Explanation of the Diamond Sutra: Chapter 1, The Assembly

Original text: 如是我闻。一时。佛在舍卫国祗树给孤独园。与大比丘众千二百五十人俱。

Explanation: The Diamond Sutra was narrated by Ānanda, recounting the prajñā sūtra he originally heard the Buddha speak. It opens with "Thus have I heard," indicating that Ānanda personally heard the Buddha proclaim it and is now relaying it. The Buddha has the thirty-two marks; the Buddha's cousin Nanda has thirty-one of the marks, and Ānanda's appearance also closely resembled the World-Honored One. When Ānanda compiled the sūtras, if he had not said "Thus have I heard," the assembly might have suspected that the World-Honored One had returned to personally expound the Dharma, or suspected that Ānanda himself was speaking the Dharma. To avoid misunderstanding, "Thus have I heard" was used, so that everyone would know Ānanda was relaying the Dharma the Buddha had proclaimed while alive, and they would accept it in faith without doubt. At the Dharma assembly of the World-Honored One's parinirvāṇa, Ānanda asked the Buddha what should be used as the opening when compiling the sūtras thereafter, and the World-Honored One said to use "Thus have I heard."

When the Buddha expounded sūtras, regarding time he only said "one time," never a specific time, because what is a certain date in India is a different time in other countries, yet another time in each of the celestial realms, and still another time on other celestial bodies—all differing—so the time is not specified concretely. Next, the location was the Jeta Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada's Park in Śrāvastī, and the audience was the Buddha's regular following of one thousand two hundred fifty-five great bhikṣus.

These so-called great bhikṣus, except for Ānanda, had all attained the fourth fruit of arhatship. They cultivated the Small Vehicle Dharma of the Four Noble Truths—suffering, its accumulation, its cessation, and the path—as well as the Middle Vehicle's twelve links of dependent origination: ignorance conditions (gives rise to) volitional formations (karmic actions); volitional formations condition consciousness (the six consciousness minds); consciousness conditions name-and-form (the fertilized egg and the four aggregates of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness); name-and-form conditions the six entrances (the entrances of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind); the six entrances condition contact (the six faculties contacting the six sense objects); contact conditions feeling (experiencing suffering, happiness, or neither-suffering-nor-happiness); feeling conditions craving (greedy craving); craving conditions grasping (grasping, view-grasping, self-grasping, etc.); grasping conditions existence (existence in the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm); existence conditions birth (the birth of a life); birth conditions old age, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and distress. They cultivated the Small and Middle Vehicle Dharmas of the four Āgamas, attaining the first through the fourth fruits as well as the fruit of the pratyekabuddha.

The first fruit is the eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa), acknowledging that the five aggregates and eighteen realms (six faculties, six sense objects, six consciousnesses) are suffering, empty, impermanent, and non-self. In this way, the three fetters binding oneself (the view of self, the view of grasping views, and the view of clinging to precepts and prohibitions) are severed, the karmic offenses of the three evil destinies are extinguished, and one will not descend to the three evil destinies to undergo retribution; after at most seven more returns among humans and gods, one enters Nirvāṇa without remainder. Cultivating upward from the first fruit, when the afflictions of greed, anger, and delusion become attenuated, one attains the second fruit, and after one more return among humans and gods, enters Nirvāṇa without remainder. Cultivating further to attain the meditative concentration of the first dhyāna, severing the minds of greed and anger, one attains the third fruit; in a later life one goes to the Five Pure Abodes (ākṛdāvasin) to attain the fourth fruit and enter Nirvāṇa without remainder, or attains the fourth fruit in the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava) and enters Nirvāṇa without remainder. The third-fruit practitioner cultivates more deeply, severing the mind of conceit (the feeling that there is a self or that the self is useful—both are conceit), severing the subtle fetters of craving for the three realms, no longer even craving the states of meditative concentration or the celestial form-body. When self-grasping is completely severed, the manas, the seventh consciousness, no longer grasps at the five aggregates, eighteen realms, or the world of the three realms; at the end of life, one will extinguish oneself entirely, no longer being born, leaving only the tathāgatagarbha—this is called entering Nirvāṇa without remainder. In this way all suffering is extinguished, and there is no more suffering to depend upon; this is called the extinction of suffering. But Ānanda, in order to serve as the Buddha's attendant, could have attained the fourth fruit yet did not, because the Buddha would not use a fourth-fruit great arhat as his personal attendant.

Original text: 尔时。世尊食时。著衣持钵。入舍卫大城乞食。于其城中。次第乞已。还至本处。饭食讫。收衣钵。洗足已。敷座而坐。

Explanation: At this time, when the mealtime was approaching midday, the World-Honored One put on his robe, took up his alms bowl, and entered the great city of Śrāvastī to beg for food. After begging door to door in sequence throughout the city of Śrāvastī, he returned to his original dwelling. After the World-Honored One finished his meal, he put away his robe and bowl, washed his feet, and then sat down cross-legged.

