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

Chapter 27: The Dharmakāya Is Not a Mark, Twenty-Six

Original text:须菩提。于意云何。可以三十二相观如来不。须菩提言。如是如是。以三十二相观如来。佛言。须菩提。若以三十二相观如来者。转轮圣王即是如来。须菩提白佛言。世尊。如我解佛所说义。不应以三十二相观如来。

Explanation: Subhūti, what do you think? When sentient beings contemplate the Tathāgata, should they contemplate the Tathāgata by way of the Buddha's thirty-two marks? Subhūti replied: Yes, indeed, sentient beings contemplate the Tathāgata by way of the Buddha's thirty-two marks. If having the thirty-two marks means being the Tathāgata, then those without the thirty-two marks would not be the Tathāgata. The World-Honored One said: Subhūti, if one contemplates the Tathāgata by way of the thirty-two marks, then the wheel-turning sage king, who also has the thirty-two marks, would be the Tathāgata. Subhūti said to the World-Honored One: Just as I understand the meaning of what the World-Honored One has taught, sentient beings should not contemplate the Tathāgata by way of the thirty-two marks. Because those who have not yet become Buddhas, if they cultivate great merit, will also have the thirty-two marks, and this makes it easy to misunderstand, to the point of taking the false as true and failing to recognize the true Buddha.

The true Buddha is without marks; that which has marks is not the true Buddha. Out of compassion, the World-Honored One here not only once again breaks sentient beings' attachment to marks, but also points out to sentient beings the markless Tathāgata, so that when sentient beings engage in Chan investigation, they will no longer seek after marks and misunderstand. As stated earlier, the true Tathāgata, the Dharmakāya Tathāgata, does not have a single mark. The thirty-two marks cultivated through practice over three great immeasurable kalpas are attained by the Sambhogakāya Buddha and the Nirmāṇakāya Buddha; the Dharmakāya Buddha remains empty without any mark, attaining not a single dharma. Because the entire Diamond Sutra expounds the markless vajra mind, the tathāgatagarbha, which is the future Dharmakāya of sentient beings, the World-Honored One, from beginning to end, has been teaching sentient beings how to realize the markless Dharmakāya. Therefore, the World-Honored One everywhere explains the markless Dharmakāya Tathāgata, guiding sentient beings to awaken to the ultimate reality of all dharmas.

From the very beginning of the sutra, the World-Honored One has continuously broken sentient beings' attachment to marks, so that all sentient beings may turn toward the Dharmakāya Tathāgata that is free of all marks, and resonate with the mind of ultimate reality, the Dharmakāya Tathāgata. Through Chan investigation, they may clearly know their own master who is without even a stitch of clothing, thereby finding the way home and obtaining a place of rest. The World-Honored One deliberately asked Subhūti whether seeing the true Buddha should be done by way of the thirty-two marks, and Subhūti also deliberately replied that sentient beings indeed all see the Tathāgata by way of the thirty-two marks. Thereupon the World-Honored One was prompted to explain in detail why one cannot see the Tathāgata by way of the thirty-two marks, and why the thirty-two marks are not real marks and do not correspond to the Dharmakāya Tathāgata.

In fact, is he the Tathāgata or not? Here the World-Honored One explains specifically that one who has the thirty-two marks is not the true Tathāgata. The thirty-two wondrous marks are obtained through cultivating blessings. The wheel-turning sage king has immense merit and also has the thirty-two marks, yet is far from being a Buddha. Even Māra Pāpīyas can transform and display the thirty-two marks, impersonating Śākyamuni Buddha. Bodhisattvas of the eighth bhūmi and above can also manifest the thirty-two marks and can also deliver sentient beings with a Buddha's body. Therefore, for sentient beings to clearly know the true mind and become Buddhas, they must see the true Buddha, the Dharmakāya Tathāgata; yet the true Tathāgata does not have the thirty-two marks. One who has the thirty-two marks is not the true Buddha, the true Tathāgata.

Original text:尔时。世尊而说偈言。若以色见我。以音声求我。是人行邪道。不能见如来。

Explanation: Hearing Subhūti speak thus, the World-Honored One spoke a verse: If one sees me, the Tathāgata, by way of form, or seeks me, the Tathāgata, by way of sounds, this person walks an evil path, not treading the right path, and cannot see the true Tathāgata.

This is the famous four-line verse in the Diamond Sutra. The World-Honored One tells us that to realize the Dharmakāya Tathāgata, we must be free from the marks of the six sense objects—form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas—and must not see the Tathāgata by way of the marks of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas, for the Tathāgata has no marks of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or dharmas. Thus, seeing the Tathāgata cannot be done through the eyes or the ears: what the eyes see is the mark of form, not the Tathāgata; what the ears hear is the mark of sound, not the Tathāgata. These marks all contradict the Tathāgata; one must abandon these marks and set aside these marks in order to see the true Tathāgata. This abandoning and setting aside does not mean annihilating all these marks, but rather means polishing the mind's eye so as not to take these marks as real, and, amid these false marks, recognizing that true and precious pearl—the tathāgatagarbha. Only this is treading the right path; only then can one see the Tathāgata and attain the Buddha Way.

Then how exactly does one see the Tathāgata? Look, everyone, as I wave my hand to beckon you: Come quickly to the sutra hall to recite the sutras! When you see me waving my hand, do not attach to the illusory mark of my "Five-Finger Mountain," do not attach to the marks of activity of my five aggregates. Set aside these illusory marks of the five aggregates, and within these illusory marks, seek that which is not illusory and yet has no mark—the maṇi pearl. He is certainly moving up and down, going out and in, coming and going within the mountain of the five aggregates. Even so, He is suchness and immovable (tathatā-acalita), without the mark of moving up and down, without the mark of going out and in, without the mark of coming and going; He neither rises nor descends, neither exits nor enters, neither comes nor returns. He has been busying about within and without the mountain of the five aggregates for immeasurable kalpas without ever pausing, yet has never felt busy or weary—thus coming, thus going. He seems to come and seems to go, yet in truth He neither comes nor goes, being intrinsically suchness. Then how does one see the Tathāgata? Watch me wave my hand again: Come, come, come, come recite the sutras!

Here there is no mark of the five aggregates, no mark of sentient beings, no mark of ordinary beings, no mark of bodhisattvas, no thirty-two marks, no mark of form, no mark of sound, no marks of the six sense objects. Setting aside these marks is the mark of the Tathāgata. Everyone, open your eyes wide and search carefully amid these illusory marks!