Diamond Sutra Commentary: Section Eighteen, One Body, Same Contemplation

Original text:须菩提。于意云何。如来有肉眼不。如是。世尊。如来有肉眼。须菩提。于意云何。如来有天眼不。如是。世尊。如来有天眼。

Explanation: Subhūti, what do you think? Does the Tathāgata possess the flesh eye? Subhūti replied: Yes, World-Honored One, the Tathāgata possesses the flesh eye. The World-Honored One asked again: Subhūti, what do you think? Does the Tathāgata possess the divine eye? Subhūti replied: Yes, World-Honored One, the Tathāgata possesses the divine eye.

The flesh eye is a material form composed of the four great elements, floating on the surface of the body. It can confront material sense-objects and is responsible for transmitting particles of material sense-objects into the supreme faculty (indriya). On this basis, eye consciousness can arise, and then one can clearly discern the various realms of material sense-objects. The flesh eyes of sentient beings differ in shape, color, and function, and their locations on the head also differ; according to the karmic seeds of sentient beings, different forms and functions manifest, and their capacity for seeing forms also differs. Depending on differences in karmic power, what sentient beings see of material form—its height, distance, up and down, size, range, color, and content—also varies.

Taking the human eye as an example, the flesh eye is limited by obstructions; material bodies beyond an obstruction cannot be seen, and one can only see objects between one's eyes and the obstruction. When there is no obstruction, the ordinary person's flesh eye can see at most a distance of a few kilometers; within one foot of the eye, the closer an object is, the less clearly it can be seen, and pressed right against the flesh eye, it becomes completely invisible. The flesh eye is limited by light; if the light is too strong or too dim, objects cannot be seen. The finer a material body is, the less clearly it can be seen. This is even more so when the flesh eye has disease or obstruction, such as presbyopia, myopia, hyperopia, glaucoma, and so on. Therefore, the flesh eyes of sentient beings have many limitations.

But the Buddha's flesh eye is not like this. Through the Buddha's cultivation over three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas, all karmic obstructions have been completely and thoroughly extinguished, so the Buddha's flesh eye sees forms without the slightest obstruction. The Buddha's flesh eye is as clear and bright as the waters of the four great oceans, deep and vast, unfathomably deep. In the Buddhist sutras, the Buddha's eye is likened to a clear lotus eye, broad and long, an appearance of supreme compassion. The Buddha's eyes are not round and bulging; there is no appearance of almond eyes wide open—that is an appearance of anger. The Buddha's mind is compassionate and gentle, and thus His eyes are broad, long, and slender, corresponding to a compassionate mind. The Buddha's appearance, with the thirty-two marks and eighty minor marks, is completely consistent with the Buddha's mind; it is the outward manifestation of the Buddha's mind. The appearance of sentient beings is also the outward manifestation of the minds of sentient beings, consistent with their minds. As the appearance, so the person: when a sentient being's mind is greedy, the appearance shows greed; when a sentient being's mind is hateful, the appearance shows anger; when a sentient being's mind is deluded, the appearance shows foolishness.

The Buddha's flesh eye is vastly superior to those of sentient beings by countless times. The Buddha's flesh eye will never develop disease or obstruction, and will never see forms in a distorted way. When the Buddha's flesh eye sees forms, it sees the extremely subtle, even extremely subtle forms as tiny as bacteria, without any obstruction, and can see them all clearly. Unlike humans, He does not need microscopes or magnifying glasses; the Buddha's flesh eye can completely replace microscopes and magnifying glasses. The Buddha's flesh eye can see the extremely distant limiting form (paricchinna-rūpa) and analyzed form (analytical form, vikalpita-rūpa) at extreme distances. The merit of the Buddha's flesh eye is extremely extraordinary!

The divine eye also sees forms, confronting material sense-objects, but the divine eye sees forms without obstruction; it can see through the obstruction of matter, seeing material sense-objects at extremely great distances, such as being able to see other celestial bodies and other worlds, seeing the material sense-objects behind all obstructions, such as matter within the earth's crust, or the material forms behind Mount Sumeru. The divine eye generally refers to the eyes of heavenly beings, because the physical bodies of heavenly beings are relatively subtle, not composed of coarse and heavy four great elements like human bodies. Therefore heavenly beings have supernatural powers, and the eyes of heavenly beings have supernatural powers, capable of seeing through things and seeing the material sense-objects of other celestial bodies at extremely great distances. The physical bodies of ghosts, spirits, asuras, and other non-human beings are also not coarse material forms, but material forms composed of subtle four great elements; therefore their seeing of forms also has no obstruction, or less obstruction, and thus they all have minor supernatural powers. Their supernatural powers vary in size, with some differences depending on their karmic power.

