Prajnaparamita Text - Prajnaparamita Sutra in 300 Lines--Diamond Sutra

The Prajnaparamita Sutra in 300 Lines-- THE DIAMOND SUTRA
(or Why Was Venerable Subhuti Brought to Tears)

translation: JW

Thus, have I heard the Blessed One dwelt at Sravasti in the Jeta Grove, in the Anathapindika's garden, together with a large gathering of monks and many great being bodhisattvas. Early morning, the Blessed One put on his robe, took his bowl, and entered Sravasti on alms round. Having eaten, the Blessed One returned, put away his outer robe and bowl, cleansed his feet, and sat down on a prepared seat. Here the Blessed One folded his legs crosswise, held his body erect, and set mindfulness before him. At that time, many monks approached, bowed to the Blessed One, foreheads to his feet, walked around him three times, and then sat to one side.

Attending the gathering with the Blessed One was Venerable Subhuti, who rose to his feet, put his outer robe over one shoulder, bowed with palms together towards the Blessed One, and spoke to the Tathagata.

Subhuti: It is an extraordinary gift, O Lord, how much teaching the bodhisattvas have received from the Tathagata, the fully enlightened one. They have been supremely helped by the Tathagata's generosity! Lord, at present, allow me to request a teaching: how should a son or daughter of a good family, who has newly gone forth in the bodhisattvayana, the great vehicle, maintain, guard, and cultivate wholesomeness in thought & deed?

The Blessed One: As you say Subhuti, listen with attention, and I will offer a teaching on how a son or daughter of a good family, who has newly gone forth in the bodhisattvayana, the great vehicle, maintains, guards, and cultivates this wholesomeness in thought & deed.

A bodhisattva newly gone forth in the bodhisattvayana will cultivate the following insight: as many beings as there exist in the world, as many beings that can be embraced in a bodhisattva's boundless heart are saved from suffering. The being born of an egg, the being born of a womb, the being born of moisture, the being magically born-- all beings, whether beings with form, without form, beings with perception, without perception, beings with or without neither-perception-nor-non-perception, each and everyone is saved from suffering. The whole world of beings is saved, released from the chains of samsara, and led to nirvana, leaving no trace behind.

And yet, although all these beings are saved from suffering, released from the chains of samsara, led to nirvana-- no being, not one, not a single one is saved by a bodhisattva. A bodhisattva does not save any being from suffering.

Furthermore, a bodhisattva is not a bodhisattva and cannot be named a bodhisattva if a bodhisattva apprehends a being. This includes thinking even the slightest thought of a being. Indeed, any bodhisattva who apprehends a being cannot go forth in the bodhisattvayana, the great vehicle, no matter their pedigree. Furthermore, Subhuti, it is the same for the apprehension of self, a soul, or a person-- a bodhisattva is not a bodhisattva if the bodhisattva has even the slightest thought of a self, a soul, or a person.

This bodhisattva, whose generosity is-- the all-embracing welfare of all beings, the salvation of all beings-- cannot be caught up with anything like a being.

Indeed, a bodhisattva does not depend on anything anywhere.

A bodhisattva does not depend on eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind-- nor by sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, or mental objects. By mental objects, I mean a thought or notion. A bodhisattva who goes forth in the bodhisattvayana does not depend on any mental object. Nor does this generous bodhisattva depend on the respective consciousnesses-- eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, mouth-consciousness, body-consciousness, and mental-consciousness.

And why should a bodhisattva not depend on anything? Because the merit of this generosity not depending on anything allows the supreme gift, the utmost gift-- the boundless gift-- as that which is boundless cannot be pend in by anything. This is the all-embracing welfare of a bodhisattva. This is the boundlessness of a great bodhisattva, and it is like space itself.

Are the ten directions of space within our grasp to measure?

Subhuti: No, Lord.

The Blessed One: So it is for a bodhisattva's generosity. It cannot be pend in-- it is ungraspable. Subhuti, a bodhisattva, flows & dwells, not dependent on anything. Such is the inconceivable nature of a bodhisattva's generosity, along with the perfection of virtue, patience, vigor, samadhi, and wisdom.

Now, answer this: can a Tathagata be grasped or apprehended by any signs or marks?

Subhuti: No, Lord. The Tathagata has taught the signs or marks of a Tathagata are no signs or marks, and therefore the Tathagata cannot be grasped or apprehended by signs or marks.

The Blessed One: Know this, wherever there are signs or marks, there is a lie. Conversely, wherever there are no signs or marks, there is no lie.

As such, the Tathagata is known by no signs, no marks.

Subhuti: Lord, concerning the future of the world. In the last days of the Dharma, when this discourse is being taught, who will be able to understand this?

