Explanation of the Diamond Sutra: The Incomparability of Merit and Wisdom, Twenty-Four

Original text: 须菩提。若三千大千世界中。所有诸须弥山王。如是等七宝聚。有人持用布施。若人以此般若波罗蜜经。乃至四句偈等。受持读诵。为他人说。于前福德。百分不及一。百千万亿分。乃至算数譬喻所不能及。

Explanation: Subhūti, if someone gathered all the seven treasures as numerous as Mount Sumeru in the trichiliocosm and gave them away in generosity, that merit would be extremely great. But there is another person who can receive, uphold, read, and recite this Diamond Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, or even just one four-line verse of the Diamond Sutra, and expound it to others. The merit attained by these two people—the latter far surpasses the former. The merit from upholding the sūtra is a hundred times, a hundred thousand million times, indeed countless times more than the merit of one who gives away seven treasures as numerous as Mount Sumeru. The gap between them cannot be calculated by any worldly method of reckoning, nor can it be expressed by any of the various metaphors of human language—the difference is simply too great.

One trichiliocosm contains a billion or ten billion Mount Sumerus, and one Mount Sumeru is countless times larger than the Earth, while the Earth itself already has countless hills of various sizes and vast, boundless lands. If a person could give away just the seven treasures of one small hill, that merit would already be incalculable—let alone giving away the seven treasures of the entire Earth, let alone seven treasures as numerous as Mount Sumeru, and even more so giving away seven treasures as numerous as a billion or ten billion Mount Sumerus. The merit such a person would attain could not be calculated even by countless computers. Yet the Buddha said that even such immense merit is not great; it falls far short of the merit of receiving, upholding, reading, and reciting the Diamond Sutra, differing from it to an extreme degree—incomparable and beyond reckoning. Even if one receives, upholds, reads, and recites just one four-line verse of the Diamond Sutra, the merit attained far exceeds, by countless multiples, the merit of giving away seven treasures as numerous as all the Mount Sumerus in a trichiliocosm. So how great, then, must be the merit of receiving, upholding, reading, and reciting the Diamond Sutra?

As discussed previously, those who can truly receive, uphold, read, and recite the Diamond Sutra, or the four-line verses within it, are all people who have truly seen their true mind and realized the prajñā of true reality; only such people have the capacity to receive and uphold the Diamond Sutra, only they truly know how to read and recite the Diamond Sutra, and only they know how to read the Diamond Sutra and how to recite it. The Diamond Sutra entirely expounds the wisdom and merit of the true mind of prajñā reality; its principle is profound and ever more profound.

Only after realizing the vajra mind (Vajracitta), the tathāgatagarbha, can one understand the dharma of the tathāgatagarbha, can one recite the contents contained within the tathāgatagarbha, can one accept all the dharma meanings of the tathāgatagarbha, and can one gradually practice in accordance with the principle of the tathāgatagarbha, thereby transforming all the mental activities of the deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses. From then on, the afflictions of the deluded seven consciousnesses will gradually be eliminated, afflictive habits will gradually grow fainter, and ignorance will gradually weaken. Cultivating in reliance upon the tathāgatagarbha, one will come to know more profound dharma meanings, as well as all the seed contents within the tathāgatagarbha; thus the dust-like ignorance and delusion will become ever fewer, until finally it is all extinguished.

The merit of receiving, upholding, reading, and reciting the Diamond Sutra is truly difficult to describe and portray. By citing just a small portion of examples to indicate its general outline, everyone can understand the boundlessness and inconceivability of its merit. For instance, after a bodhisattva realizes the prajñā of true reality and cultivates the four dhyānas and eight meditative absorptions, he will have hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, or hundreds of millions of mind-made bodies (manomayakāya), with which to benefit and bring joy to countless sentient beings, enabling them to transcend the suffering of saṃsāra. This merit is truly priceless and beyond comparison; it cannot be calculated, and its merit can never be exhausted, forever and ever, and it will increase without limit.

As for the merit of giving away the Mount Sumerus of a trichiliocosm, although it is also extremely great and beyond reckoning, it is still finite and can be completely consumed. This merit also cannot offset evil karma; perhaps, due to ignorance, while enjoying blessings one may use that merit to commit great evil deeds, and then one will undergo evil retribution in accordance with that evil karma. When committing evil deeds, one's merit is also diminished and consumed, until finally the merit is entirely used up in various ways. But the merit of a bodhisattva who reads, recites, receives, and upholds the Diamond Sutra not only is not diminished but increases, with merit accumulating ever more and ever greater.