These were originally the World-Honored One's daily trivial matters, the same every day, as worldly as can be. Since he begged for food, ate, and washed his feet like this every day, why was it written into the sūtra, and at the very beginning at that? When expounding other sūtras it is not described, yet it is described here when expounding the Diamond Sutra—moreover, at a Dharma assembly proclaiming the Great Prajñāpāramitā. The Diamond Sutra is the essence of the six-hundred-fascicle Great Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, and the World-Honored One never spoke meaningless trivialities when expounding the Dharma, except under special conditions—even a smile would not appear casually.

The daily activities described in this passage are precisely the esoteric meaning, revealing a truth and manifesting the ultimate reality of all dharmas. A person of the highest indriya and keen wisdom, merely by reading up to this point, can realize the truth and ultimate reality; the entire purport of the Diamond Sutra and of the six hundred fascicles of the Great Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra is thereby threaded through, and such a person becomes a bodhisattva of ultimate meaning. The Avataṃsaka Sūtra says that all dharmas are created by mind alone—created solely by the tathāgatagarbha mind. Are the World-Honored One's daily trivialities not a part of the myriad dharmas? Is there not the operation of the World-Honored One's true-suchness mind therein? The answer is affirmative. All dharmas arise from the combination of the true and the false; with only the true mind, nothing can be accomplished; with only the false mind, the false mind also cannot be established. It must be the true and false minds combined that jointly manifest the myriad dharmas. Therefore, within our impermanent, arising-and-ceasing, empty and illusory phenomenal realm, the prajñā true mind is always operating. For example, in our daily eating, drinking, excreting, talking, laughing, walking, standing, sitting, lying down, and so on, the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha, must simultaneously participate; otherwise not a single dharma can be established.

The seventeen hundred Chan cases all point to this truth. Therefore the Chan masters skillfully set up devices, using various methods of hinting and prodding—glances, gestures, laughter, anger, raising and lowering the fly-whisk—to guide students into awakening. For instance, Deshan's blows (striking back and forth) and Linji's shouts (great shouts and small shouts) were all acts of compassion. If they came to me, I would kick with my foot; after a student is kicked, if their conditions are ripe, they can realize the vajra prajñā mind. Yunmen, on the other hand, had his foot crushed by his master with a door, and after letting out a great cry, he became enlightened. These examples are too numerous to list. Upon awakening, one attains the patience of non-arising, and the wisdom of ultimate reality is developed, knowing the falsity of self, persons, and sentient beings—that they are not truly born—and knowing that the tathāgatagarbha itself also does not arise. Acknowledging this principle is the patience of non-arising; it is just very hard to endure!

The first Chan case in the Buddhist history of our Sahā world was personally demonstrated by the World-Honored One. At the assembly on Vulture Peak, after the devas presented flowers, the World-Honored One, amid the great assembly of humans and devas, held that flower and smiled without speaking, brightly manifesting to everyone His own true-suchness mind. But none among the assembly of humans and devas knew what medicine the World-Honored One was selling, whereas Mahākāśyapa saw it and immediately awakened; with the eye of wisdom he contemplated and perceived the World-Honored One's true-suchness mind, knew what medicine was in the World-Honored One's gourd, and broke into a smile. The World-Honored One knew that Mahākāśyapa had awakened to the bodhisattva Dharma and become an arhat-bodhisattva, so he proclaimed to the assembly: "I have the wondrous mind of nirvāṇa, the ultimate reality without marks, established without written words, transmitted separately outside the teachings; I entrust it to Mahākāśyapa." Thus Kāśyapa became the first patriarch of the Chan school in the Sahā world.

What is the wondrous mind of nirvāṇa? Nirvāṇa is the state of the tathāgatagarbha being unborn and undying; the wondrous mind means the subtle and marvelous vajra mind (vajra-citta). Although the vajra mind, the tathāgatagarbha, is empty of mind with not a single dharma, it can manifest the myriad dharmas; though it does not have even the size of a speck of dust, it can manifest the universe and empty space—this is truly marvelous, hence it is called the wondrous mind. Ultimate reality means that the vajra prajñā mind is a truly existing, correct and true principle-substance that never ceases. Without marks means this mind has no marks whatsoever: it has no form-mark, so He cannot be seen; no sound-mark, so He cannot be heard; no scent-mark, so He cannot be smelled; no taste-mark, so He cannot be tasted; no touch-mark, so He cannot be touched; no dharma-mark, so He cannot be discriminated. The Heart Sutra says He has no five aggregates, no six faculties, six sense objects, or six consciousnesses, no Four Noble Truths or twelve links of dependent origination (from ignorance to old age and death), no...—in short, not a single dharma, yet all myriad dharmas arise from and exist by virtue of Him.

