The Profound Yogācāra Meaning of the Diamond Sutra (145)

Original text:何以故。世尊说我见人见众生见寿者见。即非我见人见众生见寿者见。是名我见人见众生见寿者见。

Explanation: Why is this said? Because the view of self, view of person, view of sentient beings, and view of life span that the World-Honored One speaks of are not truly existent views of self, person, sentient beings, and life span. The so-called view of self, view of person, view of sentient beings, and view of life span are not genuinely existent dharmas; they have no real dharma-mark, and are merely provisionally named the view of self, view of person, view of sentient beings, and view of life span—they are just names, nothing more.

These words spoken by Subhūti negate the real existence of such views as the view of self, view of person, view of sentient beings, and view of life span, which is also in accord with the meaning of prajñā in the preceding passages of the sūtra. Because these views are not real dharmas, they can be removed through cultivation, and the four marks can thereby be broken through; one may apply that formula: "So-called... is not... therefore it is named..." The meaning of this formula is that it negates the real existence of all worldly dharmas—there is no true, genuine existence of worldly dharmas; all are false and illusory. Because all are generated and manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, all are the seed-functions of the tathāgatagarbha, and in essence they are all the tathāgatagarbha itself. Therefore all worldly dharmas are merely provisional names, without real meaning.

The view of self, view of person, view of sentient beings, and view of life span—these four wrong views—are also dharmas among the myriad worldly dharmas; they are dharmas that arise later and can be extinguished, dharmas that did not exist before and come to exist, and after existing return to non-existence. In fact, even while they exist, they arise and cease moment by moment; because the speed of arising and ceasing is too fast, sentient beings are unaware of it and mistakenly take them to be truly existent, thus forming various mistaken and wrong views. These wrong views are all false, illusory appearances and are not real. If they were real, sentient beings could not, through cultivation, eliminate these wrong views and thereby become endowed with correct views and insight. These wrong views have no self-nature of their own and no autonomy; they all exist in dependence on external conditions, are generated by the tathāgatagarbha transmitting seeds, and their essence is the nature of the tathāgatagarbha.

Then what is the view of self? And how does it arise? The view of self is the view regarding the mark of self: the correct view is to regard the mark of self as empty; the wrong view is to regard the mark of self as existent. First, regarding the self: the self that sentient beings conceive of refers, first, to the physical body; second, to the mind of the six consciousnesses; third, to the seventh consciousness, the manas; or to the self of the five aggregates and the self of the eighteen realms formed by combining all three. These selves are all false selves, not real; they are all produced by causes and conditions, without实体, existing illusorily, dispersing when conditions cease, and offering nothing to rely upon.

The aggregate of form is generated by the four great-element seeds of the tathāgatagarbha, undergoing arising, abiding, alteration, and extinction, impermanent and mutable; phenomenally it exists, in essence it is nonexistent, and its substance is the tathāgatagarbha. The aggregate of feeling is the feelings of the six consciousnesses, generated by the tathāgatagarbha transmitting the seeds of the six consciousnesses; arising, abiding, altering, and extinguishing, illusory and unreal, it disperses when conditions cease and cannot be relied upon. The aggregate of perception is the six consciousnesses' grasping and discernment of the marks of the six sense objects, generated by the tathāgatagarbha transmitting the seeds of the six consciousnesses; it exists illusorily, disperses when conditions cease, and cannot be relied upon. The aggregate of formations is the flowing change of the six consciousnesses' bodily, verbal, and mental actions, as well as the changes and movements of the physical body, generated by the tathāgatagarbha transmitting the seven great-element seeds; arising, abiding, altering, and extinguishing, illusory and unreal, it disperses when conditions cease and cannot be relied upon. The aggregate of consciousness is the discerning nature of the six consciousnesses, generated by the seeds of the six consciousnesses transmitted by the tathāgatagarbha; illusory and unreal, it disperses when conditions cease and cannot be relied upon. These four aggregates likewise have no substantiality and no autonomy; phenomenally they exist, in essence they are nonexistent, and their substance is the tathāgatagarbha.

This is the self of the five aggregates that sentient beings conceive of—arising and ceasing moment by moment, changing instant by instant. Sentient beings, unaware, take it to be truly existent and cling to it unceasingly. The self that sentient beings conceive of also includes the dharmas of the eighteen realms: the six sense faculties, six sense objects, and six consciousnesses. These dharmas are also generated by the tathāgatagarbha transmitting the seven great-element seeds, arising, ceasing, and changing; phenomenally existent, essentially nonexistent, their substance is all the tathāgatagarbha. Who is it that takes the five aggregates and eighteen realms as self and thus has the view of self? It is the sixth consciousness and the seventh consciousness. The view of self of the sixth consciousness is called the intermittent view of self, and that of the seventh consciousness is called the innate view of self. Because the sixth consciousness exists in discrete segments, it cannot pass on to future lives; it vanishes when a life ends and is born when a life begins—thus it is intermittent. The seventh consciousness has existed since beginningless kalpas and can pass on to future lives; only when one attains the fourth fruit of arhatship and has eliminated all grasping does one gain the ability to extinguish the seventh consciousness. Hence it is called the innate view of self and innate self-grasping.

It is mainly these two consciousnesses that possess the view of self, and these two consciousnesses can only arise, exist, and function when the tathāgatagarbha transmits the seeds of consciousness to them. Therefore the sixth and seventh consciousnesses have no autonomy, no substantiality, no self-mastery; they arise, cease, and change, illusory and impermanent—and moreover they arise, cease, and change moment by moment. Thus the view of self of the six consciousnesses and the view of self of the seventh consciousness "are not the view of self"—they are not truly existent views of self, not views of self with real substance; they are illusory views of self, and their essence is the tathāgatagarbha. Therefore, naming the view of self of the six consciousnesses and the view of self of the seventh consciousness as "the view of self," the view of self is merely a provisional name.

The view of person, view of sentient beings, and view of life span, which correspond to the view of self, follow the same principle: they are all erroneous wrong views arising from the illusory minds of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses manifested by the tathāgatagarbha. These wrong and mistaken views are not truly existent either; like a mirage, they are empty, illusory, and unreal. On the surface they appear to exist, but in essence they do not; their substance is all the tathāgatagarbha, and there are no real such wrong views and misunderstandings. Just as "affliction is itself bodhi," the essence of affliction is the bodhi mind, the tathāgatagarbha; wrong views are also the functions of the bodhi mind, the tathāgatagarbha. Therefore their essence is also the tathāgatagarbha, and apart from this there is nothing else.