Commentary on the Diamond Sutra: The Unity of One Principle and Harmonious Marks, Thirty

This chapter of the Diamond Sutra mainly introduces the composite whole (a single composite mark). The Buddha said that the composite whole is a non-mark; a non-mark is a false and illusory mark, merely a provisional name, a false appearance. What is a composite whole? This chapter mainly introduces the trichiliocosm (three-thousandfold great thousand world) in which we live—it is a composite whole. This composite whole does not truly exist; it is a false appearance assembled from various marks. Of what is a trichiliocosm composed? It is composed of a thousand medium-thousand worlds; a medium-thousand world is composed of a thousand small-thousand worlds; a small-thousand world is composed of a thousand unit worlds. A unit world consists of the four great oceans, plus the four great continents, plus Mount Sumeru, plus the sun and moon heavens, plus the six heavens of the desire realm, plus the first dhyāna heaven of the form realm—together these constitute a unit world. A thousand unit worlds plus the second dhyāna heaven constitute a small-thousand world; a thousand small-thousand worlds plus the third dhyāna heaven constitute a medium-thousand world; a medium-thousand world plus the fourth dhyāna heavens and the four formless heavens constitutes a trichiliocosm.

Therefore, this trichiliocosm is a composite whole, and a composite whole is an illusory mark put together. It is formed by combining individual partial marks and scattered marks into one overall mark—this is called a composite whole. A unit world is also assembled, including the four great oceans; beneath the four great oceans there are the seven golden mountains, and beneath the seven golden mountains there are the hells. Above the four great oceans are the four great continents: Pūrvavideha in the east, Aparagodānīya in the west, Jambudvīpa in the south, and Uttarakuru in the north. The four great continents are above the four great oceans, in the four directions at the foot of Mount Sumeru.

Mount Sumeru stands in the midst of the four great oceans, extending halfway down to the bottom of the oceans and rising half of itself above the surface of the oceans, in the shape of a three-dimensional cone. In the middle of Mount Sumeru is the Heaven of the Four Great Kings—the heavens where the four great kings dwell: the northern king's heaven, the southern king's heaven, the eastern king's heaven, and the western king's heaven. The Heaven of the Four Great Kings is located on the four sides of the mountainside halfway up Mount Sumeru. At the summit of Mount Sumeru is the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, where the thirty-three heavens dwelt in by Śakra Devānām Indra are located. Further up are the other four heavens of the desire realm, and above the four desire-realm heavens is the first dhyāna heaven of the form realm. Together these form a unit world.

In a unit world, each constituent component is itself an assembled mark. For example, the earth is assembled from mountains, rivers, and the great earth, as well as trees, flowers, grass, houses, and the like; it is also assembled from various lands, the territory of each country. Each country is also a composite whole, also assembled, put together from marks such as mountains and rivers, trees, houses, and land. Furthermore, a country is composed of various provinces, prefectures, and counties, and each province and each prefecture is also assembled; down to each individual household, every household is also assembled; and even all the items in each household are also assembled. Matter can be further subdivided, and finally can be divided into particles of fine dust.

Therefore, the trichiliocosm as a whole is assembled, and the tiniest parts of each component are also assembled—all are composite wholes. A small world is a composite whole; a medium world is also a composite whole; a great world is even more a composite whole. This entire trichiliocosm is all composite wholes, all assembled. Since it is assembled, this world is not real; it is merely a provisional name, a concept. All forms and appearances are formed by the tathāgatagarbha transmitting the seeds of the four great elements. Initially, the tiniest particles of fine dust are formed; these dust particles then gather together to form various materials; materials gather together to form larger material divisions; and these divisions are then assembled to form unit worlds, one after another—mountains, rivers, the great earth, palaces, and so on. All of these are assembled marks. As long as something is an assembled mark, it is a non-mark, it is illusory, not a real mark.

Original text of the Diamond Sutra: 须菩提。若善男子善女人。以三千大千世界。碎为微尘。于意云何。是微尘众。宁为多不。甚多。世尊。何以故。若是微尘众实有者。佛即不说是微尘众。

Explanation: The World-Honored One said to Subhūti: If a good man or good woman were to grind the trichiliocosm into a multitude of fine dust particles, what do you think—would the number of these dust particles be many? Subhūti replied: Very many, World-Honored One. Why would the number of dust particles be very many? Because if these dust particles truly existed, if they were real and existent, the Buddha would not say that these are a multitude of dust particles.

How large is a trichiliocosm? By calculation, it seems to include a billion earths, a billion Mount Sumerus, a billion Trāyastriṃśa heavens, a billion desire-realm heavens, a billion first dhyāna heavens, a billion four great oceans, a billion seven golden mountains, a billion first dhyāna heavens, and so on—extremely vast. A trichiliocosm is boundlessly vast, immeasurably vast. If it were ground into fine dust, how many dust particles would there be? It would simply be beyond calculation, because the trichiliocosm itself is already enormous; when such an enormous entity is broken into fragments, with spaces added in between, the resulting dust particles would occupy an area and volume even greater than that of the trichiliocosm itself. Therefore, once the trichiliocosm is ground into fine dust, the number of those dust particles need not be counted—it simply cannot be counted. Even if the body of a single person were ground into fine dust, the number of these dust particles would be uncountable; and if the body of a small animal were ground into fine dust, the number of dust particles would likewise be uncountable.

What is meant by fine dust? It is the dispersal of an object, dividing it into the finest of the fine, so small as to be invisible to the naked eye, until it becomes a particle of the smallest unit—this is what is called fine dust. At that point, it is still a small particle composed of the four great elements, extremely minute, almost approaching emptiness, yet it still belongs to material form (rūpa-dharma).

