The Diamond Sutra · 2 of 30

Chapter 2

Upon that occasion, the venerable Subhuti[1] occupied a place in the midst of the assembly. Rising from his seat, with cloak arranged in such manner that his right shoulder was disclosed, Subhuti knelt upon his right knee, then pressing together the palms of his hands, he respectfully raised them towards Lord Buddha, saying: “Thou art of transcendent wisdom, Honoured of the Worlds! With wonderful solicitude, Thou dost preserve in the faith, and instruct in the Law, this illustrious assembly of enlightened disciples.[2] Honoured of the Worlds! if a good disciple, whether man or woman,[3] seeks to obtain supreme spiritual wisdom,[4] what immutable Law shall sustain the mind of that disciple, and bring into subjection every inordinate desire?”[5]

The Lord Buddha replied to Subhuti, saying: “Truly a most excellent theme! As you affirmed, I preserve in the faith, and instruct in the Law, this illustrious assembly of enlightened disciples. Attend diligently unto me, and I shall enunciate a Law whereby the mind of a good disciple, whether man or woman, seeking to obtain supreme spiritual wisdom,[6] shall be adequately sustained, and enabled to bring into subjection[7] every inordinate desire.” Subhuti was gratified, and signified glad consent. Thereupon, the Lord Buddha, with majesty of person,[8] and perfect articulation, proceeded to deliver the text of this Scripture,[9] saying:—

[1] “A famous dialectician noted for the subtilty of his intellect. He was a native of Shravasti, a contemporary of Sakyamuni, and figures as the principal interlocutor in the Prajna-Paramita.”—Handbook of Chinese Buddhism. Eitel.

[2] “Pu-Sa or Bodhisattva, literally he whose essence (Sattva) has become intelligence (Bodhi). A being that has only once more to pass through human existence before it attains to Buddhaship. The third class of Buddhistic saints comprehending all who are candidates for Buddhaship as well as those Buddhas who are not yet perfected by entrance into Nirvana. They are also styled Mahasattvas (Mo-Ho-Sa). The state of a Bodhisattva is considered as one of the three means of conveyance to Nirvana.”—Handbook of Chinese Buddhism. Eitel.

[3] “Women began to ask and received permission to take the vows. They were called in India Bikshuni.... Ni is the Sanscrit feminine termination of Bikshu. These female mendicants were subject to the same code of regulations as the males.”—Chinese Buddhism. Edkins.

[4] “ho-ru-to-lo-san-mao-san-pu-ti (Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi), literally unexcelled perfect intelligence. Another more painstaking but arbitrary explanation is untarnished and unparalleled (Nuttara) correct view (Sam) and complete wisdom (Myak) with complete possession of the highest sentiments (Sambodhi). This term, one of the sacred phrases of most frequent occurrence, signifies the characteristics which every Buddha possesses.”—Handbook of Chinese Buddhism. Eitel.

“The unsurpassed, just, and enlightened heart.”—Kin-Kong-King. Beal.

[5] “When a man’s heart is disposed in accordance with his roaming senses, it snatches away his spiritual knowledge as the wind does a ship on the waves.”—Bhagavad-Gita. J. Cockburn Thomson.

[6] Chinese commentators are careful to explain that the title of this Sutra, Po-ro-po-lo-mi (Prajna-Paramita), means Wisdom, by which we are enabled to reach the other shore (Nirvana).

[7] “Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”—The Apostle Paul.

[8] Compare the Chinese text of the famous Buddhist tract entitled Awakening of Faith, written by Ma-Ming (Asvaghocha), “who flourished A.D. 50, under the Indo-Scythic king, Gondophares.”

[9] “This work contains the germ of the larger compilation Prajna-Paramita in one hundred and twenty volumes. The abstractions of Buddhist philosophy, which were afterwards ramified to such a formidable extent as these numbers indicate, are here found in their primary form, probably as they were taught by Sakyamuni himself.”—Chinese Buddhism. Edkins.

