Explanation of the Diamond Sutra: Chapter 24, The Incomparable Merit and Wisdom

Original text of the Diamond Sutra: 须菩提。若三千大千世界中。所有诸须弥山王。如是等七宝聚。有人持用布施。若人以此般若波罗蜜经。乃至四句偈等。受持读诵。为他人说。于前福德。百分不及一。百千万亿分。乃至算数譬喻所不能及。

Explanation: Subhūti, if someone gathered all the seven treasures as numerous as the Sumeru mountains in the trichiliocosm (three-thousandfold great thousand worlds) and gave them away in generosity (dāna), that merit would be extremely great. But there is another person who can receive, hold, read, and recite this Diamond Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, or even just one four-line verse of the Diamond Sutra, and expound it to others. The merit gained by these two people — the latter far surpasses the former. The merit gained from receiving and holding the sūtra is a hundred times, a hundred thousand koti times, indeed immeasurably countless times greater than the merit of one who gives away seven treasures as numerous as Mount Sumeru. The gap between them cannot be calculated by any human method of computation, nor can it be expressed by any of the various metaphors of human language — the difference is simply too great.

One trichiliocosm contains a billion or ten billion Sumeru mountains; one Mount Sumeru is countless times larger than the Earth, and the Earth itself has countless hills large and small as well as vast, boundless lands. If a person gave away only the seven treasures of a single small hill, that merit would already be incalculable — let alone giving the seven treasures of the entire Earth, let alone seven treasures as numerous as Mount Sumeru, and still more so giving seven treasures as numerous as a billion or ten billion Mount Sumerus. The merit such a person gains could not be calculated even by countless computers. Yet the Buddha said that even such immense merit is not great — it is far smaller than the merit of receiving, holding, reading, and reciting the Diamond Sutra, differing by an enormous margin, incomparable and beyond reckoning. Even if one receives, holds, reads, and recites just one four-line verse of the Diamond Sutra, the merit gained far exceeds, by countless multiples, the merit of giving seven treasures as numerous as all the Sumeru mountains in a trichiliocosm. So how great, then, must be the merit of receiving, holding, reading, and reciting the entire Diamond Sutra?

As discussed previously, those who can truly receive, hold, read, and recite the Diamond Sutra or the four-line verses within it are all people who have genuinely seen the mind and realized the ultimate reality of prajñā; only they have the capacity to receive and hold the Diamond Sutra, only they truly know how to read and recite it, and only they know how to read the Diamond Sutra and how to recite it. The Diamond Sutra entirely expounds the wisdom and virtues of the mind of ultimate reality (dharmatā-citta) of prajñā; its principle is profound and profound again.

Only after realizing the vajra mind (vajra-citta), the tathāgatagarbha, can one understand the dharma of the tathāgatagarbha, can one recite forth the contents within the tathāgatagarbha, can one accept all the dharma meanings of the tathāgatagarbha, and can one gradually practice in accordance with the principle of the tathāgatagarbha, thereby transforming all the mental activities of the deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses. From then on, the afflictions of the deluded seven consciousnesses will gradually be eliminated, the habit energies of afflictions will gradually grow fainter, and ignorance will gradually weaken. Cultivating in reliance on the tathāgatagarbha, one will come to know ever more profound dharma meanings, as well as all the seed contents within the tathāgatagarbha; thus the delusions of dust-and-sand ignorance will become fewer and fewer, until in the end they are all extinguished.

The merit of receiving, holding, reading, and reciting the Diamond Sutra is truly difficult to describe and depict. By citing just a small portion of examples to give a general idea, everyone will be able to understand the boundlessness and inconceivability of this merit. For example, after a bodhisattva realizes the ultimate reality of prajñā and cultivates the four dhyānas and eight samādhis, he will have a hundred, thousand, ten thousand, or hundred million mind-made bodies (manomaya-kāya), with which to benefit and bring joy to countless sentient beings, enabling them to transcend the suffering of saṃsāra and birth-and-death. This merit is truly priceless and beyond comparison; it cannot be calculated, and its merit can never be exhausted, forever and ever, and it will increase without limit.

As for the merit of giving away the Sumeru mountains of the great thousand worlds, although it is also extremely great and beyond reckoning, it is still finite and can be used up. Such merit also cannot offset evil karma; perhaps, due to ignorance, while enjoying blessings one may use that merit to commit great evil deeds, and then one will undergo evil retribution in accordance with that evil karma. When committing evil deeds, one's merit is also diminished and consumed, until in the end the merit is entirely used up in various ways. But the merit of a bodhisattva who reads, recites, receives, and holds the Diamond Sutra not only is not diminished but increases; the accumulated merit grows ever more abundant and ever greater.

