What Is the Diamond Sutra?
Ven. Wonbin | Abbot of Songdeoksa Temple, Director of Happiness Culture Institute
The Origin of the Diamond Sutra
Korean Buddhists love the Diamond Sutra. Because it is the foundational sutra of the Jogye Order, it is worthwhile to explore its origin, about which there are two theories. One is the traditional Chinese theory based on Chinese doctrinal taxonomy, and the other is a more modern Indian theory.
One of the major Chinese doctrinal taxonomies is the “five period” classification of the teachings presented by Tiantai Zhiyi, a classification applied to all scriptures of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism as the direct teachings of the Buddha. If we estimate the life of Buddha after his enlightenment as 49 years, the five periods consist of: the Huayan period (Avataṃsaka; 21 days), the Deer Park period (Āgamas; 12 years), the Vaipulya period (elementary Mahayana; 8 years), the Perfection of Wisdom period (21 years), and the Lotus period (8 years). This classification is not based on history but on stages of the Dharma interpreted subjectively, but many Buddhists still regard this classification as definitive. However, some scholars have proposed new theories based on historical sources, and to know them would be helpful to maintain a sense of balance and to guard against attachment to a single theory about the Dharma.
Subhūti, the Protagonist of the Diamond Sutra
If a sutra can be compared to a drama, its protagonists would be the Buddha and someone else. The teaching style of the Buddha was that he did not present his contentions first, but gave answers to questions thrown to him. Thus, a sutra ends up being Buddha’s answers to someone’s questions, and this characteristic impacts the theme of the drama.
The traditional perspective of Subhūti, one protagonist in the Diamond Sutra, can be partly construed from Subhūti’s alias, “foremost in the grasp of the truth of emptiness.” The name reflects a view to narrow down the theme of the Diamond Sutra to prajñā wisdom. However, Subhūti’s aliases, according to Theravada Buddhism, are pretty different. “Chapter XIV, Foremost” in Aṅguttara Nikāya presents disciples who are “foremost” in 80 categories. Of these, Subhūti is foremost in two categories as follows:
“The foremost of my bhikkhu disciples among those who dwell without conflict is Subhūti.”
“The foremost of my bhikkhu disciples among those worthy of gifts is Subhūti.”
Subhūti, a younger brother of Anathapindika, met the Buddha for the first time at the opening ceremony of Jetavana Monastery. Upon listening to the Buddha’s teaching, he aroused great joy and joined the monastic sangha. Thereafter, he practiced meditation and cultivated loving-kindness, eventually attaining the status of arhat. Reviewing his practice history, it stands out that between compassion and wisdom (the two major practice paths), he chose compassion as the foundation of his practice.
Subhūti’s compassion is revealed in his daily alms rounds. Whenever he stood in front of a house from which he would receive alms, he entered a state of loving-kindness concentration. And when he was done, he signaled the people in the house that he was ready. In this way he met other Buddhists when he was in the most compassionate state of mind. To these Buddhists, Subhūti would have been perceived as a manifestation of compassion. This power of compassion could have decided the path he chose.
Why did Subhūti, who had been regarded most compassionate in Early Buddhism based on his practice of loving-kindness, begin to be called “most eminent in the grasp of the truth of emptiness” in Korean Buddhism? This is only knowable if we put into the right perspective a change of theme in the Diamond Sutra, which was brought about by a small twist in the perspective of how to see protagonists. The key concept in the Diamond Sutra does not stop at the grasp of emptiness, i.e., prajñā wisdom. The key concept is the “aspiration to attain enlightenment to save others (Bodhicitta),” which requires the union of wisdom and compassion.
Shift from Liberation to Buddhahood
The Buddha is an arhat, but not only that. On the other hand, an arhat is not a Buddha. This comes from the difference between liberation and Buddhahood. The state of Buddhahood consists of both liberation and omniscience. The disciples of the Buddha, whose practice was based on the “first turning of the wheel of Dharma” by the Buddha in the era of Early Buddhism, were satisfied with the attainment of arhathood. The Buddha was a special being from the beginning, and disciples took it for granted that he had capabilities far superior to themselves and arhats. During the 500 year period after the Buddha’s nirvana, however, many practitioners wanted to attain omniscience above and beyond liberation. These practitioners gathered and formed a powerful group represented by the ideal of the Bodhisattva Path or Bodhisattva Vehicle.
“The blessed one! In their search for perfect, unsurpassed enlightenment, how should good men and women live their lives, and how should they pacify their minds?”
