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The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
1
The Exalted M
ahäyäna Sütra
on the Wisdom
Gone B
eyond called
TH
E VA
JRA C
UT
TER
based on the Tibetan L
hasa Zhol printing
translated into English byG
elong Thubten Tsultrim
(Am
erican Buddhist m
onk George C
hurinoff)
44
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
Care of Dharma Books
Dharm
a books contain the teachings of the Buddha; they have the
power to protect against low
er rebirth and to point the way to libera-
tion. Therefore, they should be treated w
ith respect – kept off the floorand places w
here people sit or walk – and not stepped over. T
hey shouldbe covered or protected for transporting and kept in a high, clean placeseparate from
more m
undane materials. O
ther objects should not beplaced on top of D
harma books and m
aterials. Licking the fingers toturn pages is considered bad form
as well as negative karm
a. If it isnecessary to dispose of w
ritten Dharm
a materials, they should be burned
rather than thrown in the trash. W
hen burning Dharm
a texts, it istaught to first recite a prayer or m
antra, such as OM
, AH
, HU
M. T
hen,you can visualize the letters of the texts (to be burn
ed) absorbing
into the A
H and the A
H absorbing into you, transm
itting their wis-
dom to your m
indstream. A
fter that, as you continue to recite OM
, AH
,H
UM
, you can burn the texts.
Lama Zopa R
inpoche has recomm
ended that photos or images of holy
beings, deities, or other holy objects not be burned. Instead, they shouldbe placed w
ith respect in a stupa, tree, or other high, clean place. It hasbeen suggested to put them
into a small structure like a bird house and
then seal the house. In this way, the holy im
ages do not end up on theground.
2 T
he V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
© G
eorge Ch
urinoff, 2002
All righ
ts reserved.
FPMT
Education
Departm
ent
P. O. B
ox 888Taos, N
ew M
exico 87571 USA
Em
ail: materials@
fpmt.org
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
43
Foundation for thePreservation
of the Mahayana Tradition
The Foundation for the Preservation of the M
ahayana Tradition is an
organization devoted to the transmission of the M
ahayana Buddhist tradition
and values worldw
ide through teaching, meditation, and com
munity service.
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hich people’s minds and hearts
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isdom and com
passion.O
ur organization is based on the Buddhist tradition of Lam
a Tsongkhapaof T
ibet, as taught by our founder, Lama T
hubten Yeshe, and spiritual direc-tor, Lam
a Zopa Rinpoche.
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ox 888Taos, N
ew M
exico 87571 USA
Tel: (505) 758-7766Fax: (505) 758-7765
Em
ail: info@fpm
t.orgw
ww
.fpmt.org
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
3
TH
E VA
JRA C
UT
TER S
ÜT
RA
In th
e language of In
dia,Ä
rya Vajracchedikä Näm
a Prajñäpäramitä M
ahäyäna Sütra1
In T
ibetan,
’Phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa rdo rje gcod pa zhes bya batheg pa chen po’i m
do
In E
nglish
,T
he Exalted Mahäyäna Sütra on the W
isdom G
one Beyond called
“The Vajra
2 Cutter”
I prostrate to all the buddh
as and bodh
isattvas.
Th
us did I hear at on
e time. T
he B
hagavän
was dw
elling at
àhrävastï, in
the gro
ve of P
rince Jeta, in
the gard
en o
fA
näth
apiôçada, 3 togeth
er with
a great Sangh
a of bhikêh
us of1,250 bh
ikêhus an
d a great man
y bodhisattva m
ahäsattvas.
Th
en, in
the m
ornin
g, havin
g put on th
e lower an
d upperD
harm
a robes and carried th
e begging bow
l, the B
hagavän
en-
tered the great city of àh
rävastï to request alms. T
hen
, havin
ggon
e to the great city of àh
rävastï to request alms, th
e Bh
agavänafterw
ards enjoyed th
e alms food, an
d havin
g performed th
eactivity of food, 4 sin
ce he h
ad given up alm
s of later food, 5 putaw
ay the beggin
g bowl an
d upper robe. He w
ashed h
is feet, satupon the prepared cushion, and having assum
ed the cross-leggedposture, straigh
tened th
e body upright an
d placed min
dfulness
in fron
t. Th
en, m
any bh
ikêhus approach
ed to the place w
here
the B
hagavän
was an
d, havin
g reached th
ere, bowin
g their h
eads
42
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
FPMT Education
Departm
ent
The aim
of the Education D
epartment at FPM
T International O
ffice is toserve the needs of D
harma centers and individuals in the area of T
ibetanB
uddhist educational and spiritual materials. T
his includes prayers and prac-tice texts, retreat sadhanas and other practice m
aterials, a variety of studytexts and translations, deity im
ages for meditation, and curricular m
aterialsfor study program
s in FPMT
Dharm
a centers.
One of our principal objectives is to serve as a repository for a w
ide variety ofpractice texts prim
arily within the G
elug tradition, especially those authoredor translated by Lam
a Zopa Rinpoche and Lam
a Thubten Yeshe. W
e work
in close collaboration with the Lam
a Yeshe Wisdom
Archive, B
oston, M
as-sachusetts, w
hich serves as a repository for the comm
entaries an
d tran-
scripts of teachings by Lam
a Zopa Rinpoche an
d Lama Yeshe.
If we can be of service to you in any w
ay, please contact us at:
Education D
epartment
FPMT
International Office
P. O. B
ox 888Taos, N
ew M
exico 87571 USA
Tel: (505)737-0550, ext. 1#E
mail: m
aterials@fpm
t.orgw
ww
.fpmt.org/shop
4 T
he V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
to the B
hagavän
’s feet, circumam
bulated three tim
es and sat to
one side.A
lso at that tim
e, the ven
erable Subhüti, join
ing th
at veryassem
bly, sat down
. Th
en, th
e venerable Subh
üti rose from th
eseat, placed th
e upper robe over one sh
oulder, set his righ
t knee
on th
e ground, bow
ed, joinin
g the palm
s, toward th
e Bh
agavän,
and said th
is to the B
hagavän
: “Bh
agavän, th
e extent to w
hich
the Tath
ägata Arh
at Perfectly En
lighten
ed Buddh
a has ben
efitedth
e bodhisattva m
ahäsattvas w
ith h
ighest ben
efit, the exten
t tow
hich
the Tath
ägata has en
trusted the bodh
isattva mah
äsattvasw
ith h
ighest en
trustmen
t – Bh
agavän, it is aston
ishin
g; Sugata, 6
it is astonish
ing. B
hagavän
, how
should on
e wh
o has correctly
entered th
e bodhisattva’s veh
icle abide, how
practice, how
con-
trol the m
ind?”
That w
as said, and the Bhagavän said to the venerable Subhüti,
“Subh
üti, w
ell said, w
ell said. Su
bhü
ti, it is so; it is so. Th
eTath
ägata has ben
efited the bodh
isattva mah
äsattvas with
the
high
est benefit. T
he Tath
ägata has en
trusted the bodh
isattvam
ahäsattvas w
ith th
e high
est entrustm
ent. Subh
üti, therefore,
listen an
d properly retain it in
min
d, and I w
ill explain to you
how
one w
ho h
as correctly entered th
e bodhisattva’s veh
iclesh
ould abide, how
practice, how
control th
e min
d.”H
aving replied, “B
hagavän
, so be it,” the ven
erable Subhüti
listened in
accordance w
ith th
e Bh
agavän, an
d the B
hagavän
said this: “Subh
üti, here, on
e wh
o has correctly en
tered the
bodhisattva’s veh
icle should gen
erate the m
ind [of en
lighten
-m
ent] th
inkin
g this: ‘A
s man
y as are included in
the category of
sentien
t being – born
from egg, born
from th
e wom
b, born from
heat an
d moisture, born
miraculously; w
ith form
, with
out form,
with
discrimin
ation, w
ithout discrim
ination
, with
out discrimi-
nation
but not w
ithout [subtle] discrim
ination
– the realm
ofsen
tient bein
gs, as man
y as are designated by im
putation as sen
-tien
t beings, all th
ose I shall cause to pass com
pletely beyond
sorrow in
to the realm
of nirvan
a with
out remain
der of the ag-
gregates. Alth
ough
limitless sen
tient bein
gs have th
us been
caused to pass completely beyon
d sorrow, no sen
tient bein
gw
hatsoever h
as been caused to pass com
pletely beyond sorrow.’
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
41
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
5
“Wh
y is that? Subh
üti, because if a bodhisattva en
gages ind
iscrimin
ating a sen
tient b
eing, h
e is no
t to b
e called a
‘bodhisattva.’ W
hy is th
at? Subhüti, if an
yone en
gages in dis-
crimin
ating a sen
tient bein
g, or engages in
discrimin
ating a liv-
ing bein
g, or engages in
discrimin
ating a person
, they are n
ot tobe called a ‘bodh
isattva.’“Furth
er, Subhüti, a bodh
isattva gives a gift with
out abiding
in a th
ing; gives a gift w
ithout abidin
g in an
y phen
omen
on w
hat-
soever. A gift sh
ould be given n
ot abiding in
visual form, n
orsh
ould a gift be given abidin
g in soun
d, smell, taste, tactility, or
a phen
omen
on. Subh
üti, with
out abiding in
discrimin
ating an
y-th
ing w
hatsoever as an
y sign, th
us does a bodhisattva give a gift.
Wh
y is that? Su
bh
üti, b
ecause th
e heap
of m
erit of th
atbodh
isattva wh
o gives a gift with
out abiding, Subh
üti, is not easy
to take the m
easure of.“Subh
üti, wh
at do you thin
k about this? D
o you thin
k it iseasy to take th
e measure of space in
the east?”
Subhüti replied, “B
hagavän
, it is not so.”
Th
e Bh
agavän said, “Subh
üti, similarly, do you th
ink it is easy
to take the m
easure of space in th
e south, w
est, north
, above,below, th
e interm
ediate directions, an
d the ten
directions?”
Subhüti replied, “B
hagavän
, it is not so.”