The Blessed One: Even in the darkest times, bodhisattvas will manifest, who from past lives are nourished in roots of wholesomeness, having served many Buddhas or even just one Buddha, and will have luminous insight into this discourse. As a result, these bodhisattvas will embody great faith & serenity, and there will be an outpouring of incomparable merit. Such an outpouring is boundless and ungraspable. The Tathagata will know these wise, generous, and virtuous bodhisattvas who illuminate the truth of this discourse. They will be seen by the Tathagata's Dharma-eye. They will be embraced by the Tathagata. And from the Tathagata's Dharma-eye, these bodhisattvas will flow & dwell in no perception of a being, no perception of self, no perception of a soul, no perception of a person. Further still, these bodhisattvas flow & dwell in no perception of a dharma and no perception of a non-dharma. Because Subhuti, if a bodhisattva should perceive a dharma or a non-dharma, or if a bodhisattva should perceive even the perception, or non-perception of a dharma, or a non-dharma, they will quickly be caught up and entangled in the light of apprehension of a self, a being, a soul, a person—and such a bodhisattva cannot go forth in the bodhisattvayana, in the great vehicle.

The Tathagata offers these words: those who grasp the Dharma as like a raft to get to the other shore, need to let go of that raft, need to surrender all dharmas, all non-dharmas-- even the Dharma and its non-Dharma. Indeed, a bodhisattva does not cling to anything in the world. In the luminousness of serenity & faith, in the illumination of this discourse, this bodhisattva flows & dwells in no perception, in no perception of no perception.

A question for you, Subhuti: In all the Tathagata's teaching, has the Tathagata taught any dharma? And beyond this, is there any dharma the Tathagata has fully known as the absolute perfect enlightenment?

Subhuti: No, Lord. From how I understand the Tathagata's words, a dharma described as fully known as the absolute perfect enlightenment would be beyond words and, therefore, beyond the ability to teach. It cannot be apprehended; it cannot be grasped. Such is what is named the absolute perfect enlightenment-- it is not a dharma nor a non-dharma. It is no dharma. Inconceivable. Such is the--no dharma-- of the fully known, beyond compare, illuminating the faces of the ones who know.

The Blessed One: Subhuti, if a son or daughter of a good family would fully embed a vast galactic space of a billion worlds with the seven precious jewels of gold, silver, lapis lazuli, seashell, agate, pearl, carnelian, and then offer this vast jeweled object as a gift to the arhats, to the pratyekabuddhas, and to the Buddhas, would this gift create a great heap of merit?

Subhuti: Yes, Lord.

The Blessed One: But what if I were to say to you, if any being were to illuminate even a few words of this discourse or, for that matter, even a single letter, and to then offer it as a gift to others, teaching and illuminating it to others-- and that this gift would create an even greater heap of merit, an incomparable heap of merit. What would you say? How is this so?

(Subhuti is silent.)

The Blessed One (cont.): It is because, from this discourse's illumination, all the perfect dharmas spring up, from which flows all arhats, all pratyekabuddhas, and ultimately the absolute perfect enlightenment of the Tathagata-- all from the illumination of just a few words, from just a single letter. At the same time, the Tathagata teaches there are no dharmas and no perfect dharmas.

Therefore, all dharmas, even perfect dharmas, are grasped in words and go by these names.

Now Subhuti, can a stream-enterer say: "I have attained the fruit of a stream-enterer, I have attained the stream-enterer dharmas that constitute the being of a stream-enterer?"

Subhuti: No, Lord, because the stream-enterer cannot attain any dharmas, because there are no dharmas. Furthermore, there is no eye to attain a dharma, as there is no ear, no nose, no tongue, no touch, no mind; there is no sight to be attained, as there is no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch and no object of mind, and there are no respective consciousnesses of attainment. If a stream-enterer would experience dharmas, thinking that these dharmas could be apprehended into a stream-enterer fruit, then this stream-enterer would be caught up and entangled. This stream-enterer, instead of apprehending, would be apprehended by a self, apprehended by a being, apprehended by a soul, apprehended by a person.

Therefore, a stream-enterer is grasped in words and goes by this name.

The Blessed One: And does a once-returner say, "I have attained the fruit of a once-returner; I have attained the once-returner dharmas that constitute a once-returner?"

Subhuti: No, Lord, a once-returner cannot attain the dharmas of a once-returner, because there are no dharmas. There is no eye to attain a dharma, as there is no ear, no nose, no tongue, no touch, no mind; there is no sight to be attained, as there is no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch and no object of mind, and there are no respective consciousnesses of attainment.

Therefore, a once-returner is grasped in words and goes by this name.

The Blessed One: How about a never-returner?

Subhuti: No, Lord.

