How Can One Return to the Original State?

This single picture alone can run through the entire Diamond Sutra: the four marks are gone, the three realms are gone, birth and death are gone, the Buddha's form is gone, the Buddha's Dharma is gone, nirvāṇa is gone, liberation is gone, this shore is gone, the other shore is gone—everything is gone, leaving only a self-natured pure mind, solitary and silent, not existing within heaven and earth. Therefore, attaining buddhahood is attaining nothing; only by attaining nothing can one become a Buddha. Cultivation is subtraction, a lightening of the load: when everything has been subtracted, one becomes a Buddha—even the Buddha himself is subtracted. Cultivation itself does not exist either; those who study the Buddha and study the Dharma are makers of trouble out of nothing, deluded and inverted beings. There is no Buddha to attain, no Dharma to learn, and for one who speaks the Dharma, there is no Dharma to be spoken. From now on, if anyone forces the master to teach the Dharma, just go up and give them a beating—what is there to teach?

Classifying the Diamond Sutra among the prajñā scriptures truly underestimates its value. The Diamond Sutra is a genuine sutra of attaining buddhahood, a Yogācāra sutra—empty in a single step, becoming a Buddha in a single step. Although all dharmas are empty, the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment are empty, the bodhisattva's six pāramitās are empty, and the bodhisattva's ten pāramitās are empty, the bodhisattva does not abide in the unconditioned, nor does he exhaust the conditioned—he does whatever needs to be done, fulfilling the six and ten pāramitās completely; otherwise, there can be no emptiness and no lightening of the load. What does lightening the load mean? What is carried on the shoulders, borne on the back, held in the hands, and stored in the mind—all those things crammed full—unload them all, throw them all away and discard them; lay down every burden, empty out all dharmas with marks and without marks, abandon and relinquish them—relinquish, relinquish, relinquish. When relinquishment is complete, one returns to the original state: possessing nothing, yet able to have everything.

How can one become empty? Can the mind consciousness ponder over these principles, and once it understands, can it become empty? Can the mind consciousness make the frame, the cage, the hell, the three realms vanish and become empty? Does the mind consciousness have such ability? Not at all. So do not use the mind consciousness to blindly speculate, blindly guess, and blindly fuss about—wasting the mind consciousness costs you nothing.

Once the mind consciousness is set aside, use the manas directly. The moment the manas is engaged, samādhi appears; within samādhi, all dharmas are empty—even emptiness itself is empty, not even a ghostly shadow is to be seen. Such is the power of the manas. Those who refuse to accept this and cling to the mind consciousness as supreme may go argue with King Yama; King Yama will show you the real proof. Even the Buddha will not reason with you—only King Yama will receive you. If you cannot wait for King Yama, cause and effect will appear first; retribution in this very life will manifest, and this is the most telling of all. In the final analysis, cause and effect and retribution in this life are simply the tathāgatagarbha being the master in charge—the tathāgatagarbha has the final say. Even the Buddha does not have the final say; the Buddha does not manage affairs, and He does not have power greater than the tathāgatagarbha.