiding in marks, his capacity is vast, his mind like empty space, and the merit he attains is like empty space—immeasurable and boundless, inconceivable and unmeasurable.

Original text: 须菩提。于意如何。东方虚空可思量否。不也。世尊。须菩提。南西北方。四维上下虚空可思量否。不也。世尊。须菩提。菩萨不住相布施。福德也复如是。不可思量。须菩提。菩萨但应如所教住。

Explanation: The World-Honored One asked: Subhūti, what do you think? Can the empty space of the eastern direction be measured? Subhūti replied: It cannot be measured, World-Honored One. The World-Honored One asked again: Subhūti, can the empty space of the southern, western, and northern directions, and of the four intermediate directions, above and below, be measured? Subhūti said: It cannot be measured, World-Honored One. The World-Honored One said: Subhūti, when a bodhisattva practices giving without abiding in marks, his merit is likewise inconceivable and unmeasurable. Subhūti, a bodhisattva should simply abide in his mind as taught by the Buddha.

Taking any point in empty space as the center and expanding outward, there are ten directions; each direction is endless, boundless, without shores, inconceivably vast, and no one can reach its edge. If empty space had boundaries or limits, what would lie beyond that edge? Saying "nothing"—that nothing is empty space; saying "something"—everything is within empty space. Empty space is not a truly existent dharma; it is a provisional dharma. Relative to material form, a place without matter is empty space; where there is matter, it is not empty space. Matter and empty space are opposing dharmas—where one is, the other is not. One may also say they are mutually existing dharmas: empty space can contain material form, and within material form there are also spaces and gaps.

For example, place a box in a location. That location originally had nothing—it was empty. Once the box is placed there, it is no longer empty. Where did the original emptiness go? Where did an extra emptiness come from? When people dig a well in the ground and remove earth, digging out a cubic foot of soil, a cubic foot of empty space appears in that spot. Where did this emptiness come from? It has no place of origin. When the soil is filled back in, the emptiness is gone. Where did it go? It has no place to go. In fact, empty space arises from the tathāgatagarbha and later ceases back into the tathāgatagarbha.

Empty space has no boundaries, so worlds in the ten directions can all be established within it. Whenever a Buddha attains buddhahood, he establishes a buddha-land within empty space. If all sentient beings of one trichiliocosm were to attain buddhahood and establish countless worlds within empty space, it could still contain them all. Can such empty space be measured? Who could measure it? Why is the merit of a bodhisattva's giving without abiding in marks inconceivable and unmeasurable? Because by not abiding in marks, the mind has nothing to grasp, and thus one attains liberation, ending birth and death and transcending the three realms. But the bodhisattva does not leave the three realms and does not enter nirvāṇa without remainder; life after life, he remains in the three realms benefiting himself and benefiting others, until he attains buddhahood.

Can the merit of a Buddha be measured? Speaking only of the merit of an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva: in a single thought, without deliberate effort or preparation, he can manifest a trichiliocosm with countless jewels, countless fish, rice, and mountains of meat, and save countless sentient beings. He holds the beings of a planet in his hand and delivers them to other worlds without their knowing; he opens his mouth and swallows the four great oceans, and the beings within them are unaware; he says he will manifest a Buddha and does so, with countless transformation bodies widely delivering those with affinity. How much more so the merit of a Buddha—vaster and more boundless still. Such is the immense merit of giving without abiding in marks. We must expand our capacity of mind again and again, and never let small-mindedness constrain ourselves. Bodhisattvas should abide in this way—abiding in that wherein there is no abiding, clinging to no dharma whatsoever; for once there is any abiding, buddhahood cannot be attained. Bodhisattvas should follow the World-Honored One's teaching and practice giving in this way.