The Profound Meaning of the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sutra from the Consciousness-Only Perspective (Second Edition)

Chapter Nineteen: One Body with a Unified View, Eighteen

Original text of the Diamond Sutra: 须菩提。于意云何。如来有肉眼不。如是。世尊。如来有肉眼。须菩提。于意云何。如来有天眼不。如是。世尊。如来有天眼。

Explanation: Subhūti, what do you think — does the Tathāgata possess the flesh eye? Subhūti replied: Yes, World-Honored One, the Tathāgata possesses the flesh eye. The World-Honored One asked again: Subhūti, what do you think — does the Tathāgata possess the divine eye? Subhūti replied: Yes, World-Honored One, the Tathāgata possesses the divine eye.

The flesh eye is a material form composed of the four great elements, floating on the surface of the body. It can confront material sense-objects and is responsible for transmitting the particles of material sense-objects into the supreme faculty (indriya). On this basis, eye-consciousness can arise, and then one can clearly discern the various realms of material sense-objects. The flesh eyes of sentient beings differ in shape, color, and function, and their locations on the head also differ; according to the karmic seeds of sentient beings, different forms and functions manifest, and their capacity for seeing forms also differs. Depending on the differences in karmic power, what sentient beings see of material form — its height, distance, up and down, size, scope, color, and content — also varies.

Taking the human eye as an example, the flesh eye is limited by obstructions; material bodies beyond an obstruction cannot be seen, and one can only see objects between one's eyes and the obstruction. When there is no obstruction, the ordinary person's flesh eye can see at most a distance of several kilometers; within one foot of the eye, the closer an object is, the less clearly it can be seen, and pressed right against the flesh eye, it becomes completely invisible. The flesh eye is limited by light; if the light is too strong or too dim, objects cannot be seen. The finer the material body, the less clearly it can be seen. This is even more so for flesh eyes with lesions and obstructions, such as presbyopia, myopia, hyperopia, glaucoma, and so on; therefore the flesh eyes of sentient beings have many limitations.

But the Buddha's flesh eye is not like this. Through the Buddha's cultivation over three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas, all karmic obstructions have been completely and thoroughly extinguished, so the Buddha's flesh eye sees forms without the slightest obstruction. The Buddha's flesh eye is as clear and bright as the waters of the four great oceans, deep and vast, unfathomably deep. In the Buddhist sutras, the Buddha's eye is likened to a clear lotus eye, broad and long, an appearance of supreme compassion. The Buddha's eyes are not round and bulging; there is no appearance of almond eyes wide open, for that is an appearance of anger. The Buddha's mind is compassionate and gentle, and thus His eyes are broad, long, and slender, corresponding to a compassionate mind. The Buddha's appearance, with the thirty-two major marks and eighty minor marks, is completely consistent with the Buddha's mind; it is the outward manifestation of the Buddha's mind. The appearance of sentient beings is likewise the outward manifestation of the minds of sentient beings, consistent with their minds. As the saying goes, the face reflects the person: when a sentient being's mind is greedy, the appearance shows a greedy look; when a sentient being's mind is angry, the appearance shows an angry look; when a sentient being's mind is deluded, the appearance shows a deluded look.

The Buddha's flesh eye, in seeing forms, is vastly superior to that of sentient beings by immeasurable multiples. The Buddha's flesh eye will never develop diseases or obstructions and will never see forms in a distorted way. When the Buddha's flesh eye sees forms, it sees the extremely subtle, even extremely subtle forms such as bacteria, without any obstruction, and can see them all clearly. Unlike humans, it does not need microscopes or magnifying glasses; the Buddha's flesh eye can completely substitute for microscopes and magnifying glasses. The Buddha's flesh eye can see the extremely distant extremely dispersed forms and extremely minute forms. The merit of the Buddha's flesh eye is truly extraordinary!

The divine eye also sees forms, confronting material sense-objects, but the divine eye sees forms without obstruction; it can see through the coverings of matter and see material sense-objects at extremely great distances, such as being able to see other celestial bodies and other worlds, and see the material sense-objects behind all obstructions, such as the matter within the earth's crust, or the material forms behind Mount Sumeru. The divine eye generally refers to the eyes of devas, because the material bodies of devas are relatively subtle, not composed of coarse and heavy material of the four great elements like human bodies. Therefore devas have superknowledge; the devas' eyes have superknowledge, capable of seeing through things and seeing the material sense-objects of other celestial bodies at extremely great distances. The material bodies of ghosts, spirits, asuras, and non-human beings are also not coarse material forms, but material forms composed of subtle four great elements; therefore their seeing of forms also has no obstruction, or less obstruction, and thus they all possess minor superknowledge. Their superknowledge varies in magnitude, with some differences depending on their karmic power.

If human beings have the divine eye, it is either a retributive superknowledge (vipāka-abhijñā) possessed from birth, or one obtained through cultivating meditative concentration (samādhi). Depending on differences in retribution and in meditative concentration, there are many variations in the divine eye superknowledge. But the Buddha's divine eye superknowledge vastly surpasses that of all devas, all arhats, and all pratyekabuddhas, and also exceeds that of all the great bodhisattvas; it can see the immeasurable buddha-lands of the worlds in the ten directions without obstruction — this is the extraordinary retribution obtained by all buddhas through their cultivation over three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas.

