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The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra
THE RESPONSE AND TRANSFORMATION BODIES ARE UNREAL
CHAPTER 32
Sutra:
“Subhuti, someone might fill measureless asamkhyeyas of world systems with the seven precious gems and give them as a gift. But if a good man, or good woman, who has resolved his mind on Bodhi were to take from this sutra even as few as four lines of verse and receive, hold, read, recite, and extensively explain them for others, his blessings would surpass the other’s.”
Commentary:
Realizing that some people are willing to give as a gift as many of the seven precious gems as would fill measureless asamkhyeyas of worlds, you should ask yourself, “Can I give away all my wealth?” If you cannot, your merit and virtue are not as great as that of the person mentioned here. However if you cannot give up your wealth, it does not matter. Keep it and come to study the Buddhadharma. Then you can give away dharma.
Perhaps in studying the Buddhadharma one learns to recite the Vajra Sutra; or as little as a four-line gatha from it. One accepts it with one’s mind, maintains it with one’s body, reads it from a book, recites it from memory, and extensively explains it to others. If you can do that, your blessings and virtues are greater than those of someone who gives away gems which would fill limitless, numberless worlds. Isn’t that easy? That is why I say you can obtain great merit and virtue without necessarily giving up your wealth.
Sutra:
How should it be explained to others? With no grasping at marks: thus, thus, unmoving. And why?
All conditioned phenomena
Are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows,
Like dew drops and a lightning flash:
Contemplate them thus.
Commentary:
Extensively explain them for others refers to literary prajna. With no grasping at marks refers to contemplative prajna. Thus, thus, unmoving refers to real mark prajna. Prajna was discussed at the beginning of the sutra, and at the end the text again makes reference to prajna.
When you explain a sutra for others, you should not become attached to marks. You should not think, “I am gaining a lot of merit and virtue by explaining this four-line gatha for them.” Although you are correct that your merit and virtue are great, you should not harbor a mark of their size. If you do, you grasp at marks and become attached to them. If you are able to refrain from grasping at marks, then the existent is as if non-existent, and the actual is as if empty. Basically someone with Way virtue is as if devoid of Way virtue. A man who is truly educated is as if devoid of education. That means that at all times in all places you should be free of the mark of a self.
Thus, thus, unmoving is real mark prajna. It is true, actual wisdom. By means of the principle of suchness one can understand the wisdom of suchness, and with the wisdom of suchness, one can understand the principle of suchness. There is no dharma which is not thus: that is real mark prajna.
And why? Why does one need literary, contemplative, and real mark prajna? Shakyamuni Buddha spoke four lines of verse which those who study the Vajra Sutra should regularly recite:
All conditioned phenomena
Are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows,
Like dew drops and a lightning flash:
Contemplate them thus.
Everything is conditioned phenomena. Eating, wearing clothes, walking, standing, sitting, lying down, running a business – all activities are conditioned phenomena. Those are examples of external conditioned phenomena. There are also the Five Skandhas, form, feeling, thought, activities, and consciousness, which are conditioned phenomena. The four principal elements, earth, water, fire and wind are conditioned phenomena. The six roots, the six dusts, the twelve places, and the eighteen realms are all conditioned phenomena. All those phenomena, whether external or internal, are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows.
What is a dream? No one knows. If we knew then we would not dream. People are in a perpetual dream. When you fall asleep and dream, you are unaware of the things which exist in your ordinary waking state, and when you awaken from the dream, you usually cannot remember the events of the dream. In the same way, we are unable to remember the events of our former lives, because they have disappeared in this present life’s dream.
Someone may have a dream in which he becomes wealthy, is appointed an official, and is on the verge of becoming president, when suddenly someone else says to him, “Sir, you are actually having a dream.” But in the midst of his dream of riches and position, the person cannot believe what he is told.
“Everything that is happening to me is real,” he says, “I am wealthy, I am an official, I am a candidate for president. How can you say that I am dreaming?” However, when he awakens from his dream, he will know without being told that all those events happened in a dream.
So too we people are as if in a dream. Now I will tell you: this is a dream. Although I have told you, surely you will reply, “What do you mean, a dream? This is all real. These things are actually happening. How can you say it is a dream? You cheat people.”
When your cultivation is accomplished, you will awaken from this dream and know without being told that everything you did in the past was a dream. The reason you do not believe me when I tell you that you are dreaming is that you still have not awakened from your dream. When you awaken you will agree, “Yes, it was all a dream.”
