Explanation of the Diamond Sutra. Chapter Twenty-Seven: No Annihilation, No Extinction

Original text: 须菩提。汝若作是念。如来不以具足相故。得阿耨多罗三藐三菩提。须菩提。莫作是念。如来不以具足相故。得阿耨多罗三藐三菩提。

Explanation: Subhūti, if you have such a thought in your mind, believing that the Tathāgata did not attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi by virtue of being endowed with all the marks, then quickly extinguish this thought. Subhūti, do not have such a thought, believing that the Tathāgata did not attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi by virtue of being endowed with immeasurable adorned marks. Subhūti, it is precisely by being endowed with immeasurable adorned marks that the Tathāgata attained anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.

Because sentient beings have shallow wisdom and cannot comprehensively and harmoniously understand all dharmas, their views become narrow and deficient. Therefore, when sentient beings see the World-Honored One break through the four marks, break through the marks of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas, and also break through the thirty-two marks of the Tathāgata, some of them will believe that the Tathāgata's attainment of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi seems achievable without being endowed with all the marks, and that buddhahood can be attained that way; that those marks are optional and unimportant, and one can become a Buddha without being endowed with the marks of adornment; that one can become a Buddha without perfecting all merits; or they believe that buddhahood is not attained through marks, that marks are unimportant and optional; that becoming a Buddha requires no marks at all—no marks of the five aggregates, no thirty-two marks; that the Buddha has no body of the five aggregates, but is only a mind. All such views and opinions constitute slandering the Buddha, and are similar to the notion of annihilatory emptiness (uccheda-śūnyatā), harming both oneself and others, and one's practice will not achieve success. The Tathāgata had to address these wrong views (mithyā-dṛṣṭi) and correct them, so as to protect sentient beings' views from being biased, enabling them to walk the true and correct path.

Why is believing that the Tathāgata can attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi without being endowed with all the marks of adornment a notion of annihilatory emptiness? Because holding such a view means one neglects or denies the existence and functioning of the true mind of suchness, the tathāgatagarbha, and denies the real existence of the tathāgatagarbha's functions and roles—that is annihilationism. When each bodhisattva practices the bodhisattva path at the causal stage, every wholesome karma he cultivates is stored as a seed in the tathāgatagarbha. When the conditions are complete, he will successively receive the retributions of great and small wholesome karmas, and even the retribution of buddhahood is inexhaustible, with the retributions becoming ever more splendid. These retributions include the bodhisattva's adorned physical body of the five aggregates and the marks of adornment, the environment in which the bodhisattva lives, the buddha-land in which he dwells, all the disciples and close relatives under the bodhisattva's seat, all the bodhisattva's meditative concentrations (samādhi) and immeasurable superknowledges; most importantly, they include the bodhisattva's boundless wisdom and virtues and capabilities, as well as the purification and transformation of the karmic seeds in the bodhisattva's tathāgatagarbha.

Thus, when the bodhisattva becomes a Buddha, the karmic seeds have been completely transformed and purified without remainder, and ignorance has been severed without remainder; therefore the eight consciousnesses can be transformed into the four wisdoms. When the four wisdoms are perfectly luminous, the wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā) manifests. The Buddha's four wisdoms are precisely the Buddha's eight consciousnesses. Since the Buddha has eight consciousnesses, he has the five aggregates; otherwise the eight consciousnesses would have nowhere to rest upon. The Buddha's five aggregates are endowed with the thirty-two marks and eighty excellent characteristics because, through the Buddha's cultivation of wholesome dharmas over three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas, all the seeds of wholesome karma are stored in the tathāgatagarbha. When the conditions ripen and he becomes a Buddha, the seeds manifest, and the appearance of the five aggregates thus attained is supremely adorned with marks of beauty, perfectly endowed with the thirty-two marks and eighty excellent characteristics, unparalleled and supremely splendid.

If one says that when the Buddha attained buddhahood, He did not attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi by virtue of being endowed with the adorned marks, there would be enormous faults. First, it would lead sentient beings to mistakenly believe that the Buddha does not possess the seeds of wholesome karma cultivated over immeasurable kalpas. In fact, throughout the Buddha's immeasurable kalpas of practice, He perfectly cultivated all wholesome karmas, and the seeds are all stored in the Buddha's tathāgatagarbha; upon attaining buddhahood, He would thereby receive the most splendid adorned marks. Second, it would lead sentient beings to mistakenly believe that if one has attained buddhahood yet has not received the adorned marks, perhaps the Buddha's tathāgatagarbha did not store the seeds of wholesome karma. In fact, as long as the tathāgatagarbha exists, it naturally and invariably stores the seeds of wholesome karma, without the slightest omission.

