Explanation of the Diamond Sutra: How Bodhisattvas Subdue Their Minds

The Orthodox Doctrine of the Great Vehicle, Three: This chapter mainly discusses how bodhisattvas break the four marks and eliminate the view of self and person. This is the foundation and correct path of Mahāyāna bodhisattva practice, and it is most crucial; hence this chapter is called the Orthodox Doctrine. Bodhisattvas teach, transform, and liberate the twenty-five categories of the four kinds of birth across the nine realms of the three realms, all entering nirvāṇa without remainder; yet they should not generate thinking that is not in accord with the Dharma, believing that these sentient beings were liberated by me, that I have liberated so many sentient beings. A bodhisattva who thinks this way is not a true bodhisattva. A true bodhisattva should use the prajñā wisdom of true reality that has been realized to break the four marks, with no mark of self, no mark of person, no mark of sentient beings, and no mark of life span in the mind.

How do bodhisattvas subdue their minds?

Original text: 佛告须菩提。诸菩萨摩诃萨应如是降伏其心。

Explanation: The Buddha said to Subhūti: All bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should subdue their minds in this way.

Mahā means "great" in Chinese. In the sutras, mahāsattvas generally refers to bodhisattvas who have seen their true mind and attained awakening and above, possessing the virtues of a sage. Strictly speaking, only bodhisattvas who have attained the bhūmis and above can be called mahāsattvas, great bodhisattvas of the Dharmakāya. They have realized one portion or more of the Buddha's Dharmakāya, possess one portion or more of the wisdom of the tolerance of the non-arising of dharmas, and possess one portion or more of the wisdom of the varieties of paths. They possess the virtues and mental nature of a noble one, and are also called partial realization of buddhahood.

The Buddha said that bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should subdue their minds in this way. The mind that can be subdued must be the deluded mind. The true mind never gives rise to thoughts; it has no views or ideas, does not engage with the six sense objects of the three realms, does not create bodily, verbal, and mental actions, and is pure and free of afflictions; therefore there is no need to subdue it. The deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses, however, has ignorance and afflictions, always attaches to signs and engages with the myriad dharmas of the six sense objects, and has the view and grasping of self and person, the view and grasping of dharmas and self; therefore it needs to be subdued, eliminating its ignorance so that the virtuous function of wisdom can arise.

To subdue the deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses, one must understand the functions and roles of the seven consciousnesses. The eye consciousness sees forms, discerning coarse characteristics such as blue, yellow, red, and white, long and short, square and round, large and small; the mind consciousness simultaneously discerns fine characteristics such as good and bad, beautiful and ugly, charm and temperament, and so on. Within this, feelings of liking and disliking arise—suffering, happiness, or neither-suffering-nor-happiness—and thus bodily, verbal, and mental actions appear. The ear consciousness hears sounds, discerning the pitch, distance, and direction of sounds; the mind consciousness simultaneously discerns categories, meanings, and so on, giving rise to mental formations of craving and aversion, producing feelings of suffering, happiness, or neither-suffering-nor-happiness, and thus bodily, verbal, and mental actions appear. The nose consciousness smells scents, discerning fragrance and stench and their directions; the mind consciousness simultaneously discerns the types and degrees of fragrances and stenches, giving rise to mental formations of liking and disliking, producing feelings of suffering, happiness, or neither-suffering-nor-happiness, and thus bodily, verbal, and mental actions appear.

The tongue consciousness tastes flavors, discerning sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy; the mind consciousness discerns the types of food, their quality, and the degree of flavor, giving rise to a mind of liking and disliking, producing feelings of suffering, happiness, or neither-suffering-nor-happiness, and subsequently bodily, verbal, and mental actions arise. The body consciousness feels tangible objects, discerning cold and heat, hunger and thirst, fullness, softness and hardness, and so on; the mind consciousness simultaneously discerns mental objects such as fatigue, tranquility, comfort, and weariness, giving rise to mental formations of liking and disliking, producing feelings of suffering, happiness, or neither-suffering-nor-happiness, and subsequently bodily, verbal, and mental actions are produced. The mind consciousness discerns together with the preceding five consciousnesses, and can also discern on its own—recalling the past, planning the future, analyzing, reasoning, and judging—giving rise to feelings of suffering, happiness, sorrow, joy, and neutral feeling, and producing the next bodily, verbal, and mental actions.