This question asked by Subhūti was the awareness of a problem embodied by the Bodhisattva Vehicle that runs through the Diamond Sutra. In Early Buddhism, bodhisattvas existed only in stories of the Buddha’s previous lives. There was a fixed idea that only special beings can walk the path to Buddhahood. The Bodhisattva Vehicle movement was a kind of Buddhist reformation in an attempt to overcome this fixed idea, and the compilation of the Diamond Sutra declared that the path to Buddhahood is open to all.
“Anyone can become a bodhisattva. However, not everyone does.”
The Bodhisattva Vehicle shifted the conditions for becoming a bodhisattva from a “prophetic guarantee of enlightenment” to arousing “the aspiration to attain enlightenment for the sake of others (Bodhicitta).” It is rare to receive a prophecy of one’s own enlightenment, but arousing the aspiration for enlightenment is possible for anyone, despite its seeming difficulty. The Diamond Sutra is intended to inspire followers to arouse the aspiration to attain enlightenment to save others, become a bodhisattva, and walk the path to Buddhahood.
Practice based on the arousal of Bodhicitta results in a complete shift in one’s practice. When one’s purpose for practice is self-liberation by attaining arhathood, they only focus on the wisdom of non-self. When this prajñā wisdom leads them to sever the “ten fetters of defilements/afflictions,” their mental state is called liberation. However, Bodhicitta is a mental state that combines prajñā wisdom and compassion, and the Bodhisattva Vehicle movement naturally shifted the focus to compassion.
Arhats and the Buddha are equal in their wisdom of non-self. Another name for arhat is “one who has completed the course of practice and study,” meaning that nothing is left for them to learn about non-self. However, the Buddha and arhats differ greatly in their ability to save sentient beings. This results from the Buddha’s concentration of great compassion to take care of sentient beings, and from his omniscience of the mundane and supramundane.
The “drama” in the Diamond Sutra begins from the recognition of a problem by the protagonist Subhūti who perceives the difference between the Buddha and himself. It is almost impossible for an arhat to arouse the intention to walk the path to Buddhahood with a critical mind. This is due to the fact that the function of “self” ceases with arhathood. To make a vow to walk the path to enlightenment in this mental state is only possible when the vow is driven by compassion for sentient beings. An arhat named Subhūti wanted to help more sentient beings, and he wished he could be like Buddha who could do this. This aspiration by an arhat can be compared to a phoenix who arises again from his own ashes.
Simply put, Bodhicitta involves seeking enlightenment and saving sentient beings at the same time. To seek enlightenment represents one’s clear objective to complete the path to attaining Buddhahood above and beyond the path of an arhat. To save sentient beings requires practices which help attain this objective. In other words, one should want to attain Buddhahood based on their practice of saving sentient beings. The Bodhisattva Vehicle movement shifted the focus of practice from wisdom to compassion. This does not mean that compassion is more important than wisdom, but rather that one cultivates wisdom to put compassion into action.
By focusing on compassion two problems have been resolved. The first problem is that when one attains ultimate wisdom and becomes selfless, the drive to further cultivate one’s consciousness is exhausted. The second problem is that while one is investigating wisdom thoroughly, they come to neglect saving sentient beings. These two problems became evident in the Buddhist community during the 500 years after the Buddha passed away. The Bodhisattva Vehicle movement resolved these problems with the concept of Bodhicitta, which is the union of prajñā wisdom and compassion.
The key concept in the Diamond Sutra is not prajñā wisdom but Bodhicitta, which embraces both prajñā wisdom and compassion. It is true that the Diamond Sutra came to represent the exhortation of prajñā wisdom in the course of its being passed down for posterity, but we should be able to find its unspoken message of compassion within. If you consider the Diamond Sutra as the sutra for attaining prajñā wisdom, you make the mistake of regarding only one side of the coin as being the whole. To discover the other side of the coin, and understand the true meaning of the sutra, one must acknowledge the keyword “Bodhicitta.”
Ven. Wonbin began monastic life at Haeinsa Temple and graduated from Joong-Ang Sangha University. Currently he is director of the Happiness Culture Institute (http://cafe.daum.net/everyday1bean), and abbot of Songdeoksa Temple in Sancheong, Gyeongnam Province. He hosted “Happy Two O’clock” on radio and “Buddhism, Wonbin’s Greatest Happiness” on TV for the Buddhist Broadcasting System. Currently he hosts “Imbued with the Diamond Sutra by Wonbin” on BTN Buddhist TV. His Korean publications include “Same Day, Different Happiness” and “Present of Meditation”
0 댓글