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The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra
RECEIVING AND HOLDING “THUS” DHARMA
CHAPTER 13
Sutra:
Then Subhuti said to the Buddha, “World Honored One, what should the sutra be named? How should we respect and hold it?”
The Buddha told Subhuti, “The name of the sutra is Vajra Prajna Paramita. You should respect and hold it by that name. And why? Subhuti, Prajna Paramita is spoken of by the Buddha as no Prajna Paramita, therefore it is called Prajna Paramita.
“Subhuti, what do you think? Is there any dharma spoken by the Tathagata?”
Subhuti said to the Buddha, “World Honored One, nothing has been spoken by the Tathagata.”
“Subhuti, what do you think? Are all the motes of dust in three thousand great thousand world systems many?”
Subhuti said, “Very many, World Honored One.”
“Subhuti, all motes of dust are spoken of by the Tathagata as no motes of dust, therefore they are called motes of dust. The world systems are spoken of by the Tathagata as no world systems, therefore they are called world systems.”
Commentary:
After the Buddha said, “In any place the sutra is found, there is a Buddha or a reverent disciple.” Subhuti asked the Buddha what the name of the sutra should be. “How should all the Arhats, the Sound-Hearers, and Those Enlightened to Conditions, as well as living beings of the future pay homage to the sutra?”
The Buddha said, “Its name is Vajra Prajna Paramita.”
Vajra has three meanings: durable, luminous, and able to cut. Vajra is so durable it cannot be destroyed by anything, but can itself destroy everything.
“If vajra breaks up everything, then I won’t have anything, and of what use will that be?” you may ask.
The reason you don’t realize Buddhahood is just because you “have everything.” If you didn’t have anything, you could realize Buddhahood. “Everything” refers to your attachments – all those things you cannot put down.
What is the source of everything?
Things come from recognizing the existence of marks. Whatever has marks has form and appearance and will change and become extinct. That which has no mark is without form and appearance and will neither change nor become extinct. No one can destroy that which has no mark. No mark is no thought, and no thought is the basic substance of the myriad phenomena. If you can reach the realization of no thought, you have returned to the source.
Durable vajra breaks through thought, but not through no thought. The vajra of no thought is durable enough to smash all existing marks – all conditioned marks subject to outflows. No thought can destroy the spiritual penetrations of heavenly demons and those of external ways, because their spiritual penetrations have marks. If they had reached the state of no thought themselves, then they would not be heavenly demons and those of external ways. But because they have thought, they exist in form, create karma with outflows, and plant causes with outflows. The durability of vajra can break through all such outflowing karma and causes.
Vajra is luminous. Its light can break up all darkness. Vajra is able to cut. A sharp knife can sever something with a single slice, while a dull knife saws and saws and still cannot cut through. Vajra functions like a keen blade as it slashes through deviations to reveal the orthodox. Vajra severs all the deviant knowledge and views of heavenly demons and those of external ways, chops through people’s afflictions, and slices through ignorance.
Vajra is an analogy. Prajna paramita is a phenomenon. Thus the title of the sutra is established by reference to a phenomenon and an analogy.
There are Three Kinds of Prajna: literary prajna; contemplative prajna; and real mark prajna. Literary prajna refers to the sutra. With literary prajna you can give rise to contemplative prajna, which in turn enables one to penetrate through to real mark prajna. Real mark is no mark, but is not without marks. It is no mark and not without marks.
Although essentially there is but one kind of prajna, it may be divided into the three aspects: literary, contemplative, and real mark. Prajna is a denotation for a basic substance which is itself empty, which is itself false, and which is itself the Middle Way. Without attachment to it, it is empty. Without attachment to emptiness, it is false. Abiding in the emptiness and falseness without attachment is the Middle Way.
The term prajna is not translated because it includes many meanings.
Paramita means to arrive at the other shore. Arriving at the other shore means completing whatever task you are doing. For example, when a common person cultivates to attainment of the Buddha position, he is said to have arrived at the other shore. The other shore is opposite this shore. If this shore did not exist, the other shore would not exist either. This shore refers to birth and death, and the other shore refers to nirvana. Completing the crossing from this shore of birth and death over the sea of afflictions to the other shore of nirvana is called paramita.
“You, Subhuti, Empty Born, you should use the name Vajra Prajna Paramita and pay the highest respect to this sutra, as if you were constantly holding it atop your head.” Protecting and respecting Buddhist sutras is the same as respecting the Buddha himself. Why? A previous passage of the sutra text said, “In any place where the sutra is found, it is as if there were a Buddha there.” Any place this sutra is found, there can be found the Buddha’s dharma body, the Buddhadharma and the Sangha. For that reason you should venerate it.
