Explanation of the Diamond Sutra: No Annihilation, No Extinction, Section 27

Original Text: Subhuti, if you should think thus: The Tathagata does not attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi by virtue of possessing all marks. Subhuti, do not think thus: The Tathagata does not attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi by virtue of possessing all marks.

Explanation: Subhuti, if you have such a thought in your mind, believing that the Tathagata did not attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi because he is endowed with all the excellent marks, then quickly extinguish this thought. Subhuti, do not have such a thought, believing that the Tathagata did not attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi because he is endowed with limitless excellent and majestic marks. Subhuti, it is precisely because the Tathagata is endowed with limitless excellent and majestic marks that he attained Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.

Because sentient beings have shallow wisdom and cannot comprehensively understand all dharmas, their views and knowledge become biased and deficient. Therefore, when sentient beings see the World-Honored One refute the marks of self, others, sentient beings, and a life span; refute the marks of forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, and dharmas; and also refute the thirty-two marks of the Tathagata, some may think that the Tathagata's attainment of Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi seems possible without being endowed with all marks, that one can attain Bodhi and achieve Buddhahood without them; that those marks are optional and unimportant, that one can become a Buddha without being endowed with excellent marks; that one can become a Buddha without perfecting all merits; or that becoming a Buddha is not accomplished through marks, that marks are unimportant and optional; that Buddhahood does not require any marks, not the marks of the five aggregates, nor the thirty-two marks; that the Buddha does not have a body of the five aggregates, but is merely a mind. All such views and thoughts constitute slander of the Buddha, similar to the view of annihilationist emptiness, harming oneself and others, and one's practice will not achieve accomplishment. The Tathagata must correct these wrong views in order to protect the views of sentient beings from being biased and to guide them on the true and correct path.

Why is thinking that the Tathagata can attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi without being endowed with all excellent marks considered the view of annihilationist emptiness? Because holding such a view leads to ignoring or denying the existence and function of the true mind, the Tathagatagarbha, and denying the actuality of the Tathagatagarbha's functional capabilities, which is annihilationism. When every Bodhisattva practices the Bodhisattva path on the causal ground, each good deed they cultivate is stored as a seed within the Tathagatagarbha. When conditions are ripe, they successively receive the karmic rewards of good deeds, great and small, and even upon attaining Buddhahood, the rewards are not exhausted, becoming increasingly sublime. These rewards include the majestic marks and excellent features of the Bodhisattva's physical body and the five aggregates; they include the environment in which the Bodhisattva lives, the Buddha-land they inhabit; they include all the disciples and relatives under the Bodhisattva's guidance; they include all the Bodhisattva's samadhis and limitless supernormal powers; most importantly, they include the Bodhisattva's boundless wisdom and virtuous abilities, as well as the purification and transformation of the karmic seeds within the Bodhisattva's Tathagatagarbha.

Therefore, when a Bodhisattva attains Buddhahood, the karmic seeds have been completely and utterly purified, and ignorance is entirely eradicated. Thus, the eight consciousnesses can be transformed into the four wisdoms. When the four wisdoms are perfectly clear, the wisdom of all modes (sarvākārajñatā) manifests. The Buddha's four wisdoms are precisely the Buddha's eight consciousnesses. Since the Buddha has eight consciousnesses, he possesses the five aggregates; otherwise, the eight consciousnesses would have no basis. The reason the Buddha's five aggregates are endowed with the thirty-two marks and eighty excellent characteristics is that, throughout three asamkhyeya kalpas of cultivating good dharmas, all the seeds of good deeds were stored within the Tathagatagarbha. When conditions matured and Buddhahood was attained, these seeds manifested, resulting in the extremely majestic and excellent appearance of the five aggregates, perfectly endowed with the thirty-two marks and eighty excellent characteristics, incomparable and supremely sublime.

