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

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Not Receiving and Not Coveting, Twenty-Eight

In this chapter, the World-Honored One, through describing the merit obtained by bodhisattvas who give away the seven treasures, profoundly and subtly describes the essential nature of the mind of ultimate reality, the tathāgatagarbha. Regarding the merit obtained from practicing the perfection of generosity with the five aggregates, the tathāgatagarbha fundamentally experiences neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā); He does not enjoy even the tiniest bit of it, does not care whether it is merit or not, misfortune or not, and does not even know there is merit or misfortune. Moreover, because the tathāgatagarbha has no mental factor of greed, He does not crave merit or any other dharma whatsoever; toward all dharmas He is without desire or seeking, without delight or aversion. After enlightenment, when a bodhisattva breaks through marks and the mind is empty, toward merit and all dharmas he likewise will not give rise to craving mental activities, neither delighting nor being averse, maintaining the neutral feeling of the middle way—this is the true mental conduct of a bodhisattva.

Original text: 须菩提。若菩萨以满恒河沙等世界七宝。持用布施。若复有人。知一切法无我。得成于忍。此菩萨胜前菩萨。所得功德。

Explanation: The World-Honored One said to Subhūti: If there is a bodhisattva who uses the seven treasures filling worlds as numerous as the sands of the Ganges River to practice giving, and if there is another bodhisattva who realizes that among all dharmas, worldly and supramundane, there is no self, and thereby accomplishes patience, then the merit obtained by the bodhisattva who attains the wisdom of patience far surpasses the merit obtained by the bodhisattva who gives the seven treasures.

The merit obtained by a bodhisattva who gives the seven treasures has been spoken of by the World-Honored One many times already; that merit is immeasurable and boundless, beyond counting. When a bodhisattva practices giving, there is not only merit, but merit (puṇya) can also arise from it. Because merit increases, the mind-ground can be purified, the mental disposition becomes pliant, meditative concentration advances, wisdom grows, the Path-work progresses, and one obtains genuine beneficial enjoyment of merit oneself—this is the retribution obtained by a bodhisattva from the giving of wealth. As for the other bodhisattva, who has cultivated to the point of attaining patience, deep within he is keenly aware that all dharmas are without self, and therefore he realizes and accomplishes the wisdom of the patience of non-arising dharmas.

Being patient toward the fact that all dharmas are without self—what degree of patience is this? Patience includes the patience of non-arising realized through the Hīnayāna eradication of the view of self, that the five aggregates are without self, as well as the Mahāyāna patience of non-arising and the patience of non-arising dharmas. The Hīnayāna patience of non-arising is divided into the four abodes and four fruits. Among them, the patience of those heading toward the first fruit, although not the patience of truly eradicating the view of self, still involves the mind consciousness accepting that the five aggregates are illusory and unreal, and diligently and energetically engaging in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), heading toward the true eradication of the view of self. At this point, what remains lacking is the manas's acceptance of the principle that the five aggregates are without self; this requires the manas also to continually engage in contemplative practice and investigation within meditative concentration. Once the manas understands, that is the true eradication of the view of self, and one then becomes a person of the first fruit.

After becoming a person of the first fruit, one must still engage in deep and subtle contemplative practice regarding the principle that the five aggregates are without self. This process is the process by which the mind consciousness and manas obtain deeper wisdom of the patience of non-arising, the process of gradually gaining meditative power and eradicating afflictions, and even more, the process by which the manas slowly eradicates its attachment to the self of the five aggregates. In this process, both the mind consciousness and the manas need to continually be patient, patient at ever deeper levels, until the manas completely eradicates attachment to the self of persons—this is the patience of non-arising obtained by Hīnayāna practitioners.

