Lectures on the Diamond Sutra: Why Does the Tathāgata Have No Fixed Dharma to Preach?

When the Buddha came into the world to teach the Dharma, he always taught in accordance with conditions. The Buddha observed sentient beings' conditions—whatever condition was present, that was the Dharma he taught, expounding the Dharma according to beings' capacities. At the very beginning after the Buddha attained the Way, he first taught the Huayan Sutra (Avataṃsaka Sūtra) in the various heavens, delivering the great bodhisattva disciples who had followed him in cultivation for countless kalpas, while the śrāvaka disciples of the Sahā world were as if deaf and mute. The Buddha then returned to the human world to teach the Hinayana Āgama sutras to the śrāvaka disciples seeking liberation, so that they could achieve results in their cultivation and then turn back to study and practice the Mahāyāna Dharma. Because sentient beings in the Sahā world have shallow faculties and all seek liberation, wishing to leave suffering and attain bliss, the Buddha taught the Dharma of the three vehicles in the Sahā world.

In other Buddha-lands, however, the Buddha taught only the One Vehicle—the Dharma of the One Buddha Vehicle—delivering sentient beings of bodhisattva disposition to accomplish the Buddha Way. Whenever the Buddha taught the Dharma, he always relied on a condition: when a phenomenon appeared, the Buddha would expound a Dharma. Sometimes disciples came to ask questions; there was always a premise before a Dharma was taught. Dharma taught without any condition was extremely rare—that was for Dharma of particular importance, and even then it still matched sentient beings' capacities. Thus the Buddha's teaching of Dharma was never fixed; Dharma is formed by conditions and is not fixed. All Dharmas, no matter in which Buddha-land they were taught, serve to remedy sentient beings' illness of ignorance and illness of foolishness. When there is that kind of ignorance, the Buddha teaches that kind of Dharma; when ignorance is extinguished, the Dharma is no longer of use. Therefore the Buddhadharma is like a raft used to cross a river—once one reaches the shore, it is discarded.

Since Dharma exists in dependence on conditions, it is illusory and empty, to be used for a time and then discarded; therefore one must not cling to it as real. Yet while ignorance still remains, one must hold on to it and use it as a tool. For example, with the Dharma of the Four Noble Truths, once one has realized the fruits and attained liberation, this Dharma is of no more use to the arhat; one then cultivates as a pratyekabuddha the Dharma of the twelve links of dependent origination. After attaining the fruit of a pratyekabuddha, the Dharma of dependent origination is also of no more use, and one needs to further cultivate the bodhisattva's six pāramitās. After seeing one's true mind and awakening to one's nature, the six pāramitās of the outer gate are of no more use, and one cultivates the six pāramitās of the inner gate. Upon entering the first bhūmi and after entering the bhūmis, the six pāramitās of the inner gate are of no more use, and one cultivates the ten pāramitās. After becoming a bodhisattva of the tenth bhūmi, the ten pāramitās must also be relinquished. After cultivating the Dharma of equal enlightenment and wondrous enlightenment to perfect the Buddha Way, all Dharmas are no longer needed and are entirely relinquished, leaving the mind empty and without any Dharma.

Only because all Dharmas have been perfectly cultivated can one, after becoming a Buddha, expound them for sentient beings. Therefore all the Dharma spoken by the Tathāgata is not originally existent, fixed and unchanging Dharma; it is all empty, not real Dharma. But neither is it not real Dharma, because sentient beings, relying on these Dharmas, can realize the true Dharma, the unconditioned Dharma; moreover, when the Buddha expounded these Dharmas, he never departed from the true Dharma of suchness—it was precisely the Dharma of suchness functioning here that enabled the Buddha to expound them. These Dharmas all come from the Buddha's own mind of suchness, flowing forth from suchness; they are a part of suchness, standing in a relationship of neither identity nor difference with suchness.