Th
e Bh
agavän said, “Subh
üti, similarly, th
e heap of m
erit ofth
at bodhisattva w
ho gives a gift w
ithout abidin
g is also not easy
to take the m
easure of.“Subh
üti, wh
at do you thin
k about this? Is on
e viewed as th
eTath
ägata due to the perfect m
arks?”7
Subhüti replied, “B
hagavän
, it is not so; on
e is not view
ed asth
e Tathägata due to th
e perfect marks. W
hy is th
at? Because,
that itself w
hich
the Tath
ägata called perfect marks are n
ot per-fect m
arks.”H
e replied thus, an
d the B
hagavän
said this to th
e venerable
Subhüti: “Subh
üti, to the degree th
ere are perfect marks, to th
atdegree th
ere is deception. To th
e degree there are n
o perfectm
arks, 8 to that degree th
ere is no deception
. Th
us, view th
eTath
ägata as marks an
d no m
arks.”9
He said
that an
d th
e venerable Su
bhü
ti replied
to the
40
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
ni kh
a ton du bklags pa’o).
67.“Elder” (Skt: sth
avira; Tib: gn
as brtan)
68.Th
e three oth
er Tibetan
texts have “th
ose bhikêh
us, those
bodhisattvas…
”
69.Upäsakas an
d upäsikas are lay men
and w
omen
wh
o have
taken th
e life-long vow
s of a lay practitioner. N
ovice mon
ksand novice nuns can be included in the categories of bhikêhusan
d bhikêh
unis, th
e fully ordained m
onks an
d fully ordained
nun
s.
70.Th
e colophon
is found in
the catalogue of th
e Lh
asa Zh
oledition
of the collection
of Tibetan
translation
s of Buddha’s
Words (bka’ ’gyur). T
he in
dex of the A
CIP says th
e Lh
asaZ
hol edition
was com
posed in 1934 at th
e request of the
Th
irteenth
Dalai L
ama. T
he actual in
dividual texts in th
eL
hasa Z
hol edition
, how
ever, were tran
slated at various times
before that.
Th
e colophon
says, in full, “From
p. 215 front (till p. 235
back), the “T
hree H
undred W
isdom G
one B
eyond” or “Vajra
Cu
tter.” On
e Section (bam
bo). Com
piled
, revising th
etran
slation of th
e Indian
abbot àilendra B
odhi an
d Yeshe
sDe w
ith th
e new
language stan
dard.”
6 T
he V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
Bh
agavän, “B
hagavän
, in th
e future period, at the en
d of the
five hun
dred, 10 wh
en th
e holy D
harm
a will totally perish
, will
any sen
tient bein
gs produce correct discrimin
ation upon
the
words of sütras
11 such as th
is12 bein
g explained?”
Th
e Bh
agavän said, “Subh
üti, do not say w
hat you h
ave said,‘…
in th
e future period, at the en
d of the five h
undred, w
hen
the h
oly Dh
arma w
ill totally perish, w
ill any sen
tient bein
gs pro-duce correct discrim
ination
upon th
e words of sütras such
asth
is being explain
ed…’ 13 M
oreover, Subhüti, in
the future pe-
riod, at the en
d of the five h
undred, w
hen
the h
oly Dh
arma w
illtotally perish
, there w
ill be bodhisattva m
ahäsattvas, en
dowed
with
morality, en
dowed w
ith qualities, en
dowed w
ith w
isdom.
Subhüti, th
ose bodhisattva m
ahäsattvas m
oreover will n
ot have
made h
omage to just a sin
gle buddha; th
ey will n
ot have pro-
duced roots of virtue to just a single buddh
a. Subhüti, th
ere will
be bodhisattva m
ahäsattvas w
ho h
ave made h
omage to m
any
hun
dred thousan
ds of buddhas an
d produced roots of virtue tom
any h
undred th
ousands of buddh
as.“Subh
üti, those w
ho w
ill acquire merely a sin
gle min
d of faithupon
the w
ords of such sütras as th
is being explain
ed, Subhüti,
the Tath
ägata know
s. Subhüti, th
ey are seen by th
e Tathägata;
Subh
üti, all th
ose sentien
t beings w
ill prod
uce an
d p
erfectlycollect an
unfath
omable h
eap of merit. W
hy is th
at? Subhüti,
because those bodh
isattva mah
äsattvas will n
ot engage in
dis-crim
inatin
g a self and w
ill not discrim
inate a sen
tient bein
g, will
not discrim
inate a livin
g being, w
ill not en
gage in discrim
inat-
ing a person
.“Subh
üti, those bodh
isattva mah
äsattvas will n
ot engage in
discriminating phenom
ena nor discriminating non-phenom
ena;n
or will th
ey engage in
discrimin
ation or n
on-discrim
ination
. 14
Wh
y is that? Subh
üti, because if those bodh
isattva mah
äsattvasen
gage in discrim
inatin
g phen
omen
a, that itself w
ould be ofth
em15 graspin
g a self and graspin
g a sentien
t being, graspin
g alivin
g being, graspin
g a person. B
ecause even if th
ey engage in
discrimin
ating ph
enom
ena as n
on-existen
t, 16 that w
ould be ofth
em graspin
g a self and graspin
g a sentien
t being, graspin
g alivin
g being, graspin
g a person.
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
39
reason of n
ot seeing (in
the first stan
za) is that it is n
ecessaryto view
the dh
armakäya of th
e buddhas, th
e nature body, as
the body of ultim
ate nature (dh
armatä) – an
d the body of
the guides, th
e buddhas, dh
armatä, ultim
ate truth, is n
ot anobject to be kn
own
by an aw
areness boun
d by true grasping,
because th
e dh
armakäya is u
nable to be kn
own
by that
awaren
ess.” See also th
e discu
ssion
in K
amalaâh
ïla’scom
men
tary (pp. 259a–b).
62.Skt: kasyacid dharm
asya vinäâaë
prajñapta ucch
edo va (veti);T
ib: chos la la zh
ig rnam
par bshig gam
, chad par btags pa.
63.Th
e Lh
asa Zh
ol text has “selfless an
d unproduced” as does
Con
ze’s Sanskrit edition
(nirätm
akeêv anutpattikeêu). T
he
Gilgit fragm
ent h
as just “selfless” (nirätm
akeêu), leaving out
“unproduced.”T
he sm
all and L
anch
ou texts agree with
the L
hasa Z
hol
edition as to “selfless an
d unproduced” but h
ave (paren-
thetical m
aterial from th
e comm
entary of C
one G
ragspa, p.143) “…
if any bodh
isattva (directly realized the m
eanin
g of)selfless (in
dep
end
ence on
this) D
harm
a discou
rse (the
wisd
om
gon
e beyo
nd
text) and
attained
(the great)
forbearance about (th
e phen
omen
a of) non
-production…
”
64.“Subhüti, acquire, n
ot wron
gly grasp” (Tib: rab ’byor, yon
gssu gzun
g mod kyi, log par m
i gzung ste; Skt: parigrah
ïtavyaësu
bhü
te nograh
ïtavyaë). T
he San
skrit reads, “sh
ould
beacquired, Subh
üti, not sh
ould be grasped.”
65.Th
e small an
d Lan
chou texts h
ave “know
” (Tib: sh
es).
66.Alth
ough th
e small an
d Lan
chou texts h
ave the w
ord written
(Tib: bris), th
e Lh
asa Zh
ol and Tog Palace texts h
ave taken(T
ib: blang), w
hich
agrees with
the C
onze’s San
skrit editionan
d th
e Gilgit fragm
ent (Skt: u
dgöh
ya). Furth
ermo
re,K
amalaâh
ïla’s comm
entary (p. 265b) explain
s taken (Tib:
blang) as “readin
g in recitation
” (Tib: blan
gs nas zh
es bya ba
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
7
“Wh
y is that? Furth
er, Subhüti, because a bodh
isattva should
not w
rongly grasp ph
enom
ena, n
or grasp non
-phen
omen
a.”T
herefore, th
inkin
g of that, th
e Tathägata said, “If, by th
osew
ho kn
ow th
is Dh
arma treatise as like a boat, even
dharm
assh
ou
ld b
e given u
p, w
hat n
eed is th
ere to m
entio
n n
on
-dh
armas?”
17
Further, the Bhagavän said to the venerable Subhüti, “Subhüti,
wh
at do you thin
k about this? D
oes that dh
arma th
at was m
ani-
festly and com
pletely realized by the Tath
ägata, unsurpassed
perfect and com
plete enligh
tenm
ent, exist w
hatsoever? H
as any
Dh
arma been
taught by th
e Tathägata?”
18
He said
that, an
d th
e venerable Su
bhü
ti replied
to the
Bh
agavän, “B
hagavän
, as I understan
d this m
eanin
g that w
astaugh
t by the B
hagavän
, that dh
arma th
at was m
anifestly an
dcom
pletely realized by the Tath
ägata, unsurpassed perfect an
dcom
plete enlightenment, does not exist w
hatsoever. That dh
arma
that w
as taught by th
e Tathägata does n
ot exist wh
atsoever. Wh
yis that? B
ecause any dharma m
anifestly and completely realized
ortaught by the Tathägata is not to be grasped, not to be expressed; itis n
ot dh
arma n
or is it non
-dh
arma. W
hy is th
at? Becau
se äryabein
gs are differentiated
19 by the un
compoun
ded.”20
Th
e Bh
agavän said to th
e venerable Subh
üti, “Subhüti, w
hat
do you thin
k about this? If som
e son of th
e lineage or daugh
terof th
e lineage, com
pletely filling th
is billionfold w
orld system21
with
the seven
types of precious thin
gs, were to give gifts, 22 do
you thin
k that son
of the lin
eage or daughter of th
e lineage
would produce an
imm
ense h
eap of merit on
that basis?”