Therefore, a never-returner is grasped in words and goes by this name.

The Blessed One: And what of an arhat?

Subhuti: Again, there is no dharma to be apprehended. There is no eye to attain a dharma, as there is no ear, no nose, no tongue, no touch, no mind; there is no sight to be attained, as there is no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch and no object of mind, and there are no respective consciousnesses of attainment. There is no arhatship to be attained-- thus no arhat. This is why an arhat is an arhat. If indeed an arhat thought: "by me, the arhat dharma has been attained," this arhat would be caught up and entangled by a dharma. This arhat would be apprehended, and if this arhat becomes apprehended, then this arhat is apprehended by a self, apprehended by a being, apprehended by a soul, apprehended by a person.

Therefore, an arhat is grasped in words and goes by this name.

(Subhuti pauses in deep reflection and then speaks.)

Lord, I am one whom the Tathagata, the fully enlightened one, has named an arhat, foremost of those who abide in peace-- an arhat free from all greed and hatred. But although I have been named this, I do not think to myself: I'm an arhat free from all greed and hatred. If I did think this, if I did think about the name you have named me, an arhat-- you, Blessed One, would not have named me an arhat? You would not have said:

"This is Subhuti, son of a good family, who is foremost of those who abide in peace. This is Subhuti, who has no home-- that is why he is named arhat, the peace-dweller."

The Blessed One: Listen well, long ago, I was named Sumedha, who attended to Dipankara Buddha, who then named me the future Shakyamuni Buddha, predicting my awakening. Now Subhuti, is there any dharma transmitted to the Tathagata from Dipankara, the Tathagata?

Subhuti: No, there is no dharma. Therefore, there is no dharma transmitted.

The Blessed One: And what of pure Buddha-fields, would a bodhisattva think: I will cultivate & attain a pure Buddha-field for the welfare of all beings?

Subhuti: No, Lord.

The Blessed One: If a bodhisattva thinks this, the bodhisattva is thinking in error. Pure Buddha-fields here, pure buddha-fields there, Subhuti, the Tathagata teaches no pure Buddha-fields.

Subhuti: Therefore, a pure buddha-field is grasped in words and goes by this name.

The Blessed One: Subhuti, a bodhisattva, cultivates a way of thinking that does not depend on thought. A way of thinking that is thinking no thinking. A thinking not dependent on any dharma, not dependent on anything in the world: no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no touch, no mind, no sight, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no objects of mind, and no respective consciousnesses.

Suppose there was a being endowed with a massive body, the size of the greatest mountain on earth. Would the way we think about this being depend on his hugeness?

Subhuti: Yes, we would think a huge being is a huge being. But a huge being here, a more huge being there, whether we think this being is a huge being or not-- the Tathagata teaches no huge being.

Therefore, this huge being is grasped in words and goes by this name,

The Blessed One: Very good. Now let our thinking reflect on the flowing waters of the Ganges.

If there were as many Ganges Rivers

as there are grains of sand in the Ganges River,

would there be many more grains of sand

in the sum of all of these rivers in the Ganges River?

Subhuti: The sum of all the rivers? Yes, Lord.

The Blessed One: And if the sum of all these rivers' grains of sand were turned into vast spinning galaxies, and poured into an even vaster urn embedded with the seven precious jewels of gold, silver, lapis lazuli, seashell, agate, pearl, and carnelian, then offered as a gift to the arhats, the pratyekabuddhas, and Buddhas, would the heap of merit created by this gift be comparable to the size of the great gift?

Subhuti: Yes, Lord.

The Blessed One: But it is also true, as was said before, if a being, any being, let us say a son or daughter of good family, was to illuminate a single letter from this discourse, offering it to others, teaching it to others, then this son or daughter would generate merit from this illumination-- beyond compare. Even a great stupa entombed with the relic of a complete cadaver of a Buddha offered to the whole world does not compare to this illumination.

Now Subhuti, what then would it be like for a son or daughter of a good family who takes up and recollects the entirety of this discourse, reciting it, studying it, copying it, and illuminating it in its fullness to others?

Subhuti: Beyond compare.

The Blessed One: Blessed are they!

Because where this happens, at this place on earth, it is as if --

an Awakened One is here and now!

Subhuti: Blessed One, how difficult are these words you speak? How does the mind grasp this?

The Blessed One: Subhuti, this discourse is the prajnaparamita, the wisdom beyond wisdom, the wisdom beyond words, and it is luminous. For that which the Tathagata teaches as the prajnaparamita, the supreme wisdom, the Tathagata teaches as no prajnaparamita.

Again Subhuti, are there any dharmas the Tathagata teaches?

Subhuti: No, Lord.

