The Profound Meaning of the Diamond Sutra from the Consciousness-Only Perspective (147)

Original text: 须菩提。所言法相者。如来说即非法相。是名法相。

Explanation: The World-Honored One said: Subhūti, the so-called dharma-marks that sentient beings speak of, the Tathāgata says, are not truly existing dharma-marks; they are not real dharma-marks; they are merely names, and therefore are provisionally named dharma-marks.

Dharma-marks include the marks of material form (rūpa-dharma) and the marks of mental dharmas (citta-dharma) within the world of the three realms. The marks of material form are the five supreme faculties (indriya), as well as the form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas corresponding to the six faculties. Whether they are the outer object-aspects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas, or the inner object-aspects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas, none of them are truly existing dharma-marks; they appear to exist on the surface, but in essence they are empty. These marks of material form are all constructed from the four great element seeds outputted by the tathāgatagarbha, and therefore they are illusory transformations, like flowers in empty space, like a mirage, like light and shadow, like the moon in water. Their essence is all the dharma-mark of the tathāgatagarbha, and the dharma-mark of the tathāgatagarbha is also empty; therefore form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas, as well as the five supreme faculties, are all empty marks, and therefore are not dharma-marks—there is only the name, without substance.

The marks of mental dharmas are the dharma-marks of the minds of the seven consciousnesses, as well as the dharma-marks of the mental factors (caittas) that accompany the seven consciousnesses. The dharma-marks of the seven consciousnesses are formed by the tathāgatagarbha outputting the consciousness seeds of the seven consciousnesses; the consciousness seeds arise in a kṣaṇa and cease in a kṣaṇa, arising and ceasing, changing and mutating, illusory and unreal. The operative marks of the seven consciousnesses when they run appear to exist on the surface, but in essence they are empty, like a mirage, merely dazzling people's eyes. Therefore the seven consciousnesses also do not truly exist and have no real dharma-marks; their essence is the empty mark of the tathāgatagarbha.

The operative marks of the running of the seven consciousnesses operate in the form of mental factors, including the five universally present mental factors of attention (manaskāra), contact (sparśa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and volition (cetanā), as well as all the other mental factors. As soon as the seven consciousnesses run, these five mental factors accompany the seven consciousnesses in their manifest activity; other mental factors sometimes also manifest along with the seven consciousnesses. When the seven consciousnesses arise, the mental factors manifest accordingly; when the seven consciousnesses cease, the mental factors cease accordingly. The arising and ceasing of the minds of the seven consciousnesses is illusory and unreal, and the mental factors are even more so arising, ceasing, illusory, and unreal. Their surface operative marks appear to exist, but in essence they are empty and illusory, utterly unattainable; their essence is all the empty mark of the tathāgatagarbha, and therefore the marks of mental dharmas are also empty, being merely a name. Therefore, when the Buddha speaks of dharma-marks, they are not dharma-marks; they are not truly existing dharma-marks, but merely names—do not take them as real, and do not grasp at them.