The Diamond Sutra: The Perfection of Wisdom

Huang-po says, “If you want to become a buddha, don’t learn a single teaching of the buddhas. Just learn not to seek and not to cling. By not seeking, thoughts are not born. By not

But those who believe this teaching do so without attachment to any dharma. Once again, the image of a raft comes to mind. After crossing the river, if we continue to carry a dharma around, we only increase our suffering, instead of freeing ourselves from it.

The Tathagata says that all beings have the buddha nature. This is the view of a true self. And he says that all beings possess wisdom uncontaminated by passion and a nature that is already complete. This is the view of a soul. He says that all beings are themselves already free of affliction. This is the view of a being. And he says that the natur

Ever since Chapter Four, the Buddha has been trying to put to rest this omnipresent belief at the core of our delusions, this belief in an entity, in something separate in time or space or mind. All of these entities are entities that our self could not manage to incorporate and the existence of which it has reluctantly had to admit. And yet none o

Hui-neng says, “To understand the mind, nothing surpasses the two dharmas of compassion and wisdom. It is by means of these two dharmas that we realize enlightenment.

As to the relevance of these similes, a lamp shines brightly but can be extinguished by something as unsubstantial as the wind. A cataract presents images of flowers and other objects that turn out to be defects of vision. A star in the sky appears at dusk only to disappear at dawn. An illusion is nothing but a conjurer’s trick. A dewdrop seems suc

In this final chapter, the Buddha sums up this teaching that combines wisdom and compassion: not only is it grasped without grasping, it is explained without explaining. Whoever explains this teaching like this does what a buddha does. This is why the Buddha gets up in the morning and goes to town. This is the way to buddhahood and the way of buddh

Once across the river, we must leave the raft behind. The perfection of wisdom teaches us to know rafts, to see rafts, and to trust rafts, but it also teaches us to leave them behind. Thus do bodhisattvas know, see, and trust all dharmas.

Seng-chao says, “The seven jewels are limited. A four-line gatha is inexhaustible.”

Hui-neng says, “A ‘noble son’ refers to an even-tempered mind, a perfectly concentrated mind, which can practice all virtues while remaining unobstructed wherever it goes. A ‘noble daughter’ refers to a truly wise mind, from which all conditioned and unconditioned virtues are produced.”