Subhüti replied, “Bhagavän, im
mense. Sugata, im
mense. T
hatson
of the lin
eage or daughter of th
e lineage w
ould produce anim
men
se heap of m
erit on th
at basis. Wh
y is that? B
hagavän
,because th
at very heap of m
erit is not a h
eap; therefore, th
eTath
ägata says, ‘Heap of m
erit, heap of m
erit.’”T
he B
hagavän
said, “Subhüti, com
pared to any son
of the
lineage or daugh
ter of the lin
eage wh
o, completely fillin
g this
billionfold w
orld system w
ith th
e seven types of precious th
ings,
were to give gifts, if som
eone, h
aving taken
23 even as little as on
estan
za of four lines from
this discourse of D
harm
a, also were to
38
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
“various,” bu
t the T
ibetan tran
slation takes th
e Sanskrit
bhäväæ as “th
oughts” or “in
clination
s” (Tib: bsam
pa).
55.Th
e other th
ree Tibetan
texts have “explan
ation” (T
ib: bshad
pa). In Sch
open’s “Textual N
ote about Folio 9b” (p. 117,n
ote 6), he seem
s to reconstruct th
e Sanskrit of “explan
ation”
[Skt: (bhäêyam
ä)ôäæ
] and cites several edition
s that h
ave aSan
skrit equivalent of “explan
ation.” C
onze leaves th
e verbout.
56.Th
e Lh
asa Zh
ol and Tog Palace texts h
ave simply “it” (T
ib:de) w
hereas th
e small an
d Lan
chou texts h
ave “for it” (or“th
ere”) (Tib: de la). C
onze’s edition
and th
e Gilgit fragm
ent
have th
e Sanskrit tatra (“for it” or “th
ere.”)
57.Th
e small an
d Lan
chou texts h
ave the opposite order, i.e.,
“is not observed an
d does not exist.”
58.Th
e small an
d L
anch
ou texts h
ave “inequ
ivalence an
dequivalen
ce do not exist th
ere,” but Con
ze’s Sanskrit edition
and th
e Gilgit fragm
ent h
ave only “for it, in
equivalence does
not exist w
hatsoever” (Skt: n
a tatra kiæcid viêam
as).
59.Th
e small an
d Lan
chou texts h
ave “have en
gaged in th
ew
rong path
” (Tib: log pa’i lam
du zhugs pa ste) but th
e Lh
asaZ
hol an
d Tog Palace texts read “have w
rongly en
gaged byaban
donin
g” (Tib: log par spon
g bas zhugs pa ste), w
hich
agrees with
the San
skrit in C
onze’s edition
and in
the G
ilgitfragm
ent, “m
ithyä-prah
äôa-prasötä).
60.Th
e Sanskrit w
ord dharmatä (T
ib: chos n
yid) refers to the
nature of dh
armas, th
e nature of ph
enom
ena. H
ere, it refersto
the u
ltimate n
ature o
f ph
eno
men
a, no
t just th
econ
vention
al nature n
or the doctrin
e (as is translated by
Con
ze and Sch
open).
61.Con
e Gragspa’s T
ibetan com
men
tary (p. 141) says, “Th
e
8 T
he V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
explain an
d correctly and th
oroughly teach
it to others, on
that
basis, the h
eap of merit produced w
ould be much
greater, incal-
culable, unfath
omable. W
hy is th
at? Subhüti, because th
e un-
surpassed perfectly completed en
lighten
men
t of the tath
ägataarh
at perfectly completed buddh
as arises from it; th
e buddha
bhagavän
s also are produced from it. W
hy is th
at? Subhüti, be-
cause the buddh
a dharm
as called ‘buddha dh
armas,’ are th
osebuddh
a dharm
as taught by th
e Tathägata as n
on-existen
t; there-
fore, they are called ‘buddh
a dharm
as.’“Subh
üti, wh
at do you thin
k about this? D
oes the stream
-en
terer thin
k, ‘I have attain
ed the result of stream
-enterer’?”
Subhüti replied, “Bhagavän, it is not so. W
hy is that? Bhagavän,
because one does n
ot enter in
to anyth
ing w
hatsoever; th
ere-fore, on
e is called ‘stream-en
terer.’ On
e has n
ot entered in
toform
, nor en
tered into soun
d, nor in
to smell, n
or into taste, n
orin
to tactility, nor en
tered into a ph
enom
enon
; 24 therefore, on
eis called ‘stream
-enterer.’ B
hagavän
, if that stream
-enterer w
ereto th
ink ‘I h
ave attained th
e result of stream-en
terer,’ that itself
would be a graspin
g of that as a self, 25 graspin
g as a sentien
tbein
g, grasping as a livin
g being, graspin
g as a person.”
Th
e Bh
agavän said, “Subh
üti, wh
at do you thin
k about this?
Does th
e once-return
er thin
k, ‘I have attain
ed the result of on
ce-return
er’?”Subh
üti replied, “Bh
agavän, it is n
ot so. Wh
y is that? B
ecauseth
e phen
omen
on of en
try into th
e state of the on
ce-returner
does not exist whatsoever. T
herefore, one says, ‘once-returner.’”26
Th
e Bh
agavän said, “Subh
üti, wh
at do you thin
k about this?
Does th
e non
-returner th
ink, ‘I h
ave attained th
e result of non
-return
er’?”Subh
üti replied, “Bh
agavän, it is n
ot so. Wh
y is that? B
ecauseth
e phen
omen
on of en
try into th
e state of the n
on-return
erdoes n
ot exist wh
atsoever. Th
erefore, one says, ‘n
on-return
er.’”27
Th
e Bh
agavän said, “Subh
üti, wh
at do you thin
k about this?
Does th
e arhat th
ink, ‘I h
ave attained th
e result of arhatsh
ip’?”Subh
üti replied, “Bh
agavän, it is n
ot so. Wh
y is that? B
ecauseth
e ph
enom
enon
called ‘arh
at’ does n
ot exist wh
atsoever.B
hagavän
, if the arh
at were to th
ink, ‘I h
ave attained th
e result
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
37
119–20) lists “variou
s illnesses an
d q
uarrels, d
ispu
tes,un
earthin
g of faults and bon
dage, beating, an
d so forth.”
Schopen
notes (n
ote 11, p. 137) “that un
meritorious karm
acould be elim
inated as a result of bein
g abused by others for
havin
g adopted a particular practice or position,” but th
egen
eral position seem
s to be that n
on-m
eritorious karma is
purified by undergoin
g man
y types of suffering.
47.Th
e Lh
asa Zh
ol and Tog Palace edition
s have “beyon
d,”w
hich
agrees with
the San
skrit. Th
e small an
d L
anch
ouedition
s have “before.”
48.Lh
asa Zh
ol and Tog Palace edition
s have “m
i pod”; the sm
allan
d Lan
chou edition
s have “n
ye bar mi ’gro.” B
oth ph
rasescan
be translation
s of the San
skrit nopaiti, “to approach.”
49.Tib: yan
g dag pa de zhin
nyid; Skt: bh
üta-tathatäyä.
50.Th
e Lh
asa Zh
ol and Tog Palace edition
s as well as th
e Gilgit
fragmen
t have as h
ere translated. T
he sm
all and L
anch
ouedition
s as well as on
e of the several San
skrit editions C
onze
consulted (th
at of Pargiter) have th
e additional ph
rase “ortaugh
t.”
51.Th
e small an
d Lan
chou edition
s have “a bein
g endow
ed with
a hum
an body.”
52.“Similarly” h
ere mean
s “he sh
ou
ld n
ot b
e called a
‘bodhisattva.’” See Sch
open (n
. 15, p. 138).
53.Th
e Lh
asa Zh
ol and
Tog Palace ed
itions an
d th
e Gilgit
fragmen
t have “bodh
isattva” repeated twice. T
he sm
all and
Lan
cho
u ed
ition
s and
Co
nze’s San
skrit editio
n h
ave“bodh
isattva” followed by “m
ahäsattva.”
54.“Differen
t though
ts” (Skt: nän
äbhäväæ
; Tib: bsam
pa tha dad
pa) is translated by C
onze as “m
anifold” an
d by Schopen
as
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
9
of arhatsh
ip,’ that itself w
ould be a grasping of th
at as a self,graspin
g as a sentien
t being, graspin
g as a living bein
g, grasping
as a person.
“Bh
agavän, I w
as declared by the Tath
ägata Arh
at PerfectlyC
ompleted B
uddha as th
e foremost of th
ose wh
o abide with
outaffliction
s. 28 Bh
agavän, I am
an arh
at, free of attachm
ent; but,
Bh
agavän, I do n
ot thin
k, ‘I am an
arhat.’ B
hagavän
, if I were to
thin
k, ‘I have attain
ed arhatsh
ip,’ the Tath
ägata would n
ot have
made th
e prediction about m
e saying, ‘T
he son
of the lin
eage,Subh
üti, is the forem
ost of those w
ho abide w
ithout affliction
s.Sin
ce not abidin
g in an
ythin
g wh
atsoever, he abides w
ithout af-
fliction, h
e abides with
out affliction.’”
Th
e Bh
agavän said, “Subh
üti, wh
at do you thin
k about this?
Does th
at dharm
a that w
as received by the Tath
ägata from th
eTath
ägata Arh
at Perfectly Com
pleted Buddh
a Dïpaô
kara existw
hatsoever?”Subh
üti replied, “Bh
agavän, it is n
ot so. Th
at dharm
a that
was received by th
e Tathägata from
the Tath
ägata Arh
at Per-fectly C
ompleted B
uddha D
ïpaôkara does n
ot exist wh
atsoever.”T
he B
hagavän
said, “Subhüti, if som
e bodhisattva w
ere to say,‘I sh
all actualize arranged fields,’ 29 th
ey would speak un
truly.W
hy is th
at? Subhüti, because arran
ged fields called ‘arranged
fields,’ those arran
gemen
ts are taught by th
e Tathägata as n
on-
existent; th
erefore, they are called ‘arran
ged fields.’ Subhüti,
therefore, th
e bodhisattva m
ahäsattva th
us should gen
erate the
min
d with
out abiding, sh
ould generate th
e min
d not abidin
g inan
ythin
g. Th
ey should gen
erate the m
ind n
ot abiding in
form,
should gen
erate the m
ind n
ot abiding in
sound, sm
ell, taste,tactility, or ph
enom
enon
.“Subh
üti, it is like this: If, for exam
ple, the body of a bein
gw
ere to become th
us, were to becom
e like this, as big as Sum
eru,th
e king of m
ountain
s, Subhüti, w
hat do you th
ink about th
is?W
ould that body
30 be big?”Subh
üti replied, “Bh
agavän, th
at body would be big. Sugata,
that body w
ould be big. Wh
y is that? B
ecause it is taught by th
eTath
ägata as not bein
g a thin
g; therefore, it is called a ‘body.’
