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The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra
THE ORTHODOX DOCTRINE OF THE GREAT VEHICLE
CHAPTER 3
Sutra:
The Buddha told Subhuti, “All Bodhisattvas, Mahasattvas, should thus subdue their minds with the vow, ‘I must cause all living beings – those born from eggs, born from wombs, born from moisture, born by transformation; those with form, those without form, those with thought, those without thought, those not totally with thought, and those not totally without thought – to enter nirvana without residue and be taken across to extinction.’ Yet of the immeasurable, boundless numbers of living beings thus taken across to extinction, there is actually no living being taken across to extinction. And why? Subhuti, if a Bodhisattva has a mark of self, a mark of others, a mark of living beings, or a mark of a life, he is not a Bodhisattva.
Commentary:
The Buddha told Subhuti how all Bodhisattvas should subdue their minds. All can mean “many,” the entire host of Bodhisattvas, or it can refer to each individual Bodhisattva; or it can refer to just one specific Bodhisattva. Many is just one, one is likewise many. Two comes into being based upon the existence of one. Adding one, two, three…eight, nine, ten and so forth, there arises the many. Thus All is said to mean one.
“Which one?”
The Bodhisattva who subdues his mind. And if you really want to know who that Bodhisattva is, you are that Bodhisattva. Although that may sound unprincipled, actually there is no principle which can be expressed. If you truly wish to know who the Bodhisattva is, you yourself must become that Bodhisattva. If you, as a common person, believe that you can become a Buddha, how much the more easily can you become a Bodhisattva!
The Sanskrit word Mahasattva means “great being,” and refers to great Bodhisattvas.
“How large is a great Bodhisattva?”
How can you ask about the size of a great Bodhisattva? He is just as great as a great Bodhisattva. The Seven Meanings of Mahasattva will give an idea of his grandeur:
1. He has perfected great roots.
For limitless kalpas the Bodhisattva has made offerings before the Buddha to the Triple Jewel, bowing and revering the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and performing many meritorious and virtuous deeds. From these acts great roots develop. In a later passage the Vajra Sutra says:
You should know that such people have not planted
good roots with just one Buddha, two Buddhas, three, four,
or five Buddhas, but have planted good roots with
measureless millions of Buddhas.
2. He has great wisdom.
His great wisdom is evident in his resolve to realize Bodhi. Without wisdom such a decision cannot be made. Good roots and the wisdom acquired from cultivation in past lives enable people to read the sutras and participate in dhyana sessions. A person lacking good roots would, from the moment he entered the monastery door, find his heart jumping as though it were inhabited by a monkey, and pounding so hard that standing would be uncomfortable and sitting unbearable. He would resemble a god manifesting the Five Marks of Decay, squirming and fidgeting in his seat and finally running away.
On the other hand, even though I threaten to beat my disciples, and scold them daily, they do not run away. Why don’t they run away? Because they have good roots. Don’t think that a blow from the incense board is easy to endure. It’s no joke. All of you who have not yet become enlightened are candidates for beating. By now I should have beaten you all into running. My intention is to bring you all to enlightenment.
Not only must one have great wisdom and the resolve to realize Bodhi, but one must also extensively rescue living beings. Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva’s Universal Door exemplifies such resolve. However, in taking living beings across, one should not become attached to the mark of taking them across like the Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty. When he met the First Patriarch, Bodhidharma, he said, “Look at me. I have helped so many monks leave the home life. I have built so many temples, constructed so many bridges – how much merit would you say I have accrued?” He displayed arrogant attachment to marks, and kept stressing the point. “Look at how great my merit is. Although you are a Dharma Master from India, I doubt that you have as much merit as I.” The Emperor expected Patriarch Bodhidharma to praise his merit as vast and boundless. But “the straight mind is the field of enlightenment,” and Bodhidharma simply said, “You haven’t any merit.”
Emperor Wu heard those words as if he had been struck by a blow and replied, “Why you black-faced monk, how can you say such a thing to me?” He thereupon refused to acknowledge the Patriarch, and since the Emperor would no longer receive his teaching, Bodhidharma took his leave.