The Mahāyāna patience of non-arising is what bodhisattvas obtain after realizing the eighth consciousness. Bodhisattvas must not only be patient toward the principle that the five aggregates are without self, but even more must be patient toward the principle that the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha, is neither arising nor ceasing; they must deeply be patient toward the non-arising of the eighth consciousness, patient toward the eighth consciousness's dual nature of emptiness and existence, patient toward the eighth consciousness's nature of neither defiled nor pure (na saṃkleśo na vyavadānam), patient toward all the middle-way natures of the eighth consciousness, patient toward all aspects of the eighth consciousness's nature in every respect. Then the bodhisattva's mind will become increasingly pure, meditative power increasingly strengthened, afflictions increasingly slight, and wisdom increasingly deep and subtle. The beneficial enjoyment of the merit of his own mind will become increasingly vast, and the bodhisattva's stages will gradually advance from the seventh abode to the ten conduct stages and the ten dedications stages, from breaking through the first barrier, to breaking through the second barrier, and then to breaking through the final barrier, with both meditative concentration and wisdom becoming ever more deep and subtle.

However, this is still patience within the scope of the selflessness of persons in the five aggregates; the scope is not yet vast enough, and the patience pāramitā is not yet deep enough. One must reach the patience of non-arising dharmas of bodhisattvas at the first bhūmi and above, for then the scope of patience is broader and the wisdom of patience deeper and vaster. The patience of non-arising dharmas of bhūmi-level bodhisattvas is patience toward the fact that all dharmas are without self; this is not only realizing the selflessness of persons, but at the same time realizing the selflessness of dharmas. Their wisdom of the selflessness of dharmas and wisdom of the patience of non-arising dharmas increase bhūmi by bhūmi, becoming ever more profound and wondrous.

Because bhūmi-level bodhisattvas can directly observe the tathāgatagarbha's operation within the five aggregates, and can directly observe the tathāgatagarbha's operation upon the myriad dharmas of the eighteen realms, they deeply know how the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the five aggregates and how it gives rise to the myriad dharmas of the eighteen realms. On all dharmas, the bodhisattva observes the operational characteristics of the tathāgatagarbha, knowing that every dharma is generated by the tathāgatagarbha employing mental factors and outputting seeds. Not a single dharma can, apart from the tathāgatagarbha, have its own arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing; it is only because of the tathāgatagarbha that all dharma-marks can be produced, that all dharma-marks can remain for a time, that all dharma-marks can gradually transform, and that all dharma-marks can disperse and vanish. Apart from the tathāgatagarbha, no dharma-mark can arise, abide, change, or cease; therefore all dharma-marks are themselves illusory and unreal, like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows, like flowers in the sky, utterly unobtainable—their essence is all the tathāgatagarbha. Since all dharmas are not real, have no self-nature, and are all of the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, they are of course without self.

Here, all dharmas include all dharmas, worldly and supramundane; whatever is manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, born subsequently, existing within the three-realm world—including all dharmas of past lives, all dharmas of future lives, and all dharmas of the present life, including all dharmas of the worlds in the ten directions—all of these are without self. Specifically, all dharmas include material form and mind. Material form includes the material universe, the living environment needed by sentient beings, and principally includes the five-aggregate physical bodies of sentient beings, namely the five faculties, five sense objects, and form included in the dharma base. Mind dharmas include the seven consciousnesses and the mental factors of the seven consciousnesses. Summing up, these are the sentient being's six faculties, six sense objects, and six consciousnesses—the eighteen realms, the twelve bases, and the five aggregates.

These dharmas all exist, arise and cease, change, and function within the one true dharma realm, the tathāgatagarbha; all are produced, manifested, and upheld by the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha. Because they are all produced and manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, they are dharmas that arise and cease, dharmas lacking self-mastery (avaśatā), dharmas that cannot be their own masters, dharmas of selflessness. A dharma with self-nature would not arise, cease, and change; it would be able to be its own master, able to exist independently by itself, able to endure forever without needing other conditions, and would be perfectly endowed with all merits and functions.

