The Diamond Sutra

by Red Pine

  Having stepped onto the bodhisattva path without such baggage as a self, a being, a life, or a soul, noble sons and daughters are now advised how to walk that path, which they do by practicing the perfection of charity, for the compassionate aspiration to save other beings is essentially an act of charity, and charity is the only member of the six perfections that by itself results in merit. For it is the only member directed exclusively at liberating others. Thus, it is the first step on the bodhisattva path. It is also the last step. For by liberating others, bodhisattvas liberate themselves. But liberation is only possible if there is no attachment of any kind, including attachment to the gift of liberation.

  In the practice of charity, Buddhists distinguish three kinds of gifts: material, emotional, and spiritual. Material gifts include such things as food and clothes and medicine. Emotional gifts include comfort and protection. And spiritual gifts include guidance and instruction. In terms of their benefits, material gifts put an end to greed; emotional gifts put an end to anger; and spiritual gifts put an end to delusion. It was the combination of all three in the Buddha’s daily life that prompted Subhuti’s questions and resulted in these further instructions on the nature of the practice that results in buddhahood.

  In practicing charity, or any of the perfections, the Buddha warns against attachment to three things: the practitioner (in this case, the person who gives); the beneficiary (the recipient); and the practice (the giving of the gift). In his “Outline of Practice,” Bodhidharma says, “Since what is real includes nothing worth begrudging, we give our bodies, our lives, and our property in charity, without regret, without the vanity of giver, gift, or recipient, and without bias or attachment. To get rid of obstructions, we teach others, but without becoming attached to appearances. Thus, while we ourselves practice, we are able to help others as well as to glorify the Path to Enlightenment. And as with charity, so do we also practice the other five paramitas. But while practicing the six paramitas to eliminate delusion, we practice nothing at all. This is what is meant by practicing the Dharma.” (The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma, p. 7)

  Vasubandhu says, “What follows explains how those who set forth on the bodhisattva path should practice and how they should control their thoughts.”

  Asanga says, “All six perfections rest on giving goods, protection, and the truth. One, two, three, respectively, we cultivate without attachment.” (3) According to Vasubandhu, this sutra focuses on charity because all six perfections are marked by charity. He also says that Asanga’s eka-dyaya-trayeneha (one, two, three, respectively) refers to all six perfections, with the giving of material goods representing the one practice of charity, the giving of protection representing the two practices of morality and forbearance, and the giving of the truth representing the three practices of vigor (which results in acquisition of special powers), meditation, and wisdom. However, detachment is essential in the practice of all six.

  Lin-chi says, “To practice charity is to give everything away. This means to get rid of perceptions of self, being, life, and soul, sorrow and delusion, possession and renunciation, love and hate. The Buddha teaches us to practice charity, to rid ourselves of all attachments within, and to benefit all beings without. By not dwelling on anything, bodhisattvas do not see the self that gives, nor do they see the other that receives, nor do they see anything given. For all three are essentially empty. By concentrating without concentrating on anything, their practice of charity remains pure. They do not desire what they do not have. Nor do they long for some future reward. When ordinary people practice charity, they hope for some blessing or benefit. This is to practice charity while attached to something.”

  Chiang Wei-nung says, “By ‘thing’ is meant the objects of our six senses, including what is seen or heard or perceived as well as what is not seen, not heard, not perceived. Charity is but one of the six paramitas, or perfections. The Maha Prajnaparamita Shastra discusses all six. This sutra only mentions charity to avoid being verbose and for the sake of simplicity. Charity here represents all other dharmas, all of which must be practiced without attachment. In the previous section, the Buddha mentions the bodhisattva’s resolution; here he mentions the bodhisattva’s practice. Resolution and practice cannot be separated from one another, nor does one precede the other. Also, previously the Buddha says that bodhisattvas save limitless beings, but he does not say how they save them. Here he tells us how. All the Buddha’s teachings can be summarized by the word “renunciation.” But renunciation is another word for charity. By renouncing attachment to a self, we become arhans. By renouncing attachment to dharmas, we become bodhisattvas. By renouncing renouncing, we become buddhas. Thus, charity is the ultimate practice.”

  In the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines, the Buddha asks Ananda somewhat rhetorically, “Can we call giving that is not dedicated to the realization of omniscience the perfection of giving?” (3)

  Textual note: For the first two lines, Kumarajiva has p’u-sa yu fa ying wusuo-chu hsing yu pu-shih (bodhisattvas should practice charity without attachment to a thought), which is more or less how the Tibetan reads. Meanwhile, Paramartha has p’u-sa pu-cho chi-lei erh hsing pu-shih, pu-cho suo-yu hsiang yu pu-shih (bodhisattvas practice charity without attachment to a self, they practice charity without attachment to anything at all).

  They should not be attached to a sight when they give

  a gift. Nor should they be attached to a sound, a smell,

  a taste, a touch, or a dharma when they give a gift.

