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The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra
RELYING ON DHARMA THEY COME FORTH
CHAPTER 8
Sutra:
“Subhuti, what do you think, if someone filled three thousand great thousand world systems with the seven precious gems and gave them as a gift, would he obtain many blessings and virtue?”
Subhuti said, “Very many, World Honored One. And why? Such blessings and virtue are not of the nature of blessings and virtue. Therefore the Tathagata speaks of many blessings and virtue.”
“If, on the other hand, a person were to receive and hold from this sutra even so few as four lines of verse and speak them for others, his blessings would surpass the previous ones. And why? Subhuti, all Buddhas and all Buddhas’ dharma of anuttarasamyaksambodhi come forth from this sutra. Subhuti, the Buddhadharmas spoken are no Buddhadharmas.
Commentary:
In this section it is stated that all Buddhas and all Bodhisattvas are brought forth from this sutra.
Every world system contains:
1 Mount Sumeru;
1 set of the Four Great Continents, namely:
Jambudvipa to the south,
Purva-videha to the east,
Apara-godaniya to the west, and
Uttarakuru to the north;
1 sun, and 1 moon.
One thousand of such world systems is called one small-thousand world system. A thousand small-thousand world systems is called one middle-thousand world system. A thousand middle-thousand world systems is called one great-thousand world system. Because the word “thousand” occurs three times, the great-thousand world system is referred to as the three thousand great-thousand world system. This gigantic world system contains limitless Buddhalands, and in spite of its name, the number of worlds it contains may vary, because phenomena are flexible, not fixed. One should not become too attached to an exact number.
The person who gives the seven precious gems of gold, silver, lapis lazuli, crystal, mother-of-pearl, red pearls, and carnelian does not just give a few of them. He relinquishes enough to fill an entire three thousand great-thousand world systems. How many that would be!
Subhuti said, “Such a person would acquire much in the way of blessings and virtue. However, his blessings and virtues, being tangible, would not be the essential blessings and virtue which are markless. Therefore, although the blessings and virtue of which the Buddha speaks would be vast, they would be superficial and without the real nature of blessings and virtue. So when the Buddha spoke of the blessings and virtue as many, he was referring to their marks, and not to their nature.”
The section of text which begins, “If, on the other hand, a person were to receive and hold from this sutra,” was spoken by Shakyamuni Buddha. Receive means that the mind receives it. Hold means that the body puts the teaching into practice.
A person need not receive and hold the entire Vajra Sutra, but may learn to recite no more than a four-line gatha, such as those which occur later in the text:
If one sees me in form,
If one seeks me in sound,
He practices a deviant way
And cannot see the Tathagata.
The gatha says that if a person recognizes the Buddha through tangible marks, or seeks for the Buddha in the sound of his voice, that person practices deviant, demonic externalist methods rather than true, actual Buddhadharma. Why? True Buddhadharma is devoid of form or appearance. It is true emptiness and wonderful existence. Effort is not to be spent on false marks.
Another four-line gatha says:
All with marks is false and empty.
If you see all marks
As no marks
Then you see the Tathagata.
Another:
There is no mark of self,
And no mark of others,
No mark of living beings
And no mark of a life.
Another:
All conditioned phenomena
Are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows,
Like dew drops and a lightning flash.
Contemplate them thus.
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