If one claims that when the Buddha attained Buddhahood, he did not do so by being endowed with excellent and majestic marks, then there are grave faults. First, it would cause sentient beings to mistakenly believe that the Buddha did not possess the seeds of good deeds cultivated over countless kalpas. In reality, the Buddha perfectly cultivated all good deeds throughout his countless kalpas of practice, and the seeds were all collected within the Buddha's Tathagatagarbha. Upon attaining Buddhahood, the most sublime excellent marks and majesty naturally manifest. Second, it would cause sentient beings to misunderstand that upon attaining Buddhahood, the excellent marks and majesty do not manifest, perhaps because the Buddha's Tathagatagarbha did not store the seeds of good deeds. In truth, as long as the Tathagatagarbha exists, it naturally and infallibly stores the seeds of good deeds without exception.

Third, it would cause sentient beings to misunderstand that neither the Buddha nor sentient beings possess the Tathagatagarbha, that the Tathagatagarbha is merely an expedient teaching, and therefore, the seeds of all good deeds cultivated by the Buddha during his practice were not stored, so upon attaining Buddhahood, he was not endowed with excellent and majestic marks. Based on these faults, we should state that the Buddha attained Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi precisely because he is endowed with excellent and majestic marks.

If one claims that when the Buddha attained Buddhahood, he did not experience the karmic reward of good seeds, and that there were no good seeds, this is equivalent to saying that the Buddha fundamentally does not possess the Tathagatagarbha. This is the most fundamental and serious wrong view and heresy, a fundamental annihilationist thought that greatly harms others. Such a wrong view should be quickly eliminated. One should firmly believe that the Tathagatagarbha truly exists, possesses real functional capabilities, and can store the seeds of good deeds cultivated by the Buddha and Bodhisattvas over countless kalpas. In the future, when Buddhahood is attained, these seeds of good deeds will all manifest, and the Buddha will obtain the sublime karmic reward of excellent marks and majesty, thereby attaining Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Without the Tathagatagarbha, the seeds of good deeds could not be stored, and upon attaining Buddhahood, these seeds could not manifest. The Buddha would not be endowed with excellent marks, and thus would not yet be a Buddha, nor would he have attained Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.

From this, one should understand that if one says that when the Buddha achieved Buddhahood, he did not attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi by virtue of being endowed with the thirty-two marks, this is an annihilationist view that denies the reality of the Tathagatagarbha, and it entails immeasurable grave faults. Therefore, the World-Honored One, by advising Subhuti, indirectly advises all sentient beings not to hold annihilationist views, and not to think that the Buddha attained Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi without being endowed with marks. One should state it thus: The Buddha attained Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi precisely because he is endowed with marks. Only this accords with the Buddha's teaching, aligns with the essence of the Dharma, and does not contradict the Mahayana Dharma of Ultimate Reality.

Original Text: Subhuti, if you should think thus: One who has aroused the mind for Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi speaks of all dharmas as being annihilated. Do not think thus. Why? One who has aroused the mind for Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi does not speak of the mark of annihilation with regard to dharmas.

Explanation: Subhuti, if you have such a thought in your mind, believing that a person who has aroused the mind for Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi says that all dharmas are annihilated emptiness, fundamentally non-existent, and that upon attaining Buddhahood, there are also no dharmas and one is not endowed with any marks of dharmas, then you should quickly extinguish such a thought. Do not have such a view. Why should one not have such a view? Because a person who has truly aroused the mind for Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi does so based on faith in the existence of a non-annihilated true mind. Therefore, they will not claim that all dharmas are annihilated.

A person who truly aspires to become a Buddha has already fulfilled the conditions of the stage of faith (śraddhā). They have unwavering faith that every sentient being possesses the true mind, the Tathagatagarbha, which is neither born nor dies. They believe that all Buddhas of the ten directions possess the true mind, the Tathagatagarbha, and rely on it to cultivate and attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. They believe that they themselves also possess the true mind, the Tathagatagarbha, and will be able to realize it in the future, and like all Buddhas, can attain Buddhahood. They also believe that sentient beings throughout the ten directions, because they possess the indestructible vajra-mind, the Tathagatagarbha, can all attain Buddhahood. Because they have generated this faith, the ten stages of faith are fulfilled, and they enter the ten abodes (daśabhūmi) to begin cultivating the six perfections of the Bodhisattva path. If one does not believe that oneself possesses the Tathagatagarbha, and does not believe that the Tathagatagarbha truly exists, then their faith in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha is not yet fulfilled, and their cultivation of the ten stages of faith is incomplete. Thus, they cannot truly arouse the mind for Buddhahood.