With such a vast quantity of dust-particle matter, is it not too many? Subhūti said: too many. Why so many? Why is it called "many"? The Buddha said: If the multitude of dust particles were truly existent, the Buddha would not call it a multitude of dust particles. Because Subhūti had long listened to the World-Honored One expounding this Diamond Sutra, he had already understood the true meaning of the Dharma the World-Honored One was teaching, and so he said: If this multitude of dust particles were truly existent, if they were unborn and unceasing, really existing dust particles, then the Buddha would not call them a multitude of dust particles ("multitude" represents many, an extremely large quantity).

Original text of the Diamond Sutra: 所以者何。佛说微尘众。即非微尘众。是名微尘众。世尊。如来所说三千大千世界。即非世界。是名世界。

Explanation: Why is this said? Because the multitude of dust particles of which the Buddha speaks is not truly existent dust particles; they are merely named "a multitude of dust particles." World-Honored One, the trichiliocosm of which the Tathāgata speaks is not a truly existent trichiliocosm; the false appearance exists, but in reality it is empty. Therefore a provisional name is given to it, called the trichiliocosm.

None of these dust particles is a real mark; the multitude of dust particles formed from dust particles, the quantity of dust particles, is also not a real mark. What is called fine dust is merely the subdivision of material form into tiny particles, one by one, called fine dust. These dust particles are also material form, and matter is composed of the four great element seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind; a dust particle is likewise composed of the four great element seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind. It is merely that large matter contains a very great number of four great element seeds, while a dust particle contains very few. When large matter is subdivided into small matter, each small matter is still composed of the same proportions of earth, water, fire, and wind as before; only the number of four great element seeds is reduced, and so the volume of the matter is reduced. When reduced to the most minute degree, it is called fine dust.

The four great element seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind are transmitted forth by the tathāgatagarbha instant after instant; only thus can these dust particles undergo arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing, performing some kind of illusory function. If the tathāgatagarbha did not transmit the four great element seeds, these dust particles would vanish and cease to exist, becoming empty nothingness. Therefore, the multitude of dust particles is an illusory, unreal provisional dharma. Dust particles then combine into somewhat larger matter, and that larger matter is likewise formed by the four great element seeds; therefore all are illusory, subject to arising, ceasing, and change. When the conditions disperse and the tathāgatagarbha no longer transmits the four great element seeds, all dust particles and matter will perish and disappear.

These material forms then combine to form a star; multiple stars combine to form a small world; small worlds combine to form a small-thousand world; small-thousand worlds combine to form a medium-thousand world; medium-thousand worlds combine to form a great-thousand world. Inside and out, this trichiliocosm is a false composite body made of the four great elements composed of dust particles, subject to arising, ceasing, change, and impermanence. Therefore the trichiliocosm is likewise illusory, not truly existent, provisionally named the trichiliocosm. Thus the Buddha said: the trichiliocosm is neither a world; it is merely named a world.

Original text of the Diamond Sutra: 何以故。若世界实有者。即是一合相。如来说一合相。即非一合相。是名一合相。须菩提。一合相者。即是不可说。但凡夫之人。贪著其事。

Explanation: Why is it said that the world is neither a world? Because if the world were truly and really existent, then this world would be a composite whole. The composite whole of which the Tathāgata speaks is likewise not a real mark; there is no truly existent composite whole—it is merely named a composite whole. Subhūti, the composite whole is an indescribable dharma, yet ordinary beings all greedily cling to these dharma-marks.

If this world truly existed, then in the end it would be a composite whole composed of countless dust particles. The Tathāgata said that this composite whole is not a truly existent composite whole, and there is nothing that is truly called a composite whole—all is illusory, and in essence all is the nature of the tathāgatagarbha. A provisional name is also given to this composite whole, called a composite whole. Therefore the final conclusion is that the world is not truly existent; it is illusory.

The Buddha said that the composite whole formed by material particles and fine dust has nothing worth speaking of, because all are false composite bodies of the four great elements, without any real mark, not real—all are conjured forth by the tathāgatagarbha. Since this is so, there is no composite whole that can be spoken of; thus the composite whole is indescribable, and there is no need to cling to it. Yet regarding these arising-and-ceasing illusory false marks, ordinary beings have been greedily clinging to them since beginningless kalpas, believing them all to be real and existent. In reality, their existence is false existence, not real existence—merely a name.

Since beginningless kalpas, ordinary beings have constantly craved the lands and worlds in which they live and their living environments. In fact, these are all formed from material particles; they are all composite wholes—arising and ceasing, changing, illusory—all formed and upheld by the tathāgatagarbha transmitting the four great element seeds, like marks in a dream or flowers in the sky, not real. But ordinary beings do not know this fact; they take all the marks they encounter as real, and then greedily cling to and grasp at them, endlessly calculating, being bound by these false marks, unable to attain liberation within the birth-and-death cycle of the six realms.

Therefore the Buddha said that ordinary beings (that is, ignorant and foolish people) do not know the true reality of all dharmas, but only persistently crave the illusory false marks. Only by learning the true Mahāyāna dharma of real suchness can one realize and know that the human affairs and physical phenomena of the entire world are all illusory marks formed by the tathāgatagarbha using seeds, not truly existent. Only by realizing this true fact can sentient beings' craving nature be lightened and eliminated, and the cause of sentient beings' birth and death can thereby be extinguished, enabling them to escape from the cycle of birth and death.