Diamond Sutra Commentary: Chapter Twenty-Three, Purifying the Mind and Doing Good

Original text:复次。须菩提。是法平等。无有高下。是名阿耨多罗三藐三菩提。

Explanation: Continuing on, Subhūti, all dharmas in the world are equal, without any difference of high or low; realizing such a state is called anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, that is, the attainment of the unsurpassed Buddha Way.

"These dharmas" refers to all dharmas within the threefold world. Whatever is called a dharma, whatever existing dharma-marks there are, without missing even a speck, are all equal and suchlike, with no high or low, no difference; in their entirety they are tathatā. Observed from the perspective of the principle-substance of tathatā, all dharma-marks are the equal true mind-substance, without a second mark. Giving birth to such great wisdom is provisionally named the attainment of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.

Why does the World-Honored One speak thus? Because at the time of the Buddha's attainment of the Way, the Buddha's seventh consciousness had already been thoroughly transformed into the wisdom of equality (samatā-jñāna); His cognition of all dharmas, mundane and supramundane, had reached ultimate and thorough equality, without the slightest trace of an unequal mind. First, taking the Buddha's most ultimate and unsurpassed wonderful observation wisdom (pratyavekṣaṇā-jñāna) of the sixth consciousness: He observes that all the myriad dharmas of the threefold world are dharma-marks produced on the basis of the functioning of the mind-substance of ultimate reality, tathatā; their essence is all the tathatā of the fundamental substance.

It is just like all the gold articles crafted from gold, including all ornaments, all daily utensils, and various portraits of people and figures—whatever items are made of gold, their essence is gold, nothing else. Whether it is a gold ornament or a gold-cast portrait of a person or figure, it is all gold and can all be used and circulated as gold. If there is a person who does not see the gold but only sees the appearance of the objects, such a person is one who clings to false marks and does not recognize true worth. Not knowing the preciousness of true gold, he abandons the gold and takes the false marks—such a person is called one without wisdom. Worldly ordinary beings are likewise: they only see all the illusory marks of the world, not the substance of those illusory marks; they cling to names and marks and do not recognize the essence. Therefore, out of foolishness and attachment to marks, they cycle endlessly through birth and death in the six paths, suffering without end—truly worthy of compassion.

The Buddha's wonderful observation wisdom not only sees that all dharmas are tathatā, but can also directly contemplate how tathatā perfuses the seeds within the mind-substance, accomplishing the marks of all the myriad dharmas of the threefold world. Therefore, the Buddha's seventh consciousness, the wisdom of equality, can treat all sentient beings of the threefold world equally, without discriminating marks of high or low, noble or base. The Buddha regards all sentient beings equally as all possessing the wisdom and virtues of the Tathāgata's marks, all being Buddhas at the causal stage, who in days to come will all perfectly accomplish the realization of the fruition stage. Therefore the Buddha gives rise to unconditional great compassion toward sentient beings, broadly benefiting sentient beings: as long as beings' faculties are mature, whether they are wholesome or unwholesome, He will equally bestow the food of Dharma upon them, delivering them to attain the Way and liberation.

Original text:以无我无人无众生无寿者。修一切善法。即得阿耨多罗三藐三菩提。

Explanation: When sentient beings, within their minds, do not abide in the mark of self, the mark of person, the mark of sentient being, or the mark of life span, and cultivate all the wholesome dharmas of the mundane and supramundane worlds with a mind and conduct of no mark of self, no mark of person, no mark of sentient being, and no mark of life span, they will attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.

Not long after the opening of the Diamond Sutra, the World-Honored One already broke sentient beings of the four marks. Only a bodhisattva who has broken the four marks can accord with the principle-substance of the vajra prajñā, can accord with the ultimate reality of all dharmas, can accord with tathatā, and ultimately will accord with anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. Because sentient beings, since beginningless kalpas, have constantly clung to the four marks and not accorded with the principle-substance of emptiness (śūnyatā), for the sake of the four marks they have created vast, boundless evil karma, sinking for accumulated kalpas in the ocean of saṃsāra and karma, suffering immeasurably with no time of escape—the root lies in the disease of clinging to the four marks. The World-Honored One, with great compassion, in order to dig out the root of beings' disease of attachment to marks and clinging to marks, skillfully established various expedients to break beings' four marks, because once there are no four marks, one can escape the great pit of fire of birth and death.