The Blessed One: Let us contemplate the dust particles in a galaxy of a thousand million worlds. Can your mind reflect upon this and say it is a lot?

Subhuti: Yes, as the mind thinks about dust particles, galaxies, and worlds, calculating the whole of it-- yes, Lord, it is a lot. But at the same time, following what the Tathagata teaches-- that which the Tathagata speaks of as dust particles the Tathagata teaches are no dust particles. And that which the Tathagata refers to as a galaxy is no galaxy, and that which the Tathagata refers to as world is no world.

Therefore, dust particles, galaxies, and worlds are grasped in words and go by these names.

The Blessed One: Can a Tathagata be grasped or apprehended by signs or marks?

Subhuti: No, because signs or marks of a Buddha are no signs, are no marks.

Therefore, the signs or marks of a Buddha are grasped in these words and go by these names.

The Blessed One: Let us say there is a son or daughter of a good family who goes forth into homelessness like you Subhuti, have gone forth into homelessness. Let us say they were to renounce their possessions, like you Subhuti, lifetime after lifetime, as many times as there are sands in the river Ganges, each time renouncing the whole of what they possessed, again and again, generating a great heap of merit.

And then-- let us consider a being who takes up a single letter from this discourse, offering it to others, teaching it to others, illuminating it in its fullness. Indeed, the illumination of a single letter from this discourse would generate merit beyond compare.

Such giving, such illumination, is indeed boundless and ungraspable, is it not Subhuti?

(Suddenly, the words of the Blessed One moved the Venerable Subhuti to tears.)

Subhuti: Yes, Lord-- overwhelming! It is overwhelming how the Tathagata teaches this discourse, for never before have I heard the Blessed One share the Dharma with such starkness. It has opened up in me something unbounded. Blessed are those who will receive this discourse, even if it is the illumination of a few words, even a single letter-- they will see the true nature of things! They will come to see that even a true perception is no perception.

And therefore, a perception is grasped in these words and goes by this name.

To be sure, Lord, I'm prepared for this teaching. I live in a time when the Dharma is strong. Still, for others, especially those beings who live in a time when the Dharma can be barely heard, a time when beings are surrounded by catastrophe, how blessed, how remarkable it will be if they can catch a glimpse of this discourse, take it up, bring it to heart, recite it, study it, and illuminate it to others!

Blessed indeed is the one who is illuminated by this discourse!

But at the same time, Lord, there will be no one who is illuminated by this discourse, as there is no perception of a self, a soul, a person, or a being. The Tathagata leaves no trace of perception. A Tathagata neither comes and neither goes.

The Blessed One: Such it is, Subhuti. Blessed are those who hear this discourse and who take up this teaching. They will go forth in fearlessness; they will no longer tremble; they will no longer be terrified by anything in the world. The Tathagata, through this discourse, teaches the prajnaparamita, the consummation of perfection, the Dharma-- ungraspable, inconceivable. The Tathagata's perfection is no perfection.

Subhuti: Therefore, the consummation of perfection is grasped in these words and goes by this name.

The Blessed One: Subhuti, I have been born thousands upon thousands of times and led the life of a sage devoted to all the perfections, including the perfection of patience, which, I say, is no perfection. And why is this? Because Subhuti, when the king of Kalinga was torturing me, cutting my flesh from every limb, I had no perception of a self, a being, a soul, a person, and there was no perception of ill will. And Subhuti, if there were no perception of ill will, there would be no perception of patience. In this, the perfection of patience is no patience as it is for the other perfections. Indeed, a great being bodhisattva, abandoning all perceptions, goes forth in prajnaparamita, the supreme perfection. A bodhisattva, gone forth in this prajnaparamita, cultivates the boundless heart, not depending on anything in the world, not depending on eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind; not depending on sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touch, or mental objects; not depending on eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness, or mental-consciousness; not depending on any dharma, not depending on any non-dharma. A great being bodhisattva does not cling to anything in the world. This is what the Tathagata teaches as the bodhisattva's boundless gift.

Indeed, a bodhisattva's perception of beings is no perception of beings. Furthermore, the Tathagata teaches a being is no being, even a bodhisattva being, even a great being bodhisattva is no being.

It is only the bodhisattva, not caught up in anything, who assures the salvation of all beings.

The Tathagata speaks the truth, not other than the truth, and the Tathagata does not speak any other way. Neither truth nor lies can comprehend the Tathagata. Take a heedless bodhisattva who has fallen to the world, defiled, like a man who wakes up in darkness and can't see anything. From this darkness, a hand reaches out to this bodhisattva, offering a gift of salvation.

Now, take a heedful bodhisattva who has not fallen to the world, virtuous, who wakes up in the purity of the sun's light, seeing clearly-- from this light, the same hand reaches out to this bodhisattva offering the same gift of salvation.