“By this wisdom shall enlightened disciples be enabled to bring into subjection every inordinate desire! Every species of life, whether hatched in the egg, formed in the womb, evolved from spawn, produced by metamorphosis, with or without form or intelligence, possessing or devoid of natural instinct—from these changeful[1] conditions of being, I command you to seek deliverance,[2] in the transcendental concept of Nirvana.[3] Thus, you shall be delivered from an immeasurable, innumerable, and illimitable world of sentient life; but, in reality, there is no world of sentient life from which to seek deliverance. And why? Because, in the minds[4] of enlightened disciples there have ceased to exist such arbitrary concepts of phenomena as an entity, a being, a living being, or a personality.”[5]

“Moreover, Subhuti, an enlightened disciple ought to act spontaneously in the exercise of charity,[6] uninfluenced by sensuous phenomena[7] such as sound, odour, taste, touch, or Law.[8] Subhuti, it is imperative that an enlightened disciple, in the exercise of charity, should act independently of phenomena. And why? Because, acting without regard to illusive forms of phenomena, he will realise in the exercise of charity, a merit inestimable and immeasurable.”

“Subhuti, what think you? Is it possible to estimate the distance comprising the illimitable universe of space?”[9] Subhuti replied, saying: “Honoured of the Worlds! It is impossible to estimate the distance comprising the illimitable universe of space.” The Lord Buddha thereupon discoursed, saying: “It is equally impossible to estimate the merit[10] of an enlightened disciple, who discharges the exercise of charity, unperturbed by the seductive influences of phenomena. Subhuti, the mind of an enlightened disciple ought thus to be indoctrinated.”[11]

[1] “The first of six Paramita—charity, morality, endurance, energy, contemplation, wisdom—cardinal virtues, or means of progressing towards Nirvana. The virtue of religious charity, implying all kinds of self-denying acts, almsgiving, sacrifice, etc.”—Handbook of Chinese Buddhism. Eitel.

[2] “The kind of craving excitement, which follows on sensation, and causes the delusion of self and the lust of life—creating either delight in the objects that present themselves, or an eager desire to supply a felt want—this eager yearning thirst growing into sensuality, desire of future life, or love of the present world, is the origin of all suffering. Sorrow and suffering will be overcome, extinguished, if this ‘thirst’ be quenched, this lust of life destroyed. ‘He who overcomes this contemptible thirst, sufferings fall off from him like water drops from a lotus leaf.’”—Buddhism. T. W. Rhys Davids.

[3] Fah, the Chinese equivalent of Dharma—Law, appears to be a generic term for all religious doctrines incidental to Buddhism. The Buddhas are invariably referred to as Fah-Wang—Princes of the Law. The Sutras are frequently alluded to as Fah-Pao—Jewels of the Law. The monks are usually designated Fah-Men—Disciples of the Law. The interminable process of transmigration is depicted by Fah-Luen—Wheel of the Law. The dissemination of Buddhistic tenets is typified by Chuan-Fah-Luen—Revolving Wheel of the Law. Religious designations consonant with the idea of Law, are held in high esteem amongst the Buddhist ecclesiastical orders. Of such are Fah-Ai—Lover of the Law; Fah-Lien—Approved in the Law; Fah-Ming—Brightness of the Law (compare Eitel’s Handbook of Chinese Buddhism.

[4] “Subhuti, can the western, or southern, or northern regions of space be measured? or the four midway regions of space (i.e., N.E., S.E., S.W., N.W.), or the upper and lower regions: can either of these be accurately measured or defined?”— Kin-Kong-King. Beal.

[5] “Of all the modes of acquiring merit, that of almsgiving is the principal; it is the chief of the virtues that are requisite for the attainment of the Buddhaship; it is the first of the four great virtues, viz.: almsgiving, affability, promoting the prosperity of others, and loving others as ourselves; it is superior to the observance of the precepts—the path that all the Buddhas have trod—a lineage to which they have all belonged.... The giving of alms softens the mind, and brings it into subjection, by which the ascetic is prepared for the exercise of the rites he is afterwards to practise.... The faithful are required to give in alms of that which they have honestly earned by their own personal exertions.... There must be a willing mind respecting that which they offer, from the time that the intention of making the offering is formed to the time when it is presented, as well as after it has been made.... When the gift, the giver, and the receiver are all pure, the reward is proportionately great.”—Eastern Monachism. Spence Hardy.