  The sights of charity include the color and shape of what is given as well as the physical characteristics of the donor and recipient. The sounds of charity include musical instruments and the human voice. The smells of charity include the fragrance of flowers and incense. The tastes of charity include all kinds of food and drink. The touches of charity include the softness and warmth of garments as well as the feel of the human body. And the dharmas of charity include the myriad teachings that free the mind from delusion, greed, hate, and thus from suffering.

  The Sanskrit word dharma is derived from the root dhri, meaning “to grasp,” and refers to anything perceived to be real or permanent. Thus, dharmas are the objects of the sixth organ of sense, the mind, and roughly equivalent to what we call “thoughts.” But because they constitute our perception of reality, dharmas also refer to certain teachings and practices. Thus, dharmas are “truths.” And because such teachings and practices often seem permanent or right, dharmas also refer to norms of behavior and thus are “duties.”

  Asanga says, “Cling not to self-existence, reward or karmic fruit. Guard against not giving or giving for a lesser goal.” (4) Vasubandhu comments, “This explains the nature of detachment and why we should practice detachment when we give. ‘Self-existence’ refers to the sutra’s statement that we should not be attached to a ‘thing’; ‘reward’ refers to the sutra’s statement that we should not be attached to ‘anything at all’; and ‘karmic fruit’ refers to the sutra’s statement that we should not be attached to ‘a sight,’ etc. Also, why warn against selfishness? Because if we are attached to ourselves, we won’t be able to give. Or if we seek some reward or result, it will lead us to abandon the bodhisattva path. This is what is meant by ‘lesser.’”

  Huang-po says, “Eyes combine with form, ears combine with sound, the nose combines with smell, the tongue combines with taste, the body combines with touch, and the mind combines with dharmas. These twelve give birth to six forms of consciousness and together make up the Eighteen Domains. If someone understands that the Eighteen Domains contain nothing, that they are all empty, such a person truly understands the nature of the senses.”

  Chiang Wei-nung says, “The Buddha says we should not be attached to the six senses. He does not tell us to eliminate the six senses. Cultivation takes place in the world. It does not deny the world. We have to depend on the world to practice. Charity and merit show us where to begin our practice.”

  Textual note: Among the
list of objects of the senses, Müller does not include “dharmas,” nor does the Stein edition. Müller does the same in Chapter Nine, for which the relevant portion of the Stein and Gilgit editions is missing. The Stein and Müller editions also do not include objects of mind in the same list in Chapter Ten. In Chapter Fourteen, however, Müller includes “dharmas” in the first occurrence of this list but not in the second occurrence. The Stein edition does not include “dharmas” in either occurrence and limits the list to rupa (sight/form) for the second occurrence. All Chinese translations have fa (dharmas) for all occurrences, and Conze has “dharmas.”

  Thus, Subhuti, fearless bodhisattvas should give a gift

  without being attached to the perception of an object.

  Objects are manifestations, mirages, or signs of things that never quite appear in their entirety, because none of them is ultimately real but only perceived to be real. When we perceive a person or a thing, we perceive something that exists in space and time as a combination of visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, and cognitive elements. But upon closer analysis, each of these elements turns out to be constantly changing and impossible to isolate from other elements. Thus, nothing is real. Still, we can’t let go of the larger, supposedly unchanging entity that we imagine exists somewhere beyond the horizon of our sensory faculties. And yet such an entity never quite appears. But the reason that it never quite appears is because it is an illusion whose reality we extrapolate by combining elements that are themselves no more real than the illusion to which they contribute. Thus, a perception of an object is a delusion of an illusion. For if the object itself is not real, how can the perception of it be real? On the other hand, if we can keep from becoming attached to the perception, we cannot be obstructed or restricted by the object.

  Vasubandhu says, “The following verse explains how to control our thoughts.”

  Asanga says, “Rein in these three concerns, restrain the thought of objects, and cut off doubts when they arise.” (5) The three concerns (mandale tredha) of which Asanga speaks are the giver, the gift, and the recipient, and the “doubts” are those likely to arise when practitioners hear these three are empty, and they wonder why they should continue their practice. Thus, Vasubandu comments, “What follows explains the benefits of charity, for the Buddha tells us the merit from such practice is great. But why did the Buddha not extol merit after telling us how to stand and walk and only mention it after telling us how to control our thoughts? He does so because only if people are detached from perceptions of objects can they practice charity without attachment.”

  In the Perfection of Wisdom in Seven Hundred Lines, the Buddha asked Manjushri, “How should you stand when practicing the perfection of wisdom?” And Manjushri replied, “Not standing on any dharma is to stand on the perfection of wisdom.” The Buddha asked again, “How is it that not standing on any dharma is called standing on the perfection of wisdom?” Manjushri replied, “To have no perception of standing is to stand on the perfection of wisdom.”

  Seng-chao says, “Thoughts of charity that begrudge nothing is what is meant by giving. If no object remains, what is there to begrudge? Giving is the first of the six perfections, and sensations are the basis from which dharmas arise.”