“Subhuti, prajna paramita is spoken of by the Buddha.” In order to comply with the needs of beings, the Buddha spoke of the existence of prajna paramita. But those who saw no further than common truth developed an attachment for “prajna paramita,” which was basically false.
“As no prajna paramita.” From the point of view of actual truth the name does not exist. Since truth is apart from spoken language and written words, how can there be prajna paramita? It is emptiness. In actual truth “the path of words and language is cut off. The place of the heart’s working is extinguished.” When language and words are cut off, what “prajna paramita” could there be? None. The place where your heart thinks is gone, and no words or language are established.
“Therefore it is called prajna paramita.” If spoken from the point of view of the Middle Way it is a false name called prajna paramita, and nothing more. So do not be attached. Do not be attached to emptiness and do not be attached to existence. Do not become attached to people and do not attach to phenomena. If you say there certainly is prajna paramita, that is an attachment; so the Buddha added that it is no prajna paramita, which is the actual truth.
“Empty Born,” said the Buddha, “what is your opinion of the doctrine I have explained? Perhaps you have misunderstood what I
just said about prajna paramita. Let us clarify the concept. Is there any dharma spoken by the Tathagata?”
Subhuti replied, “Nothing has been spoken by the Tathagata.” What do you say about that?! The Buddha spoke dharma and at the same time asked Subhuti if he had spoken any dharma. How should he be answered? Subhuti told him that he had not spoken dharma. Subhuti probably took one look and understood the principle of emptiness. He was called Empty Born because he was foremost in understanding emptiness, so he understood that with true, real prajna. It is not the case that anything is spoken. So he said, “There is nothing spoken. The Tathagata has not spoken anything.”
Most people are unable to comprehend this passage of text. Clearly the Buddha spoke dharma, and yet he asked if he had spoken dharma. Subhuti, moreover, replied that he had not spoken dharma. What is the meaning of that?
Shakyamuni Buddha and Subhuti were discoursing on true, real prajna. Since true, real prajna does not reside in a framework of language, what can be spoken? The emptiness of the dharma is beyond words and speech. The Buddha spoke dharma for forty-nine years and when the time of his nirvana arrived, he said that he had not spoken one word. He said, “If anyone says the Tathagata has spoken dharma, he slanders the Buddha because he has been unable to understand what I have said.”
“Since the Buddha did not speak dharma, why are there so many sutras spoken by the Buddha?” one may rightly ask. The answer to that lies in the method of using conditioned phenomena for people bound to conditions and speaking unconditioned dharma for people who dwell in the unconditioned.
The Vajra Sutra says, “Even the dharma should be relinquished, how much the more so what is not dharma.” The Buddha said he had not spoken dharma because he was concerned that people would become attached to the mark of dharma. Being attached to dharma is the same as being attached to self. People’s attachment to emptiness must also be broken. When the dharma door of prajna is spoken, even emptiness must not become an attachment.
“Subhuti, what do you think? Are all motes of dust in three thousand great thousand worlds many?” Motes of dust refers to invisible particles of dust which verge on emptiness. If a visible mote of dust is divided into seven parts, one of those sevenths is called a “particle of dust verging on emptiness.” It is the same as empty space. For instance, in empty space there are many dust motes too small to be seen by the naked eye. They are examples of particles of dust verging on emptiness. So the Buddha asked if the minute particles as well as ordinary visible motes of dust in a three thousand great thousand world were many.
Subhuti replied, “Very many.” The dust is spoken of by the Tathagata as no dust. From the point of view of the real mark, the Middle Way, they are said to be motes of dust. From the point of view of actual truth, they are not motes of dust. They do not exist. From the point of view of common truth, they are considered to be motes of dust. In actual fact, “motes of dust” is just a name.
The world systems are spoken of by the Tathagata as no world systems. Particles of dust verging on emptiness make up the world. A mote of dust is the smallest form of dependent retribution. A world is the largest form of dependent retribution. The largest dependent retribution comes about from a collection of the very smallest forms of dependent retribution. The world exists because great quantities of dust motes collect together. If the motes of dust were separated the world would disappear. So the world systems are spoken of by the Tathagata as no world systems, therefore they are called world systems. The doctrine above does not go beyond the empty, false, and Middle.
Recognizing the emptiness of all phenomena is actual truth. Recognizing the falseness of all phenomena is common truth. Recognizing that all phenomena are neither empty nor false is the truth of the Middle Way. Furthermore, throughout the present discourse on prajna, nothing has been spoken. It is just as when Subhuti eloquently spoke prajna and the Brahma Heaven King listened well to prajna, until finally Subhuti asked him, “What have I said?”
To which the Brahma god replied, “The Venerable One has not spoken.”