The manas is also mind, without shape or any appearance; it is also called the formless root. It has existed since beginningless kalpas and ceases when an arhat enters nirvāṇa without remainder. It is the consciousness of self-grasping; from beginningless kalpas it has constantly grasped at self, taking all dharmas as "me" and "mine," grasping the functions of the first six consciousnesses as its own, grasping the functions of the eighth consciousness as its own. Greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, doubt, and wrong views arise and manifest without cease. It is the root of karma creation, always directing the six consciousnesses to act according to its own habits. Practice is mainly about cultivating and transforming the manas. The manas is transformed once after awakening and entering the first bhūmi, transformed again at the eighth bhūmi, and at buddhahood is completely transformed into the wisdom of equality, while the mind consciousness is transformed into the wonderful observing wisdom, the first five consciousnesses are transformed into the wisdom that accomplishes what is to be done, and the eighth consciousness is transformed into the great perfect mirror wisdom (ādarśajñāna). If one can eliminate the self-grasping nature of the manas and no longer grasp at self, then at the end of life one will extinguish one's own five aggregates and eighteen realms and enter nirvāṇa without remainder. What the Buddha said should be subdued is precisely these seven deluded minds.

Original text: 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。我皆令入无余涅盘。而灭度之。

Explanation: All sentient beings of every kind—whether egg-born, womb-born, moisture-born, or transformation-born beings; whether beings with form or beings without form; whether beings with perception, without perception, or neither with perception nor without perception—I will cause them all to enter nirvāṇa without remainder and liberate them.

Beings of the three realms are divided into four kinds of birth, nine realms of existence, and twenty-five categories. Egg-born refers to sentient beings that do not dwell in a mother's womb and are not born from parents; the manas carries the ālayavijñāna directly into the eggshell, and when external conditions such as temperature are complete, the embryo grows and breaks out of the shell, like chickens, ducks, snakes, and birds. Womb-born refers to beings who, in the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava), with the manas carrying the ālayavijñāna, enter the mother's womb; when the six faculties have grown and matured, they emerge from the womb. Womb-born includes all humans, most animals, some ghosts, and some asuras. Moisture-born refers to beings without merit who are born under certain temperature and humidity conditions (such as in damp soil and air by watersides and seashores), like various insects and bacteria, and some asuras, and so on.

Transformation-born refers to those who can be born through transformation, such as devas of the various heavenly realms, beings of other lands, non-human beings of the ghost and spirit classes, hell beings, some asuras and a small portion of animals, as well as bodhisattvas and arhats with superknowledges. Beings with form refers to beings of the desire realm and form realm who possess a physical body. The physical body is also called the aggregate of form (rūpa)—the form that begins from entering the womb as a fertilized egg until birth and final death. Because the ālayavijñāna and the first seven consciousnesses dwell in and sustain it, the physical body has various bodily, verbal, and mental actions and activities; this is called the aggregate of form. Otherwise it would be a corpse and an insentient thing, like plants and minerals.

The desire realm includes the six heavens, the human world, and the three evil destinies. The form realm has eighteen heavens: from the first dhyāna heaven to the fourth dhyāna heaven there are thirteen levels, plus the five Pure Abode heavens, including the Heaven of No Affliction, the Heaven of No Heat, the Heaven of Good View, the Heaven of Good Appearance, and the Heaven of No Perception. Non-returners (Anāgāmin) cultivate in the five Pure Abode heavens; after severing the final afflictions and the craving for the three realms, they attain the fourth fruit of arhatship, and either enter nirvāṇa without remainder or turn their minds toward the Mahāyāna and take rebirth again to learn the bodhisattva path. Other beings cultivating in the five Pure Abode heavens, having become weary of their physical bodies, abandon their bodies and ascend to the formless realm.