Since it is taugh
t by the Tath
ägata as not bein
g a thin
g; there-
36
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
worth
y to be explained.”
40.Alth
ough
the L
hasa Z
hol an
d Tog P
alace edition
s have
“appreciate” (Tib: m
os pa), the oth
er two T
ibetan edition
s,K
amalaâh
ïla’s comm
entary (p. 237b), as w
ell as the G
ilgitSan
skrit fragmen
t all have “aston
ishin
g” (Tib: n
go mtsh
ar;Skt: äâcaryaæ
), and
Co
nze’s San
skrit editio
n ch
oo
ses“difficult” (Skt: duêkaraæ
).
41.Alth
ough Sch
open n
otes the G
ilgit fragmen
t has “evil kin
g”(Skt: kaliräjaë
), all four Tibetan
editions as w
ell as Con
ze’sSan
skrit have “kaliû
ga.”
42.Skt: öêi.
43.Ten m
illion (Skt: koåi; T
ib: bye ba) and h
undred billion
(Skt:n
iyuta; Tib: kh
rag khrig) are com
mon
ly used in den
oting
large num
bers.
44.Alth
ough m
issing in
the L
hasa Z
hol edition
and C
onze’s
Sanskrit edition
, the Tog Palace, L
anch
ou, and sm
all editions
each h
ave an ad
ditio
nal p
hrase h
ere, “On
e sho
uld
understan
d as just unim
aginable also th
e maturation
of this.”
45.Tib: m
chod rten
; Skt: caitya (caityabhüta). T
he San
skrit word
stupa is also translated as th
e same T
ibetan w
ord mchod rten
but the San
skrit text has caitya. E
arlier in th
e text the ph
rase“m
chod rten
du gyur” was tran
slated “real shrin
e.” Here th
eT
ibetan ph
rase “mch
od rten lta bur ’gyur ro” is tran
slated as“‘w
ill become like a sh
rine.”
46.“Tormen
ted” (Tib: m
nar ba; Skt: paribh
üta). Th
e Sanskrit
paribhüta is translated by Conze as “hum
bled” and by Schopenas “ridiculed.” H
owever, A
pte (p. 982) defines paribhüta as
“1. Overpow
ered, conquered. 2. D
isregarded, slighted.” T
he
Tibetan
mnar ba also refers to torture or excruciatin
g pain in
general. T
he T
ibetan com
men
tary by Con
e Gragspa (pp.
10
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
fore, it is called a ‘big body.’”T
he B
hagavän
said, “Subhüti, w
hat do you th
ink about th
is?If th
ere were also just as m
any G
anges R
ivers as there are grain
sof san
d in th
e river Gan
ges, would th
eir grains of san
d be man
y?”Subh
üti replied, “Bh
agavän, if th
ose very Gan
ges Rivers w
erem
any, th
ere is no n
eed to men
tion th
eir grains of san
d.”T
he B
hagavän
said, “Subhüti, you sh
ould appreciate; yoush
ould understan
d. 31 If some m
an or w
oman
, completely fillin
gw
ith th
e seven kin
ds of precious thin
gs that m
any w
orld systems
as there are grain
s of sand of th
ose rivers Gan
ges, 32 were to offer
that to the tathägata arhat perfectly completed buddhas, Subhüti,
wh
at do you thin
k about this? W
ould that m
an or w
oman
pro-duce m
uch m
erit on th
at basis?”Subh
üti replied, “Bh
agavän, m
uch. Sugata, m
uch. T
hat m
anor w
oman
would produce m
uch m
erit on th
at basis.”T
he B
hagavän
said, “Subhüti, com
pared to someon
e wh
o,com
pletely filling th
at man
y world system
s with
the seven
typesof precious th
ings, w
ere to give gifts to the tath
ägata arhat per-
fectly completed buddh
as, if someon
e, havin
g taken even
as littleas a stan
za of four lines from
this discourse of D
harm
a, were to
explain it an
d correctly and th
oroughly teach
it also to others,
on th
at basis the m
erit that itself w
ould produce would be m
uchgreater, in
calculable, unfath
omable.
“Furtherm
ore, Subhüti, if, at w
hatever place on
earth even
astan
za of four lines from
this discourse on
Dh
arma is recited or
taught, th
at place on earth
is a real shrin
e33 of th
e world w
ithdevas, h
uman
s, and asuras, w
hat n
eed to men
tion th
at wh
oevertakes up th
is discourse of Dh
arma, m
emorizes, reads, un
der-stan
ds, and properly takes to m
ind
34 will be m
ost astonish
ing. A
tth
at place on earth
[wh
ere] the Teach
er resides; other levels of
gurus also abide.”35
He said
that an
d th
e venerable Su
bhü
ti replied
to the
Bh
agavän, “B
hagavän
, wh
at is the n
ame of th
is discourse ofD
harm
a? How
should it be rem
embered?”
He said
that an
d th
e Bh
agavän rep
lied to th
e venerable
Subhüti, “Subh
üti, the n
ame of th
is Dh
arma discourse is th
e‘w
isdom gon
e beyond’; it sh
ould be remem
bered like that. W
hy
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
35
disco
urse o
f Dh
arma, w
rites, mem
orizes, h
old
s, reads,
understan
ds, and properly takes to m
ind…
”
35.Th
e wordin
g of the L
hasa Z
hol an
d Tog Palace editions
differs from th
at of the L
anch
ou and sm
all editions. T
he
former is as tran
slated above (sa phyogs de n
a ston pa yan
gbzh
ugs te, bla ma’i gn
as gzhan
dag kyang gn
as so); the later
could be translated as “A
t that place on
earth eith
er the
Teacher or som
e such guru abides (sa ph
yogs de na ston
pa’m, bla m
a lta bu gang yan
g rung bar gn
as so).
36.Th
e Gilgit fragm
ent begin
s from th
is point.
37.Th
e Lh
asa Zh
ol and Tog Palace edition
s both h
ave “thirty-
two m
arks of the Tath
ägata” wh
ere as the L
anch
ou, small,
and San
skrit editions h
ave “thirty-tw
o marks of a great bein
g.”
38.Th
e Lan
chou an
d small edition
s have “If som
eone, takin
geven
as little as a stanza of four lin
es from th
is discourse ofD
harm
a, were to correctly teach
it to others…
” Th
e text ofth
e Gilgit fragm
ent for th
is paragraph accords w
ith th
e Lh
asaZ
hol an
d Tog Palace editions.
Con
ze’s translation
, “Th
e Lord
: An
d again
Subh
uti,
suppose a wom
an or m
an w
ould day by day renoun
ce allth
ey have an
d all they are, as m
any tim
es as there grain
s ofsan
d in th
e river Gan
ges, and if th
ey should ren
ounce all
they h
ave and all th
ey are for as man
y aeons as th
ere aregrains of sand in the river G
anges – but if someone else w
ould,after takin
g from th
is discourse on D
harm
a but one stan
zaof four lin
es, demon
strate and illum
inate it to oth
ers…,”
mixes elem
ents from
other texts.
39.Th
e wordin
g of the L
anch
ou and sm
all editions differs: “T
his
disco
urse o
n D
harm
a taugh
t ho
wever m
uch
by th
eTath
ägata…” K
amalaâh
ïla’s comm
entary (p. 236b) accords
with
that readin
g and explain
s “how
ever much
” as mean
ing
“explain to th
e bodhisattvas w
ith h
owever m
any w
ays as are
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
11
is that? Subh
üti, because the very sam
e wisdom
gone beyon
dth
at is taught by th
e Tathägata is n
ot gone beyon
d; therefore, it
is called ‘wisdom
gone beyon
d.’“Subh
üti, wh
at do you thin
k about this? D
oes the dh
arma
that is taugh
t by the Tath
ägata exist wh
atsoever?”Subh
üti replied, “Bh
agavän, th
e dharm
a that is taugh
t by the
Tathägata does n
ot exist wh
atsoever.”36
Th
e Bh
agavän said, “Subh
üti, wh
at do thin
k about this? A
reth
e quantities of particles of earth
that exist in
a billionfold w
orldsystem
man
y?”Subh
üti replied, “Bh
agavän, th
e particles of earth are m
any.
Sugata, they are m
any. W
hy is th
at? Bh
agavän, because th
at wh
ichis a particle of earth
was taugh
t by the Tath
ägata as not bein
g aparticle; th
erefore, it is called ‘particle of earth.’ T
hat w
hich
is aw
orld system w
as taught by th
e Tathägata as n
ot being a w
orldsystem
; therefore, it is called a ‘w
orld system.’”
Th
e Tathägata said, “Subh
üti, wh
at do you thin
k about this?
Is one to be view
ed as the Tath
ägata Arh
at Perfectly Com
pletedB
uddha due to th
ose thirty-tw
o marks of a great bein
g?”Subhüti replied, “B
hagavän, it is not so. Why is that? B
hagavän,because th
ose thirty-tw
o marks of a great bein
g that are taugh
tby th
e Tathägata are taugh
t by the Tath
ägata as no m
arks; there-
fore, they are called ‘th
irty-two m
arks of the Tath
ägata.’”37
Th
e Bh
agavän said, “Furth
er, Subhüti, com
pared with
some
man
or wom
an com
pletely giving up bodies n
umberin
g the
grains of san
d of the river G
anges, if som
eone, takin
g even as
little as a stanza of four lin
es from th
is discourse of Dh
arma, also
were to teach
it to others, 38 th
ey would produce on
that basis
man
y greater merits, in
calculable, unfath
omable.”