“Well, what have you heard?” pursued Subhuti.
“I also did not hear a thing,” came the reply.
“That is true prajna,” confirmed Subhuti.
When nothing is spoken and nothing is heard, that is called true prajna. So the prajna paramita spoken by the Buddha is not prajna paramita, but is merely called prajna paramita. It is a false name and nothing more.
Sutra:
“Subhuti, what do you think, can the Tathagata be seen by means of the thirty-two marks?”
“No, World Honored One, one cannot see the Tathagata by means of the thirty-two marks. And why? The thirty-two marks are spoken of by the Tathagata as no thirty-two marks, therefore they are called thirty-two marks.”
“Subhuti, a good man, or good woman, might give up his life as many times as there are grains of sand in the Ganges River; but if a person were to receive and hold even so few as four lines of verse of the sutra and explain them for others, his blessings would be greater.”
Commentary:
The Buddha asked, “When you see the thirty-two marks do you see the Tathagata’s dharma body?” Subhuti replied that one cannot see the Tathagata’s dharma body by means of the thirty-two marks.
The thirty-two marks are spoken of by the Tathagata as no thirty-two marks, therefore they are called thirty-two marks. The thirty-two marks of which Shakyamuni Buddha spoke are the marks of the response body, not the marks of the dharma body. The response body is the transformation body. The thirty-two marks of the transformation body are impermanent and so they eventually change and become extinct. The Buddha’s dharma body is “neither produced nor destroyed, neither defiled nor pure, neither increased nor decreased.” Therefore Subhuti said, “The thirty-two marks spoken of by the Tathagata are no thirty-two marks – they are not the true actual marks of the Buddha. Only from the point of view of false naming are there thirty-two marks.”
Shakyamuni Buddha then spoke of a man, or woman, who cultivates the five precepts and the ten good acts, who gives his body and life as many times as there are grains of sand in the Ganges River. When Shakyamuni Buddha was cultivating the Way he gave up his body to a tiger and cut off his flesh for an eagle. Once when cultivating in the mountains in a former life, Shakyamuni Buddha saw a mother tiger and her cub in the snow. Because of heavy snows, the other animals had hidden away, and the tiger could find no prey to supply herself with food and drink. Both she and her cub were about to die of starvation. The cultivator realized that if the one starved two would die, and he made a vow to give his body to the tiger to eat. Think of that. A tiger is a vicious beast. Who would want to sacrifice his own body to such an animal? However, Shakyamuni Buddha lay down before the tiger and allowed himself to be eaten.
Another time when Shakyamuni Buddha was cultivating the Way on the causal ground, one day a little bird ran into his hut terrorized by a huge eagle which was pursuing it. “Save me! Save me!” cried the little bird, “That eagle wants to eat me!”
“How can I save you?” asked Shakyamuni Buddha.
“If you save him I will starve to death,” shrieked the eagle. “If you save one life and kill another that is no compassion.”
When Shakyamuni Buddha heard the eagle’s plea, he cut off a piece of his own flesh and gave it to the great bird to eat. The eagle downed it in no time and came back for more. He ate yet another piece and still was not full. He continued to come back for more until finally the Buddha said, “All right, you may have my entire body.” The bird then picked his bones clean.
Formerly Shakyamuni Buddha went to extremes of giving in his search for the Buddha Way. But in the present time, if people give even a little money, their hearts ache, their livers hurt, and their whole body is wrecked with pain.
“I gave two hundred dollars and could not sleep for three nights straight,” they moan. “It took me a whole week to earn that much and it will be another week before I see another two hundred.” They keep very accurate books.
“Can we keep sloppy books, then?” you may ask.
No. You should not keep sloppy books either. Shakyamuni Buddha did not keep track of such deeds when he was on the causal ground, and as a result he realized Buddhahood. The very reason you have not realized Buddhahood is that you are interested in keeping your books too clearly.
When Shakyamuni Buddha was on the causal ground he gave up a thousand bodies to rescue and take living beings across. To speak more explicitly, every mote of dust in the three thousand great thousand worlds is a place where all Buddhas of the ten directions have given up their bodies and lives. You should resolve your mind on the Great Vehicle. If you do not give up your body and life, at least get rid of all the things outside the body – all your wealth and household. Quickly be done with them! That is also considered giving up one’s body and life.
The blessings and virtues of a person who accepts, maintains, and speaks for others even as few as four lines of verse from the sutra are greater than the blessings of someone who gives up his body and life as many times as there are grains of sand in the River Ganges. After you have heard the Vajra Sutra you should quickly lecture it yourself, and obtain more blessings and virtue. The merit and virtue from such giving is greater than that from giving any amount of money.
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