by Red Pine
Chi-fo says, “The sky refers to what lies within the great vault. Free of even the slightest obstruction and utterly void, it is beyond the reach of our imagination.”
Yen Ping says, “In terms of size, nothing is greater than the sky. Thus, the Buddha uses it as a metaphor for merit.”
Hui-neng says, “The biggest thing in the world is the sky. Whatever has form cannot be called great. The sky alone has no form, thus is it called great. All natures have their limits and cannot be called great. Our buddha nature alone has no limits, thus is it called great. The sky has no quarters. If you see its quarters, you are focusing on a perception. By the same token, our buddha nature is free of the four perceptions of self, being, life, and soul.”
Chiang Wei-nung says, “The ten directions are all within the sky. But actually they are all within a single thought of our mind. Using the sky as a metaphor and then dividing it into ten directions reminds us that just as the ten directions are part of the sky so are the ten realms of existence that include all beings simply part of a single thought. But the ten directions are fictions and remind us that we ourselves and all others and all things are likewise fictions.”
Textual note: Kumarajiva and Bodhiruci do not include samantad dashasu dikshu (or in any of the ten directions). After this phrase, Hsuan-tsang adds yi-ch’ieh shih-chieh (or in any world).
The Buddha said, “So it is, Subhuti. The body of
merit of those bodhisattvas who give a gift without
being attached is not easy to measure. Thus,
Subhuti, those who set forth on the bodhisattva
path should give a gift without being attached to the
perception of an object.”
Without sufficient merit, liberation is not possible. There is no such thing as spontaneous buddhahood. It is our merit that results in a good birth in a good family in a good place during a good time under the guidance of a good teacher. However, if merit can be compared to a seed and liberation to its fruit, the only seed capable of producing a fruit that has no limits is a seed that has no limits. Hence, as this sutra progresses, the Buddha expands our understanding of the merit that accrues to those who cultivate this teaching until it exceeds all possible conceptions, including those of space and time. Thus, this body of merit is not equivalent to good karma. It is selfless and hence transforms the constraints of karma into the path to buddhahood. Very few things are not subject to karma. Space is one, which is why the Buddha uses it here as a metaphor. But space is not the only thing that is not subject to karma. Nirvana, which was mentioned in the previous chapter as the realm in which all beings are liberated, is another. A third is a buddha’s true body, the body of reality, about which we will learn more in the next chapter, and with which the bodhisattva’s body of merit is inextricably linked.
Chang Wu-chin says, “The mind of charity is vast like the sky, and the merit it reaps is also like this. Thus, the sutra uses the example of the ten directions to compare the merit of charity.”
Fu Hsi says, “What the Buddha means by ‘not attached’ is that we should be as clear as the ten directions.”
T’ai-neng says, “If someone who reads or chants the Diamond Sutra understands how to focus on the mind while not focusing on anything and how to realize the teaching that is not realized, this is the fruit of wisdom. If someone accumulates merit from reading or chanting while in search of merit, this is the fruit of merit. The two are as far apart as the distant sky.”
Hui-neng says, “When ordinary people practice charity, they only think about how they look and their own happiness. But when their reward ends, they descend into the lower realms of existence. Through his great kindness, the Bhagavan teaches us to practice charity free of appearances and not to think about how we look or our own happiness but to break through our miserly hearts within and to benefit all beings without.”
Tao-yuan says, “The Buddha is afraid that when people practice non-attachment to anything they will fall into the trap of nothingness. Hence, he tells them they will reap immeasurable merit. This is not nothingness. People who read the Diamond Sutra should realize the absence of the four perceptions does not result in nothingness. For the absence of perceptions is inexpressible existence. But to reap immeasurable merit, they must practice without attachment to any reward.”
Conze says, “Merit is the indispensable condition for all further spiritual progress. Nevertheless, to aim at merit is to diminish it. And why? Because when giving, etc. is accompanied by wrong metaphysical views that assume the reality of gift, giver and reward, it produces only limited results. But if it aims at emptiness alone, then the reward becomes truly infinite. The selfless Bodhisattva’s merit, as Kamalashila says, is here compared to space, or the sky, because it is all-pervading, vast and inexhaustible.”
Thich Nhat Hanh says, “If we are washing dishes and thinking of others who are enjoying themselves doing nothing, we cannot enjoy washing the dishes. We may have a few clean dishes afterwards, but our happiness is smaller than one teaspoon. If, however, we wash the dishes with a serene mind, our happiness will be boundless. This is already liberation. The words of the sutra are very much related to our daily life.”
Tseng Feng-yi says, “Practicing the perfection of wisdom is the cause of the dharma body. Practicing the other perfections [such as charity] is the cause of the reward (sanbhoga) and apparition (nirmana) bodies. If people cultivate merit and don’t cultivate wisdom, their dharma body will not be perfect. If they cultivate wisdom and don’t cultivate merit, their reward and apparition bodies will not be perfect.”