Third, it would lead sentient beings to mistakenly believe that neither the Buddha nor sentient beings have a tathāgatagarbha, that the tathāgatagarbha is merely an expedient teaching, and therefore it did not store all the seeds of wholesome karma cultivated by the Buddha during His practice; hence, when the Buddha attained buddhahood, He was not endowed with adorned marks. Based on the above faults, we should say that the Buddha attained anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi by virtue of being endowed with the adorned marks.

If one says that when the Buddha attained buddhahood, He did not receive the retribution of the seeds of wholesome karma, and there were no seeds of wholesome karma, that would be tantamount to saying that the Buddha fundamentally has no tathāgatagarbha. This would be the most fundamental and most serious wrong teaching and wrong view, a fundamentally annihilistic notion, extremely harmful to people, and such wrong views should be quickly eliminated. One should firmly believe that the tathāgatagarbha truly exists and has real functions and roles, capable of storing the seeds of wholesome karma cultivated by Buddhas and bodhisattvas over immeasurable kalpas; in the future when they attain buddhahood, these seeds of wholesome karma will all manifest, and the Buddha will receive the splendid retribution of adorned marks and attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. If there were no tathāgatagarbha, the seeds of wholesome karma could not be stored, and upon attaining buddhahood the seeds of wholesome karma could not manifest; the Buddha could not be endowed with the adorned marks, and then He would not yet be a Buddha, not yet having attained anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.

By this point everyone should understand: if one says that when the Buddha attained the buddha-way, He did not attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi by virtue of being endowed with the thirty-two marks, that is an annihilistic doctrine denying the real existence of the tathāgatagarbha, and it would carry immeasurable great faults. Therefore, the World-Honored One, in the manner of exhorting Subhūti, indirectly exhorted all sentient beings not to hold annihilistic notions, and not to believe that the Buddha's attainment of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi was not achieved by virtue of being endowed with the marks. One should say that the Buddha attained anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi by virtue of being endowed with the marks; only thus does it accord with the Buddha's words, conform to the essence of the Buddha-dharma, and not contradict the Mahāyāna dharma of true suchness.

Original text: 须菩提。汝若作是念。发阿耨多罗三藐三菩提心者。说诸法断灭。莫作是念。何以故。发阿耨多罗三藐三菩提心者。于法不说断灭相。

Explanation: Subhūti, if you have such a thought in your mind, believing that those who have generated the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi proclaim that all dharmas are annihilatory emptiness, fundamentally non-existent, that at the time of buddhahood there are no dharmas at all and one is not endowed with the marks of all dharmas—then you should quickly eliminate such a thought and not hold such a view. Why should one not hold such a view? Because those who have generated the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi are able to generate the mind for buddhahood precisely because they have faith in and accept the true mind of suchness which is not annihilated; they would not then proclaim that all dharmas are annihilated.

One who genuinely aspires to become a Buddha has, at this point, fulfilled the conditions of the stage of faith as a bodhisattva; he has already become firmly convinced, without doubt, that every sentient being has the true, unborn-and-undying mind, the tathāgatagarbha; he believes that all the Buddhas of the ten directions have the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha, and that only by cultivating in accordance with this tathāgatagarbha can anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi be attained. He believes that he himself also has the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha, and that in the future he can also realize the tathāgatagarbha and, like all the Buddhas, become a Buddha; the sentient beings of the worlds in the ten directions, because they too have the unborn-and-undying vajra mind (Vajracitta), the tathāgatagarbha, can all likewise become Buddhas. Because he generates such faith, the ten stages of faith are fulfilled, and he enters the ten stages of abiding and begins to cultivate the six pāramitās, the bodhisattva practices. If one does not believe that one possesses the tathāgatagarbha, does not believe that the tathāgatagarbha truly exists, then his faith in the Buddha, in the Dharma, and in the Three Jewels is not yet fulfilled, the cultivation of the ten stages of faith is not yet complete, and he cannot genuinely generate the mind for the way to buddhahood.