Th
ereupon, th
e venerable Subh
üti, due to the im
pact of the
Dh
arma, sh
ed tears. Havin
g wiped aw
ay the tears, h
e replied toth
e Bh
agavän, “B
hagavän
, this discourse on
Dh
arma taugh
t thus
by the Tath
ägata, 39 Bh
agavän, is aston
ishin
g. Sugata, it is aston-
ishin
g. Bh
agavän, sin
ce my production
of exalted wisdom
, I have
never before h
eard this discourse on
Dh
arma. B
hagavän
, those
sentien
t beings w
ho w
ill produce correct discrimin
ation upon
this sütra bein
g explained w
ill be most aston
ishin
g. Wh
y is that?
34
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
word käya is used at th
e beginn
ing of th
is paragraph (...if,
for example, th
e body of a being w
ere to become th
us, were
to become like th
is, as big as Sumeru…
)
31.Co
nze’s San
skrit editio
n h
as “ärocayäm
i te Sub
hü
tip
rativedayäm
i te,” wh
ich h
e translates as “T
his is w
hat I
ann
ounce to you, Subh
uti; this is w
hat I m
ake know
n to you”
– both sen
tences in
the first person
. How
ever, all four Tibetan
editions used for th
is translation
have “rab ’byor, kh
yod mos
par bya, khyod kyis kh
ong du ch
ud par bya’o,” the secon
dph
rase of wh
ich tran
slates as “you should un
derstand.” T
he
first phrase could be tran
slated as “I shall an
noun
ce to you”if w
e assum
e the T
ibetan w
ord “m
os” (“app
reciate” or“believe”) is actually “sm
os” (“men
tion” or “an
noun
ce”), one
Sanskrit equivalen
t of “smos” bein
g “ärocayati” (see Lokesh
Ch
andra, p. 1,882).
To complicate th
ings furth
er, Kam
alaâhïla’s com
men
tary(p. 233a) h
as “mos par bya zh
es bya ba ni ’dod pa ste, m
os pabskyed par bya’o kh
ong du ch
ud par bya’o zhes bya ba n
irtogs par bya ba ste sh
es rab bskyed do zhes bya ba’i th
a tsiggo / ’di la sn
ga ma n
i phyi m
a’i ’bras bu’o / yang n
a phyi m
an
i snga m
a’i bshed pa’o / bsh
ed ces bya ba ni sgra’o / w
ang
dag par bstan zh
es bya ba ni ’dod pa ste m
os par bskyed pa’idon
to.”
32.Th
e Lh
asa Zh
ol edition differs from
the oth
er three T
ibetanedition
s and C
onze’s San
skrit edition by sayin
g, “…w
orldsystem
s equal to the grain
s of sand of th
e river Gan
ges.” As
this would seem
to ignore the imm
ediately previous elaborateexam
ple, the version
of the oth
er texts is used here on
the
assumption
of scribal error.
33.“Real sh
rine” (T
ib: mch
od rten du gyur; Skt: caityabh
üta).
34.Th
e Lh
asa Zh
ol an
d T
og P
alace editio
ns as w
ell asK
amalaâh
ïla’s comm
entary (p. 233b) agree on
this list. T
he
Lan
chou an
d small edition
s have “w
hoever takes up th
is
12
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
Bh
agavän, because th
at wh
ich is correct discrim
ination
is not
discrimin
ation; th
erefore, correct discrimin
ation w
as taught by
the Tath
ägata saying ‘correct discrim
ination
.’ Bh
agavän, upon
this D
harm
a discourse being explain
ed, that I im
agine an
d ap-preciate is n
ot astonish
ing
40 to me. B
hagavän
, in th
e final tim
e,in
the fin
al age, at the en
d of the five h
undred, th
ose sentien
tbein
gs wh
o take up this D
harm
a discourse, mem
orize, read, and
understan
d it will be m
ost astonish
ing. Furth
ermore, B
hagavän
,th
ey will n
ot engage in
discrimin
ating a self; w
ill not en
gage indiscrim
inatin
g a sentien
t being, discrim
inatin
g a living bein
g,discrim
inatin
g a person. W
hy is th
at? Bh
agavän, because th
atitself w
hich
is discrimin
ation as a self, discrim
ination
as a sen-
tient bein
g, discrimin
ation as a livin
g being, an
d discrimin
ationas a p
erson is n
ot discrim
ination
. Wh
y is that? B
ecause th
ebuddh
a bhagavän
s are free of all discrimin
ation.”
He said
that an
d th
e Bh
agavän rep
lied to th
e venerable
Subhüti, “Subh
üti, it is so; it is so. Upon
this sütra bein
g ex-plain
ed, those sen
tient bein
gs wh
o are unafraid, un
terrified, and
will n
ot become terrified w
ill be most aston
ishin
g. Wh
y is that?
Subhüti, because th
is high
est wisdom
gone beyon
d, taught by
the Tath
ägata, the h
ighest w
isdom gon
e beyond th
at is taught
by the Tath
ägata, was also tau
ght by u
nfath
omable bu
dd
ha
bhagavän
s – therefore, it is called ‘h
ighest w
isdom gon
e beyond.’
“Further, Subh
üti, that itself w
hich
is the patien
ce gone be-
yond of the Tathägata has not gone beyond. Why is that? Subhüti,
because wh
en th
e king of K
aliûga
41 cut off my lim
bs and ap-
pendages, at th
at time th
ere did not arise in
me discrim
ination
as a self, discrimin
ation as a sen
tient bein
g, discrimin
ation as a
living bein
g, nor discrim
ination
as a person, an
d in m
e there
was n
o discrimin
ation w
hatsoever, yet th
ere was also n
o non
-discrim
ination
. Wh
y is that? Subh
üti, because, if at that tim
eth
ere had arisen
in m
e discrimin
ation as a self, at th
at time th
erew
ould also have arisen
discrimin
ation of m
alice; if there h
adarisen
discrimin
ation as a sen
tient bein
g, discrimin
ation as a
living bein
g, discrimin
ation as a person
, at that tim
e there w
ouldalso h
ave arisen discrim
ination
of malice.
“Subhüti, I kn
ow w
ith clairvoyan
ce that in
the past period,
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
33
Sanskrit ed
ition u
sed by C
onze, leave ou
t the follow
ing
sentence found in the other two T
ibetan editions: “Bhagavän,
if the on
ce-returner w
ere to thin
k ‘I have attain
ed the result
of once-return
er,’ that itself w
ould be a grasping of th
at as aself, graspin
g as a sentien
t being, graspin
g as a living bein
g,graspin
g as a person.”
27.Again
, the follow
ing sen
tence is left as before: “B
hagavän
, ifa n
on-return
er were to th
ink, ‘I h
ave attained th
e result ofn
on-return
er,’ that itself w
ould be a grasping of th
at as a self,grasping as sentient being, grasping as a living being, graspingas a person
.”
28.Con
ze translates th
is as “the forem
ost of those w
ho dw
ell inpeace” (Skt: araô
ä-vihäriô
äm agryo; T
ib: nyon
mon
gs pa med
par gnas pa rnams kyi m
chog). In the translation of The M
iddleL
ength Discourses of the B
uddha (Majjhim
a Nikäya) (p. 1,345,
n. 1,263), it is m
ention
ed that Subh
üti was recogn
ized asforem
ost in tw
o categories, “those w
ho live w
ithout con
flictan
d those w
ho are w
orthy of gifts.”
Alth
ough
the San
skrit word
“araôa” can
mean
“not
fightin
g” (Apte, p. 213) an
d hen
ce, “with
out conflict” or
“peace,” the T
ibetan tran
slation of “n
yon m
ongs pa m
ed pa”as “w
ithout affliction
s” migh
t reflect the in
tention
of this
epithet, in
that Subh
üti was said to be very an
gry as a youthan
d had to overcom
e this faulty beh
avior in particular to
achieve h
igher realization
s.
29.Arran
ged field
s (Skt: kêetra-vyüh
än; T
ib: zhin
g bkod p
arn
ams) [tran
slated by Con
ze as “harm
onies of B
uddha-fields”
and by Sch
open as “‘w
onderful arran
gemen
ts’ in m
y sphere
of activity”] refers to the bodh
isattva activity of creating th
ecauses of th
eir future buddha-field.
30.Con
ze’s Sanskrit ed
ition h
as “person
al existence” (Skt:
ätmabh
äva) at this poin
t and in
the follow
ing paragraph
forth
e word “body” (Skt: käya; T
ib: lus). How
ever the San
skrit
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
13
during five h
undred lifetim
es, I was th
e rishi 42 called ‘Preach
erof Patien
ce’; even th
en th
ere did not arise in
me th
e discrimin
a-tion
as a self; there did n
ot arise the discrim
ination
as a sentien
tbein
g, discrimin
ation as a livin
g being, discrim
ination
as a per-son
. Subhüti, th
erefore, the bodh
isattva mah
äsattva, completely
abandon
ing all discrim
ination
, should gen
erate the m
ind for
unsurpassed perfectly com
plete enligh
tenm
ent. O
ne sh
ouldgen
erate the m
ind n
ot abiding in
form. O
ne sh
ould generate
the m
ind n
ot abiding in
sound, sm
ell, taste, tactility, or phe-
nom
ena. O
ne sh
ould generate th
e min
d not abidin
g in n
on-
phen
omen
a either. O
ne sh
ould generate th
e min
d not abidin
gin
anyth
ing w
hatsoever. W
hy is th
at? Because th
at itself wh
ich is
abiding does n
ot abide. Th
erefore, the Tath
ägata taught, ‘T
he
bodhisattva sh
ould give gifts not abidin
g.’“Further, Subhüti, the bodhisattva should thus totally give aw
aygifts for th
e welfare of all sen
tient bein
gs. How
ever, that itself
wh
ich is discrim
ination
as a sentien
t being is n
on-discrim
ina-
tion. T
hose th
emselves w
ho w
ere taught by th
e Tathägata sayin
g‘all sen
tient bein
gs’ also do not exist. W
hy is th
at? Subhüti, be-
cause the Tath
ägata teaches reality, teach
es truth, teach
es wh
atis; th
e Tathägata teach
es wh
at is with
out error.“Furth
er, Subhüti, th
e dharm
a that is m
anifestly an
d com-
pletely realized or show
n by th
e Tathägata h
as neith
er truth n
orfalsity. Subh
üti, it is like this, for exam
ple: if a man
with
eyes has
entered darkn
ess, he does n
ot see anyth
ing w
hatsoever; likew
isesh
ould one view
the bodh
isattva wh
o totally gives up a gift byfallin
g into an
ythin
g.“Subh
üti, it is like this, for exam
ple: upon daw
n an
d the sun
rising, a man w
ith eyes sees various kinds of forms; likew
ise shouldon
e view th
e bodhisattva w
ho totally gives up a gift by n
ot falling
into an
ythin
g.“Furth
er, Subhüti, th
ose sons of th
e lineage or daugh
ters ofth
e lineage w
ho take up th
is Dh
arma discourse, m
emorize, read,
understan
d, and correctly an
d thorough
ly teach it to oth
ers indetail are know
n by the Tathägata, they are seen by the Tathägata.A
ll those sen
tient bein
gs will produce an
unfath
omable h
eap ofm
erit.