Textual note: Paramartha and Yi-ching do not include the last sentence, while Kumarajiva has only p’u-sa tan ying ju-suo-chiao chu (bodhisattvas should only practice as I have taught), and Bodhiruci has p’u-sa tan ying ju-shih hsing yu pu-shih (bodhisattvas should only give a gift like this). In place of bodhisattva-yana sanprasthitena (those who set forth on the bodhisattva path), Hsuan-tsang has simply p’u-sa (bodhisattvas). The Stein edition would seem to support Hsuan-tsang’s text but inverts the order of sentences. Following this, the next five chapters of the Stein edition are missing, and it does not resume until halfway through Chapter Ten.
Chapter Five: “What do you think, Subhuti, can the Tathagata be seen by means of the possession of attributes?”
Subhuti replied, “No, indeed, Bhagavan, the Tathagata cannot be seen by means of the possession of attributes. And why not? Bhagavan, what the Tathagata says is the possession of attributes is no possession of attributes.”
This having been said, the Buddha told the venerable Subhuti, “Since the possession of attributes is an illusion, Subhuti, and no possession of attributes is no illusion, by means of attributes that are no attributes the Tathagata can, indeed, be seen.”
CHAPTER FIVE
IN THE PREVIOUS TWO CHAPTERS, the Buddha told Subhuti that in order to liberate others, bodhisattvas must do so without being attached to perceptions of a self, a being, or liberation and that as a result of such practice bodhisattvas produce and obtain a body of merit that has no conceivable limits. In this chapter, the Buddha tells us what he means by a body that has no limits and what our attitude toward such a body should be. For the Buddha is concerned that bodhisattvas will become attached to the immeasurable body they acquire as a result of their practice. In his Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, Ashvaghosha says “What is perceived by bodhisattvas from their first aspiration to the end of the bodhisattva path is the sanbhoga-kaya, or reward body. This body has countless forms, its forms have countless attributes, its attributes have countless excellent qualities, and the place where it appears has countless adornments. It appears without bounds, inexhaustible and indivisible. And as it responds, it is never lost or destroyed. Such merits as these all result from the influence of the spotless practice of the perfections.” (cf. Hakeda, p. 69-70; Suzuki, p.101)
This teaching is so important, that the same question is put to Subhuti in Chapter Twenty and again in Chapter
Twenty-six and yet again in Chapter Twenty-seven. And each time it is meant to further develop our understanding of the bodhisattva’s practice as well as the nature of buddhahood and a buddha’s body. This is not an idle exercise in semantics but is crucial to understanding the nature of what the Buddha acquired as a result of his own practice as a bodhisattva as well as the nature of what he teaches and the nature of our own practice and our own body. A number of commentators have therefore suggested that this chapter marks the conclusion of the central teaching of the sutra and that the remaining chapters simply develop what is stated in these first five.
Seng-chao says, “Bodhisattvas have three goals in mind: to liberate all beings, to cultivate all practices, and to realize enlightenment. Liberating others has already been explained as the way to practice. This section explains how to approach enlightenment. The bodily attributes of the Tathagata make up the body that comes with enlightenment. To recognize this dharma body is to realize enlightenment. But to think that its nature is real is to miss the mark. Thus, he points to the dharma body to explain the emptiness of enlightenment.”
Vasubandhu says, “From this point on, the rest of the sutra tries to eliminate subsequent doubts. Here, the doubt arises, if we practice charity without attachment to dharmas, how do we seek the peerless fruit of enlightenment and practice bestowing wisdom on others? To answer this doubt, the sutra asks if we can see the Tathagata by means of his perfect attributes.”
Chao-ming titles this: “The Meaning of Truth and the Appearance of Reality.”
Hui-neng says, “When everything one does is true, we call it the appearance of reality. Thus follows a chapter on the meaning of truth and the appearance of reality.”
What do you think, Subhuti,
can the Tathagata be seen by means
of the possession of attributes?”
Every object of our senses is known to us by a set of attributes. In fact, every object of our senses is nothing more than a set of attributes, which we arbitrarily combine, usually for selfish reasons, and whose own individual existence we accept unquestioned. Thus, this body of ours is known to us by the attributes our senses weave around that seed of ignorance we call a self, that grain of sand that becomes the pearl we refuse to relinquish. And we regard this body of ours not only as having an independent physical existence, but also as having an independent psychic or spiritual existence as well. Buddhas, too, have physical and spiritual bodies. And the Buddha asks Subhuti if the Tathagata can be identified by such a body or by the attributes that comprise such a body.
The Buddha’s physical body was said to include a set of thirty-two attributes that included a protuberance on top of his head, a curl between his brows, long earlobes, blue eyes, skin the color of burnished gold, arms that hung down to his knees, flat feet, a retractable penis—thirty-two attributes in all—each of which was acquired as the result of one hundred acts of merit performed over the course of three infinitely long kalpas. Thus, the Buddha’s physical body was seen as the tangible fruit of a bodhisattva’s practice. Early Buddhists assumed that this was how other buddhas looked as well. And they called such an appearance the Buddha’s nirmana-kaya, his incarnated or apparition body, in which he appeared in order to teach the beings of this world. Such a concept also allowed the Buddha’s followers to explain the apparent decay and death of his biological body. The body they cremated was an incarnation or apparition, not his true body.