It is the same hand, beyond darkness and light, beyond truth and lies, that reaches out to the heedless and the heedful. No difference. Nothing can grasp the Tathagata, and this is the bodhisattva's boundless gift.

Know this: those sons and daughters of a good family who take up this discourse, bringing it to heart, offering it to others, teaching and illuminating the truth to others-- they are known intimately by the Tathagata. They will be in the Tathagata's heart, they will be seen by the Tathagata's Buddha-eye, and they will be embraced by the Tathagata. Indeed, they will generate supreme merit, boundless and incomparable.

Once more, Subhuti, the son or daughter of a good family, who goes forth into homelessness, renouncing their possessions as many times as there are sands in the River Ganges, multiplied by as many days as there are in a billion trillion years, each time renouncing the whole of what they possessed, does not compare with someone who may hear a few words of this discourse, who may hear even a single letter of this discourse-- who is illuminated as such.

Again what then should be said of the one who illuminates the whole of this discourse, hears it, writes it down, learns it, recites it, studies it, and illuminates it to others?

Subhuti: Unthinkable, beyond words.

The Blessed One: The Tathagata offers this discourse for the joy & happiness of all beings! The Tathagata offers this discourse to all beings who aspire to set out in the great vehicle, the bodhisattvayana! The sons and daughters of a good family who take up these words, bring these words to heart, offer these words to others, teach these words to others, illuminating the truth of these words to others-- they will be known intimately by the Tathagata.

They will be in the Tathagata's heart;

they will be seen by the Tathagata's Buddha-eye;

they will be embraced by the Tathagata.

All who take up these words will share equally in the awakening. No one will be inferior to the other, and no one will be superior to the other. They will be the same in the awakening, and they will be equal in resolve. And not one will possess a view of a self, a being, a soul, or a person. Subhuti, anyone who can hear these words, take up these words, bring these words to heart, recite, study-- illuminate these words to others, will be initiated in the bodhisattva's vow, will go forth in the bodhisattvayana, going forth in prajnaparamita, the perfect wisdom.

And wherever the place on earth these words are revealed and shared, that place shall become a great stupa for the whole world with its gods, humans, and spirits. They shall hail it! They shall circumambulate it!

At the same time, for those sons and daughters of a good family, who go forth in the bodhisattvayana, who take up this discourse, and illuminate it-- they will be humbled in this illumination! This boundless gift! They will turn & repent since they will each see their wasteful and unwholesome thoughts & deeds from their past lives bearing down on them, bringing them pain and suffering. And from this perception, they will have remorse and will purify their unwholesome thoughts & deeds. Only in this heedful contriteness can they wake up in the presence of a Buddha-- the one who knows.

I recollect a past life long before Dipankara Buddha, a time when I had already shown devotion to thousands of Buddhas. But even with the merit generated from this long devotion, it does not compare to the supreme merit of those, even in the last days of the Dharma, who take up this discourse, who bring it to heart, who study it, recite it, copy it, and illuminate it to others. Subhuti, truly there is nothing to compare! What is any part to that which is infinite?

Indeed, that which is unfathomable can be stark and overwhelming, even deeply confusing. The Tathagata reveals this discourse as the fruit of the inconceivable. Words beyond words, unthinkable. Such is the prajnaparamita.

Subhuti: Blessed One, again I ask, how does one, who goes forth in the bodhisattvayana, maintain, guard, and cultivate wholesomeness in thought and deed?

The Blessed One: Subhuti, one who sets out in the bodhisattvayana, who maintains, guards, and cultivates wholesomeness in thought & deed, will take a vow: all beings I vow to save, all beings I will lead to nirvana without a trace of being. And how? Because there was never a trace of being, there is no being to be saved. A bodhisattva who is caught up in thinking even a hint of a notion of a being cannot be called a bodhisattva. It is the same for a hint of a self, a hint of a person, or a hint of a soul.

A bodhisattva who goes forth in the bodhisattvayana, maintaining, guarding, and cultivating wholesomeness in thought and deed, is never apprehended in any dharmas.

Answer this Subhuti-- even throughout many thousands of lives, even as this Tathagata was reborn in that auspicious place attending Dipankara Buddha, was there a single dharma the Tathagata had come to apprehend along the way, to think known, even an apprehension of absolute enlightenment?

Subhuti: No, Lord, there is not any dharma the Tathagata had come to apprehend along the way, to think known, even absolute enlightenment.

The Blessed One: Such it is, and therefore Dipankara Buddha declared to his attendant: You brahmin, in the future, will be Shakyamuni Gautama-- you will be a Buddha-to-be, a fully awakened one-- a Tathagata. And now let me ask you, Subhuti, what is it to say-- Tathagata?