The Emperor actually had been taking living beings across, but he was attached to the mark of taking them across, and sought certiThe fication from the patriarch. Who would have guessed that Bodhidharma would look him straight in the eye as if to say, “I don’t care if you are the Emperor, I refuse to submit to your Imperial decorum.” The Emperor lacked genuine wisdom, and thus became attached to marks.
3. He believes the great dharma.
The Buddhadharma is deeper than the great sea, higher than Mount Sumeru. It is difficult to fathom and difficult to penetrate, but with faith one can taste its flavor. Entry into the ocean of Buddhadharma is impossible for the person who lacks faith. Just as one might gaze at the ocean and heave a great sigh, saying, “It’s so big I could not drink it dry in my entire life,” so too might one react when confronted with the precious store of Buddhadharma, saying, “How can I ever study all the sutras?” However, if one has faith, if one truly believes, then from the shallow one can enter the deep; from the near one can reach the far; from a little one can gain a lot. With constant investigation, little by little one penetrates the precious store of Buddhadharma. Deep faith, firm vows, and actual practice are the ingredients. No matter how wonderful the great dharma is, without firm faith the wonderful cannot be obtained.
Great dharma refers to prajna wisdom. One simply need believe in his own originally existent wisdom. A passage of the Vajra Sutra says: “Whoever produces a single thought of pure faith is completely known and completely seen by the Tathagata.” The Buddha knows if you bring forth a single thought of pure faith. Receiving the telegram he sends the reply:
“Relentlessly Cultivate Morality Concentration Wisdom Stop Put Greed Anger Stupidity To Rest Stop”
The person who receives the reply should respond immediately by relentlessly cultivating morality, concentration and wisdom and putting greed, anger, and stupidity to rest. However, the dharma is so subtle and wonderful that the person who receives the telegram from the Buddha may not even realize it.
4. He understands the great principle.
This is the understanding that one is, oneself, originally a Buddha. The principle is Buddha; Buddha is the principle. The Buddha is one who has already realized Buddhahood. The Mahasattva understands that he himself has not yet realized Buddhahood, but that basically the Buddha and he are one, not two and not different. The Buddha’s cultivation of virtue is perfected, that of living beings is not. Living beings are not-yet-realized Buddhas; Buddhas are already-realized living beings. One should not become confused about this and profess to be a Buddha, saying, “I am Buddha and the Buddha is me.” The Buddha is a living being who has realized Buddhahood; living beings are not-yet-realized Buddhas.
“How is it that we are originally Buddhas?”
Real mark prajna is not separate from the minds of living beings. The Buddha is the mind of living beings. Our true mind is the Buddha. As present, however, we have not excavated and uncovered our own true nature, and we use a false thinking mind to manage our affairs. By analogy, the false thinking mind is like a blind man, and the true mind like a man who can see.
“Why do we conduct ourselves solely on the basis of false thoughts? Have we lost our true mind?”
No, the true mind has not been lost. The Shurangama Sutra explains that we use false thinking because “one unenlightened thought produces the three fine marks.” These three – the mark of karma, the mark of turning, and the mark of manifestation – occlude the true nature so that the Tathagata’s precious store cannot appear. When we truly believe we are the Buddha and have actually perfected the Buddha’s marks of wisdom and virtue, we will understand the great principle.
5. He cultivated the great conduct.
In cultivation one should not have a little success and feel satisfied, mistaking the transformation city for the ultimate truth. People of the two vehicles obtain some small advantage and are content. Their satisfaction with certification to the first, second, third, or fourth fruits of Arhatship prevents them from turning from the small to the great.
Some come half-way and think they have reached the goal. There is the case of the ignorant bhiksu who obtained the state of the fourth dhyana and thought he had certified to the fourth fruit of Arhatship, saying, “I’ve already arrived at my goal.” He was actually only half-way there.
Common men go half-way and then turn back. Without even reaching the fourth dhyana heavens they begin to retreat, “It is too far, too hard, for the likes of us,” they say.