Those who have not fulfilled the ten stages of faith cannot yet believe that the Tathagatagarbha truly exists. They often consider the Tathagatagarbha to be merely a nominal term, a concept. They think that the emptiness of the Tathagatagarbha means the Tathagatagarbha does not exist, and that the concept of the Tathagatagarbha is an expedient, provisional teaching of the Buddhas. Because they cannot correctly understand the meaning taught by the Buddha, they misinterpret the Buddha's ultimate and definitive teachings as expedient means or provisional dharmas. They may not openly say that the Buddha was just amusing sentient beings, and ordinary people generally dare not say this openly, but the essence of their view is this. This thought constitutes slander of the Buddha and slander of the Dharma, treating all of the Buddha's ultimate and definitive teachings as non-definitive and non-ultimate, seriously distorting the true meaning of the Buddha. The evil karma of sentient beings slandering the Buddha and the Dharma is widespread. This is not surprising; it is all because sentient beings have cultivated for too short a time over countless kalpas and lack sufficient merit and virtue.

As soon as one denies the true existence of the Tathagatagarbha, that it is truly existent, this constitutes the discourse of annihilationist emptiness, which is extremely harmful. Because without the Tathagatagarbha, all dharmas cannot arise and will be annihilated, ending everything. Those who hold annihilationist views often say that all dharmas arise through causes and conditions and are empty in nature (śūnyatā), that they are all produced by causes and conditions, are all empty, and not a single dharma is real. Since everything is empty and there is no real dharma of the Tathagatagarbha, from what do all dharmas arise? One cannot say that a dharma which is completely empty and non-existent can give rise to another dharma which is also completely empty and non-existent; there is no such principle. It is like the hair of a turtle, which is a non-existent dharma; it cannot give rise to the horns of a rabbit, also a non-existent dharma, because both lack substantial reality. Only a dharma that has substance and self-nature can give rise to dharmas that lack substance and self-nature. A dharma without substance and self-nature cannot give rise to other dharmas. This is the natural principle (dharmatā) of thusness, and there is nothing more to explain.

If one says that all dharmas are dependently arisen and empty in nature, and that there is no substantial dharma like the Tathagatagarbha, then the five-aggregate world of sentient beings would cease and not arise again. There would be no future rebirth, and certainly no possibility of cultivating to attain Buddhahood. Even if, hypothetically, a future five-aggregate existence were to arise, without the Tathagatagarbha to store the karmic seeds of sentient beings, the good deeds cultivated by sentient beings would be in vain, as the seeds could not be collected. If the seeds of good deeds cannot be collected, then cultivation is useless; it would not produce the karmic rewards of good deeds in future lives, let alone induce the more perfect karmic rewards of good deeds upon attaining Buddhahood. There would be no thirty-two marks or eighty excellent characteristics of the Buddha, none of the Buddha's various sublime merits and functions, none of the Buddha's pure lands in the ten directions, none of the Buddha's majestic reward body, none of the Buddha's countless transformation bodies, none of the Buddha's limitless supernormal powers and spiritual penetrations, and no such thing as the transformation of consciousnesses into wisdoms, let alone the Buddha's wisdom of all modes.

Why is it said that without the existence of the substantial Tathagatagarbha, the transformation of consciousnesses into wisdoms is impossible? Because during the cultivation of a single lifetime, the seven consciousnesses transform their mental activities from defiled to pure. If these purified karmic seeds cannot be stored, then in the next life, the seven consciousnesses would still be defiled. The cultivation would have been in vain, with no real benefit, and the defiled nature of the seven consciousnesses would not have been transformed. Consequently, at the stage of Buddhahood, the seven consciousnesses would still be defiled; their karmic seeds would not have been transformed, and their mental activities would not be pure. Thus, Buddhahood could not be attained. Therefore, without the true existence of the substantial Tathagatagarbha, which performs its corresponding meritorious functions, sentient beings cannot attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Hence, one who has truly aroused the mind for Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi does not speak of the mark of annihilation with regard to dharmas, does not say that the Tathagatagarbha is merely a hypothetical, illusory dharma, and does not claim that the mind-essence of the Tathagatagarbha does not truly exist.