Commentary on the Diamond Sutra: The Thirty-Two Marks of the Tathagata Are Also Not Marks

Chapter Thirteen: Receiving and Upholding the Dharma as Taught
Subhuti, what do you think? Can the Tathagata be seen by means of the thirty-two marks? No, World-Honored One, the Tathagata cannot be seen by means of the thirty-two marks. Why? The thirty-two marks spoken of by the Tathagata are said to be non-marks; therefore, they are called the thirty-two marks.

Explanation: Subhuti, what do you think? Can the Tathagata be perceived through the thirty-two marks? Subhuti replied: No, World-Honored One, the Tathagata cannot be perceived through the thirty-two marks. Why? Because, according to the Tathagata's teaching, the thirty-two marks he spoke of are not true marks; they are merely designated as the thirty-two marks.

Since the thirty-two marks are not real, they are not the Tathagata either. Therefore, there must be another true Tathagata. We should not regard the thirty-two marks as the Tathagata, nor should we seek the Tathagata within the thirty-two marks. The true Tathagata lies beyond the thirty-two marks. To perceive his true form requires immense wisdom and merit. Just as the thirty-two marks are not the Tathagata, the five aggregates are not the self, not the person, not sentient beings, and not a life span. We should not cling to any one or all of the five aggregates as the self. We must break through the appearance of the five aggregates, thereby eliminating the notions of self, person, sentient beings, and life span.

The Tathagata possesses the thirty-two marks and eighty excellent characteristics. The thirty-two marks are not truly existent marks, nor are the eighty excellent characteristics truly existent marks. They are appearances that arise from nothingness and return to emptiness—illusions manifested by the Tathagata's immaculate consciousness based on the seeds of wholesome karma accumulated over three asamkhyeya-kalpas of practice. Their nature is empty; their appearance is empty. The thirty-two marks are merely illusory appearances. A wheel-turning sage king also possesses thirty-two marks; the Buddha’s cousin, the monk Nanda, had thirty-one marks; even a demon king can manifest thirty-two marks. If one recognizes others by their marks, one may easily mistake their identity. If the marks vanish, the person seems to vanish, yet in reality, the Tathagata does not perish. Therefore, one must discern between true and false appearances, abandon attachment to appearances, and thereby increase wisdom, freeing oneself from bondage to appearances.

Original Text:
Subhuti, if a virtuous man or woman were to sacrifice as many bodily lives as there are sands in the Ganges River, and if another person were to receive, uphold, read, recite, and explain to others even a four-line verse from this sutra, the merit of the latter would far exceed that of the former.

Explanation: Subhuti, if a virtuous man or woman were to sacrifice bodily lives as numerous as the sands of the Ganges River, and if another person were to receive, uphold, and understand even a four-line verse from this Diamond Sutra and explain it to others, the merit gained would surpass that of sacrificing bodily lives as numerous as the sands of the Ganges.

Earlier, the World-Honored One had already stated twice that receiving, upholding, and explaining even a four-line verse from the Diamond Sutra to others yields far greater merit than giving away the seven treasures of a billion-world universe or treasures as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. Here, he emphasizes again that it surpasses the merit of sacrificing bodily lives as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. Giving material wealth is external generosity, while sacrificing one’s body is internal generosity. The merit from internal generosity far exceeds that of external generosity; the two are incomparable. For external wealth depends on internal wealth; if external wealth is lost, it can be regained, but if internal wealth is lost, nothing remains.

Since beginningless time, sentient beings have clung tenaciously to their bodily lives, unwilling to let their bodies or lifespans suffer the slightest harm, let alone sacrifice them. Unless one is a great bodhisattva who has made pure and vast vows, it is extremely difficult to do so. Bodhisattvas on the stage of equal enlightenment, lacking sufficient merit to attain Buddhahood, dedicate themselves for a hundred kalpas to cultivating merit, sacrificing their internal wealth. They give whatever part of their body sentient beings need and offer whatever is requested. In times of famine, they may even transform into large bodies for sentient beings to consume, alleviating their hunger. Only after accumulating sufficient merit for Buddhahood do they become Buddhas-to-be, dwelling in the Tusita Heaven, awaiting the right conditions to descend to the human realm, manifest the eight phases of a Buddha, and complete the fruit of Buddhahood.

Although sacrificing bodily life is so crucial and yields such immense merit, the World-Honored One states that it still cannot compare to the merit gained from receiving, upholding, and expounding the Diamond Sutra or a four-line verse to sentient beings. For receiving and upholding the Diamond Sutra leads to awakening the mind and seeing one’s true nature, which is the foundation for attaining Buddhahood. Once the mind is awakened and true nature seen, wisdom grows increasingly profound and vast, ultimately culminating in the perfect wisdom of Buddhahood. However, the merit from both external and internal generosity must be fully cultivated. Without the merit from external generosity, merit remains incomplete, making it impossible to awaken the mind and see one’s true nature or to progress step by step as a bodhisattva on the stages of realization. Through internal generosity, one completely abandons the small self, achieving utter selflessness, thereby realizing the ultimate great self and the true self of the Buddha’s state—eternal, blissful, self, and pure.

The World-Honored One repeatedly emphasizes the importance of generosity: material generosity, fearlessness generosity, and Dharma generosity are all essential. Without the merit cultivated through the first two types of generosity, one cannot engage in Dharma generosity, for teaching the Dharma without realization often misleads sentient beings, resulting not in merit but in karmic retribution. Therefore, practitioners must diligently cultivate generosity; it is the foremost practice among the six paramitas and the myriad practices of the bodhisattva path.