Those who have not fulfilled the ten stages of faith cannot yet believe that the tathāgatagarbha truly exists; they often believe that the tathāgatagarbha is merely a false name, just a concept. They believe that the emptiness of the tathāgatagarbha means the tathāgatagarbha does not exist, that the concept of the tathāgatagarbha is merely a provisional fabrication taught expediently by all the Buddhas. Because they cannot correctly understand the meaning of what the Buddha taught, they misunderstand all the definitive Mahāyāna dharma (Mahāyāna-nītārtha-dharma) the Buddha proclaimed as the Buddha's expedient teachings and expedient dharmas. They merely have not openly said that the Buddha was toying with sentient beings—ordinary people dare not say this openly—but in substance that is exactly what it means. Such a notion is slandering the Buddha and slandering the Dharma, treating all the Buddha's definitive and ultimate teachings as the Buddha's non-definitive, non-ultimate dharmas, gravely distorting the Buddha's true meaning. The evil karma of sentient beings slandering the Buddha and the Dharma exists universally; this is not surprising—it is all due to sentient beings' cultivation over the kalpas being too brief and their merit being insufficient.

As long as one denies the true existence of the tathāgatagarbha, that it is truly existent, that is annihilatory emptiness rhetoric, extremely harmful. Because without the tathāgatagarbha, all dharmas could not arise; they would all be annihilated, finished once and for all. Those who hold annihilistic doctrines often say that all dharmas arise through dependent origination and are empty by nature (svabhāva-śūnyatā), that all are born of conditions, that all are empty, and that no dharma is real. But if all are empty and there is no real tathāgatagarbha dharma existing, then from what do all dharmas arise? One cannot say that an empty, utterly non-existent dharma can give birth to another empty, utterly non-existent dharma—there is no such principle. Just as a turtle's hair is an empty, non-existent thing, it cannot give birth to a rabbit's horns, another empty, non-existent thing, because neither has any substance. Only dharmas that have substance and self-nature can give birth to dharmas without substance and self-nature. Dharmas without substance and self-nature cannot give birth to other dharmas—this is the principle of suchness as it naturally is, requiring no further explanation.

If all dharmas arise dependently and are empty by nature, with no substantial tathāgatagarbha dharma existing, then the sentient beings' world of the five aggregates would cease and never arise again; there would be no birth in future lives, and all the more could one not cultivate and become a Buddha. To concede the extreme case: even if the five aggregates of a future life could be born, because there would be no tathāgatagarbha to store sentient beings' karmic seeds, the wholesome karma cultivated by sentient beings would be wasted in vain, the seeds could not be collected and stored. If the seeds of wholesome karma cannot be collected and stored, cultivation is useless and will not produce the retribution of wholesome karma in future lives, all the less could it bring the more perfect retribution of wholesome karma at the time of attaining buddhahood; there would be no Buddha's thirty-two marks and eighty excellent characteristics, no Buddha's various splendid merits and capabilities, no Buddha's buddha-lands in the ten directions, no Buddha's adorned Sambhogakāya Buddha (saṃbhoga-kāya-buddha), no Buddha's immeasurable Nirmāṇakāya (nirmāṇakāya), no Buddha's immeasurable superknowledges and powers of the way, no talk of transforming consciousnesses into wisdom, and all the less would there be the Buddha's wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā).

Why is it said that without the existence of a substantial tathāgatagarbha, consciousnesses cannot be transformed into wisdom? Because if the seeds of the wholesome karma of the seven consciousnesses' lifetime of practice—their mental activities transformed from defiled to pure—cannot be stored, then in the next life they would still be defiled; the cultivation would be in vain, with no real benefit, and the defiled nature of the seven consciousnesses would not have undergone transformation. Then, at the stage of buddhahood, there would still be defiled seven consciousnesses; the karmic seeds of the seven consciousnesses would not have transformed, the mental activities would not have been purified, and one could not become a Buddha. Therefore, without the true existence of a substantial tathāgatagarbha performing its corresponding meritorious functions, sentient beings cannot attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. Therefore, those who have genuinely generated the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi do not proclaim the mark of annihilation with regard to dharmas; they do not say the tathāgatagarbha is merely a hypothetical dharma of false appearance, nor do they say that the true existence of the tathāgatagarbha mind-essence does not exist.