The Profound Meaning of the Diamond Sutra from the Consciousness-Only Perspective (42)

True Faith Is Rare, Six

Original text: 须菩提白佛言。世尊。颇有众生得闻如是言说章句。生实信不。佛告须菩提。莫作是说。如来灭后。后五百岁。有持戒修福者。于此章句能生信心。以此为实。当知是人不于一佛二佛三四五佛而种善根。已于无量千万佛所种诸善根。闻是章句。乃至一念生净信者。须菩提。如来悉知悉见。是诸众生得如是无量福德。

Explanation: Subhūti asked: Could there really be sentient beings who, upon hearing such teachings and principles, would genuinely accept them with faith? In the previous section, the World-Honored One taught: All marks are false and illusory; if one sees that all marks are no-marks, then one sees the Tathāgata. After hearing this, Subhūti gave rise to doubt, wondering whether sentient beings, upon hearing such profound passages and principles, could truly accept them with faith.

This question was raised at a very fitting moment. Because sentient beings differ in the sharpness of their faculties, and differ in merit and wisdom, their acceptance of the Dharma also differs. Sentient beings of meager merit (alpa-puṇya) and dull faculties find it very difficult to accept the true and great Dharma, and often give rise to doubt and slander. Such things have happened since ancient times—did not five thousand disciples withdraw from the Lotus Sutra assembly because they would not accept the Mahāyāna? This is also a normal phenomenon; throughout kalpas there have been incidents of slandering the Dharma out of disbelief in the Dharma of ultimate reality. Because sentient beings have not severed their fetters and bonds, they constantly give rise to wrong views (mithyā-dṛṣṭi) such as the view of self, the view of grasping views, and the view of doubt; lacking correct knowledge and view, slandering the Dharma and disbelieving it is inevitable. The view of self is the view centered on the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) and eighteen realms, taking this "I" to be real and the functions and activities of the five aggregates to be real.