Explanation of the Diamond Sutra: No Dharma to Be Attained, Chapter 22

Original text:须菩提白佛言。世尊。佛得阿耨多罗三藐三菩提。为无所得耶。佛言。如是。如是。须菩提。我于阿耨多罗三藐三菩提。乃至无有少法可得。是名阿耨多罗三藐三菩提。

Explanation: Subhūti said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One, the Buddha has attained anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi; is it that nothing was attained?" The Buddha said: "So it is, so it is. Subhūti, as for anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, I did not attain even the slightest dharma; that is what is called anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi." Subhūti said to the Buddha: World-Honored One, You have attained anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi and become the unsurpassed, right and equal enlightenment; but even so, it is without any attainment—is that so? The World-Honored One said: It is so, it is indeed so. Subhūti, just as you have said, although I have accomplished anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, I truly did not obtain even the slightest dharma—not a single dharma was obtained; I merely extinguished all ignorance completely. Only when there is no dharma to be attained can one become the unsurpassed, right and equal enlightenment; and even then it is only nominally that one has realized anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi—this fruit of attainment is merely a name.

If such a conclusion had not been spoken by the Buddha Himself, sentient beings would be full of doubt and disbelief, and might even slander it. This is because sentient beings all believe that since the Buddha has already become a Buddha, He must have obtained dharmas that are immeasurable, boundless, and countless in order to become a Buddha—that only by obtaining all dharmas of the world and beyond the world could one become a Buddha, and otherwise one could not become a Buddha. Even to become a bodhisattva, one must have obtained many dharmas; otherwise one would remain an ordinary person. Even ordinary people are constantly swaying between gain and loss, and are not without obtaining even a single dharma.

In what aspects do sentient beings know that the Buddha, bodhisattvas, and themselves have gains? Of course, sentient beings know, on the level of marks, that the Buddha has gains, that bodhisattvas have gains, and they know the gains and losses of ordinary sentient beings. So what dharmas do sentient beings know were obtained, in terms of marks, upon becoming a Buddha? First, looking at the Buddha's physical body: at the time of buddhahood, the Buddha obtained the perfect Sambhogakāya, the Nirmāṇakāya, and immeasurable countless transformation bodies; He obtained a wondrous adorned body with the thirty-two major marks and eighty minor marks, and therefore the Buddha could manifest whatever body was needed to liberate beings, and expound the Dharma for sentient beings accordingly.

Regarding lands, the Buddha obtained countless pure and adorned, supremely wondrous Buddha-lands, and had immeasurable boundless disciples following Him in study and practice. Through His arduous cultivation over three great immeasurable kalpas, the Buddha cultivated immeasurable meditative concentrations (samādhi) and attained immeasurable superknowledges and spiritual powers, able to subdue all māras of the heavens and non-Buddhist paths. Most importantly, the Buddha obtained omniscience/wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā), attaining the most supremely wondrous great wisdom, such that there is not a single dharma of the world or beyond the world that He does not thoroughly know; therefore He could, at will and at any time, expound the Tripiṭaka and the twelve divisions of scriptures for sentient beings, setting forth the entirety of the Buddha's teachings.

These dharmas and merits that the Buddha obtained are only spoken of in the crudest outline; to explain them in detail would take a hundred great kalpas and still be inexhaustible. Yet these merits, these dharmas, the Buddha did not possess when He was an ordinary person; they were all cultivated beginning from the stage of an ordinary being, gradually obtained bit by bit. That is to say, these dharmas and merits the Buddha obtained went from nonexistence to existence, from few to many, from incomplete to perfectly complete. What does this show? It shows that these dharmas, going from nonexistence to existence, are subject to arising; what arises does not exist from the beginning; what does not exist from the beginning is illusory and conjured; what is illusory is not real. Since they are illusory and unreal, they cannot be truly obtained. It is like a stove obtaining ice—utterly unobtainable; like flowers in empty space—utterly unobtainable; like a mirage on a summer day—utterly unobtainable; like objects in a dream—utterly unobtainable; like the son of a barren woman—utterly unobtainable; like bubbles on water—utterly unobtainable...