If human beings have the divine eye, it is either the retributive superknowledge (vipāka-abhijñā) they are born with, or it is obtained through cultivating meditative concentration (samādhi). Depending on differences in retribution and in meditative concentration, the divine eye power has many variations. But the Buddha's divine eye power vastly surpasses that of all heavenly beings, all arhats, all pratyekabuddhas, and also exceeds that of all the great bodhisattvas; it can see the immeasurable Buddha-lands of the worlds in the ten directions without obstruction. This is the extraordinary retribution obtained by all Buddhas through their cultivation over three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas.

Original text:须菩提。于意云何。如来有慧眼不。如是。世尊。如来有慧眼。须菩提。于意云何。如来有法眼不。如是。世尊。如来有法眼。须菩提。于意云何。如来有佛眼不。如是。世尊。如来有佛眼。

Explanation: Subhūti, what do you think? Does the Tathāgata possess the wisdom eye? Subhūti replied: Yes, World-Honored One, the Tathāgata possesses the wisdom eye. Subhūti, what do you think? Does the Tathāgata possess the dharma eye? Subhūti replied: Yes, World-Honored One, the Tathāgata possesses the dharma eye. Subhūti, what do you think? Does the Tathāgata possess the Buddha eye? Subhūti replied: Yes, World-Honored One, the Tathāgata possesses the Buddha eye.

The wisdom eye, as the name suggests, is the eye of wisdom, referring to the wisdom possessed by the sixth and seventh consciousnesses. Wisdom is further divided into the wisdom of seeing the path of the Small Vehicle and the wisdom of seeing the path of the Great Vehicle. The Small Vehicle's wisdom eye is first obtained when one eradicates the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) in the Small Vehicle. Relying on this eye of wisdom, one knows the principle of the emptiness of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) in the Small Vehicle, and sees that all dharmas in the world are suffering, empty, impermanent, and without self. When the Small Vehicle's wisdom eye is perfectly penetrated, one possesses the omniscience of the Small Vehicle, including worldly knowledge, knowledge of dharmas, knowledge by inference, knowledge of the truth of suffering, knowledge of the truth of origination, knowledge of the truth of cessation, knowledge of the truth of the path, knowledge of others' minds, knowledge of exhaustion (kṣaya-jñāna), and knowledge of non-arising (anutpāda-jñāna). These ten wisdoms are what an arhat of the fourth fruit can fully possess: knowing the truth of suffering, the truth of origination, the truth of cessation, and the truth of cultivating the path regarding all dharmas of the five-aggregate world; knowing that all dharmas are empty, arising yet not arising; and also knowing how to extinguish one's own five aggregates, escape birth and death in the three realms, and attain liberation.

The wisdom eye of the Great Vehicle bodhisattva is obtained at the initial seeing of the mind and enlightenment. Because one has realized the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha, which neither arises nor ceases, one knows that the five-aggregate body exists depending on the tathatā mind and is produced by the tathatā mind; therefore the five aggregates are illusory and not the self. The true mind exists originally and does not need to be born. By directly observing the operation of the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha, one can know more of its characteristics and thereby gain more wisdom. After the wisdom eye is perfectly penetrated, one is thoroughly versed in the principles of both the Great and Small Vehicles. After seeing the path, when one possesses one portion of the seed-wisdom of consciousness-only (vijñapti-mātra), one enters the first bhūmi and obtains the dharma eye. A bodhisattva on the bhūmis with the dharma eye can directly observe that all the myriad dharmas of the six sense-objects in the world are generated by the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha; apart from this tathāgatagarbha, no dharma can exist independently, no dharma has its own intrinsic nature—all is the nature of the tathāgatagarbha.

Whether all the material forms confronted by the eye faculty, all the sound dharmas confronted by the ear faculty, all the scent dharmas confronted by the nose faculty, all the flavor dharmas confronted by the tongue faculty, all the tangible dharmas confronted by the body faculty, or all the six sense-object dharmas confronted by the manas—all are produced by the tathāgatagarbha, without exception. This is the wisdom realm of direct realization of a bodhisattva possessing the dharma eye, knowing that outside the mind there is not the slightest dharma to be obtained, and outside the mind not a single dharma exists.

After the dharma eye is perfectly penetrated, the consciousnesses are transformed into wisdom, the great mirror-like wisdom (ādarśa-jñāna) manifests, the merits of the Buddha-way are perfected, and omniscience (sarvākārajñatā) is accomplished—then one possesses the Buddha eye. The Buddha eye can thoroughly see the essence of all dharmas, know the ultimate reality of all dharmas, see that all dharmas are tathatā, and see that all sentient beings are also tathatā. Within the world and beyond the world, there is no dharma He does not know, no dharma He is not aware of, no dharma He does not see, without the slightest obstruction. He knows all the mental activities of all sentient beings in the worlds of the ten directions, without a single omission, without a single slip, without a single error—His mind attains unobstructedness.