Original text of the Diamond Sutra: 须菩提。于意云何。如来有慧眼不。如是。世尊。如来有慧眼。须菩提。于意云何。如来有法眼不。如是。世尊。如来有法眼。须菩提。于意云何。如来有佛眼不。如是。世尊。如来有佛眼。

Explanation: Subhūti, what do you think — does the Tathāgata possess the wisdom eye? Subhūti replied: Yes, World-Honored One, the Tathāgata possesses the wisdom eye. Subhūti, what do you think — does the Tathāgata possess the dharma eye? Subhūti replied: Yes, World-Honored One, the Tathāgata possesses the dharma eye. Subhūti, what do you think — does the Tathāgata possess the buddha eye? Subhūti replied: Yes, World-Honored One, the Tathāgata possesses the buddha eye.

The wisdom eye, as the name suggests, is the eye of wisdom, referring to the wisdom possessed by the sixth and seventh consciousnesses. Wisdom is further divided into the wisdom of seeing the path in the Small Vehicle and the wisdom of seeing the path in the Great Vehicle. The Small Vehicle's wisdom eye is first obtained when one eradicates the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) in the Small Vehicle. Relying on this eye of wisdom, one knows the Small Vehicle principle of the emptiness of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha), and sees that all dharmas in the world are suffering, empty, impermanent, and non-self. When the Small Vehicle's wisdom eye is perfectly penetrated, one possesses all the wisdom of the Small Vehicle, including worldly wisdom, dharma wisdom, analogical wisdom, wisdom of the truth of suffering, wisdom of the truth of origination, wisdom of the truth of cessation, wisdom of the truth of the path, knowledge of others' minds, wisdom of exhaustion, and wisdom of non-arising. These ten wisdoms are what an arhat of the fourth fruit can fully possess: knowing the truth of suffering, the truth of origination, the truth of cessation, and the truth of cultivating the path regarding all dharmas of the five-aggregate world, knowing that all dharmas are empty — arising yet not arising — and also knowing how to extinguish one's own five aggregates, escape birth and death in the three realms, and attain liberation.

The wisdom eye of the Great Vehicle bodhisattva is obtained at the initial seeing of the mind and enlightenment. Because one has realized the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha, which neither arises nor ceases, one knows that the five-aggregate body exists in dependence on the tathāgatagarbha mind and is produced by it; therefore the five aggregates are illusory and not self. The true mind exists originally and does not need to be born. By directly observing the operation of the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha, one can know more of its characteristics and thereby gain more wisdom. After the wisdom eye is perfectly penetrated and one is thoroughly versed in the principles of both the Great and Small Vehicles, upon seeing the path and possessing one portion of the seed-wisdom of consciousness-only, one enters the first bhūmi and obtains the dharma eye. A bodhisattva on the bhūmis who has the dharma eye can directly observe that all the myriad dharmas of the six sense-objects in the world are generated by the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha; apart from this tathāgatagarbha, no dharma can exist independently, no dharma has its own self-nature — all are the nature of the tathāgatagarbha.

Whether it is all the material forms confronted by the eye faculty, all the sounds confronted by the ear faculty, all the odors confronted by the nose faculty, all the flavors confronted by the tongue faculty, all the tactile objects confronted by the body faculty, or all the dharmas of the six sense-objects confronted by the manas — all are produced by the tathāgatagarbha, without exception. This is the wisdom realm of direct realization of a bodhisattva possessing the dharma eye, knowing that outside the mind there is not the slightest dharma to be obtained, and outside the mind not a single dharma exists.

After the dharma eye is perfectly penetrated, the consciousnesses are transformed into wisdom, the great mirror-like wisdom (ādarśa-jñāna) manifests, the virtues of the buddha path are perfected, and omniscience (sarvākārajñatā) is accomplished — then one possesses the buddha eye. The buddha eye can thoroughly see the essence of all dharmas, know the ultimate reality of all dharmas, see that all dharmas are suchness, and see that all sentient beings are also suchness. Within the world and beyond the world, there is no dharma it does not know, no dharma it does not understand, no dharma it does not see — without the slightest obstruction. It knows all the mental activities of all sentient beings in the worlds of the ten directions, without a single omission, without a single error, without a single mistake — the mind attains unobstructedness.

Original text of the Diamond Sutra: 须菩提。于意云何。如恒河中所有沙。佛说是沙不。如是。世尊。如来说是沙。须菩提。于意云何。如一恒河中所有沙。有如是沙等恒河。是诸恒河所有沙数。佛世界如是。宁为多不。甚多。世尊。

Explanation: Subhūti, what do you think — for example, all the grains of sand in the Ganges River — does the Buddha likewise call them sand? Subhūti replied: It is so, World-Honored One; the Tathāgata also calls these grains of sand "sand." Subhūti, what do you think? For example, all the grains of sand in one Ganges River — there are as many Ganges Rivers as those grains of sand, and then the number of all the grains of sand in all those Ganges Rivers — the buddha-worlds are as many as this. Are they not many? Subhūti replied: World-Honored One, they are simply too many. Just the grains of sand in one Ganges River are already uncountable, let alone all the grains of sand in all the Ganges Rivers as numerous as those grains of sand — that simply cannot be counted, nor even imagined. The buddha-worlds are as many as this, so the buddha-worlds are also unimaginable.