Some are waylaid in a transformation city, like the one described in the Wonderful Dharma Lotus Blossom Sutra. Why was such a city conjured up? Followers of the two vehicles cultivated a day or so seeking the Bodhisattva Way without attaining it. Then they cultivated another day, and still did not become Bodhisattvas. The following day, although they reached the Bodhisattva Way, they did not reach its end, and they decided the process was just too long. These “days” represent years, decades, aeons of time. The longer the cultivators sought to obtain their goal, the more bitter their suffering became. The more weary they grew, the less they were able to proceed. “I cannot go on. It is too far. I didn’t know it was such a long way. I am really tired,” they cried.
Seeing their plight, the Buddha conjured up a transformation city and called to them, “Look! There’s a city ahead where we can rest a few days. Our goal is but a short distance beyond the city.” When they entered the city, the people of the two vehicles became infatuated with the abundance of gold, silver and precious gems and decided to settle there. “This place is a real treasure house,” they thought.
In cultivation one must be patient with suffering and fatigue. Practicing the great conduct, one must be patient, yielding, and generous. One must practice the six perfections, the first of which is giving for the benefit of others and not seeking only to help oneself.
“I have seen members of the sangha begging,” someone says. “Their cultivation of the Way is solely involved with asking for money, not with giving it.”
Ah, but when bhiksus give money they do not advertise it. I have known Dharma Masters who were so truly committed to helping people that, if asked, they would offer their flesh to eat and blood to drink. For the sake of others they would willingly offer their own flesh and bones to heaven and earth. It is just that you have not known a person who has truly resolved his mind on Bodhi and who cultivates great conduct. Or perhaps you have, but didn’t recognize him, for such a one cannot say to you, “I am one who cultivates great conduct.” Since he cannot tell you, you have no way to know that he is one who can endure wind, rain, cold, heat, hunger, and thirst, bearing what people cannot bear, yielding what people cannot yield, eating what people cannot eat, and enduring what people cannot endure.
On the other hand, those who imitate the style of a seasoned cultivator in order to impress people are useless. “Look at me. I can eat what others cannot eat.” That is false giving. Playing the great martyr and relinquishing house and home, family and wealth, for the sake of appearances is false giving. No matter how good the property or how fine the wife, if one’s self-sacrifice is done as a public display, the giving is not true. If it is not done for the sake of appearances, then giving is cultivating the great conduct.
6. He passes through great kalpas.
The cultivation of a Bodhisattva involves planting good roots, but not before one Buddha only. One who fully cultivates passes through three great asamkhyeya kalpas.
7. He seeks the great fruit.
The Bodhisattva Way is cultivated by those who seek the great fruit. Foreign lands are not sought after, because Bodhisattvas are
not small landlords who set about conquering other countries in order to build an empire. Only anuttarasamyaksambodhi, the highest fruit of cultivation, is the goal of great beings.
A Mahasattva, one whose conduct encompasses those seven aspects, should Thus subdue his thoughts.
“How?”
In no particular manner, but rather, Thus. Thus is a direct statement. It is the principle substance of real mark, and so it is said to have no particular manner of execution. The absence of distinction is referred to as Thus rather than described in superficial terms.
One should subdue his thoughts by thinking, “I must cause all living beings to enter nirvana without residue and be taken across to extinction. “All living beings” may be divided into twelve categories. Of the twelve, which are discussed in detail in the Shurangama Sutra, ten are listed in this sutra text. Those not listed include “those not totally with form” and “those not totally without form.” Those not totally with form include living beings which basically have form, but which maintain it only through parasitic relationships with other living beings, such as transparent jellyfish who have no eyes and use shrimp to act as their seeing faculty. Those not totally without form include living beings which basically are formless but which voluntarily appear when called upon through mantras, such as mantra spirits and ghosts.
The first four of the twelve categories are:
1. born from eggs due to thought,
2. born from wombs due to emotion,
3. born from moisture due to a process of union, and
4. born by transformation due to a process of separation.
In the process which involves thought, emotion, union, and separation, doubt is created. With the arisal of doubt, karma is made; with the existence of karma, one undergoes retribution, each according to his kind. Each and every birth depends upon causal conditions which determine the retribution to be received.
Beings are born from eggs due to thought. An example by way of analogy is the setting hen which broods over her eggs from morning to night thinking, “My little chicks should come out soon. Come out, come out, little chicks.” She thinks for a long time until finally she thinks them out of their shells. The eggs break into chickens, brought forth from thought.
