The Profound Meaning of Consciousness-Only in the Diamond Sutra (42)

Section Six: The Rarity of True Faith

Original Text: Subhuti addressed the Buddha, saying: "World-Honored One, will there be sentient beings who, upon hearing such words and passages, will give rise to genuine faith?" The Buddha told Subhuti: "Do not say so. After the Tathagata’s parinirvana, in the latter five hundred years, there will be those who observe the precepts and cultivate blessings. They will be able to give rise to faith in these passages, taking them as true. You should know that such individuals have not merely planted roots of goodness with one buddha, two buddhas, three, four, or five buddhas. They have planted roots of goodness with immeasurable thousands and tens of thousands of buddhas. Those who, upon hearing these passages, give rise to pure faith even for a single thought-moment—Subhuti, the Tathagata fully knows and fully sees them. These sentient beings will attain immeasurable blessings."

Explanation: Subhuti asked: "Can it truly be that there are sentient beings who, upon hearing such teachings and principles, will genuinely accept them with faith?" In the previous section, the World-Honored One revealed: "All phenomena marked by form are illusory. If one sees all phenomena as non-phenomena, then one perceives the Tathagata." After hearing this, Subhuti developed doubt, questioning whether sentient beings could truly accept with faith such profound passages and principles upon hearing them.

This question was timely. Because sentient beings differ in their innate capacities—some sharp, some dull—and in their blessings and wisdom, their acceptance of the Dharma also differs. Sentient beings with meager blessings and dull faculties find it difficult to accept the true Great Dharma; they often give rise to doubt and slander. Since ancient times, this has occurred. Did not five thousand disciples at the Lotus Assembly disbelieve in the Mahayana and withdraw? This is a normal phenomenon. Throughout the kalpas, there have always been those who disbelieve in the Dharma of True Reality and slander the Dharma. Because sentient beings have not severed the bonds, they constantly give rise to erroneous views such as the view of self, adherence to views, and doubt. Lacking right knowledge and vision, it is inevitable that they slander the Dharma and disbelieve. The view of self is a view centered primarily on the five aggregates and eighteen realms, regarding this 'self' as real and the functions and activities of the five aggregates as real.