The Profound Meaning of the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sutra from the Consciousness-Only Perspective (Second Edition)
Chapter 25: Chapter Twenty-Four, Merit and Wisdom Beyond Compare
Original text:须菩提。若三千大千世界中。所有诸须弥山王。如是等七宝聚。有人持用布施。若人以此般若波罗蜜经。乃至四句偈等。受持读诵。为他人说。于前福德。百分不及一。百千万亿分。乃至算数譬喻所不能及。
Explanation: Subhūti, if someone gathered all the seven treasures as numerous as the Mount Sumerus in the trichiliocosm (three-thousandfold great thousand worlds) and gave them away in generosity (dāna), this merit would be extremely great. But there is another person who can receive, hold, read, and recite this Diamond Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, or even just one four-line verse of the Diamond Sutra, and expound it to others. The merit attained by these two people — the latter far surpasses the former. The merit from receiving and holding the sūtra is a hundred times, a hundred thousand koṭi times, even immeasurably countless times greater than the merit of one who gives away seven treasures as numerous as Mount Sumeru. The gap between them cannot be calculated by any human method of computation, nor can it be expressed by any human linguistic analogy — the difference is simply too vast.
A single trichiliocosm contains a billion or ten billion Mount Sumerus. One Mount Sumeru is countless times larger than the Earth, and the Earth itself has countless hills of various sizes and vast, boundless lands. If a person gave away only the seven treasures of a single small hill, that merit would already be incalculable — let alone giving the seven treasures of the entire Earth, let alone the seven treasures as numerous as Mount Sumeru, and still more so giving the seven treasures of a billion or ten billion Mount Sumerus. The merit such a person would attain could not be reckoned even by countless computers. Yet the Buddha said that even such immense merit is not great — it is far smaller than the merit of receiving, holding, reading, and reciting the Diamond Sutra, differing by an enormous, incomparable, uncountable degree. Even if one receives, holds, reads, and recites just one four-line verse from the Diamond Sutra, the merit attained far exceeds, by countless multiples, the merit of giving away seven treasures as numerous as all the Mount Sumerus in a trichiliocosm. How great, then, must the merit of receiving, holding, reading, and reciting the entire Diamond Sutra be?
As discussed earlier, those who can truly receive, hold, read, and recite the Diamond Sutra, or the four-line verses within it, are all people who have genuinely seen the mind and realized the ultimate reality of prajñā. Only such people have the ability to receive and hold the Diamond Sutra, can truly read and recite it, and know how to read the Diamond Sutra and how to recite it. The Diamond Sutra entirely expounds the wisdom and merit of the mind of ultimate reality (dharmatā-citta); its principle is profound and ever more profound.
Only after realizing the vajra mind (vajra-citta), the tathāgatagarbha, can one understand the dharma of the tathāgatagarbha, recite forth its inner contents, accept all its dharma meanings, and gradually practice in accordance with the principle of the tathāgatagarbha, thereby transforming all the mental activities of the deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses. From then on, the afflictions of the deluded seven consciousnesses will gradually be eliminated, afflictive habits will gradually fade, and ignorance will gradually weaken. Cultivating in reliance upon the tathāgatagarbha, one will come to know more profound dharma meanings, as well as all the seed contents within the tathāgatagarbha. Thus the delusions of dust-and-sand ignorance will grow fewer and fewer, until finally they are all extinguished.
The merit of receiving, holding, reading, and reciting the Diamond Sutra is truly difficult to describe and portray. Citing just a small portion of examples to indicate its general scope, everyone can then understand the boundlessness and inconceivability of this merit. For instance, after a bodhisattva realizes the ultimate reality of prajñā and cultivates the four dhyānas and eight meditative absorptions, he will have a hundred, thousand, ten thousand, or hundred million mind-made bodies (manomaya-kāya), with which to benefit and bring joy to countless sentient beings, enabling them to transcend the suffering of saṃsāra. This merit is truly priceless and beyond comparison; it cannot be calculated, and its merit can never be exhausted, forever and ever, and will increase without limit.
As for the merit of giving away the Mount Sumerus of a great thousand world, although it is also extremely great and beyond reckoning, it is still finite and can be completely exhausted. Such merit also cannot offset evil karma; perhaps, due to ignorance, while enjoying blessings one may use that merit to commit great evil deeds, and then one will undergo evil retribution in accordance with that evil karma. When committing evil deeds, one's merit is also diminished and consumed, until finally the merit is entirely used up in various ways. But the merit of a bodhisattva who reads, recites, receives, and holds the Diamond Sutra not only is not diminished but increases, accumulating ever more and ever greater.
