The Profound Yogācāra Meaning of the Diamond Sutra (79)

Original text:所以者何。我相即是非相。人相众生相寿者相即是非相。何以故。离一切诸相。则名诸佛。何以故。离一切诸相。则名诸佛。佛告须菩提。如是如是。若复有人。得闻是经。不惊不怖不畏。当知是人甚为希有。

Explanation: Subhūti said, "World-Honored One, why is it that after realizing the prajñā of the true mind of suchness, one's mind no longer has the four marks and departs from the four marks? It is because the mark of self is not a real mark; on the surface it seems to exist, but in truth it is not real. One who has realized the true mind of suchness will observe the operation of the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha, and observe how the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the five aggregates that constitute the self. Gradually, he comes to observe that his own five aggregates are all conjured forth by the tathāgatagarbha moment after moment.

All the activities of the five aggregates are the functions and operations of the tathāgatagarbha; the five aggregates themselves have never truly done anything. The dharmas of the five aggregates are illusory and unreal; in essence they are all the tathāgatagarbha. For example, a magician conjures up a body of the five aggregates, and this five-aggregate body then has certain functions and uses. But this five-aggregate body has no reality, and its functions and uses are not truly existent either—all are the doing of the magician. Likewise, a wooden puppet goes on stage to perform a play; no matter how the puppet performs on stage, none of it is its own doing.

Therefore, all the activities of the wooden puppet are illusory; there is no such actual event—in essence it is all the doing of the manipulator behind the scenes. The activities of my five aggregates are just like this. Therefore, the mark of self of the five aggregates is a non-mark, not a real mark. By the same reasoning, the mark of a person, which is similar to the self and shares the common nature of personhood, is also like this: there is no real five-aggregate mark of a person sharing this common nature. No matter how human beings live and act in the world, undertaking all kinds of endeavors, there are no real activities of the five aggregates; in essence it is all the nature of the tathāgatagarbha. Therefore, the mark of a person is a non-mark.

By the same reasoning again, the mark of sentient beings, which is similar to the mark of a person, is also illusory and unreal. On the surface it seems to exist, but in essence it is nonexistent; in essence it is all the tathāgatagarbha nature of sentient beings. The five-aggregate activities of sentient beings are like a robot doing work. The robot itself is not autonomous and has no self-determination; it still requires human assembly and manipulation. Thus the robot cannot truly do any work itself—all is the doing of the designer, manufacturer, and operator. The robot merely presents a false appearance to deceive people's eyes.

Therefore, the boss would absolutely never pay wages to a robot, nor would he reward or punish a robot. Because the boss clearly knows that a robot is not a person, lacking human wisdom and ability—it is merely a tool exploited by people; the work is not done by the robot itself. The five aggregates of sentient beings are just like this: all endeavors are not done by the five aggregates; the five aggregates are merely a tool. Therefore, the mark of sentient beings is a non-mark—not real, and not truly existent.