These dharma-marks can all be known on the level of marks; they all have appearances. But where do these marks come from? They all come from the Buddha's mind of ultimate reality (dharmatā-citta), the undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna); they are all manifested and conjured by the undefiled consciousness. The merits of the Buddha's cultivation over three great immeasurable kalpas are stored, bit by bit, in the Buddha's causal-ground mind, the tathāgatagarbha, without the slightest omission; immeasurable merits are all stored as seeds. When the conditions ripen, their retributions continuously manifest; what manifests are all marks, manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, and thus these marks are all false and illusory, subject to arising and ceasing, conjured—not real dharmas. There is only one real dharma: the tathāgatagarbha, which does not arise and does not cease, or it may be called the Buddha's undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna)—truly permanent, truly blissful, truly self, truly pure. Everything else is not real; all are conjured and manifested by the real.

Furthermore, from another perspective, by whom are these false dharma-marks obtained? Let us examine of what parts the Buddha is composed. The Buddha is also composed of two parts: body and mind. The Buddha's body is also a composite of the four great elements; although it has immeasurable major and minor marks (lakṣaṇa-vyañjana-sampad), it is without awareness or cognition; when conditions are exhausted, the four great elements disintegrate and the physical body vanishes. The physical body itself lacks self-mastery (avaśatā), let alone being able to obtain dharmas from outside; moreover, it is not mind—how could it obtain dharmas? The Buddha's mind has eight: great mirror-like wisdom (ādarśa-jñāna) (the eighth consciousness), the wisdom of equality (the seventh consciousness), the wisdom of wondrous observation (the sixth consciousness), and the wisdom of accomplished deeds (the first five consciousnesses). The Buddha's great mirror-like wisdom (ādarśa-jñāna), the eighth consciousness, is a mind that obtains nothing; it does not obtain any dharma, because it is inherently complete with all dharmas in itself, lacking nothing whatsoever; all dharmas are produced by itself and come from itself, so it would not obtain itself again; moreover, they have always belonged to itself—what would there be to obtain?

As for the Buddha's seven consciousnesses, although they are minds that have gains, the Buddha's seven consciousnesses have already reached pure nonaction; His mind is utterly empty and pure, and would no longer crave to obtain any dharma, nor does it feel that its own mind has obtained any dharma. Moreover, although the Buddha's seven consciousnesses have been transformed into wisdom, with seeds thoroughly purified and without a trace of ignorance, they are still generated by the flowing forth of consciousness seeds from the Buddha's undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna); therefore they are illusory and have the nature of arising and ceasing. Since they arise and cease, they are dharmas lacking self-mastery (avaśatā). Since the seven consciousnesses themselves lack self-mastery and cannot be obtained, how much less could they obtain other dharmas. If the Buddha's seven consciousnesses believed there were dharmas to be obtained, the mind would not be empty and pure; if the mind were not empty and pure, buddhahood could not yet be attained. Therefore the Buddha's seven consciousnesses also do not obtain any dharmas.

Although the Buddha accomplished anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi and obtained immeasurable supremely wondrous dharmas, with regard to dharmas He truly obtained nothing. As for the dharma of accomplishing the Buddha Way, both the intermediate process and the result are the perfect accomplishment of all dharmas by the Buddha's tathāgatagarbha, the undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna); every dharma is conjured into appearance by the tathāgatagarbha undefiled consciousness in coordination with the seven consciousnesses, all accomplished by the tathāgatagarbha undefiled consciousness, all being the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, inherently not real existence. Therefore the dharma of accomplishing the Buddha Way was given the name anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. Thus anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi is merely a name; in substance it is what is conjured by the undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna).

In summary, the Buddha became a Buddha because of non-obtaining; only by not obtaining a single dharma can one become a Buddha; if one believes there is a dharma to be obtained, one cannot become a Buddha. Why is this said? The Buddha became a Buddha by means of great wisdom, unsurpassed wisdom. How was the Buddha's wisdom obtained? The Buddha began cultivation as an ordinary being, and over three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas gradually extinguished all ignorance. Each time a kind of ignorance was broken through, a kind of brightness was revealed; as part of the darkness of the mind-ground disappeared, a portion of light appeared—and this light is wisdom. When all ignorance is extinguished, omniscience/wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā) appears. Therefore the Buddha's unsurpassed wisdom, wisdom without equal, was not acquired or obtained; it was revealed by extinguishing ignorance and removing obscurations. In other words, becoming a Buddha is not obtaining any dharma, but not obtaining even a single dharma—by removing all obscurations, the luminosity of the mind-ground naturally manifests. Therefore, for each of us studying Buddhism and cultivating, the purpose is to break through ignorance, not to obtain something. A mind that seeks gain is ignorance; it is an obscuration, obstructing the manifestation of wisdom.