Beings are born from wombs due to emotion. The womb exists because of the love and emotion which occur between male and female. The intercourse of this love and emotion results, under the requisite conditions, in pregnancy in the womb.
Beings are born from moisture due to union. The union of karma with warmth produces, under the right conditions, moistureborn creatures, bacteria, viruses, and the like.
Beings are born by transformation due to separation. When a karmic formation separates from something old and becomes something new there is birth by transformation, as for example the metamorphosis of a moth.
Beings with form refers to beings such as auspicious and inauspicious essences which result from astrological phenomena. Such beings take form, but the form is not permanent.
Beings without form refers to beings in the Four Formless Heavens, the Heaven of Boundless Emptiness, the Heaven of Boundless Consciousness, the Heaven of Nothing Whatsoever, and the Heaven of Neither Thought nor No Thought.
Beings with thought refers to ghosts, spirits, and essences, either good manifestations like Bodhisattvas, or evil ones like weird freaks.
Beings without thought refers to those which have turned into earth, trees, metal, or rocks. An example by way of analogy is a mountain in Hong Kong called, “Gazing After Her Husband,” so named because in the past there was a woman who climbed the mountain daily with her child in order to stare out to the sea in search of her husband who had gone off to war and never returned. Because she sustained that solitary thought for a long time the woman eventually turned into stone. High on the mountain can still be seen the stone figure of the woman bearing her child as she stands gazing out to sea.
Beings who are not totally with thought refers to living beings which are involuntarily born into the form of another creature due to that creature’s thought powers, such as the larvae of the mulberry moth whose body is transformed into that of a wasp through the thought power of a “lone wasp.” The wasp readies its nest and places within it some mulberry larva. It then proceeds for seven days to recite a mantra over the insects. The mantra is simply “Be like me! Be like me!” After seven days the mulberry larva becomes a wasp.
Beings who are not totally without thought refers to those whose bodies are originally thoughtless matter, but who come into existence within that matter due to the longing of the parent. Consequently those beings become possessed by extremely bizarre thoughts.
I must cause them all to enter nirvana without residue and be taken across to extinction. The “I” here is the false “I” of the Bodhisattva used expediently to communicate with living beings who still possess a view of self.
All of the ten classes of living beings in the three realms are led to enter nirvana without residue. “Nirvana” is a Sanskrit word which translates as “perfect stillness.” “Taken across to extinction” means having put the two obstacles, the obstacle of afflictions, and the obstacle of what is known, to an end. It also means that the beings have transcended the two deaths: share-section birth and death, and change birth and death.
There are Four Kinds of Nirvana:
1. Nirvana of the pure, clear self-nature. The self-nature is
inherent in everyone. It is not subject to birth and death and is not
larger in sages or smaller in ordinary people.
2. Nirvana with residue. By using the flame of wisdom on the
fuel of afflictions, the secondary bonds of delusion are severed; but
the basic bond of the body remains. The body which remains is
subject to share-section birth and death; that is said to be nirvana
“with residue.”
3. Nirvana without residue. When afflictions and the residue of
share-section birth and death are extinguished, the multitude of
sufferings is eternally stilled. There is no further residue.
4. Nirvana of no dwelling. Here wisdom and compassion are
mutually interactive. Those who have attained the nirvana of no
dwelling continue to cross living beings over but are themselves not
subject to birth and death.
Although Bodhisattvas take numberless beings to extinction, there are actually no living beings taken across. That is the manifestation of the perfect substance and the great function of prajna. The substance of real mark prajna is without the slightest inequality. As is said later in the sutra, “This dharma is level and equal with no high or low.” The function of contemplative prajna originally is without a mark; as the text later says, “Those who have relinquished all marks are called Buddhas.”
If a Bodhisattva crosses living beings over and yet attaches to a self who takes them across, the four marks are not yet empty, and the false mind is not yet subdued. Such a person turns his back on prajna and becomes involved in the four marks that unite to form a self. The mark of self is the root of all marks. If one can turn the illusion of self around, then he can take living beings across to nirvana. He can separate himself from the four marks, subdue his mind, and thereby become a true Bodhisattva.
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