Illusions are unreal, like a magician’s tricks. The magician recites a mantra and a lotus flower suddenly appears in the water, or in the midst of fire. Or he may cause a piece of jade suddenly to appear as if from nowhere. A magician appears to have spiritual penetrations and wonderful functioning, but what he does is unreal. Although it seems real, if you investigate, it is seen to be illusory, non-existent. Such acts as the lotus in the fire can fool children or fools into believing the lotus is real. But an adult can take one look and know that it is a trick.
When you understand the Buddhadharma you know that everything is empty and illusory. The world is empty and illusory, realized from a conflux of conditions which only seem to be real. When you do not understand the Buddhadharma, you are like the child or the fool who considers everything to be real. This is not to belittle people! It is a simple fact. People who do not understand the Buddhadharma think that being wealthy is real and think that official positions actually exist. In actuality, everything is one. A person is the same whether he is rich or impoverished. If you understand that everything is empty and illusory, then you cannot be confused by anything. You will not become attached to unreal states.
Bubbles are also basically unreal, and quickly disappear to show their emptiness.
Shadows follow people around. When there is form, then there is a shadow. The form is an actual substance, the shadow is empty. If explained in more depth, even form itself is empty and totally unreal. If you do not believe that, then just continue to be attached to your body, protect and maintain it, and see whether or not it dies.
Like dew drops and a lightning flash. If you look outside early in the morning you will find dew, but after sunrise the dew will have disappeared. A lightning flash is also impermanent.
Contemplate them thus. You should look upon all conditioned things in this way. If you do, then heaven will be empty and the earth will be void. The measure of your heart will be as vast as the heavens and as broad as empty space, free of impediments. Without impediments there is no fear.
I have no fear. I have never been afraid of anything from the moment I was born. Dead men, living men, strange essences or weird creatures, tigers, lions – I fear none of them. Bring me a tiger and I will turn it into a kitten. Try it out. I can be this way because I have no obstructions. With me, everything is OK. If everything is like dew drops and a lightning flash, like dreams, illusions, bubbles, or shadows, then what can obstruct? There are no obstructions, and so there is no fear. The Heart Sutra says, “When there are no impediments there is no fear.” With no fear, “Upside-down dream-like thoughts are left far behind.” Therefore I say, “I do not fear tigers.” If you do not believe me, bring in a tiger and I will sit in meditation beside it.
Sutra:
After the Buddha spoke this sutra the Elder Subhuti, all the bhiksus, bhiksunis, upasakas, upasikas, and the world with its gods, men, and asuras, heard what the Buddha had said, rejoiced, believed, received, revered, and practiced.
End of the Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra.
Commentary:
After the Buddha had finished speaking the prajna of true emptiness, the Vajra Sutra, the Elder Subhuti, who had ten kinds of virtuous conducts; the bhiksus, bhiksunis, the laymen, laywomen, the gods, people, as well as the asuras, who had the blessings of the heavens but not the status; upon hearing the prajna of wonderful existence and true emptiness, gave rise to great joy, believed, accepted, and respectfully practiced the sutra. All were as happy as if they had obtained a precious gem, and they had: the jewel of wisdom, the dharma jewel of prajna. They believed. They lost all their desires, casting them aside. I hope that when we finish studying the Vajra Sutra you can cast all your upside-down thoughts far away. Rid yourself of enjoyment of food. Rid yourself of desire for sleep. Banish your striving for fame. Abolish your urge to become rich. Cast all the aspects of your heart’s desires to some far-away place. If you can rid yourself of the desires for wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep, you can cut off the roots of the hells, and advance to the fruit position of Buddhahood – the Eternally Bright Pure Land.
This is the end of the Vajra Sutra. Everyone who studies this sutra should transform his body so that it becomes as durable as vajra. He should make his vows, his determination, and his faith as sharp as vajra. And he should make his wisdom as bright as vajra. He should completely accept the wonderful principle of prajna, and personally practice it in order for there to be prajna paramita, arrival at the other shore.
Those who practice will not fall behind. Do not fall behind! Be courageous and forge ahead. Go forward, every one of you, with vigor. Be determined to be the first to realize Buddhahood!
Why then, you ask, has the Master made the vow not to realize Buddhahood until every single one of his disciples has become a Buddha?
Do not imitate me: I am just a worthless person. I have already forgotten myself. The reason I have come is to help others. I have come to plant the fields, but I pay no attention to my own field. So do not be concerned about me. For all you know, I may have run ahead of you!
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