(Subhuti is silent.)

Is it any different from saying suchness?

And what would it be like to say suchness apprehends (something), suchness grasps (something), or suchness thinks (something), including absolute perfect enlightenment? To say this would be off-the-mark?

Subhuti: Yes, Lord.

The Blessed One: But let us say there is a dharma the Tathagata knows. What would this be?

(Subhuti is silent.)

...something like knowing knowing (all-knowing). Something like knowing beyond any thinking... right or wrong, good or bad, real or unreal, beauty or ugliness, pleasure or pain.

At the same time, it is said a Tathagata knows all dharmas. And why is it said— "all dharmas?" Because when teaching all dharmas, the Tathagata teaches-- no dharmas.

Subhuti: The Tathagata teaches no dharmas.

The Blessed One: In this way, the Tathagata knows all dharmas. The Tathagata teaches the --knowing-- of all dharmas, including the perfect dharmas, the perfections:

generosity, virtue, patience, vigor, samadhi, and wisdom.

I repeat, the bodhisattva who thinks in the following way: I am a bodhisattva, and because I am a bodhisattva, I will lead all beings to salvation. Is this a bodhisattva? Is there any dharma-- that exists--- that is grasped by the word bodhisattva?

Subhuti: No, Lord, there is no dharma-- that exists-- grasped with the word bodhisattva.

Therefore a bodhisattva is grasped only in words and goes by this name.

The Blessed One: The Tathagata teaches selfless are all dharmas-- absent anything like a self, absent anything like a being, absent anything like a soul, absent anything like a personality. And so Subhuti, a bodhisattva, who hears this discourse of the Tathagata, who goes forth in the bodhisattvayana, who maintains, guards, and cultivates wholesomeness in thought & deed is resolved on the following:

selfless are all dharmas, and all dharmas are selfless.

A bodhisattva who hears this, who goes forth resolved in this, is a bodhisattva who goes forth flowing & dwelling in prajnaparamita.

Now, does the Tathagata have a physical eye?

Subhuti: Yes.

The Blessed One: Does the Tathagata have a Dharma-eye?

Subhuti: Yes, Lord.

The Blessed One: You have heard the Tathagata use the words, "…as many grains of sand as there are in the river Ganges"?

Subhuti: Very much, indeed, Lord.

The Blessed One: And if there were as many Ganges Rivers as there are grains of sand in the river we name the Ganges River, and if there were as many world systems as there are grains of sand in all of the rivers contained in this the Ganges River, would there be many world systems in this river we name the Ganges River?

Subhuti: Yes, there would be many.

The Blessed One: And as many world systems as there are in this Ganges River, there are beings in these worlds-- thinking. As such, there would be a vast proliferation of thinking thoughts--

thoughts dependent upon thoughts dependent on whole worlds of thinking thoughts!

Subhuti: Yes.

The Blessed One: But Subhuti, the Tathagata, knows all thoughts. And how is this?

Subhuti: Because the Tathagata knows no thoughts.

The Blessed One: Yes, Subhuti, thoughts are words dependent on more words, and words are names they go by. And if a world unfolds from past to present to future, and there are thoughts collected around each, dependent on each, and the Tathagata teaches no thoughts, the Tathagata teaches no past to think about, no future to think about, and no present thinking to think about. Indeed, there is no time to think about thoughts, nor thoughts to think about time.

Subhuti: Therefore, thinking thoughts of the past, thoughts of the future, and thoughts in the present are grasped in words and go by these names.

19-22

The Blessed One: Now Subhuti, again the great urn embedded with the seven precious jewels of gold, silver, lapis lazuli, seashell, agate, pearl, and carnelian, and offered as a gift. Would this generate a great heap of merit?

Subhuti: Yes, Lord, comparable to its greatness. But where there is merit, even a great heap of merit, the Tathagata teaches-- no merit.

And therefore, merit is grasped in words and goes by this name.

The Blessed One: And can the Tathagata be apprehended by deeds of the physical body?

Subhuti: No, Lord. The Tathagata cannot be apprehended by deeds of the body, for the Tathagata teaches-- no body.

Therefore, the body is grasped in words and goes by this name.

The Blessed One: Can Tathagata be apprehended by signs or marks?

Subhuti: Again, no, Lord. The Tathagata teaches no signs, no marks.

And therefore, signs & marks are grasped in words and go by this name.

The Blessed One: Such it is.

Subhuti: Blessed One, again, I cannot help but still think about the welfare of beings in the future when the Dharma has disappeared. Will there be any beings in the last days of the Dharma, who will hear the Dharma?

The Blessed One: Beings here, beings there— Subhuti, know this, the Tathagata teaches no beings.