The formless realm has four heavens: the Heaven of Boundless Space, the Heaven of Boundless Consciousness, the Heaven of Nothingness, and the Heaven of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception. "Formless" means without a physical body and without material form; only the mind consciousness, manas, and ālayavijñāna exist, with the mind abiding unmoving in meditative concentration. Beings of the formless realm also cultivate the contemplation of emptiness, with the aim of entering nirvāṇa without remainder. But the principle of emptiness they rely on is not ultimate, so they cannot cultivate their way out and remain in the cycle of the six destinies. For example, the Buddha's non-Buddhist teacher Udraka Rāmaputra cultivated the highest meditative concentration, the concentration of neither perception nor non-perception, and thought that having no perception within this concentration was the state of nirvāṇa. In fact, within that concentration there is still an extremely subtle perception. As long as there is a deluded mind, one cannot transcend the three realms and cannot attain liberation. After the Buddha attained the Way, he originally intended to liberate his teacher, but with the divine eye he saw that he had already been born into the Heaven of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception and would not emerge from that concentration again. The Buddha sighed and said: when he descends from that heaven, he will fall into the three evil destinies and suffer.

When the Buddha was about to enter parinirvāṇa, there was an old non-Buddhist practitioner 120 years old, who had been Ānanda's father for five hundred lifetimes, and who had also cultivated the concentration of neither perception nor non-perception. The Buddha had Ānanda summon the old man, and told him that within that concentration there was still subtle perception, and that that most subtle discerning mind was also not the self; if it were extinguished, one could transcend the three realms and attain liberation, ending birth and death. Upon hearing this, the old man immediately realized the fourth fruit of arhatship, and said to the Buddha: "I cannot bear to see the Buddha enter parinirvāṇa; I will go first." Having said this, he entered nirvāṇa without remainder. Nirvāṇa without remainder means that a being has severed the view of self and self-grasping and no longer has any grasping, is willing to abandon one's own five aggregates and eighteen realms. In this way, suffering no longer has anything to depend on, and one departs from suffering and casts off suffering. Having extinguished all suffering, one attains liberation, transcends the three realms, and there is no more self. Bodhisattvas liberate the four kinds of birth, nine realms, and twenty-five categories of beings in the three realms, teaching and transforming them to become fourth-fruit arhats, ending birth and death, so that at the end of life they can all enter nirvāṇa without remainder and attain liberation.

Original text: 如是灭度无量无数无边众生。实无众生得灭度者。

Explanation: The World-Honored One continued: Bodhisattvas liberate immeasurable, countless, boundless sentient beings in this way, yet in reality not a single sentient being is liberated. Though they liberate, no one is liberated.

Having liberated so many sentient beings, yet not one has been liberated—what does this mean? "Liberation" means entering nirvāṇa without remainder as just described, that is, completely abandoning and extinguishing the self of the five aggregates and the eighteen realms of the six faculties, six objects, and six consciousnesses; then there are no sentient beings. With the five aggregates, one is a sentient being; without the five aggregates, one is not called a sentient being; without the eighteen realms, one is also not called a sentient being. That is, no sentient being has been liberated; the ālayavijñāna that remains alone is also not a sentient being. Thus not a single sentient being has been liberated, and no sentient being has attained liberation. Even when the five aggregates and eighteen realms have not been extinguished, there is likewise no sentient being, because the appearance of the five aggregates and eighteen realms is illusory; their existence is false existence, not real existence. There is no such thing as the "sentient being" of a sentient being; all are the appearance of the tathāgatagarbha, all are the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, and the tathāgatagarbha itself does not need to be liberated. Therefore, although immeasurable numbers of sentient beings are liberated, in reality not one has been. Bodhisattvas should liberate sentient beings in this way, without the thought of liberating sentient beings.