「須菩提！ 若有人以滿無量阿僧祇世界七寶持用布施， 若有善男子、善女人，發菩薩心者，持於此經， 乃至四句偈等，受持讀誦，為人演說，其福勝彼。
Yifa: “Subhuti, if there is someone who fills immeasurable asamkhya worlds with the seven treasures and uses them to practice giving, and if there are virtuous men and women who develop the mind of a bodhisattva and take even just four lines of verse from this sutra, receiving, retaining, reading and reciting them, and expounding them to others, their rewards will surpass those.”
Sanskrit: yaśca khalu punaḥ subhūte bodhisattvo mahāsattvo'prameyānasaṃkhyeyāṃllokadhātūn saptaratnaparipūrṇaṃ kṛtvā tathāgatebhyo'rhadbhayaḥ samyaksaṃbuddhebhyo dānaṃ dadyāt, yaśca kulaputro vā kuladuhitā vā itaḥ prajñāpāramitāyā dharmaparyāyādantaśaścatuṣpādikāmapi gāthāmudgṛhya dhārayeddeśayedvācayet paryavāpnuyāt, parebhyaśca vistareṇa saṃprakāśayet, ayameva tatonidānaṃ bahutaraṃ puṇyaskandhaṃ prasunuyādaprameyamasaṃkhyeyam|
Diamond Sūtra Discussion
Transforming the unreal 應化非真分
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Transforming the unreal 應化非真分
Text
Comments
In the English text the phrase innumerable translates the Chinese 阿僧祇, Sanskrit asaṃkhyeya.Text
云何為人演說？不取於相，如如不動。何以故？ 「一切有為法， 如夢、幻、泡、影， 如露亦如電， 應作如是觀。」
Yifa: “How would you say they expound it to others?”
“By not holding on to appearances, immovable like thusness. Why is this?”
All conditioned dharmas
Are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow
Like dew and like lightning
Thus they should be perceived
Sanskrit: kathaṃ ca saṃprakāśayet ? tadyathākāśe-
Sanskrit: tārakā timiraṃ dīpo māyāvaśyāya budbudam|
Sanskrit: svapnaṃ ca vidyudabhraṃ ca evaṃ draṣṭavya saṃskṛtam||
Sanskrit: tathā prakāśayet, tenocyate saṃprakāśayediti||
Yifa: “How would you say they expound it to others?”
“By not holding on to appearances, immovable like thusness. Why is this?”
All conditioned dharmas
Are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow
Like dew and like lightning
Thus they should be perceived
Sanskrit: kathaṃ ca saṃprakāśayet ? tadyathākāśe-
Sanskrit: tārakā timiraṃ dīpo māyāvaśyāya budbudam|
Sanskrit: svapnaṃ ca vidyudabhraṃ ca evaṃ draṣṭavya saṃskṛtam||
Sanskrit: tathā prakāśayet, tenocyate saṃprakāśayediti||
Comments
Some Sanskrit versions begin this passage with "And how should they explain it? By not explaining. Thus it is called 'explaining.'". (Red Pine 2009, ch. 32) The English in Yifa's translation matches Kumārajīva Chinese version well, so it is likely that the difference was due to some kind of branching in the Sanskrit versions.
The English word "dream" translates the Chinese 夢 (Sanskrit: svapna). The English word "illusion" translates the Chinese 幻 (Sanksrit: timira). The English word "bubble" translates the Chinese 泡 (Sanskrit: budbuda). The English word "flashes" translates the Chinese 電 (Sanskrit: dīpa).
The order of the analogies is different in the Sanksrit and Chinese versions. The Sanskrit version also mentions stars (Sanskrit: tārakā). (Conze 1958, p 70)
All worldly phenomena and transitory. In his commentary on the Diamond Sūtra Venerable Master Hsing Yun writes,
In the Arakenanusasani Sutta the teacher Araka says,
"'Just as a dewdrop on the tip of a blade of grass quickly vanishes with the rising of the sun and does not stay long, in the same way, brahmans, the life of human beings is like a dewdrop — limited, trifling, of much stress & many despairs. One should touch this [truth] like a sage, do what is skillful, follow the holy life. For one who is born there is no freedom from death.
"'Just as when the rain-devas send rain in fat drops, and a bubble on the water quickly vanishes and does not stay long, in the same way, brahmans, the life of human beings is like a water bubble — limited, trifling, of much stress & many despairs. One should touch this [truth] like a sage, do what is skillful, follow the holy life. For one who is born there is no freedom from death.
(AN 7.701)
"'Just as when the rain-devas send rain in fat drops, and a bubble on the water quickly vanishes and does not stay long, in the same way, brahmans, the life of human beings is like a water bubble — limited, trifling, of much stress & many despairs. One should touch this [truth] like a sage, do what is skillful, follow the holy life. For one who is born there is no freedom from death.
(AN 7.701)
The theme of impermanence in this section mirrors the theme of Section 1, which begins "Thus have I heard. Once, the Buddha was ..." Thus the Sūtra comes to an end.
Text
佛說是經已，長老須菩提及諸比丘、比丘尼、 優婆塞、優婆夷，一切世間天、人、阿修羅， 聞佛所說，皆大歡喜，信受奉行。
Yifa: After the Buddha had spoken this sutra, the Elder Subhuti with all the bhiksus, bhiksunis upasakas, upasikas, and the devas, humans and asuras of all worldly realms heard what the Buddha had said and were all greatly pleased; believing, receiving, honoring and practicing it.
Sanskrit: idamavocadbhagavān āttamanāḥ| sthavirasubhūtiste ca bhikṣubhikṣuṇyupāsako pāsikāste ca bodhisattvāḥ sadevamānuṣāsuragandharvaśca loko bhagavato bhāṣitamabhyanandanniti||32||
Yifa: After the Buddha had spoken this sutra, the Elder Subhuti with all the bhiksus, bhiksunis upasakas, upasikas, and the devas, humans and asuras of all worldly realms heard what the Buddha had said and were all greatly pleased; believing, receiving, honoring and practicing it.
Sanskrit: idamavocadbhagavān āttamanāḥ| sthavirasubhūtiste ca bhikṣubhikṣuṇyupāsako pāsikāste ca bodhisattvāḥ sadevamānuṣāsuragandharvaśca loko bhagavato bhāṣitamabhyanandanniti||32||
Comments
The Sanskrit version also mentions bodhisattvas and gandharvas, which are a kind of mythical being that guard the Truth (Red Pine 2009, p 436), in the assembly.
The English word Elder translates the Chinese 長老, (Sanskrit: sthavira). The Sanskrit word for world loko (Chinese: 世間) is the nominative case with word ending modified for sandhi. The stem form is loka.
Notes
- "Arakenanusasani Sutta: Araka's Teaching" (AN 7.70), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an07/an07.070.than.html.
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(Hsing Yun 2012, p 95)