32
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
world system
s,” thus in
cludes a billion w
orld systems.
22.No recipien
t is specified in an
y of the four T
ibetan edition
sn
or in K
amalaâh
ïla’s comm
entary at th
is poin
t, wh
ereasC
onze’s San
skrit edition
specifies th
e recipien
ts as the
tathägata arh
at perfectly completed buddh
as.
23.Kam
alaâhïla’s com
men
tary (p. 227a) explains “h
aving taken
”as “don
e in recitation
” (bzung n
as ni zh
es bya ba kha ton
dubyas ba’o). T
he T
ibetan com
men
tary says (p. 93–4), “To takeis to take th
e words to m
ind – suitable to apply even
to havin
gth
e text in h
and – an
d to recite.”
24.Th
e Lh
asa Zh
ol and Tog Palace edition
s both h
ave singular.
Th
e Lan
chou an
d small texts both
have plural.
25.Con
ze translates th
e Sanskrit (section
9a) “sa eva tasya-ätma-
gräho bh
avet sattva-gräho jïva-gräh
o pudgala-gräho bh
avediti” as “…
then
that w
ould be in h
im a seizin
g of self, seizing
of a being, seizin
g of a soul, seizing of a person
.” How
ever,th
e Tibetan
comm
entary exp
lains th
e genitive “of th
at”(“de’i” or “de yi”) as follow
s (p. 95): “Saying, ‘th
at itself would
be grasping of th
at as a self’ (de nyid de yi bdag tu ’dzin
par’gyur ro) teach
es (grasping to) th
e person an
d the result as
self-grasping an
d true grasping. T
he first is graspin
g to a selfo
f the p
erson
and
the seco
nd
is graspin
g to a self o
fph
enom
ena.”
On
e migh
t argue that it is better to tran
slate the ph
rase“de n
yid de’i bdag tu ’dzin par ’gyur lags so” as, “th
at itselfw
ould be a grasping to a self of th
at,” rather th
an, “th
at itselfw
ould be a grasping of th
at as a self.” But, accordin
g to the
Präsaûgika M
adhyam
aka school, th
e men
tal action called
“self-grasping” or “graspin
g as a self” (bdag tu ’dzin pa) takes
as its referent object th
e conven
tional self (of a person
oroth
er phen
omen
a) and con
ceives of it as a truly existent self.
Th
e “self” of “self-grasping” is n
ot wh
at is being grasped.
26.Th
e Lh
asa Zh
ol and
Tog Palace ed
itions, as w
ell as the
14
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
“Further, Subh
üti, compared to som
e man
or wom
an, at th
etim
e of dawn
, totally giving up bodies n
umberin
g the grain
s ofsan
d of the river G
anges – also totally givin
g up bodies num
ber-in
g the grain
s of sand of th
e river Gan
ges at the tim
e of midday
and even
ing, in
such n
umber totally givin
g up bodies for man
yh
undred th
ousands of ten
million
, hun
dred billion eon
s43 – if
someon
e, havin
g heard th
is Dh
arma discourse, w
ould not re-
ject it, if they th
emselves w
ould produce much
greater merit on
that basis, in
calculable, unfath
omable, w
hat n
eed to men
tionsom
eone w
ho, h
aving w
ritten it in
letters, takes it up, mem
o-rizes, reads, un
derstands, an
d correctly and th
oroughly teach
esit to oth
ers in detail?
“Further, Subh
üti, this D
harm
a discourse is unim
aginable an
din
comp
arable. 44 Th
is Dh
arma d
iscourse w
as taugh
t by the
Tathägata for th
e benefit of sen
tient bein
gs wh
o have correctly
entered in
to the suprem
e vehicle, th
e welfare of sen
tient bein
gsw
ho h
ave correctly entered in
to the best veh
icle. Th
ose wh
otake up th
is Dh
arma discourse, m
emorize, read, un
derstand,
and correctly an
d thorough
ly teach it to oth
ers in detail are
know
n by th
e Tathägata; th
ey are seen by th
e Tathägata. A
ll those
sentien
t beings w
ill be endow
ed with
an un
fathom
able heap of
merit. B
eing en
dowed w
ith an
unim
aginable h
eap of merit, in
-com
parable, imm
easurable, and lim
itless, all those sen
tient be-
ings w
ill hold m
y enligh
tenm
ent on
the sh
oulder. Wh
y is that?
Subhüti, th
is Dh
arma discourse is un
able to be heard by th
osew
ho appreciate th
e inferior, by th
ose viewin
g a self, by those
viewin
g a sentien
t being, by th
ose viewin
g a living bein
g; those
viewin
g a person are un
able to hear, to take up, to m
emorize, to
read, and to un
derstand because th
at cann
ot be.“Furth
er, Subhüti, at w
hatever place on
earth th
is sütra istaugh
t, that place on
earth w
ill become w
orthy to be paid h
om-
age by the w
orld with
devas, hum
ans, an
d asuras. Th
at place onearth
will becom
e worth
y as an object of prostration
and w
orthy
as an object of circum
ambulation
. Th
at place on earth
will be-
come like a sh
rine. 45
“Subhüti, w
hatever son
of the lin
eage or daughter of th
e lin-
eage takes up the w
ords of a sütra like this, m
emorizes, reads,
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
31
Tathägata as un
surpassed…” an
d “Has th
at Dh
arma been
taught at all…
”
19.Kam
alaâhïla’s com
men
tary (p. 225b) quotes a text (wh
ichh
e calls Com
pendium of B
uddha, (Tib: Sangs rgyas yang dag par
sdud pa), Buddha-saæ
gïti: “Än
anda, th
at wh
ich is th
e non
-production
, the n
on-disin
tegration, th
e non
-abiding, an
d the
non
-alteration of ph
enom
ena is ‘th
e ärya truth.’ Ä
nan
da,th
e Tathägata h
aving con
sidered this, said, ‘T
he ärya h
earers(ârävaka) are distin
guished by th
e uncom
pounded.’ T
his
(mean
s) wh
ether th
e tathägatas arise or do n
ot arise, becauseof perm
anen
tly existing like th
at and un
chan
geable, (they
are) uncom
pounded. B
ecause of realizing th
at, the ärya
beings are d
istingu
ished
by that becau
se the äryas are
distinguish
ed by realizing th
e uniquen
ess of phen
omen
a(ch
os kyi de kh
o na). B
ecause an
other u
niqu
e entity is
unsuitable.”
20.Read
“’du
s ma b
yas” for “’d
us m
a bgyis.” P
erhap
s the
inten
tion of th
e editor of the L
hasa Z
hol text h
ere is to make
“uncom
pounded” m
ore hon
orific, as it refers to that w
hich
distinguish
es the ärya bein
gs.
21.Literally, “th
e great thou
sand
of three th
ousan
d w
orldsystem
s” (Skt: trisähasram
ahäsäh
asram lokadh
ätu; Tib: ston
ggsum
gyi stong ch
en po’i ’jig rten
gyi kham
s), wh
ich is w
ellkn
own
in B
uddhist literature. H
ere, the basic w
orld referredto includes four continents, the sun and m
oon, Sumeru (king
of moun
tains), th
e desire realm gods, an
d the first of th
eform
realms of B
rahm
a.T
he “w
orld systems of th
ree thousan
d” refers to the th
reecategories of such
worlds – a th
ousand basic w
orld systems
(with
the four con
tinen
ts, etc.) called “the sm
all thousan
d,”a th
ousand of th
ose (or a million
such w
orld systems) called
“the m
iddling th
ousand,” an
d a thousan
d of those (or a
billion w
orld systems) called “th
e great thousan
d.” Th
e lastof the three categories, “the great thousand of three thousand
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
15
and un
derstands, th
ey will be torm
ented; w
ill be inten
sely tor-m
ented. 46 W
hy is th
at? Subhüti, because w
hatever n
on-virtuous
actions of form
er lifetimes th
at were com
mitted by th
ose sen-
tient bein
gs that w
ould bring rebirth
in th
e lower realm
s, due totorm
ent in
this very life, th
ose non
-virtuous actions of form
erlifetim
es will be purified, an
d they w
ill also attain th
e enligh
ten-
men
t of a buddha.
“Subhüti, I kn
ow w
ith clairvoyan
ce that in
the past period, in
even more countless of countless eons, m
uch beyond even beyond
47
the Tath
ägata Arh
at Perfectly Com
pleted Buddh
a Dïpaô
kara,th
ere were eigh
ty-four hun
dred thousan
ds of ten m
illion, h
un-
dred billion buddh
as wh
om I pleased, an
d havin
g pleased, didn
ot upset. Subhüti, from
wh
atever I did, havin
g pleased and n
oth
aving upset th
ose buddha bh
agaväns an
d in th
e future period,at th
e end of th
e five hun
dred, from som
eone takin
g up this
sütra, mem
orizing, readin
g, and un
derstandin
g, Subhüti, com
-pared to th
is heap of m
erit, the form
er heap of m
erit does not
approach48 even
a hun
dredth part, a th
ousandth
part, a hun
-dred-th
ousandth
part; does not w
ithstan
d enum
eration, m
ea-sure, calculation
, similarity, equivalen
ce, or comparison
.“Subh
üti, at that tim
e, the son
s of the lin
eage or daughters of
the lin
eage will receive a quan
tity of heap of m
erit that, if I w
ereto express the heap of m
erit of those sons of the lineage or daugh-ters of th
e lineage, sen
tient bein
gs would go m
ad, would be dis-
turbed.“Furth
er, Subhüti, th
is Dh
arma discourse bein
g unim
agin-
able, its maturation
indeed sh
ould also be know
n as un
imagin
-able.”
