Preface:
Huineng:
The Diamond Sutra has no form as its source, no abiding as its substance, subtle being as its function. Ever since Bodhidharma came from the West, to communicate the intent of this sutra he got people to realize noumenon and see essential nature.
It was just because people of the world do not see their own essential nature that the teaching of seeing essential nature was established. If people of the world clearly see the original body of reality as is, then it is not necessary to establish a teaching.
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This one-scroll sutra originally exists in the essential nature of all living beings. People who do not see it themselves just read and recite written letters. If you realize your original mind, you will realize for the first time that this sutra is not in written letters. If you can clearly understand your own essential nature, only then will you really believe that "all the Buddhas emerge from this sutra."
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The "diamond prajnaparamita" spoken of by the Realized One takes its name from a metaphor for the truth. What does it mean? Diamond is extremely sharp by nature and can break through all sorts of things. But though diamond is extremely hard, horn can break it, Diamond stands for buddha-nature, horn stands for afflictions. Hard as diamond is, horn can break it; stable though the buddha-nature is, afflictions can derange it.
Even though afflictions may be intractable, prajna knowledge can destroy them; even though horn may be hard, fine steel can break it. Those who realize this principle clearly see essential nature. The Nirvana Sutra says, "Those who see buddha-nature are not called ordinary people; those who do not see buddha-nature are called ordinary people."
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What does prajna mean? Prajna is a Sanskrit word, rendered into Chinese as "insightful wisdom." Insight is not giving rise to ignorant attitudes, wisdom is having the appropriate expedients. Insight is the substance of wisdom, wisdom is the function of insight. If there is wisdom in substance, function is insightful and not ignorant; if there is no wisdom in substance, function is ignorant, without insight. It is just to get rid of ignorance, folly, and being unenlightened that we cultivate insightful wisdom.
What does paramita mean? It is rendered into Chinese by "reaching the other shore." Reaching the other shore means detachment from birth and death. Just because people of the world lack stability of nature, they find appearances of birth and death in all things, flow in the waves of various courses of existence, and have not arrived at the ground of reality as is: all of this is "this shore." It is necessary to have great insightful wisdom, complete in respect to all things, detached from appearances of birth and death - this is "reaching the other shore."
It is also said that when the mind is confused, it is "this shore." When the mind is enlightened, it is "the other shore." When the mind is distorted, it is "this shore." When the mind is sound, it is "the other shore." If you speak of it but do not carry it out mentally, then there is no paramita.
What does sutra mean? It means a course; it is a road to the fulfillment of buddhahood. Whenever people want to get on this road, they should inwardly cultivate the application of prajna in order to read the ultimate end. If you can only recite it and do not act in accord mentally, then there is no sutra, no course. If you see truthfully and act truthfully, then there is a sutra in your own mind.
Huineng’s Commentary on the Diamond Sutra, Thomas Cleary translation, 1998.
Thich Nhat Hanh:
Brothers and sisters, please read The Diamond That Cuts through Illusion with a serene mind, a mind free from views. It’s the basic sutra for the practice of meditation. Late at night, it’s a pleasure to recite the Diamond Sutra alone, in complete silence. The sutra is so deep and wonderful. It has its own language. The first Western scholars who obtained the text thought it was talking nonsense. Its language seems mysterious, but when you look deeply, you can understand.
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Try to understand the sutra from your own experiences and your own suffering. It is helpful to ask, “Do these teachings of the Buddha have anything to do with my daily life?” Abstract ideas can be beautiful, but if they have nothing to do with our life, of what use are they? So please ask, “Do the words have anything to do with eating a meal, drinking tea, cutting wood, or carrying water?”
The sutra’s full name is The Diamond that Cuts through Illusion, Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita in Sanskrit. Vajracchedika means “the diamond that cuts through afflictions, ignorance, delusion, or illusion.” In China and Vietnam, people generally call it the Diamond Sutra, emphasizing the word “diamond,” but, in face, the phrase “cutting though” is the most important. Prajnaparamita means “perfection of wisdom,” “transcendent understanding,” or “the understanding that brings us across the ocean of suffering to the other shore.” Studying and practicing this sutra can help us cut through ignorance and wrong views and transcend them, transporting ourselves to the shore of liberation.
The Diamond that Cuts through Illusion, Thich Nhat Hanh, 1992.
So here both Thich Nhat Hanh and Huineng agree that the sutra has the ability to break through disillusion. However, Thich Nhat Hanh presents this sutra as being more of an instruction manual, stating is as being “the basic sutra for the practice of meditation.” Huineng, on the other hand, presents this sutra as being one with our Buddha-nature and actually a detailing of our essence as it is.
Based on the word choices, it seems as though Thich Nhat Hanh takes the sutra to be means towards ending suffering (akin to the lesser vehicles of Buddhism), whereas Huineng is focused on realizing Buddha-nature and becoming a Buddha, probably seeing the emptiness of suffering and therefore not regarding it as an obstacle.
Also from the description of the sutra and the impact it may have, Huineng seems to hold it at a much higher importance (referring to it as essential nature itself) than Thich Nhat Hanh so far (referring to it as more-or-less another teaching of the Buddha to incorporate in our lives). This may be due to the fact that Thich Nhat Hanh’s tradition places very little emphasis on texts as a whole. When I stayed at one of the Plum Village tradition monasteries, I asked a monk a question about a sutra, to which I was told (to paraphrase), “Linji used to hit people over the head when they would read sutras. They don’t reflect how things are,” as opposed to Huineng stating that the Diamond Sutra is the way things are.
Intro: https://www.reddit.com/r/zen/comments/81g57j/old_zen_vs_new_zen_a_comparison_between/
Submitted March 03, 2018 at 01:26AM by Type_DXL http://ift.tt/2CUQ5TK
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