Diamond Sutra Lecture: The Characteristics of the Mark of Self

In the Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment, the World-Honored One described the subtle mark of self: Suppose a person's whole body is harmonious and comfortable, all four limbs fully relaxed, body and mind tranquil, utterly tranquil. Suddenly one forgets the existence of the body and no longer knows where the body is located. At this moment, if a needle lightly pricks the body, one immediately feels the pain and involuntarily feels "I hurt"—and the mark of self in the mind appears. Sentient beings all involuntarily take the body as self, take awareness as self, and take the five aggregates as self. This is a very subtle mark of self, universally present in sentient beings.

The mark of self spoken of in the Diamond Sutra includes both coarse and subtle forms, with the coarse mark of self as the main focus. Sentient beings universally possess the relatively coarse and very coarse marks of self. The mark of self manifested by worldlings who have not eliminated the self-view is present at all times and in all places, especially conspicuous, yet they are unaware of it and have no awakening—whether or not they study Buddhism. Among those who practice Buddhism, the self-view and mark of self are also very severe. In order to highlight themselves, they readily consider themselves extraordinary and superior to others, always deliberately or inadvertently mistaking themselves as having attained fruition or awakened to the true mind, and they proclaim this everywhere without any evidence, hoping to gain others' reverence and special regard, feeling that they have finally surpassed others and finally held their heads high. Thereupon they become extremely proud, arrogant, and conceited, regarding no one, and their conduct becomes corrupt and evil. These are all manifestations of the fully endowed mark of self, within which there is also the mark of person and the mark of sentient beings. As long as there are the marks of person, sentient beings, and life span, there must be the mark of self; where there is the mark of self, there must be the other three marks—the four marks cannot be separated.

At many times the mark of self is closely bound up with the mark of person, and hence there is mutual comparison and measuring, and hence jealousy, competition, disputes, and quarrels, and even wars of various kinds. Wars between nations arise when the marks of self and person of individuals converge into collective marks of self and person; the competition and disputes among various groups are likewise. The small self becomes the great self, the mark of self grows larger, and its force of action grows greater too. It looks as though individuals have no self, but in fact it is all the mark of self.

In the secular world the mark of self is even more pronounced. Worldly people generally take power, fame and profit, status, position, honor, class, wealth, and the like as their mark of self, sinking deeply into them and grasping without letting go. For the sake of false face, for the sake of being looked up to by others, they will pay any price, caring extremely about the gazes and evaluations of others. Moreover, they do everything they can to display their strengths and uniqueness to others, in order to win others' envy and satisfy their own vanity. Such examples are too numerous to list—they are everywhere—so I will not cite them. In all this, the mark of person is involved; otherwise one would not care about the gazes and evaluations of others. Because of the mark of self, for the sake of that so-called self, there is endless greed, hatred, and delusion, and unrestrained enjoyment of the pleasures of the five desires. The six faculties and five sense organs never rest for a moment; even when asleep, one is still thinking of wealth, sex, fame, and food. This is how worldlings are—without the slightest lofty aspiration, craving the low-level pleasures of the five desires, making money and enjoying themselves, and that is all.

In short, because worldlings have the mark of self, all their bodily, verbal, and mental actions revolve around the mark of self and fully display it. If there were no mark of self, there would not be so much greed and craving; life would be much simpler, with far less contrivance. Many matters would cease of their own accord: without mind, there are no affairs; without desire, there is no seeking. Bodily, verbal, and mental actions would be very low-key, no longer willing to seek the limelight, display oneself, or take oneself as the center. Whether or not a person has the mark of self in mind will involuntarily show in their words and deeds—it cannot be concealed and cannot be faked, because the habitual tendencies in one's bones cannot be suppressed.