Selfless dharmas do not possess these qualities. Selfless dharmas cannot exist independently; they need to rely on certain external conditions to exist and function, and they also need the tathāgatagarbha to continuously transmit seeds to maintain their existence and operation; otherwise they would cease. Therefore all dharmas in the three-realm world arise, cease, and change, and are all without self. As for the supramundane dharma of the tathāgatagarbha, although it has a certain portion of self-nature, being able to exist independently, needing no external conditions, not needing to be born or perish, being free and self-governing, it still contains the defiled karmic seeds of the seven consciousnesses. These karmic seeds are subject to arising, ceasing, and change, and will drag the tathāgatagarbha into transformation as well, causing some influence upon the tathāgatagarbha's merits and functions.

Because the seeds within the tathāgatagarbha at this time are subject to perfuming by the seven consciousnesses, and since the seeds within can be perfumed, the tathāgatagarbha as a whole is not unchanging, and thus is not completely possessed of self-nature. From another perspective, the tathāgatagarbha itself also has its own consciousness seeds flowing forth; these consciousness seeds arise, cease, and change moment by moment, which is what maintains the tathāgatagarbha's existence and operation; therefore the tathāgatagarbha is also not completely possessed of self-nature, and is still of selfless nature. Only the Dharmakāya of the Buddha stage, the undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna), is completely possessed of self-nature. At that time, the arising, ceasing, and changing of the karmic seeds of the seven consciousnesses has ended; the undefiled consciousness is no longer perfumed, no longer changes, has no seeds of arising and ceasing, and the flow of its own mind's consciousness seeds has also stopped, with no phenomenon of momentary arising and ceasing existing. Therefore the undefiled consciousness of the Buddha stage is the complete and thorough self; its merits and functions can be fully exercised, no longer obstructed and limited by the defiled karmic seeds of the seven consciousnesses.

Because bodhisattvas have realized the selflessness of all dharmas and can be patient toward the fact that all dharmas are without self, they obtain the extremely profound wisdom of the patience of non-arising dharmas; their beneficial enjoyment of merit is extremely abundant, vast, and deep, beyond the reach of calculation and analogy. Bodhisattvas will, by means of this profound consciousness-only wisdom of seeds (唯识种智), gradually enter the Buddha stage, with both merit and wisdom perfectly complete, becoming honored by the three-realm world, the teacher of humans and gods, endowed with the merits and benefits of the ten titles. They can establish lands in the worlds of the ten directions, manifest becoming Buddhas, and extensively deliver immeasurable sentient beings. Therefore, when a bodhisattva realizes the selflessness of all dharmas, the merits and beneficial enjoyment of his wisdom of the patience of non-arising dharmas far surpass the merit and福德 of a bodhisattva who gives the seven treasures; the difference between them is incomparable and beyond words.

Original text: 何以故。须菩提。以诸菩萨不受福德故。须菩提白佛言。世尊。云何菩萨不受福德。须菩提。菩萨所作福德。不应贪著。是故说不受福德。

Explanation: Why does the merit obtained by the bodhisattva who is patient toward the selflessness of all dharmas surpass the merit obtained by the bodhisattva who gives the seven treasures as numerous as the sands of the Ganges? Subhūti, it is because all bodhisattvas do not receive merit. Subhūti said to the World-Honored One: World-Honored One, why do bodhisattvas not receive merit? The World-Honored One replied: The merit created by bodhisattvas should not be craved or attached to; therefore it is said that bodhisattvas do not receive merit.

Here, the bodhisattva the World-Honored One subtly refers to is the true bodhisattva at the level of ultimate reality; that true bodhisattva does not receive any reception whatsoever, and toward all dharmas experiences neutral feeling. This true bodhisattva is perfectly endowed with all dharmas and does not crave any dharma; because there is no craving, there is therefore nothing obtained. When the bodhisattva's five aggregates give the seven treasures filling worlds, the meritorious retribution generated is received by the bodhisattva's five aggregates and seven consciousnesses, enjoyed by the seven consciousnesses; the true bodhisattva—the tathāgatagarbha—does not obtain the tiniest bit, nor enjoy the tiniest bit. And when the bodhisattva's five aggregates practice the perfection of giving, the seven consciousnesses also do not crave merit.