Subhuti: Therefore, beings are grasped in words and go by this name.

The Blessed One: Does the Tathagata say-- "by my words, the Dharma is revealed?"

Subhuti: No, Lord.

The Blessed One: Anyone who would say this is in error and misrepresents the Tathagata. The Tathagata cannot reveal this because there is no Dharma.

Subhuti: Therefore, the Dharma is grasped in words and goes by this name.

22-23

The Blessed One: Now answer this, is there any dharma the Tathagata knows as the absolute least dharma?

Subhuti: No, Lord.

The Blessed One: And is there any dharma the Tathagata knows as absolute perfect dharma-- including absolute perfect enlightenment.

Subhuti: No, there is no dharma the Tathagata knows, including the absolute perfect dharma.

The Blessed One: Especially this, because the enlightenment of absolute perfection must be without division, without difference-- the same. An incomparable sameness. And what is the same, and how is it perfection? It is the absolute absence (including the absence of the absence) of a self, a being, a soul, a person, which is also the culmination of the path-- the realization of the perfect dharmas:

generosity, virtue, patience, vigor, samadhi, and wisdom.

Absolute perfect dharmas, the Tathagata teaches, but the Tathagata teaches no absolute perfect dharmas.

Subhuti: Therefore, the perfect dharmas: generosity, virtue, patience, vigor, samadhi, and wisdom, are grasped by words, and they go by these names.

24-25

Again Subhuti, if a son or daughter of a good family makes a mountain of the seven precious jewels of gold, silver, lapis lazuli, seashell, agate, pearl, and carnelian-- a mountain equal to all of the mountains across the world, beyond this, a mountain equal to all of the mountains in a million billion world-systems, and then offers this great mountain as a gift, and if, this offering is compared with the son or daughter of a good family, who takes up this discourse-- even if a few words, even if a single letter, bringing it to heart in its luminousness, teaching it to others, the heap of merit generated from the great mountain does not compare with the supreme perfection of this discourse. There can be no comparison?

Subhuti: No, Lord.

The Blessed One: Does the Tathagata say this, "by me, the Tathagata, all beings are set free?"

Subhuti: No, because there are no beings for the Tathagata to set free. And if the Tathagata had set free a being, then the Tathagata would be apprehended in a self, a being, a soul, a person.

The Blessed One: Let this be clear, knowing the self as-- no knowing the self-- is what the Tathagata teaches.

Subhuti: And yet, it is true of ordinary folk that they cannot get away from grasping a self and are grasped in a self.

The Blessed One: Yes. But it is also true of ordinary folk that they have never received the teaching of the Tathagata, as the Tathagata teaches-- there is no ordinary folk.

Subhuti: Indeed.

Therefore, ordinary folk is grasped in words and go by this name.

The Blessed One: Again, I ask, is the Tathagata to be apprehended by signs or marks?

Subhuti: No, Lord.

The Blessed One: If the Tathagata could be apprehended by signs or marks, then powerful men would identify at birth the Tathagata as a universal monarch, for there would be much power gained by the possession of this knowledge. But the Tathagata cannot be apprehended through signs or marks, and this has been made clear in the illumination of this discourse, has it not?

Subhuti: Yes, Lord. The Tathagata is beyond being, beyond non-being, beyond the apprehension of signs or marks of a being. Furthermore, I now recollect the Tathagata saying these words:

Those who, by my physical form see me,

Those who from my voice hear me--

A blinded effort engaged:

Me, no one sees, no one hears.

From Dharma-eye, a vision of Buddha;

From Dharma-kaya, teaching embodied;

Yet, no nature is known--

as no one lands any awareness

anywhere.

The Blessed One: Such it is, Subhuti. Now has the Tathagata known absolute perfect enlightenment through the power or capacity of any signs or marks?

Subhuti: No, Lord

The Blessed One: The Tathagata cannot know absolute perfect enlightenment through the power or capacity of any signs or marks because there are no signs or marks to grasp absolute perfect enlightenment.

And what of the powerful bodhisattva who announces going forth in the bodhisattvayana as the way of destroying all unwholesome dharmas? Is this a wholesome thought and deed?

Subhuti: No, Lord.

The Blessed One: Certainly, this cannot be. For bodhisattvas who go forth in the bodhisattvayana do not even conceive of a dharma, much less the destruction of a dharma.

Subhuti, if a son or daughter of a good family with the seven precious jewels of gold, silver, lapis lazuli, seashell, agate, pearl, and carnelian fills as many world systems as sands in the river Ganges, generating a great heap merit, and offers this as a gift to the Tathagatas, compared with a fearless bodhisattva, who goes forth in the bodhisattvayana, who with steady patience flows & dwells through dharmas that are no dharmas-- an inconceivable flowing, nothing created, nothing destroyed, with nothing to attain, this fearless bodhisattva generates something supreme-- merit that is no merit.