In addition to his incarnated physical body, every buddha is also said to have a spiritual body that only exists in the Formless Realm beyond the realms of Desire and Form and of which only he and other buddhas are aware. This is the sanbhoga-kaya, his reward body or enraptured body. It, too, is acquired as a result of a bodhisattva’s practice and acquisition of merit. In fact, it is acquired the moment a bodhisattva sets forth on the bodhisattva path. But it is not fully realized until a bodhisattva approaches the end of that path. This is what the Buddha referred to in the previous chapter as a bodhisattva’s “body of merit.” But because both of these bodies are the result of causes and conditions, neither of them is ultimately real. Neither survives the fires of nirvana, and neither of these is what the Buddha has in mind here. The Buddha wants Subhuti to see his true body, his dharma-kaya. The Buddha knows Subhuti understands that his physical body is not real, but he wants Subhuti to understand that neither is his reward body real. For both are manifestations of a buddha’s true body, which can be perceived, but only by means of attributes that are perceived as no attributes.
In the Complete Enlightenment Sutra, the Buddha says, “Keep this thought in mind: ‘This body of mine is a combination of the four elements. Its hair, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, muscles, bones, and marrow belong to earth. Its saliva, tears, pus, blood, snot, froth, phlegm, semen, urine, and feces belong to water. Its warmth belongs to fire. And its movement and stillness belong to wind. Take away each of the four elements, and this body turns out to be an illusion. Where is it now?’”
Hui-neng says, “The physical body has form. The dharma body has no form. The physical body is made up of the four elements and is given birth by our parents. It is perceived by our physical eye. The dharma body has no form or appearance. It has no characteristics. It cannot be seen by the physical eye. Only the eye of wisdom can see it. Ordinary people only see the physical body of the Tathagata. They do not see the Tathagata’s dharma body. The dharma body is like the sky.”
Hsu-fa says, “The Buddha’s incarnated body is like an image that appears and disappears in a mirror. His real body is like the mirror’s basic ability to reflect. The Buddha doesn’t talk about emptiness here, only the absence of attributes in order to break through appearances. Thus, by practicing charity free of appearances we realize the fruit of practice that has no seed. Who practices charity free of appearances plants a great seed. And who sees the Buddha free of appearances harvests a great fruit.”
Tzu-hsuan says, “The Buddha asks about the fruit in order to make us realize that since the fruit has no form, naturally we should not be attached to the seed.”
Chiang Wei-nung says, “The old explanation of ‘attributes’ was that this referred to the Buddha’s incarnated body of thirty-two attributes. But the Buddha talks about his body of thirty-two attributes in a later chapter. Every word of the Diamond Sutra is laden with meaning. There are no wasted words or repetition. The ‘attributes’ here refer to the original body of all beings. And the word ‘tathagata’ refers to the original dharma body of all beings. The Buddha wants us to recognize the impermanent owner of this impermanent body. Only then can we not be affected by appearances.”
T’ung-li says, “If the Tathagata could be seen by means of bodily attributes, his disciples would have become attached to form.”
Textual note: In place of lakshana-sanpad (possession of attributes), Kumarajiva has shen-hsiang (bodily appearances). Bodhiruci renders sanpad as ch’eng-chiu (fulfillment), Paramartha has sheng-te (excellence), while all other Chinese translators have chu-tsu (perfection). Conze notes that sanpad was often used to describe such attainments of practice as wisdom and nirvana. Monier-Williams gives “multiplicity of characteristics.”
Subhuti replied, “No, indeed, Bhagavan, the
Tathagata cannot be seen by means of the
possession of attributes. And why not?
Bhagavan, what the Tathagata says is the possession
of attributes is no possession of attributes.”
Having resolved to liberate all beings, bodhisattvas see beyond the arbitrary distinctions we make, including the distinctions we make concerning bodies, even a buddha’s body. Subhuti was present at other assemblies when the Buddha taught the doctrine of emptiness, in which all entities are seen as dependent in time or space on other entities and thus empty of any nature of their own and hence not in themselves or of themselves real. Although Subhuti’s answer reveals his understanding of the logical technique used to express this doctrine, he has not yet penetrated the emptines
s of emptiness. On this occasion, however, the Buddha wants Subhuti to look beyond his physical and spiritual bodies to his real body, which is free of all attributes, including the attribute of emptiness.
Hui-neng says, “Ordinary people only see the physical body. They do not see the dharma body. Thus, they cannot practice charity without focusing on appearances; they cannot practice equanimity in all places; and they cannot respect all beings. Those who see the dharma body can practice charity without focusing on appearances; they can respect all beings; and they can cultivate the perfection of wisdom. They alone believe all beings share the same true nature that is basically pure and free of defilement and that possesses infinite wonders.”
The shorter version of the Heart Sutra begins: “When Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva penetrated the prajna-paramita, she saw that the five skandhas [form, sensation, perception, volition, and cognition—the constituents of what passes for the individual] are empty, and she freed herself of all sufferings and obstructions. Shariputra, form is no other than emptiness, and emptiness is no other than form. Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. Sensation, perception, volition, and cognition are also like this.”
