Commentary on the Diamond Sutra: One Substance, the Same View, Eighteen

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: So it is, 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: So it is, World-Honored One, the Tathāgata possesses the divine eye.

The flesh eye is a material form (rūpa-dharma) composed of the four great elements, floating on the surface of the body. It can confront material sense-objects (rūpa-viṣaya) and is responsible for transmitting particles of material sense-objects into the supreme faculty (rūpa-prasāda). On this basis, the eye consciousness can arise, and then it 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 varies. Depending on differences in karma, what sentient beings see of material form—its height and lowness, distance and nearness, above and below, size, range, color, and content—also differs.

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 only 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 for flesh eyes with disease and obstructions, such as presbyopia, myopia, hyperopia, glaucoma, and so on. Thus 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. The Buddhist sūtras compare the Buddha's eye to the 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 the appearance of anger and hatred. The Buddha's mind is compassionate and gentle, and therefore His eyes are broad, long, and slender in appearance, 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: if a sentient being's mind is greedy, the appearance manifests a greedy look; if a sentient being's mind is hateful, the appearance manifests a hateful look; if a sentient being's mind is deluded, the appearance manifests a deluded look.

The Buddha's flesh eye is supremely 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, who must use microscopes and magnifying glasses, the Buddha's flesh eye can completely replace microscopes and magnifying glasses. The Buddha's flesh eye can see the extremely distant limit-of-form (paricchinna-rūpa) and the extremely subtle aggregated forms (rūpa-saṃcaya). The merit of the Buddha's flesh eye is supremely extraordinary!

The divine eye also sees forms and confronts 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, and seeing the material sense-objects behind all obstructions, such as the matter within the earth's crust, or the material forms behind Mount Sumeru. The divine eye generally refers to the eyes of devas; because the devas' material bodies are relatively subtle, not composed of coarse and heavy four great elements like human bodies, devas have supernatural powers, and the devas' eyes have supernatural powers, able to see through things and able to see the material sense-objects of extremely distant celestial bodies. Beings such as ghosts, spirits, asuras, and non-humans also do not have material bodies of coarse matter; their material bodies are composed of subtle four great elements, so they also see forms without obstruction, or with less obstruction, and therefore they all have minor supernatural powers. The extent of their powers varies, with some differences depending on their karma.

If human beings have the divine eye, it is either a retributive superknowledge (vipāka-abhijñā) possessed from birth, or it is obtained through cultivating meditative concentration (samādhi). Depending on differences in retribution and in meditative concentration, there are many variations in the divine eye power. The Buddha's divine eye power, however, far surpasses that of all devas, all arhats, and all pratyekabuddhas, and also exceeds that of all the great bodhisattvas; it can see the immeasurable buddha-lands of the ten directions without obstruction. This is the supreme retribution obtained through the Buddhas' 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 eliminates self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) in the Small Vehicle; relying on this eye of wisdom, one knows the principle of the emptiness of the five aggregates 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 Small Vehicle's knowledge of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā): 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 completely, to leave the birth-and-death of the three realms, and to attain liberation.

The Great Vehicle bodhisattva's wisdom eye is obtained at the initial awakening of seeing one's true mind. Because one has realized the unborn and unceasing true mind, the tathāgatagarbha, one knows that the five-aggregate body exists dependent on the mind of suchness (tathatā) and is produced by the mind of suchness; therefore the five aggregates are illusory and not self. The true mind exists originally and does not need to be born. By observing present reality, the operation of the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha, one can come to know more of the true mind's characteristics and thereby obtain more wisdom. After the wisdom eye is perfectly penetrated and one is thoroughly versed in the principles of both the Great and Small Vehicles, and after seeing the path, when one possesses one portion of the seed-wisdom of consciousness-only (vijñapti-mātratā), one enters the first bhūmi and obtains the dharma eye. A bodhisattva on the bhūmis who has the dharma eye can directly observe that all the myriad dharmas of the six sense-objects in the world are produced by the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha; apart from this tathāgatagarbha, not a single dharma can exist independently, not a single dharma has its own self-nature—all is the nature of the tathāgatagarbha.

Whether it is all the material forms confronted by the eye faculty, all the sounds confronted by the ear faculty, all the scents confronted by the nose faculty, all the flavors confronted by the tongue faculty, all the tangibles 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 contemplation of a bodhisattva who possesses the dharma eye, knowing that outside the mind not the slightest dharma can be obtained, that outside the mind not a single dharma exists.

After the dharma eye is perfectly penetrated, the consciousnesses are transformed into wisdom, the great perfect mirror wisdom (ādarśajñāna) manifests, the merits of the buddha path are perfected, and the wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā) is accomplished—then one possesses the buddha eye. The buddha eye can thoroughly see the essence of all dharmas, knows the true reality of all dharmas, sees that all dharmas are suchness (tathatā), and sees that all sentient beings are also suchness. Within the world and beyond the world, there is no dharma it does not know, no dharma it is not clear about, no dharma it does not see—without the slightest obstruction. It 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—the mind attains unobstructedness.