Explanation of the Diamond Sutra. Chapter XVII: The Ultimate Truth of No-Self

In this section, the World-Honored One expounds on the ultimate state of selflessness, instructing Subhūti that after a bodhisattva has generated the vast and profound bodhicitta and extensively delivered immeasurable sentient beings, they must eradicate the notions of "I" and "sentient beings," becoming free from the notions of self and beings. The mind must gradually progress toward selflessness until attaining ultimate selflessness. For in the fundamental truth, there truly is no self—neither the self of persons nor the self of dharmas exists—thus all must be utterly extinguished. Only then does this accord with the profound bodhicitta, subduing the self and purifying the mind, enabling the buddhas to bestow the prediction of buddhahood. Even upon attaining buddhahood, the mind remains selfless and empty, devoid of the dharma-mark of attaining buddhahood, devoid of the dharma-mark of delivering sentient beings, and devoid of any dharma-mark whatsoever.

Original Text: At that time, Subhūti addressed the Buddha, saying: "World-Honored One, when virtuous men and virtuous women generate the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, how should they abide? How should they subdue their minds?"

Explanation: Subhūti asked the Buddha: "World-Honored One, when virtuous men and virtuous women generate the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, how should they abide? How should they subdue their minds?"

This is Subhūti inquiring on behalf of sentient beings, asking the World-Honored One how bodhisattvas should abide after generating the Mahāyāna bodhicitta. Which mind is this? It refers to the sixth and seventh consciousnesses capable of generating bodhicitta, not the true mind, the Tathāgatagarbha, which does not generate bodhicitta. The Tathāgatagarbha generates no mind whatsoever; it has no mental activities, no aspirations, no desire to attain buddhahood, and its mental activity is non-abiding. With Subhūti's wisdom, he would not ask the World-Honored One how the Tathāgatagarbha should abide, especially since the World-Honored One had already expounded the non-abiding nature of the Vajra Prajñā mind. Subhūti is asking: Since the deluded mind capable of generating bodhicitta has now generated the pure great vow, should it still abide as before in the worldly dharmas of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and mental objects? Should it abide in the five aggregates? Did it generate this mind for the sake of these worldly dharmas? After generating the Mahāyāna bodhicitta, one should no longer cling to all marks of worldly dharmas as before, nor should greed, hatred, and delusion blaze fiercely. One should subdue this mind—but how should it be subdued?

Original Text: The Buddha told Subhūti: "Virtuous men and virtuous women who generate the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi should generate this mind: 'I should liberate all sentient beings. After liberating all sentient beings, there is not a single sentient being who has truly been liberated.'"

Explanation: The Buddha told Subhūti: "Virtuous men and virtuous women who generate the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi should generate this mind: 'I should liberate all sentient beings. After liberating all sentient beings, within my mind, I know that I have not truly liberated a single sentient being.'"

Here, "liberate" (滅度, mie du) has two meanings. The first meaning refers to sentient beings, after realizing the selflessness of the five aggregates, gradually exhausting self-attachment, cultivating to the fourth fruit, and attaining liberation through the remainderless nirvāṇa. After remainderless nirvāṇa, the five aggregates and seven consciousnesses are all extinguished; all eighteen elements vanish; the marks of the three realms disappear, leaving only the indestructible, indestructible mind, the Tathāgatagarbha, abiding in a state of nothingness, quiescent and inactive. This sentient being then vanishes and perishes; this is called liberation (滅度).

They are extinguished (滅), but why is it called "crossing over" (度)? Because this sentient being, who previously cycled in the six paths creating unwholesome karma and suffering immeasurable and boundless misery, now has their mental faculty (manas) extinguished, ending the fundamental ignorance. They no longer create karma for birth and death, much less revolve through the three realms of existence according to karma, undergoing the suffering of birth and death. Henceforth, they no longer experience birth, death, or suffering, nor is there any so-called "them." Their true self—the Tathāgatagarbha—creates no karma, has no birth or death, and certainly suffers no pain; it is purely quiescent and non-active. Therefore, "crossing over" (度) means crossing beyond the suffering of birth and death, transcending the cycle of the six paths.

"Liberation" (滅度) also has another meaning: After a bodhisattva guides sentient beings to realize the true-mind Tathāgatagarbha, the deluded mind of the seventh consciousness gradually extinguishes ignorance, afflictions, and habitual tendencies. All eight consciousnesses transform into wisdom, becoming the ultimately perfect, unsurpassable honored one, no longer a sentient being. Thus, this sentient being is liberated, completely becoming a buddha of fruition, a World-Honored One, no longer merely a buddha in principle. Such liberation of sentient beings is ultimate liberation, the best and most perfect liberation, flawless and without the slightest regret.

Thus, having liberated all sentient beings, immeasurable and boundless sentient beings have been liberated, yet within the mind, there is no such thought that one has liberated all sentient beings. Rather, one feels that not a single sentient being has been liberated, that not one sentient being has been delivered. This seems paradoxical: Why is it said that not a single sentient being has been delivered, when clearly all sentient beings have been delivered?