The Profound Meaning of the Diamond Sutra from the Consciousness-Only Perspective (120)

Original text: 须菩提。所言善法者。如来说即非善法。是名善法。

Explanation: The World-Honored One further said to Subhūti: Subhūti, the wholesome dharma I speak of, compared with the wholesome dharmas recognized by sentient beings, the Tathāgata says is not a wholesome dharma; there is no wholesome dharma in any actual sense—it is all merely a superficial appearance, and therefore it is provisionally named a wholesome dharma.

Wholesome dharmas are divided into many levels and connotations: there are worldly wholesome dharmas, and there are supramundane wholesome dharmas; there are small wholesome dharmas, and there are great wholesome dharmas, and there is even the wholesome dharma in the ultimate sense. The worldly wholesome dharma is the five precepts and the ten good deeds. When the World-Honored One first came to the Saha world, He first taught the wholesome dharmas of humans and gods, allowing sentient beings to cultivate in accordance with them and attain worldly merit—this is the small good. Only after sentient beings have attained worldly merit can they continue to follow the World-Honored One in studying the Āgama path of liberation, escaping the suffering of the world of the three realms—this is the intermediate good. Then the World-Honored One spent more than twenty years proclaiming the principle of prajñā to sentient beings, so that by cultivating in accordance with it they could all realize the prajñā reality of ultimate reality and become bodhisattvas of true meaning, and then give rise to various profound prajñā wisdoms—this is the superior good. Afterward, the World-Honored One further proclaimed the profound principles of the vast Vaipulya Yogācāra teachings, gradually bringing the Mahāyāna bodhisattvas to possess the profound wisdom of the varieties of paths—this is the great good. Finally, the World-Honored One proclaimed the ultimate meaning of the one Buddha vehicle such as the Lotus Sutra and Nirvāṇa Sūtra, delivering all sentient beings so that they all enter the path to buddhahood and cultivate the dharma of becoming a Buddha, in order to attain the perfectly complete fruit of buddhahood—this is the ultimate good.

These wholesome dharmas all have corresponding dharma-marks, and these dharma-marks all manifest and are conjured forth from the markless mind-substance of the tathāgatagarbha, which is free of the four marks. These dharma-marks are all accomplished by the tathāgatagarbha, which, in accordance with various conditions, streams forth seeds. The superficial appearance exists, and sentient beings can see it, but the existence is not real existence, and the marks are not true marks; their essence is the tathāgatagarbha of true suchness—all are things within the one true dharma realm of true suchness, not outside of true suchness. All the marks of wholesome dharmas are like vessels of gold: they all come from gold, and their essence is all the tathāgatagarbha of gold. Therefore they are all one true dharma realm—the substance of true suchness. Thus all these false appearances of wholesome dharmas, these dharmas that are not real existence, are given the name "wholesome dharma"; although the name is "wholesome dharma," the substance is the principle-substance of true suchness.