Commentary on the Diamond Sutra. Chapter Eight: Born from the Dharma.

Original text of the Diamond Sutra: 须菩提。于意云何。若人满三千大千世界七宝。以用布施。是人所得福德。宁为多不。须菩提言。甚多。世尊。何以故。是福德即非福德性。是故如来说福德多。若复有人。于此经中受持乃至四句偈等。为他人说。其福胜彼。何以故。须菩提。一切诸佛及诸佛阿耨多罗三藐三菩提法。皆从此经出。须菩提。所谓佛法者。即非佛法。

Explanation: Subhūti, what do you think? If someone took the seven treasures of a trichiliocosm (three thousand great thousand worlds) and used them for generosity (dāna), would the merit this person obtains be great? Subhūti said: Very great, World-Honored One. Why is this said? Because such giving obtains merit, not the nature of merit; the nature of merit has no distinction of much or little, and therefore the Tathāgata says the merit is great. The Buddha said that if someone, in this Diamond Sutra, receives and upholds even a four-line verse and expounds it to others, the merit obtained would surpass that of giving the seven treasures. Why is this said? Subhūti, all buddhas and the dharma of the buddhas' anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi all arise from this sutra (the vajra mind). Subhūti, so-called buddhadharma is not a truly existent dharma; it is provisionally named buddhadharma.

The seven treasures of the trichiliocosm include the human-world seven treasures on the earth of Jambudvīpa, the seven treasures of Uttarakuru, Aparagodānīya, and Pūrvavideha, the seven treasures of the dragon palaces of the four great oceans, the seven treasures of the seven golden mountains, the seven treasures of Mount Sumeru, the seven treasures of the Heaven of the Four Great Kings, the seven treasures of Trāyastriṃśa, the seven treasures of Yāma Heaven, the seven treasures of Tuṣita Heaven, the seven treasures of Nirmāṇarati Heaven, the seven treasures of Paranirmitavaśavartin Heaven, and the seven treasures of the eighteen heavens of the form realm. And one trichiliocosm contains a billion four great continents, a billion four great oceans, a billion seven golden mountains, a billion Mount Sumerus, a billion Heavens of the Four Great Kings, a billion Trāyastriṃśa heavens, a billion Yāma heavens, a billion Tuṣita heavens, a billion Nirmāṇarati heavens, a billion Paranirmitavaśavartin heavens, a billion first-dhyāna heavens, one million second-dhyāna heavens, one thousand third-dhyāna heavens, plus the fourth-dhyāna heavens, the five Pure Abode heavens, the four formless heavens, and the four heavens of the formless realm.

The seven treasures of so many stars, mountains, and seas cannot be counted; if all were given away, that merit would be even more incalculable. Yet such acts of giving away treasures are all conditioned dharmas, arising-and-ceasing dharmas, and are also dharmas with measurable quantities, so they can be worn away, exhausted, and used up. Being a heavenly lord in several heavens of the desire realm, dwelling in heavenly palaces, sporting with celestial sons and daughters for several or several dozen lifetimes, the merit is used up, and afterward one becomes a poor person without merit, with a great chance of falling into the three evil destinies. But there is a kind of unconditioned merit that can never be exhausted and never wears away, and that is the nature of merit inherent in the tathāgatagarbha.

The tathāgatagarbha contains the seeds of the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind; these four great element seeds combine together, and according to various proportions constitute the seven treasures, the hundred treasures, and countless precious things. The seven treasures of the trichiliocosm, the seven golden mountains, Mount Sumeru, the four great oceans, the heavenly palaces, the entire trichiliocosm, and the buddha-lands of the ten directions all come from the tathāgatagarbha of sentient beings. The material bodies of all sentient beings, the material bodies of śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas, and the Buddha's material body all come from their respective tathāgatagarbhas. The merit of the tathāgatagarbha has no quantity and cannot be calculated, and the merit it brings to sentient beings is also boundless and immeasurable, beyond counting. Only conditioned merit can be calculated and can be said to be much or great; the unconditioned nature of merit of the tathāgatagarbha cannot be calculated and cannot be expressed or compared with "much" and "great." However much is little, however great is small; anything with a quantity is small. Only that which is measureless and cannot be expressed is the greatest and most abundant. Therefore unconditioned merit is far superior to conditioned merit.