"Transmitted separately outside the teachings" means that the Chan method of seeing the mind and seeing the nature lies outside the tripitaka and twelve divisions of scriptural teachings; apart from the mark of written words, it can be transmitted separately, pointing people into awakening without using language and writing. The World-Honored One did not utter a single word yet enabled Mahākāśyapa to attain the Way, whereas the scriptural teachings must use language and writing to teach and guide. In the Buddha-field of the Buddha Gandhakūṭa, the Buddha and the bodhisattvas sat around eating together; the Buddha sniffed the fragrance of the food with his nose, and the bodhisattvas, upon seeing this, attained the Way—no Dharma exposition needed. However, although the Chan school does not establish written words, it is not that it does not use language and writing; the Chan school also uses language and writing to guide, and some have awakened through reading the sūtras.

Some say Mahākāśyapa saw the Buddha's true-suchness mind on the flower and thus attained the Way. But if the true-suchness mind were on the flower, that flower would be beaming with joy, hopping and jumping about; it would be a sentient being with joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, and could become a Buddha—but in fact it is not. If the true-suchness mind were on the flower, it would have nothing to do with the World-Honored One; the World-Honored One would be neither a Buddha nor a sentient being, and could not hold the flower and smile. Then where is the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha? This is a secret, requiring one's own diligent investigation. A ready-made answer is of no help to opening wisdom. Nevertheless, some devices can still be skillfully set up to lead people into awakening. When the World-Honored One was alive, he set up many such devices, enabling disciples to attain the Way and passing them down to later generations.

Once, the World-Honored One led his disciples to a mound of earth and stopped, then bowed to the mound. The play had begun. Ānanda, not knowing what play the World-Honored One was performing—perhaps feigning ignorance—asked: "World-Honored One, why do you bow to that mound of earth?" The World-Honored One pointed at the mound with his finger and said: "The Buddhas of the three periods of time are all buried in that mound of earth." World-Honored One, what medicine are you selling in that gourd of yours! Although we are future Buddhas, we have not yet become Buddhas—how could we be buried? The present Buddhas are all teaching and transforming sentient beings in their respective Buddha-fields and are not buried! As for the ancient Buddhas, they could not be buried here either! But where is "here"? When the conditions of one's own six pāramitās of the bodhisattva path are complete and the conditions ripen, one will be able to investigate it out.

Once, when the World-Honored One had just seated himself on the Dharma seat, Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva walked over, took the gavel, struck it once on the lecture table, and said: "The World-Honored One has finished expounding the sūtra." With that, the World-Honored One descended from the seat. He had truly finished—the great Dharma of the tathāgatagarbha had been transmitted. In fact, the Dharma was already fully expounded the very instant the World-Honored One entered the lecture hall and pushed open the door; he could well have turned around and exited the hall, leaving the disciples dumbfounded. Great Master Fu of the time of Emperor Wu of Liang, as well as the Chan masters of the Tang dynasty, all performed similar tricks; ordinary people simply cannot see through the device here—only bodhisattvas with deep roots of goodness can comprehend it.

The second patriarch of the Chan school was Ānanda. After the World-Honored One's parinirvāṇa, Ānanda asked Mahākāśyapa: "Besides transmitting the golden-threaded robe to you, what else did the World-Honored One transmit to you?" He was asking about the tathāgatagarbha. Kāśyapa called out: "Ānanda!" (Just transmitting this!) Ānanda did not understand and casually answered: "Yes!" Having answered, he should have understood, but he still did not. Kāśyapa, having no alternative, continued: "Go and knock down the flagpole in front of the gate." Upon hearing this, Ānanda thought: I ask about the esoteric meaning and you tell me to knock down the flagpole? His mind turned, and—so that's it! He thereupon greatly awakened and became the second patriarch of the Chan school. From then on, the twenty-eight patriarchs of the Western Heaven passed it down generation after generation, all the way to the Sixth Patriarch of the Great Tang, and on until the end of the Ming dynasty; after that, those who awakened became extremely few and rare—but there are still some now, for the Buddha will never abandon and neglect the sentient beings of this world.

This first chapter of the Diamond Sutra is itself a Chan case: the World-Honored One transmitted the Dharma without opening his mouth to speak. It is just too hard to comprehend—only a person of the highest indriya can understand it. The object of all Chan investigation is the tathāgatagarbha. In all worlds of the ten directions, whichever Buddha-field it may be, it is this mind that is awakened to. Where is He, how does He operate, how does He produce the myriad dharmas, how does He give birth to the five aggregates and eighteen realms? Apart from this, one has deviated from the direction.