  Chi-fo says, “All objects are illusions. To be attached to an object is to be attached to an illusion. Once you stop being attached to objects, you will not be affected by illusions. And once you are not affected by illusions, you will no longer be subject to sansara [life and death], and your pure original body will appear by itself. This non-attachment to attachment is a most wonderful practice. As for how it works, don’t be attached to a self within or to others without or to any gift that passes between. View things as you would in a mirror. When things appear, reflect them. When things disappear, let them go.”

  Hsu-fa says, “A person who is attached to objects is like a bird that walks on the sand, while a person who is not attached to objects is like a bird that flies through the sky. The one leaves tracks, while the other leaves none.”

  In his Song of Enlightenment, Yung-chia says, “Practicing charity while attached to something may result in heavenly blessings. But it’s like an arrow shot into the sky. Eventually, it falls to the ground.”

  Meng-ts’an says, “When we practice charity, we invariably think about reaping some merit. At most temples, they hand out merit schedules and give a receipt. If people give enough, they even expect a temple to carve a stone memorial with their name on it. This is what is meant by being attached to something while practicing charity.”

  Te-ch’ing says, “If a person practices charity without being attached to anything, how can there be any merit? In the next sentence, the Buddha answers that not only will there be merit, it will be immeasurably greater than that reaped by someone who is attached to something.”

  Textual note: In place of nimitta-sanjna (perception of an object) Kumarajiva has hsiang (appearance), a variation he maintains throughout his translation. Here and elsewhere, Müller translates this phrase as “perception of a cause,” while Conze has “notion of a sign.”

  And why? Subhuti, the body of merit of those

  bodhisattvas who give a gift without being attached

  is not easy to measure.

  Every action of the body, mouth, and mind is like a seed that sooner or later bears the fruit appropriate to it. Good actions result in blessings; bad actions result in tribulations. Just as a melon seed gives birth to a melon and not to an apple, so does an action free of limitations give birth to a fruit free of limitations. No gift is greater than liberation. Hence, no merit is greater. Thus, those who practice this teaching without being attached to it are said to be like fish that enter the sea.

  The term the Buddha uses to express this is punya-skandha. The word punya includes such meanings as “pure,” “holy,” “auspicious,” and “meritorious.” It is this last meaning that Buddhists usually associate with the word, and it certainly has that sense here, since it refers to the karmic results of the practice of charity, which is the only practice that by itself results in merit. But merit refers to more than what we normally think of as “good karma.” It refers to karma that is in some sense selfless and thus no karma. It is not simply good karma but the bodhi seed from which the tree of enlightenment grows.

  Skandha also has a long history of usage and a number of meanings. Most translators render it by “aggregate,” “heap,” or “store.” This is how it is usually translated when it refers to the five skandhas of form, sensation, perception, volition, and cognition in which we search for a self in vain. But such renderings hardly do skandha justice. The primary meaning of skandha is not a “pile” but a “body minus its appendages.” The word is derived from the root skand, meaning “to ejaculate (semen),” and it originally referred to such things as a tree trunk or a human torso. This, for example, is how the Jains used the word, which, ironically, they used interchangeably with a word we encountered in the first chapter, pinda (ball of rice/offering/entity). Thus, it would be more appropriate to call these skandhas “bodies,” as we do when we speak of an artist’s “body of work.” Their unity is not an accidental agglomeration of disparate stuff. Nor do they only exist in some future bank account but right now. They are more like the overlays in a biology textbook, overlays to which we give coherence by our own set of perceptions, delusions though they may be. Thus, the term punya-skandha means “body of merit” and not “heap of merit” or “store of merit.” The importance and appropriateness of this interpretation will become clearer in the chapters that follow.

  Te-ch’ing says, “If bodhisattvas are attached to merit, their merit will be slight. Whereas if they cultivate merit without attachment to appearances, their merit will be far greater.”

  Seng-chao says, “From this we know that non-attachment to all things is correct and attachment to anything is wrong.”

  Hui-neng says, “By merit is meant the respect and support of gods and people. Whe
n bodhisattvas practice charity, they seek nothing in return. Hence, the merit they receive is as immeasurable as the sky.”

  Textual note: Kumarajiva does not include the word skandha (body), while all other Chinese translators interpret it with chu (accumulation). Müller has “stock of merit,” while Conze has “heap of merit.” Kumarajiva and Bodhiruci specify pu chu hsiang (without attachment to appearances).

  What do you think, Subhuti, is the space to the east

  easy to measure?”

  Subhuti replied, “No, it is not, Bhagavan.”

  The Buddha said, “Likewise, is the space to the

  south, to the west, to the north, in between, above,

  below, or in any of the ten directions easy to

  measure?”

  Subhuti replied, “No, it is not, Bhagavan.”

  The Sanskrit akasha means “sky,” and this is the interpretation given in the Chinese commentaries below. The term was also used by other Indian sects, such as the Jains, to refer to the ethereal element of “air.” Buddhists, however, took the term to mean “space,” which includes not only the sky but also the earth below, which is the tenth direction. The Buddha’s choice of words is also intended to emphasize the transcendent nature of the merit involved in the bodhisattva’s practice, as it exceeds anything the Buddha’s audience could possibly imagine.