[6] “Let his livelihood be kindliness, His conduct righteousness, Then in the fulness of gladness He will make an end of grief.”—Buddhism. T. W. Rhys Davids.

[1] Discoursing upon illusory ideas concerning the world of sentient life, the Lord Buddha stated that these were already eliminated from the minds of his enlightened disciples. The reference in the text is to disciples in process of instruction, and these the Lord Buddha commanded to relegate to oblivion the deceptive idea of the reality of sentient life, to dissolve within their minds its nauseous dregs, to put away its horrid stain, and cause it to vanish like snow in a glowing furnace.—Chinese Annotation.

“The very nature of phenomena demonstrates that they must have had a beginning, and that they must have an end.”—Lay Sermons. Huxley.

[2] By adopting the term Mieh-Tu, Chinese Buddhists appear well prepared to refute a prevalent notion that their concept of deliverance is equivalent to annihilation. Mieh usually means annihilation, but Tu—to cross over in safety, is the antithesis of annihilation. After due consideration of the significance of the terminology, perhaps it will be generally conceded that English renderings of Mieh-Tu as Deliverance or Salvation, are not without some degree of justification.

“All these I command and exhort to enter on the state of the unsurpassed Nirvana (Pari Nirvana), and for ever to free themselves from the conditions of being to which they severally belong.”—Kin-Kong-King. Beal.

[3] “The dewdrop slips into the shining sea.”—Light of Asia. Sir Edwin Arnold.

“The dewdrop re-becomes the shining sea.”—Chioh-Hsien (a Chinese monk).

“The popular exoteric systems agree in defining Nirvana negatively as a state of absolute exemption from the circle of transmigration as a state of entire freedom from all forms of materiality, from all passion and exertion, mentally and emotionally, a state of indifference therefore alike to joy and pain. Positively they define Nirvana as the highest stage of spiritual liberty and bliss, as absolute immortality through absorption of the soul into itself. Individuality is preserved, and Buddhas who have entered Nirvana occasionally reappear again to intervene on behalf of the faithful.”—Handbook of Chinese Buddhism. Eitel.

[4] The able commentator Ti-Ching observes that many people, like Ananda—a favourite disciple of Buddha—are in error when they suppose their minds to be located within their material bodies. This interesting aspect of Buddhist psychology is made tolerably clear in the familiar narrative known generally as The Enlightenment of Ananda. Therein the Lord Buddha endeavours to prove that as objects within ourselves are invisible, the illuminating mind cannot be asserted to inhabit exclusively our material bodies. He also indicates that it cannot be affirmed to occupy any appointed sphere outside ourselves, it being usually understood that we observe only those objects by which we are environed. The Lord Buddha also controverts the theory, enunciated by Ananda, that the mind is secreted somewhere within the organs of sense; which assumption is based upon a notion that the seeing eye, and differentiating mind, are mysteriously correlated.

[5] “This belief in self is regarded so distinctly as a heresy that two well-known words in Buddhist terminology have been coined on purpose to stigmatise it. The first of these is Sakkayaditthi, ‘the heresy of individuality,’ the name given to this belief as one of the three primary delusions (the others being doubt, and belief in the efficacy of rites or ceremonies) which must be abandoned at the very first stage of the Buddhist path of holiness. The other is Attavada, ‘the doctrine of soul or self,’ which is the name given to it as a part of the chain of causes which lead to the origin of evil. It is there classed—with sensuality, heresy (as to eternity and annihilation), and belief in the efficacy of rites and ceremonies—as one of the four Upadanas, which are the immediate cause of birth, decay, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair.”—Buddhism. T. W. Rhys Davids.