Th
en, th
e venerab
le Sub
hü
ti replied
to th
e Bh
agavän,
“Bh
agavän, h
ow sh
ould
one w
ho h
as correctly entered
the
bodhisattva’s vehicle abide, how practice, how
control the mind?”
Th
e Bh
agavän said, “Subh
üti, here, on
e wh
o has correctly
entered th
e bodhisattva’s veh
icle should gen
erate the m
ind
thin
king th
is: ‘I shall cause all sen
tient bein
gs to pass completely
beyond sorrow
into th
e realm of n
irvana w
ithout rem
ainder of
the aggregates. A
lthough
sentien
t beings w
ere caused to passcom
pletely beyond sorrow like that, no sentient being w
hatsoever
30
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
can be read, as C
onze does, to h
ave the B
hagavän
say, “Do
not speak th
us Subhüti!” an
d then
to say, “Yes, there w
ill bein
the future period…
” Th
is seems to be m
ore in accord
with
the follow
ing w
ord “moreover” in
the L
hasa Z
hol an
dTog Palace edition
s.
14.Since th
e Tog Palace and L
anch
ou editions accord w
ith th
eSan
skrit as well as w
ith K
amalaâh
ïla’s comm
entary (p. 223a),
we h
ave translated th
at here. T
he L
hasa Z
hol edition
has:
“…n
or will th
ey engage in
discrimin
ating as discrim
ination
or non
-discrimin
ation”; th
e small text h
as: “…n
or will th
eyen
gage in n
on-discrim
ination
.”
15.Th
e small text h
as “by them
”; the oth
er three h
ave “of them
.”C
onze tran
slates the San
skrit “tesäm” as “w
ith th
em” – th
us,“…
that w
ould be with
them
a seizing on
a self…”
16.Th
is entire sen
tence is lackin
g in th
e Sanskrit. H
owever, it
occurs in on
e of three variation
s in th
e Tibetan
editions. T
he
Lh
asa Zh
ol edition h
as “…even
if they en
gage phen
omen
aas n
on-existen
t…”; th
e Tog Palace edition h
as “…even
if they
engage in
discrimin
ating ph
enom
ena as n
on-existen
t…”; th
eL
anch
ou and sm
all texts have “…
even if th
ey engage in
discrim
inatin
g ph
enom
ena as selfless…
” Kam
alaâhïla’s
comm
entary does n
ot men
tion it, leavin
g one to assum
e itm
ay not h
ave appeared in th
e version h
e was usin
g.
17.As th
e next sen
tence b
egins b
y again in
trod
ucin
g the
Bh
agavän as th
e speaker, it is unclear w
heth
er the B
hagavän
mad
e this statem
ent o
n th
is occasio
n. K
amalaâh
ïla’scom
men
tary (p. 224b) quotes the Ärya R
atna Karaôçaka Sütra
(’Phags pa dkon mchog za m
a tog gi mdo): “R
everend Subh
üti,if, by th
ose wh
o know
the D
harm
a treatise as like a boat,even
dharm
atä should be given
up, wh
at need is th
ere tom
ention non-dharmas? N
or is the abandoning of any dharma
even n
on-dh
arma.”
18.Th
e Lan
chou an
d small texts both
have “…
realized by the
16
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
was caused to passed beyond sorrow.’ W
hy is that? Subhüti, becauseif a bodhisattva engages in discrim
inating a sentient being, he isnot to be called a ‘bodhisattva.’ A
lso, if he engages in discrimin
at-in
g a person, h
e is not to be called a ‘bodh
isattva.’ Wh
y is that?
Subhüti, because th
e dharm
a called ‘one w
ho h
as correctly en-
tered the bodh
isattva’s vehicle’ does n
ot exist wh
atsoever.“Subh
üti, wh
at do you thin
k about this? D
oes that dh
arma
that w
as man
ifestly and com
pletely realized by the Tath
ägatafrom
the Tath
ägata Dïpaô
kara, unsurpassed perfect an
d com-
plete enligh
tenm
ent, exist w
hatsoever?”
He said
that an
d th
e venerable Su
bhü
ti replied
to the
Bh
agavän, “B
hagavän
, that dh
arma th
at was m
anifestly an
d com-
pletely realized by the Tath
ägata from th
e Tathägata D
ïpaôkara,
unsurpassed perfect and complete enlightenm
ent, does not existw
hatsoever.”H
e said th
at and
the B
hagavän
replied
to the ven
erableSubh
üti, “Subhüti, it is so. It is so, th
at dharm
a that w
as man
i-festly an
d co
mp
letely realized b
y the T
athägata fro
m th
eTathägata D
ïpaôkara, unsurpassed perfect and complete enlight-
enm
ent, does n
ot exist wh
atsoever. Subhüti, if th
at dharm
a that
was m
anifestly an
d completely realized by th
e Tathägata w
ere toexist at all, th
e Tathägata D
ïpaôkara w
ould not h
ave made th
eprediction
to me, sayin
g, ‘Young brah
min
, in a future period
you will becom
e the Tath
ägata Arh
at Perfectly Com
pleted Bud-
dha called àäkyam
uni.’ Subh
üti, thus, sin
ce that dh
arma th
atw
as man
ifestly and com
pletely realized by the Tath
ägata, unsur-
passed perfect and com
plete enligh
tenm
ent, does n
ot exist wh
at-soever, th
erefore, the Tath
ägata Dïpaô
kara made th
e predictionto m
e, saying, ‘Youn
g brahm
in, in
a future period you will be-
come th
e Tathägata A
rhat Perfectly C
ompleted B
uddha called
àäkyamun
i.’ Wh
y is that? B
ecause, Subhüti, ‘Tath
ägata’ is anepith
et of the such
ness of reality. 49
“Subhüti, if someone w
ere to say, ‘The Tathägata A
rhat PerfectlyC
ompleted B
uddha m
anifestly an
d completely realized un
sur-passed perfect an
d complete en
lighten
men
t,’ they w
ould speakw
rongly. Why is that? Subhüti, because that dharm
a that was m
ani-
festly and com
pletely realized by the Tath
ägata, unsurpassed
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
29
“lakêaôälakêaô
atvataë.”) H
owever, th
e Tibetan
translation
sh
ave: “de bzhin
gshegs pa la m
tsan dan
g mtsan
ma m
ed parblta’o” (readin
g our text’s “mtsan
dang m
tsan m
ed” as the
other texts read “m
tsan dan
g mtsan
ma m
ed”), wh
ich takes
the com
pound “lakêaô
a-alakêaôa” as “m
arks and n
o marks”
instead of “n
o-marks as m
arks.”T
he T
ibetan tran
slation accord
s with
Kam
alaâhïla’s
comm
entary (p. 221a): “‘…
To the degree th
ere are perfectm
arks’ mean
s ‘ultimately, to th
e degree there is adh
erence
to th
e perfect m
arks, to th
at degree th
ere is wro
ng
adheren
ce.’ ‘To the degree th
ere are no perfect m
arks’ is tobe un
derstood as explained oppositely. T
his in
dicates here
how
one sh
ould practice – by equipoise in yoga. H
ere isin
dicated how
to guard the m
ind – th
rough aban
donin
g the
two extrem
es. ‘Th
us’ one sh
ould view th
e Tathägata due to
marks, like th
e magically created B
uddha. T
his dispels th
eextrem
e of deprecation, because of n
ot deprecating th
en
irmäô
akäya of the B
hagavän
conven
tionally. N
o marks are
to be viewed ultim
ately, because marks are n
ot established at
all. Th
is dispels the extrem
e of superimposition
.”
10.Kam
alaâhïla’s com
men
tary explains th
is (on p. 220a): “Sin
ceth
e doctrine of th
e Bh
agavän is fam
ed “to remain
until five
sets of five hun
dred…,’ th
erefore, ‘the en
d’ is treated inparticular because of th
e preponderan
ce of the five dregs at
that tim
e.”
11.Th
e Lh
asa Zh
ol and Tog Palace edition
s have “bsh
ad pa ’dila,” w
hich
I find h
ard to understan
d, wh
ereas our other tw
oedition
s have “bsh
ad pa dag la,” or “upon explan
ations,”
wh
ich accords w
ith K
amalaâh
ïla (p. 221b) and th
e Sanskrit.
12.Kam
alaâhïla (p. 221b) “…
‘such as th
is’ mean
s profound an
dexten
sive mean
ing…
”
13.All four T
ibetan edition
s have th
e Bh
agavän tellin
g Subhüti
not to make the statem
ent that is quoted, whereas the Sanskrit
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
17
perfect and com
plete enligh
tenm
ent, does n
ot exist wh
atsoever.Subh
üti, that dh
arma th
at was m
anifestly an
d completely real-
ized50 by th
e Tathägata h
as neith
er truth n
or falsity. Th
erefore,‘all dh
armas are buddh
a dharm
as’ was taugh
t by the Tath
ägata.Subh
üti, ‘all dharm
as’, all those are n
on-dh
armas. T
herefore, it
is said that ‘all dh
armas are buddh
a dharm
as.’ Subhüti, it is like
this, for exam
ple: like a hum
an en
dowed w
ith a body
51 and th
ebody becam
e large.”T
he ven
erable Subhüti replied, “B
hagavän
, that taugh
t by the
Tathägata, ‘a h
uman
endow
ed with
a body and a large body,’ is
taught by th
e Tathägata as n
ot being a body. T
herefore, ‘en
-dow
ed with
a body and a large body’ is said.”