Then how does one cultivate this unconditioned merit? The Buddha said, if someone can study the Diamond Sutra, receive the true meaning within the sutra, and after realizing the vajra mind, expound it to others—even if they can only expound one four-line verse from the sutra—the merit obtained far surpasses the merit of giving the seven treasures. The Diamond Sutra expounds precisely this tathāgatagarbha essence, solid like a vajra and never decaying or perishing. The tathāgatagarbha has the true characteristic of being unconditioned, non-abiding, without marks, unborn, and unceasing, as well as purity; realizing Him, one obtains the fundamental non-discriminative wisdom. Then contemplating the various merits of the tathāgatagarbha, one obtains differentiated wisdom, also called subsequently attained wisdom; wisdom gradually deepens and sharpens, merit gradually increases, and then, studying the seeds contained within the tathāgatagarbha, with one portion of the wisdom of the varieties of paths one enters the first bhūmi and becomes a noble one.

The more one studies the seed-functions of the tathāgatagarbha, the broader and deeper one's wisdom becomes. Upon entering the eighth bhūmi, without preparatory attention (prayoga-manaskāra), one can directly and swiftly manifest all needed material things—mountains, rivers, the great earth, gold, silver, jewels, and so on—and can also manifest a trichiliocosm buddha-land, and can bring forth measureless superknowledges and meditative concentrations (samādhi) to benefit sentient beings. The higher one cultivates, the deeper the wisdom, the greater the virtues and abilities, the more the transformation bodies, the more sentient beings are delivered; after accomplishing the buddha path, wisdom is boundless and merit measureless. All of this is initiated on the foundation of realizing the tathāgatagarbha; all virtues, abilities, functions, superknowledges, and samādhis come from the tathāgatagarbha. Without realizing Him, there is no merit and no benefit, and one cannot have great wisdom and great merit.

The Buddha told Subhūti: why is it that after realizing, and then expounding to others, the merit surpasses giving the seven treasures? Because all buddhas and the buddhadharma spoken by the buddhas all come from this vajra mind, the tathāgatagarbha. On the foundation of realizing the tathāgatagarbha, studying the seed-functions of the tathāgatagarbha, from then on one can gradually accomplish the buddha path and perfect bodhi. The seeds of wholesome dharmas cultivated by the buddhas over three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas are all stored in their own tathāgatagarbhas, with ignorance extinguished. The buddhas accomplished buddhahood precisely by realizing the tathāgatagarbha, and then expounded to sentient beings all the dharmas for attaining buddhahood; the dharmas they spoke also flowed out from the buddhas' own tathāgatagarbha of the self-natured mind.

The Buddha said to Subhūti: so-called buddhadharma is not buddhadharma. This sentence closely adheres to the theme and becomes the central sentence of this chapter. All the dharmas for attaining buddhahood that the Buddha taught are the so-called buddhadharma—people conventionally call the dharma spoken by the Buddha "buddhadharma." But the dharma the Buddha spoke is the dharma-seeds the Buddha cultivated and retained in the Buddha's tathāgatagarbha, expounded through various conditions; these dharma-seeds were stored in later, acquired fashion, formed postnatally, and are not originally existent dharmas. After the Buddha expounded them, they are dharmas produced by conditions, not fixed dharmas originally existent. Since they are not originally existent fixed dharmas, they are not buddhadharma in the true sense.

Buddhadharma in the true sense is originally existent, eternally unchanging, unborn and unceasing, not produced by conditions, originally thus, the tathāgatagarbha that is such by its very nature (dharmatā), the undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna), tathatā, the ultimate truth (paramārtha-satya), the eighth consciousness, the vipāka-consciousness, the great mirror-like wisdom (ādarśa-jñāna). All the rest are humanly devised names and designations, provisionally spoken as buddhadharma. In summary, among worldly and world-transcending dharmas, only tathatā is the one true dharma, the dharma in the true sense, the original dharma, the dharma of ultimate reality; all the rest arise postnatally, are formed by conditions, and are dharmas subject to arising and ceasing, and are not dharmas of ultimate reality.