As the bodhisattva's wisdom continually grows, his merit increases countless times over. When the bodhisattva reaches the bhūmi of an eighth-stage bodhisattva, with a single mental intention (manaskāra) he can manifest a trichiliocosm filled with seven treasures, countless times more than Mount Sumeru, and the bodhisattva will give it all to sentient beings — that merit is even more incalculable. The bodhisattva will also manifest the various material necessities of life that sentient beings need, to give in generosity and benefit sentient beings — this merit too is incalculable. Moreover, the bodhisattva manifests countless transformation bodies going to the worlds of the ten directions to widely deliver immeasurable and boundless sentient beings — that merit need no longer be calculated, because it simply cannot be calculated, nor imagined, nor conceived.

This is the merit gained by an eighth-stage bodhisattva, or the merit gained by bodhisattvas before the eighth bhūmi — all of it is incalculable. When the bodhisattva further cultivates to the bhūmi of a bodhisattva of equal enlightenment (samatā-samukha), over a hundred kalpas the bodhisattva manifests countless great-bodied beings for immeasurable sentient beings to eat and survive famine — the merit gained is even more unimaginable. Cultivating further to the fruit of Buddhahood, widely delivering immeasurable sentient beings throughout the worlds of the ten directions, the merit gained — even if all sentient beings calculated it together, they could not compute it, and no words could express it. Therefore the World-Honored One said that the merit of those who receive, hold, read, and recite the Diamond Sutra and the four-line verses within it is greater than the merit of those who give the seven treasures by immeasurable hundreds of thousands of kotis of times — and it does not stop there. The two are truly incomparable.

Since receiving, holding, reading, and reciting the Diamond Sutra carries such great merit, can we read and recite the Diamond Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra? Can we read and recite one of its four-line verses? If we can read it, the hidden meaning of the diamond prajñā will all manifest; if we cannot read it, can we listen? If we can listen, the hidden meaning of the diamond prajñā can also be heard. Why can some people not read it? Because sentient beings all treat reading sūtras as something very ordinary, thinking there is nothing to it — just making sounds with the mouth, opening and closing the lips, what is there to it? Those who can truly read do not think this way. Those who can read can read out the mysteries within — this is the greatest offering to the Buddha. Those who can read the sūtra can also reveal its mysteries to sentient beings, thereby guiding them toward correct views and dispelling their confusion and darkness; those who can read and recite the sūtra all know it in every aspect of daily life, without delusion and without inversion.

For those who cannot read the Diamond Sutra, I will now teach you to read and recite it. You should read and recite it like this: Jin~gang~ban~ruo~bo~luo~mi~jing…… (Dia~mond~Praj~ñā~pā~ra~mit~ā~Sūtra……), one word at a time, with cadence and rhythm, the voice rising and falling, the flow of sound now long, now short; at the same time, turn the light around and introspect upon your own capacity to read, seeking the place where the sounds arise and cease, and firmly plant a great big question mark upon it. If even so you still cannot read it, then you must train yourself to listen: Yi……qie……you……wei……fa……ru……meng……huan……pao……ying…… (All……condi……tioned……phenom……ena……are……like……dreams……illusions……bubbles……shadows……). Imagine someone beside you reciting it just like this, then imagine how he reads it out — how his tongue, teeth, and lips coordinate, imagine how his voice comes out, and from where it comes out.

Then contemplate yourself: "Dream"…… is all of this a dream? Are these sounds a dream? Is the person reading the sūtra before you a dream? Is the very matter of reading and listening to the sūtra a dream? "Illusion"…… is all of this an illusion? How are the words, the language, the people, the mind that listens, and the sounds that are heard illusory? "Bubble"…… is all of this like a bubble? From where does it emerge? When the bubble bursts, where does it go? "Shadow"…… is all of this a shadow? How is the shadow conjured forth? Who conjured forth the shadow? How can one seize the master who conjures the illusory shadow?

When all the preparatory groundwork has been done well, and the time is ripe as water flows into a channel, the answer to the riddle will naturally be revealed, the truth will come fully to light, and you will seize that diamond prajñā mind of ultimate reality and realize the tathāgatagarbha. From then on, you will truly know how to read and recite the Diamond Sutra, and you will know how to receive and hold it — how wonderful that would be!