The Profound Meaning of Consciousness-Only in the Diamond Sutra (100)

The Buddha said: "So it is, so it is, Subhuti. Truly, there is no dharma by which the Tathagata attains Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Subhuti, if there were a dharma by which the Tathagata attains Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, then Dipankara Buddha would not have given me the prediction, saying: 'You in the future world will become a Buddha, named Sakyamuni.' Because truly there is no dharma to attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, therefore Dipankara Buddha gave me the prediction, saying: 'You in the future world will become a Buddha, named Sakyamuni.'"

Explanation: The World-Honored One said: "So it is, so it is, Subhuti. Truly, there is not a single dharma that can enable the Tathagata to attain the Buddha-fruit, nor does the Tathagata rely on any dharma to attain the Buddha-fruit. If there were one dharma or many dharmas that the Tathagata could rely on to attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, then Dipankara Buddha would not have given me the prediction, saying: 'You in a certain future kalpa will achieve the Buddha-fruit, your Buddha-name is called Sakyamuni Buddha,' and he also predicted how the Buddha-land would be, how the disciples would be, how the Dharma would spread, and so on. The World-Honored One further said: Because in the mind it is truly understood that the Tathagata has no dharma to rely on that can realize Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Therefore, Dipankara Buddha gave me the prediction, saying: 'You at a certain time in the future will become a Buddha, the Buddha-name is Sakyamuni Buddha.'"

Here, the Tathagata explicitly refers to the Buddha World-Honored One with the five aggregates, and implicitly refers to the True Suchness Mind-essence, the Vajra Prajna Heart. The Buddha's indestructible Vajra heart, from beginningless kalpas, has never attained a single dharma; even the dharma of becoming a Buddha, it does not attain. Because it is not a mind that seeks gain, not a greedy mind; it itself is perfectly complete with all dharmas, lacking not a single dharma; everything in the world comes from this heart. As for the Buddha-dharma, the True Suchness Mind-essence does not attain it; it never studies the Buddha, never studies the Dharma, for the Buddha and the Dharma refer to itself, so there is no need for it to study itself.

It does not cultivate precepts, meditation, and wisdom, nor does it extinguish greed, hatred, and delusion, nor does it destroy ignorance, because it itself is endowed with precepts, meditation, and wisdom, and itself has no ignorance or greed, hatred, and delusion. It also does not need to eliminate the four marks and eight marks, because it itself has no mark at all, does not cling to any mark, does not correspond to marks, and instead can manifest immeasurable and boundless marks. Therefore, the Tathagata truly has no dharma to attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.

And the Tathagata with the five aggregates, relying on the markless true Tathagata mind-essence, also does not attain a single dharma, does not attain the Buddha-dharma; body and mind, inside and outside, are utterly naked and bare, without a single dharma, corresponding to the True Suchness Mind-essence, abandoning all dharmas and all marks, even the Buddha-dharma is entirely abandoned, and only then can one become a Buddha. If there is a single dharma not emptied and purified in the mind, one cannot achieve the Buddha-way. Although one achieves the Buddha-way and attains the Buddha-fruit position, in reality, there is no Buddha-fruit to attain, not even the dharma of non-attainment is attained. All dharmas that are objects of attainment, all marked dharmas, are entirely empty and illusory; only in this way can one become a Buddha and be the Buddha World-Honored One.