As the bodhisattva's wisdom continually grows, his merit increases countless times over. When a bodhisattva reaches the stage of an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva, with a single mental engagement he can manifest a trichiliocosm filled with seven treasures, countless times more than Mount Sumeru, and the bodhisattva will give it all away to sentient beings—that merit is even more incalculable. The bodhisattva will also manifest the various material necessities of life that sentient beings need, to give in generosity and benefit sentient beings; this merit too is incalculable. Moreover, the bodhisattva manifests countless transformation bodies going to the worlds of the ten directions to extensively deliver immeasurable, boundless sentient beings—that merit need no longer be calculated, because it simply cannot be calculated; it is unimaginable and inconceivable.

This is the merit attained by an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva, or the merit attained by bodhisattvas before the eighth bhūmi—all of it is incalculable. When the bodhisattva further cultivates to the stage of a bodhisattva of equal enlightenment (samatā-samukha), over a hundred kalpas the bodhisattva manifests countless great-bodied sentient beings for immeasurable beings to eat and survive famine; the merit attained is even more unimaginable. Cultivating further to the fruit of buddhahood, extensively delivering immeasurable sentient beings throughout the worlds of the ten directions, the merit attained cannot be calculated even if all sentient beings calculate together, and no words can express it. Therefore the World-Honored One said that the merit of those who receive, uphold, read, and recite the Diamond Sutra and the four-line verses within it is greater than the merit of those who give away the seven treasures by immeasurable hundreds of thousands of millions of times—and even that is not the limit. The two are truly incomparable.

Since receiving, upholding, reading, and reciting the Diamond Sutra carries such great merit, can we read and recite the Diamond Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra? Can we recite one of its four-line verses? If we can read it, the hidden meaning of the diamond prajñā will all manifest; if we cannot read it, can we listen? If we can listen, the hidden meaning of the diamond prajñā can also be heard. Why can some people not read it? Because sentient beings all treat reading sūtras as something very ordinary, thinking there is nothing to it—just making sounds from the mouth, with the upper and lower lips opening and closing—that's all. What is there to it? Those who can truly read it do not think this way. Those who can read it can read out the mysteries within; this is the greatest offering to the Buddha. Those who can read the sūtra can also reveal its mysteries to sentient beings, thereby guiding sentient beings toward correct views and dispelling their confusion and darkness. Those who can read and recite the sūtra are all, in every aspect of daily life, aware and knowing—unconfused and undeluded.

For those who cannot read the Diamond Sutra, I will now teach you to read and recite it. Read and recite it like this: Jin~gang~ban~ruo~bo~luo~mi~jing (Di~a~mond~ Praj~ñā~pā~ra~mitā~ Sū~tra)……, one character at a time, with cadence and rhythm, the voice rising and falling, the flow of sound now long, now short; at the same time, turn the light inward and reflect back upon your own capacity to read, seeking the place where the sound arises and falls, and firmly and solidly plant a great big question mark upon it. If you still cannot read it this way, then train yourself to listen: "All…… conditioned…… dharmas…… are…… like…… a…… dream…… illusion…… bubble…… shadow……" Imagine someone beside you reciting it just like this, then imagine how he reads it out—how his tongue, teeth, and lips coordinate; imagine how his voice comes out, and from where it comes.

Then contemplate yourself: "Dream"…… is all of this a dream? Are these sounds a dream? Is the person reading the sūtra before you a dream? Is the very matter of reading and listening to the sūtra a dream? "Illusion"…… are all these things illusions? How are the words, the language, the people, the mind that listens, and the sound that is heard all illusory? "Bubble"…… are all these things like bubbles? From where do they emerge? When the bubble bursts, where does it vanish to? "Shadow"…… are all these things shadows? How are these shadows conjured forth? Who conjured forth these shadows? How can one grasp the master who conjures these illusory shadows?

Once all the preliminary groundwork has been done and the conditions ripen naturally, the answer to the riddle will be revealed and the truth made plain; you will grasp that diamond prajñā mind of true reality and realize the tathāgatagarbha. From then on, you will truly know how to read and recite the Diamond Sutra, and you will know how to receive and uphold the Diamond Sutra—how wonderful that would be!