Original text of the Diamond Sutra: 佛告须菩提。尔所国土中。所有众生。若干种心。如来悉知。何以故。如来说诸心。皆为非心。是名为心。所以者何。须菩提。过去心不可得。现在心不可得。未来心不可得。

Explanation: The World-Honored One told Subhūti: Among all those buddha-lands, all the sentient beings with their various kinds of minds — the Tathāgata knows them all completely, without the slightest omission. Why is this said? Because the Tathāgata says that all these various minds of sentient beings are not true minds; they are merely provisionally named "minds." They are not minds that truly exist; it is only that a provisional name, "mind," has been given to these minds. Why is this said? Subhūti, these so-called minds are all subject to arising, ceasing, change, and impermanence. A mind of the past is unobtainable, because the past has already vanished; the mind of the present is still flowing and changing moment by moment and cannot be grasped, so it too is unobtainable; the mind of the future has not yet appeared and is even more unobtainable. A mind that is unobtainable and cannot be grasped is not a true mind; it is merely an illusory false appearance.

Why is it said that the Tathāgata knows all the various minds of sentient beings? Here, "Tathāgata" refers, on the one hand, to the Tathāgata with a five-aggregate body, including the Sambhogakāya Buddha and the Nirmāṇakāya Buddha; and on the other hand, to the Dharmakāya Buddha, the Tathāgata without a five-aggregate body. The Nirmāṇakāya Buddha, through cultivation over three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas, has accomplished omniscience (sarvākārajñatā), with superknowledge and spiritual powers perfect and unobstructed. His wisdom can thoroughly see all the mental activities of the immeasurable, boundless sentient beings in the worlds of the ten directions, knowing all sentient beings' thoughts at a single moment. Wherever sentient beings' karmic conditions ripen, He manifests there, proclaiming the Dharma teachings and delivering sentient beings. As for the other, the Dharmakāya Buddha Tathāgata, He can know sentient beings' mental activities — the mental activities in the course of the manifest operation of the seven consciousnesses are all known by the tathāgatagarbha, and only then can it cooperate with the seven consciousnesses to arise and manifest, continuing their operation. Therefore, the "various minds of sentient beings" refers to the deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses, not to the vajra mind (vajra-citta), the tathāgatagarbha, because the tathāgatagarbha is only one kind and has no varieties.

The tathāgatagarbha knows sentient beings' mental activities, primarily by knowing the mental activities of the seventh consciousness, the manas. The contents that the six consciousnesses discern and deliberate upon in discerning the myriad dharmas of the six sense-objects must all be transmitted to the manas. On this basis, the manas gives rise to mental factors such as attention (manaskāra), and then makes its own deliberation (manasikāra) and decisions. The tathāgatagarbha will then discern the manas's attention and volition (cetanā); all of the manas's decisions and intentions are known by the tathāgatagarbha, and it will then comply with the manas's decisions, giving rise to the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses. Therefore, when the tathāgatagarbha knows the manas's mental activities, it can make the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses manifest in accordance with the manas's decisions. The content of the manas's deliberation is precisely the content discerned by the six consciousnesses, so when the tathāgatagarbha discerns the manas's mental activities, it is equivalent to knowing the mental activities of the six consciousnesses. The tathāgatagarbha also discerns sentient beings' karmic seeds; after discerning them, it outputs the karmic seeds, and thus knows what mental activities sentient beings will manifest.

As for these seven consciousnesses, in reality there are no seven consciousnesses; on the surface they appear to exist, but that existence is provisional existence — sentient beings falsely see and falsely know them; in reality they are all the tathāgatagarbha mind. The seven consciousnesses formed by the tathāgatagarbha transmitting out the consciousness seeds are in essence still the tathāgatagarbha mind; sentient beings falsely see that there are seven consciousnesses, but in essence it is the tathāgatagarbha. It is all the tathāgatagarbha itself playing about within the illusory realms it has manifested. Therefore the Tathāgata says that all minds are not minds. Here, "not minds" does not refer to the tathāgatagarbha; it refers to the seven consciousnesses, meaning that there are no truly real deluded minds of the seven consciousnesses — all is the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha, provisionally named "various minds" and provisionally named "seven consciousnesses."

Later, the three minds are further mentioned, consistent with the foregoing — all referring to the deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses. The deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses is utterly unobtainable, because none of them is a real dharma; they are illusory, subject to arising and ceasing — that is why it is said they are unobtainable. The three minds of past, future, and present mainly refer to the six consciousnesses, the mind with the mind consciousness as the chief; the manas, however, has no division into past, future, and present. These minds cannot be grasped or retained; they arise and cease in an instant, never pausing from moment to moment — that is why these minds are said to be unobtainable, and indeed they cannot be obtained.