When the bodhisattva practices giving, his mind contemplates the perfection of giving as the three wheels being empty. The so-called three wheels being empty means: there is no true giver of generosity—the self; there is no receiver of generosity—the other; and in between there is no object given—the seven treasures. Why is there no giver? Because the giver—the five aggregates—is transformed and produced by the tathāgatagarbha. The physical body is formed by the tathāgatagarbha's moment-by-moment output of the four great-element seeds; it is as if a portion of the tathāgatagarbha, this gold, were fashioned into a gold ring—the physical body. The seven consciousnesses are formed by the tathāgatagarbha's moment-by-moment output of consciousness seeds; that is like a portion of the tathāgatagarbha, this gold, being fashioned into a gold necklace—the seven consciousnesses. The physical body and the seven consciousnesses together compose the five aggregates, and the five aggregates as a whole, this gold artifact, is the gold of the tathāgatagarbha.

From this we can see: do the five aggregates actually exist or not? What thing are the five aggregates? The five aggregates in their entirety are of course the tathāgatagarbha, nothing else. Therefore, when the bodhisattva practices giving, there is no bodhisattva's five aggregates—the self—doing the giving; likewise, there is no five aggregates—the other—receiving the giving. Then what about the seven treasures given in between? The seven treasures are also material form constituted of the four great elements, formed by the tathāgatagarbha's moment-by-moment output of the four great-element seeds; they are the gold of the tathāgatagarbha, with a portion fashioned into gold earrings and other such seven-treasure objects. Then what exactly are the seven treasures? The seven treasures are the gold of the tathāgatagarbha; there are no real seven treasures—all is the tathāgatagarbha. And the essence of the tathāgatagarbha is also empty in nature, without any substantial mark existing, empty without a single mark. Therefore the entire perfection of giving is the three wheels being empty, utterly unobtainable; the bodhisattva simply need not be attached to it.

Likewise, the merit obtained by the bodhisattva is also empty. First, the bodhisattva's act of giving exists as a karmic seed within the tathāgatagarbha; when conditions ripen, the tathāgatagarbha outputs the karmic seed again, actualizing the bodhisattva's merit. The form in which the merit is actualized will manifest in the form of material form and the mental factors of the seven consciousnesses. Material form is nothing other than manifested in forms such as money, property, power, status, family, and so on; and these material forms are all formed by the tathāgatagarbha's output of the four great-element seeds; their essence is all the tathāgatagarbha; there are no real material forms; material form and the tathāgatagarbha are neither the same nor different. Then there is no real blessing to be obtained; it is all the tathāgatagarbha's own mind grasping at its own mind—"what is not illusion becomes illusory dharmas."

When enjoying the blessings of these material forms, it is the illusory seven consciousnesses that enjoy them; it is the feeling mental factor of the seven consciousnesses that receives, feels, and enjoys; the feeling mental factor will feel comfort, happiness, pride, arrogance, and self-delight. The feeling mental factor is the companion of the seven consciousnesses; as soon as the seven consciousnesses appear and engage with the objects of the six sense objects, the feeling mental factor operates. The seven consciousnesses are formed by the tathāgatagarbha's output of consciousness seeds, and are fundamentally the tathāgatagarbha. The mind-body of the seven consciousnesses is utterly unobtainable, so the feelings of the seven consciousnesses are also utterly unobtainable. Therefore, when the bodhisattva's merit is actualized, both the merit and the enjoyment of the merit have no substance; their essence is all the tathāgatagarbha.

When bodhisattvas realize this realm of wisdom, they will no longer crave merit, and will no longer have the mind to enjoy merit. Moreover, they dedicate all the merit they have cultivated toward anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi; the bodhisattva's practice is for the sake of attaining Buddhahood as soon as possible, not for practicing the perfection of giving for the sake of enjoying worldly merit. Only thus can the bodhisattva's practice reach an inwardly purified and emptied mind, attached to not a single dharma—"with the mind empty, returning in triumph"—and will he attain the supreme Buddha fruit, perfecting the great way of bodhi.