The True Meaning of the Third Chapter of the Diamond Sutra

Original text of Chapter Three: 大乘正宗分

佛告须菩提。诸菩萨摩诃萨。应如是降伏其心。所有一切众生之类。若卵生。若胎生。若湿生。若化生。若有色。若无色。若有想。若无想。若非有想非无想。我皆令入无余涅槃而灭度之。如是灭度无量无数无边众生。实无众生得灭度者。何以故。须菩提。若菩萨有我相人相。众生相寿者相。即非菩萨。

The central idea of Chapter Three of the Diamond Sutra is the Buddha teaching bodhisattvas how to subdue their minds. Why should they subdue their minds? Because in a bodhisattva's mind there exist the mark of self, the mark of person, the mark of sentient being, and the mark of life span; one who has these four marks is not a true bodhisattva. How can a bodhisattva subdue his mind and eliminate the four marks? The Buddha said: Even if you deliver all sentient beings of the four births and the nine realms of existence into Nirvāṇa without remainder, you must not think that you have delivered sentient beings, that there are sentient beings who have been delivered. Because in the dharmadhātu there truly are no sentient beings, and there is no self either; because there is no self, you must not think that you have delivered sentient beings; because there are no sentient beings, you must not think that there are immeasurable, countless, boundless beings delivered by you. In this way the four marks are eliminated, the mind becomes pure, and it is subdued. The entire passage does not emphasize making sentient beings enter Nirvāṇa without remainder; rather, it supposes that you have truly delivered so many sentient beings into Nirvāṇa without remainder. In actuality, that is not the case.

If a person has the mark of self, he will think about how he is this or that, what he wants to do, what he absolutely must do. The emphasis is always on that self of his; taking himself as the center and starting point everywhere, his self-nature will inevitably manifest.

If a person has the mark of person, he will be attached to people's wholesomeness and unwholesomeness, true and false, good and bad (kuśala-akuśala, satya-mithyā, śubha-aśubha), and he cannot leave the crowd, everywhere depending on the crowd to obtain worldly benefits; apart from the crowd, he no longer knows how to settle himself. If a person has the mark of sentient being, he will hope to be surrounded and pursued by sentient beings, to become the head of sentient beings, chasing fame, praise, gain, and offerings. If a person has the mark of life span, he will hope to live to a hundred years, to be immortal, with a long and enduring lifespan.

Yet these four marks are all false marks, illusory and unreal marks, not truly existent. If the mind holds the four marks, one cannot eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa), cannot sever the bonds, and the cycle of birth and death cannot cease. Therefore a bodhisattva should first eradicate the view of self and break through the four marks. Only after breaking through the four marks can a bodhisattva's mind be empty, can he be unconditioned (wu-wei), can his merit be vast and boundless, and only then can he, by means of this vast and boundless merit, accomplish anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.

Someone asks: Why did the Buddha have immeasurable, boundless sentient beings enter Nirvāṇa without remainder? Looking at the whole passage, the Buddha did not have sentient beings enter Nirvāṇa without remainder; the purport of the whole passage differs greatly from a single sentence or a single word within it. The Buddha told sentient beings that in studying the Dharma and reading the sūtras, one should rely on the meaning and not on the words; the meaning can only be faithfully revealed within a complete book, chapter, section, or paragraph. If one extracts a certain part from it, will its meaning not be distorted? When reading the sūtras, one must fully and thoroughly understand the whole picture and purport of the Buddhist sūtras; one must not take passages out of context, or take meaning from isolated sentences. One must rely on the meaning and not on the words; otherwise one slanders the Buddhas of the three periods of time.