Why can being without the four marks allow one to escape the great pit of fire of birth and death? From the perspective of the Hīnayāna teachings, as long as sentient beings can break the mark of self, they will escape the three evil paths; when they cultivate to the point of being able to eradicate attachment to their own five-aggregate body and to the dharmas of the threefold world, they will have the ability to escape the birth-and-death cycle of the six paths, thereby escaping the pit of fire of segmented birth-and-death (pariccheda-maraṇa) and gaining temporary rest. When sentient beings continue advancing along the bodhisattva path and the Buddha path, they will gradually break the various attachments to dharmas, sever the various forms of transformational birth-and-death (parināma-maraṇa), and realize the true purity of nirvāṇa; from then on there will be no more birth and death, and only then will the great pit of fire of birth and death have been truly and thoroughly escaped.

And the starting point of entering the bodhisattva path and the Buddha path is to realize the vajra-prajñā tathatā mind-substance that is originally without the four marks. Cultivating in accordance with this principle-substance without the four marks, the mind becomes increasingly purified, and one will break all the conditioned dharma-marks of the world, not even clinging to the mark of tathatā; the mind becomes empty and pure to the utmost purity, without the slightest remainder of any dharma-mark existing or being clung to. Only thus can one thoroughly and completely accord with the tathatā mind-substance, and ultimately perfectly accomplish the Buddha Way and attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. Therefore the World-Honored One said: with no self, no person, no sentient being, no life span, cultivating all wholesome dharmas and according with the nature-substance of tathatā, one can accomplish anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.

Original text:须菩提。所言善法者。如来说即非善法。是名善法。

Explanation: Subhūti, the wholesome dharmas I speak of—the Tathāgata says these are not wholesome dharmas as recognized by sentient beings; there is no wholesome dharma in any actual sense; they are all merely a surface appearance, and therefore are provisionally named wholesome dharmas.

Wholesome dharmas are divided into many levels and contents: there are worldly wholesome dharmas and supramundane wholesome dharmas, small wholesome dharmas and great wholesome dharmas, and moreover wholesome dharmas in the ultimate sense. Worldly wholesome dharmas are the five precepts and ten good deeds. When the World-Honored One first came to the Sahā world, He first taught the wholesome dharmas of humans and gods, letting sentient beings cultivate in accordance with them and gain worldly merit—this is small goodness. After sentient beings gain worldly merit, they can then continue to follow the World-Honored One in studying the Āgama path of liberation, escaping the suffering of the threefold world—this is middling goodness. Then the World-Honored One spent more than twenty years proclaiming the principle of prajñā to sentient beings, letting them cultivate in accordance with it and all realize the ultimate reality of prajñā, becoming bodhisattvas of true meaning, and then give rise to various profound prajñā wisdoms—this is superior goodness. Afterward the World-Honored One further proclaimed the extremely profound principles of the broad and extensive Yogācāra teachings, delivering the Mahāyāna bodhisattvas so they gradually possessed the profound wisdom of the varieties of paths—this is great goodness. Finally, the World-Honored One proclaimed the ultimate meaning of the One Buddha Vehicle such as the Lotus Sutra (Saddharma-puṇḍarīka Sūtra) and the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, delivering all sentient beings to enter the path to buddhahood, cultivating the dharma of becoming a Buddha, so as to reach the ultimate and perfect fruition of buddhahood—this is ultimate goodness.

These wholesome dharmas all have corresponding dharma-marks, and these dharma-marks are all manifested and conjured forth on the basis of the markless mind-substance, the tathāgatagarbha, which is without the four marks. These dharma-marks are all accomplished by the tathāgatagarbha perfusing forth seeds according to various conditions. In surface appearance they exist and sentient beings can see them, but the existence is not real existence, the marks are not true marks; their essence is the tathatā of the tathāgatagarbha, all being things within the one true dharma-realm of tathatā, not outside of tathatā. All the marks of wholesome dharmas, like vessels of gold, all come from gold, and their essence is all the tathāgatagarbha of gold. Therefore they are all one true dharma-realm—the substance of tathatā. Thus all these false marks of wholesome dharmas, these dharmas that are not really existent, are named wholesome dharmas; though the name is "wholesome dharmas," the substance is the principle-substance of tathatā.