Lecture on the Diamond Sutra: Why Those Who Receive, Uphold, and Widely Proclaim This Sutra Can Shoulder the Tathāgata's Legacy

Original text of the Section on the Merit of Upholding the Sutra, Fifteen: 如是人等。则为荷担如来。阿耨多罗三藐三菩提。何以故。须菩提。若乐小法者。著我见人见众生见寿者见。则于此经。不能听受读诵。为人解说。

Explanation: Those who can uphold, recite, and widely proclaim the Diamond Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra for sentient beings are all able to shoulder the family enterprise of the Tathāgata, and in the future will ultimately attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. Why is this sūtra spoken for those who have resolved the great-vehicle bodhi mind, and spoken for those who have resolved upon the supreme vehicle? Subhūti, if a person delights in the lesser dharmas of humans and gods, he will cling to the view of self, the view of person, the view of sentient beings, and the view of life span; he will cultivate the minor wholesome dharmas of humans and gods for the sake of the illusory five aggregates, allowing the five aggregates to enjoy the retributive rewards of wealth and glory among humans and gods. He feels that there is an "I" who can enjoy pleasures, that there are persons who will receive generosity, and that there is merit to be obtained. Such a person will not believe and accept the true dharma spoken by the Tathāgata—no mark of self, no mark of person, no mark of sentient beings, no mark of life span—and will not believe and accept the vajra mind of true suchness that is free of the four marks. Then he will not recite the Diamond Sūtra, will not awaken to the true mind of suchness, the tathāgatagarbha, and even less will he expound the Mahāyāna dharma of true suchness for other sentient beings.

As for those of the small vehicle who delight in and cling to their own liberation, because their minds also cling to the four marks and they mistakenly perceive the existence of a self of the five aggregates, they fear that their five-aggregate self will again suffer and transmigrate, so they hurriedly enter nirvāṇa and depart from the birth-and-death of the three realms, unwilling to turn their minds toward the study and practice of the Mahāyāna bodhisattva dharma. Therefore they also will not come to listen to, accept, and recite this sūtra, and certainly even less can they expound this sūtra for others.

Original text: 须菩提。在在处处。若有此经。一切世间天人阿修罗。所应供养。当知此处。则为是塔。皆应恭敬。作礼围绕。以诸华香而散其处。

Explanation: Subhūti, no matter in what place, wherever this Diamond Sūtra exists—the vajra indestructible mind, the tathāgatagarbha—all the devas and asuras of every world should come to make offerings to this sūtra and to the Mahāyāna Tathāgata Buddha. You should know that wherever this sūtra is present, that place is a stūpa, a solemn place of practice. All sentient beings should revere and make offerings there; with body and mind entirely they should circumambulate the stūpa and pay homage, and should scatter all kinds of flowers and incense in that place, offering flowers and incense to the Buddha's stūpa shrine.

Why should offerings be made wherever this sūtra is present? Because this sūtra is the Dharmakāya Buddha (dharma-kāya-buddha), is the Tathāgata; only by making offerings to this Buddha can one ultimately become a Buddha. Moreover, one must primarily make offerings through upholding and reciting, and make offerings by relying upon it in practice, in order to ultimately become a Buddha. Why is the place where this sūtra is present a place of practice? Because all practice is carried out centered upon this sūtra; all practice is carried out within this place of practice; all dharmas come from this place of practice; all the enterprises of delivering sentient beings are carried out in this place of practice; ultimately becoming a Buddha is also accomplished in this place of practice; the wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā) is perfected in this place of practice; and all Buddha-lands are also accomplished in this place of practice. Why should one pay homage and circumambulate this sūtra? Because no sentient being and no dharma can, in the final analysis, depart from this sūtra; even without circumambulating, one is circumambulating—there is no way around it. Even one who possesses infinite power cannot depart from this sūtra and this stūpa.