As the bodhisattva's wisdom continually grows, his merit increases countless times over. When the bodhisattva reaches the bhūmi of the eighth-stage bodhisattva, with a single mental intention (manaskāra) he can manifest a trichiliocosm filled with seven treasures, countless times more than Mount Sumeru, and the bodhisattva will give it all to sentient beings — that merit is even more incalculable. The bodhisattva will also manifest the various material necessities of life that sentient beings need, giving them to benefit and bring joy to beings — this merit too is incalculable. Moreover, the bodhisattva manifests countless transformation bodies going to worlds in the ten directions to widely deliver immeasurable, boundless sentient beings — that merit need not even be calculated, for it simply cannot be calculated, nor imagined, nor conceived.
This is the merit attained by an eighth-stage bodhisattva, or by bodhisattvas before the eighth bhūmi — all such merit is incalculable. When the bodhisattva further cultivates to the bhūmi of the equal-enlightenment bodhisattva (samatā-samāpanna), over one hundred kalpas the bodhisattva manifests countless great-bodied beings as food for immeasurable beings to eat and survive famine — the merit attained is even more unimaginable. Cultivating further to the bhūmi of buddhahood, widely delivering immeasurable sentient beings throughout the worlds of the ten directions, the merit attained cannot be computed even if all sentient beings calculate together, nor can it be expressed by any words. Therefore the World-Honored One said that the merit of one who receives, holds, reads, and recites the Diamond Sutra and the four-line verses within it is greater than the merit of one who gives the seven treasures by immeasurable hundreds of thousands of koṭis of times — and even more than that. The two are truly incomparable.
Since receiving, holding, reading, and reciting the Diamond Sutra carries such immense merit, can we read and recite the Diamond Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra? Can we recite one of its four-line verses? If we can read it, the hidden meaning of the diamond prajñā will all manifest; if we cannot read it, can we listen? If we can listen, the hidden meaning of the diamond prajñā can also be heard. Why can some people not read it? Because sentient beings treat reading sūtras as something very ordinary, thinking there is nothing to it — just making sounds with the mouth, opening and closing the lips — what is there to it? Those who can truly read do not think this way. One who can truly read can read out the mysteries within — this is the greatest offering to the Buddha. One who can read the sūtra can also reveal its mysteries to sentient beings, thereby guiding them toward correct views and dispelling their confusion and darkness. Those who can read and recite the sūtra are each and every one aware in all their daily activities, neither deluded nor inverted.
If you cannot read the Diamond Sutra, I will now teach you how to read and recite it. Recite it like this: 金~刚~般~若~波~罗~蜜~经…… (Jin~gang~ban~ruo~bo~luo~mi~jing...) — one syllable at a time, with rising and falling cadence, the voice now high, now low, the flow of sound now long, now short. At the same time, turn the light around and introspect upon your own capacity to read, seeking where the sounds arise and cease, and plant a firm, big question mark upon it. If you still cannot read this way, then train yourself to listen: 一……切……有……为……法……如……梦……幻……泡……影…… (yi...qie...you...wei...fa...ru...meng...huan...pao...ying...) — "All... conditioned... dharmas... are... like... dreams... illusions... bubbles... shadows..." Imagine someone beside you reciting in just this way, then imagine how he reads it out — how his tongue, teeth, and lips coordinate, imagine how his voice comes forth, and from where it comes.
Then contemplate yourself: 梦 (dream)…… Is all this a dream? Are these sounds a dream? Is the person reading the sūtra before you a dream? Is the very act of reading and listening to the sūtra a dream? 幻 (illusion)…… Are all these things illusions? How are the words, the language, the people, the mind that listens, and the sounds that are heard illusory? 泡 (bubble)…… Are all these things like bubbles? From where do they emerge? When the bubble bursts, where does it go? 影 (shadow)…… Are all these things shadows? How are these shadows conjured up? Who conjured up these shadows? How can one seize the master who conjures these illusory shadows?
When all the preparatory groundwork has been done and the conditions ripen naturally, the answer will be revealed of itself, the truth will become perfectly clear, and you will seize that diamond prajñā mind of ultimate reality and realize the tathāgatagarbha. From then on, you will truly know how to read and recite the Diamond Sutra, and you will know how to receive and hold it — how wonderful that would be!