Whoever points to a Tathagata, identifying the Tathagata as that one walking, as that one standing, as that one sitting, or that one lying down, or that one who comes this way, or that one who goes that way, does not know the Tathagata, does not know the Tathagata's teaching. Because Subhuti, the Tathagata, has not gone anywhere nor arrived anywhere, nor can the Tathagata be found anywhere.

There is no Tathagata.

Subhuti: Therefore, the Tathagata is grasped in words and goes by this name.

The Blessed One: If a son or daughter of a good family were to grind down into dust particles as many worlds as are contained in a thousand million world-systems and grind them even further into an impeccable, ungraspable atom-like stuff-- what do you think, would this be something colossal?

Subhuti: Yes, Lord, it would be colossal!

The Blessed One: But if there is this great collection of ground-down atom-like stuff at the basis of all things, what would the Tathagata teach?

Subhuti: The Tathagata would teach the great collection of atom-like stuff is no collection of atom-like stuff.

Therefore, a great collection of atom-like stuff is grasped in words and goes by this name.

The Blessed One: And the opposite?

Subhuti: And so it is for the opposite. The Tathagata teaches the entire cosmos containing all of the world-systems is no cosmos.

Therefore, a cosmos is grasped in words and goes by this name.

The Blessed One: Good Subhuti.

Subhuti: And so it is for anything. If there is something, no matter what it is, there is the desire to grasp it as an object. But the Tathagata teaches no object.

The Blessed One: Let us be clear in this: the apprehension of the object happens in words and goes by a name, which is the path & practice of name and form-- this is the desire to grasp an object.

But the object is neither there nor not there to be grasped (in desire) by words and by names.

Yes, the Tathagata teaches no object (no dharma).

Subhuti: Therefore, an object (a dharma) is grasped in words and goes by this name.

The Blessed One: And so it goes, common folk grasp through words and go by names. Forever, they go this way in words & names, and forever they go that way in words & names. Round and round, they are caught up in words & names. Forever apprehended in the endless viewpoints of words & names.

But Subhuti, whosoever says the Tathagata has a viewpoint or a self-view, would this be right?

Subhuti: No, Lord, indeed not. The Tathagata, the one who neither comes nor goes, teaches a self-view that is no self-view. The Tathagata teaches no self, and this is what the Tathagata teaches.

Therefore, this self is grasped in words and goes by this name. And so it is for being, soul, and a person.

The Blessed One: Subhuti know this, one who is devoted to the prajnaparamita, one who is dependent on the prajnaparamita alone, who goes forth in the bodhisattvayana will be resolved on all dharmas and will know all dharmas in such a way as having no perception of any dharmas-- not a single dharma. This includes any perception of the non-perception of a dharma. No perception-- the Tathagata teaches.

Finally, Subhuti, let us say it is a maha-bodhisattva, a great being bodhisattva, who fills a vast collection of world systems with the seven precious jewels-- those of gold, silver, lapis lazuli, seashell, agate, pearl, and carnelian, offering this as a gift to the Tathagatas, compared with a son or daughter of a good family who takes up this discourse on Dharma, even if it is a handful of words, even if it is a single letter, brings it to heart, studies it, recites it, teaches it to others-- illuminating it... What do you say Subhuti?

Subhuti: Indeed, Lord, from the power of this illumination, this son or daughter of a good family begets something incomparable: a supreme gift, a boundless gift.

The Blessed One: This is the all-embracing welfare of the way of the bodhisattva. And this is your answer, Subhuti. This is how a son or daughter of a good family, who has newly gone forth in the bodhisattvayana, the great vehicle, maintains, guards, and cultivates wholesomeness in thought & deed.

(Subhuti, with palms together, bows.)

Subhuti: Yes, Lord.

The Blessed One: But further still, Subhuti, how would this son or daughter of a good family illuminate this discourse? Because the Tathagata indeed teaches no illumination.

Subhuti: Lord, even this.

The Blessed One: Take heed:

As a star's light plays along the eye--

a flame, a shadow-show, dew drops, a bubble pops-- dream!

These dark moving clouds,

this flash of lightning

-- the conditioned realm plays the mind.

Thus spoke the Blessed One.

And beyond joy were Subhuti.

And beyond joy were all the monks.

And beyond joy were the nuns.

And beyond joy were the pious layman and laywomen.

And beyond joy were the bodhisattvas.

And beyond joy were the whole world of gods, humans, and spirits.

All beyond joy!

All, each & everyone rejoiced at the Blessed One's discourse.