Th
e Bh
agavän said, “Subh
üti, it is so; if some bodh
isattva were
to say, ‘I shall cause sen
tient bein
gs to completely pass beyon
dsorrow,’ h
e should n
ot be called ‘bodhisattva.’ W
hy is th
at?Subh
üti, does the dh
arma th
at is called ‘bodhisattva’ exist w
hat-
soever?”Subh
üti replied, “Bh
agavän, it does n
ot.”T
he B
hagavän
said, “Subhüti, th
erefore, it was taugh
t by the
Tathägata th
at ‘all dharm
as are with
out a sentien
t being, w
ith-
out a living bein
g, with
out a person.’
“Subhüti, if som
e bodhisattva w
ere to say, ‘I shall actualize
arranged fields,’ h
e too should be expressed sim
ilarly. 52 Wh
y isthat? Subhüti, because the arranged fields called ‘arranged fields’are th
ose taught by th
e Tathägata as n
on-arran
ged. Th
erefore,th
ey are called ‘arranged fields.’ Subh
üti, wh
atever bodhisattva
appreciates that dh
armas are selfless, sayin
g ‘dharm
as are self-less,’ h
e is expressed by the Tath
ägata Arh
at Perfectly Com
pletedB
uddha as a bodh
isattva called a ‘bodhisattva.’ 53
“Subhüti, W
hat do you th
ink about th
is? Does th
e Tathägata
possess the flesh
eye?”Subh
üti replied, “Bh
agavän, it is so; th
e Tathägata possesses
the flesh
eye.”T
he B
hagavän
said, “Subhüti, w
hat do you th
ink about th
is?D
oes the Tath
ägata possess the divin
e eye?”Subh
üti replied, “Bh
agavän, it is so; th
e Tathägata possesses
the divin
e eye.”
28
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
and th
e buddha groun
d. Th
e thin
middle in
dicates the pure
grounds of superior in
tention
. Hen
ce, it is like the aspect of
a vajra, and th
is indicates th
ree grounds as its subject m
atter.”
3.T
he n
ame of on
e of Buddh
a’s principal lay spon
sors oftenappears in
Pali as An
äthapiô
çika.
4.K
amalaâh
ïla’s comm
entary (pp. 6b–7) explain
s that “th
eactivity of food” in
cludes man
y aspects of the activity, all don
eto ben
efit sentien
t beings in
some w
ay.
5.K
amalaâh
ïla’s comm
entary (p. 7b) explain
s this as referrin
gto th
e special ascetic virtues prescribed by Buddh
a (Sanskrit:düta-guô
gäë; T
ibetan: sbyangs pa’i yon
tan), w
hich
include
eating on
ly once durin
g the day.
6.L
iterally, “On
e wh
o has G
one to B
liss” (Skt: sugata; Tib: bde
bar gsheg pa), w
hich
is a comm
on epith
et of the B
uddha.
7.“D
ue to perfect marks” (Skt: lakêan
a-sampadä; T
ib: mtsan
phun
sum tsogs pas) can
be translated from
Sanskrit as “due
to
po
ssessing
marks”;
the
wo
rd
sampad
mean
ing
“achievem
ent,” “possession
,” etc. Hen
ce, Con
ze’s choice of
“possession
of his m
arks.” How
ever, sampad also m
eans
“perfection,” “excellen
ce,” etc. (Apte, p. 1,644), an
d it is this
meaning used in K
amalaâhïla’s com
mentary (p. 220b): “Since
situated
in p
osition, clear an
d com
plete, th
ey are alsoperfect…
” (Tib: de dag kyan
g yul na gn
as pa dang, gsal ba
dang, rdzogs pas ph
un sum
tsogs pa’o).
8.R
ead “‘di ji snyam
du sems, m
tsam ph
un sum
tsogs pa” as “jitsam
du mtsan
phun
sum tsogs pa,” in
accordance w
ith th
eTog Palace, sm
all and L
anch
ou editions.
9 .C
on
ze and
oth
ers take “lakêaôa-alakêaô
atas tathägato
draêåavyaë” as “th
e Tathägata is to be seen
from n
o-marks as
marks.” (T
he Sacred B
ooks of the East edition h
as on p. 115:
18
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
Th
e Bh
agavän said, “Subh
üti, wh
at do you thin
k about this?
Does th
e Tathägata possess th
e wisdom
eye?”Subh
üti replied, “Bh
agavän, it is so; th
e Tathägata possesses
the w
isdom eye.”
Th
e Tathägata said, “Subh
üti, wh
at do you thin
k about this?
Does th
e Tathägata possess th
e dharm
a eye?”Subh
üti replied, “Bh
agavän, it is so; th
e Tathägata possesses
the dh
arma eye.”
Th
e Tathägata said, “Subh
üti, wh
at do you thin
k about this?
Does th
e Tathägata possess th
e buddha eye?”
Subhüti replied, “B
hagavän
, it is so; the Tath
ägata possessesth
e buddha eye.”
Th
e Bh
agavän said, “Subh
üti, wh
at do you thin
k about this?
If, there bein
g also just as man
y Gan
ges Rivers as th
ere are grains
of sand in
the river G
anges, th
ere were just as m
any w
orld sys-tem
s as there are grain
s of sand of th
ose, would th
ose world
systems be m
any?”
Subhüti replied, “B
hagavän
, it is so; those w
orld systems w
ouldbe m
any.”
Th
e Bh
agavän said, “Subh
üti, as man
y sentien
t beings as ex-
ist in th
ose world system
s, I totally know
their con
tinua of con
-sciousn
ess of different th
oughts. 54 W
hy is th
at? Subhüti, because
a so-called ‘contin
uum of con
sciousness’ is th
at taught by th
eTath
ägata as a non
-contin
uum. T
herefore, it is called a ‘con
-tin
uum of con
sciousness.’ W
hy is th
at? Subhüti, because past
consciousn
ess does not exist as an
observable, nor does future
consciousn
ess exist as an observable, n
or does present con
scious-n
ess exist as an observable.
“Subhüti, w
hat do you th
ink about th
is? If someon
e, com-
pletely filling th
is billionfold w
orld system w
ith th
e seven types
of precious thin
gs, were to give gifts, do you th
ink th
at son of
the lin
eage or daughter of th
e lineage w
ould produce an en
or-m
ous heap of m
erit on th
at basis?”Subh
üti replied, “Bh
agavän, en
ormous. Sugata, en
ormous.”
Th
e Bh
agavän said, “Subh
üti, it is so. It is so; that son
of the
lineage or daugh
ter of the lin
eage would produce an
enorm
oush
eap of merit on
that basis. Subh
üti, if a heap of m
erit were a
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
27
NO
TE
S
1.T
he w
ords of the title of th
e sütra have a sligh
tly different
order in th
e various editions.
2.O
ften tran
slated as Diam
ond Sütra or Diam
ond Cutter Sütra.
How
ever, the w
ord “vajra” used in th
e title is not explain
edas m
eanin
g “diamon
d” in eith
er the sütra itself or th
e Indian
comm
entaries w
e have access to (th
ose of Asaû
ga, Vasu-
bandh
u, and K
amalaâh
ïla). In fact, th
e Buddh
a does not even
men
tion th
e word “vajra” in
the discourse itself (at least n
otin
the T
ibetan or San
skrit edition
s), nam
ing it m
erely“P
rajñäp
aramitä”: “Su
bh
üti, th
e nam
e of th
is Dh
arma
disco
urse is ‘th
e wisd
om
gon
e beyo
nd
’; it sho
uld
be
remem
bered like that.”
In h
is introduction
to his edition
and tran
slation, th
eB
ud
dh
ist scholar E
dw
ard C
onze said
(p. 7): “It is u
sual,
followin
g Max M
ueller, to render Vajracch
edikä Sütra as<<D
iamon
d Sutra>>. Th
ere is no reason
to discontin
ue this
popular usage, but strictly speaking, it is m
ore than
unlikely
that th
e Buddh
ists here un
derstand vajra as th
e material
substance w
hich
we call ‘diam
ond.’”
Kam
alaâhïla’s comm
entary (p. 204a) takes “vajra” to mean
the adam
antin
e implem
ent: “L
ike this, it is th
e ‘vajra cutter’in
two w
ays. Because it cuts off th
e afflicted obstructions an
dth
e subtle obstructions to om
niscien
ce, wh
ich are as difficult
to destroy as the vajra – this indicates the necessity to abandonth
e two obstruction
s. Altern
atively, the cuttin
g is ‘vajra-like’sin
ce it is similar to th
e shape of th
e vajra: the vajra is m
adebulbous on
the en
ds and th
in in
the cen
ter. Similarly, th
isw
isdom
gone beyon
d is also tau
ght as exten
sive in th
ebegin
nin
g and th
e end – th
e ground of aspiration
al activity
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
19
heap of m
erit, the Tath
ägata would n
ot have taugh
t a heap of
merit called a ‘h
eap of merit.’
“Subhüti, w
hat do you th
ink about th
is? Should on
e be viewed
as the Tath
ägata due to total achievem
ent of th
e form body?”
Subhüti replied, “B
hagavän
, it is not so; on
e should n
ot beview
ed as the Tathägata due to total achievement of the form
body.W
hy is that? Bhagavän, because ‘total achievem
ent of the formbody’ is th
at taught by th
e Tathägata as n
ot being total ach
ieve-m
ent; therefore, it is called ‘total achievement of the form
body.’”T
he B
hagavän
said, “Subhüti, w
hat do you th
ink about th
is?Is on
e to be viewed as th
e Tathägata due to perfect m
arks?”Subh
üti replied, “Bh
agavän, it is n
ot so; one is n
ot to be viewed
as the Tath
ägata due to perfect marks. W
hy is th
at? Because th
atw
hich
was taugh
t by the Tath
ägata as perfect marks w
as taught
by the Tath
ägata as not bein
g perfect marks; th
erefore, they are
called ‘perfect marks.’”
Th
e Bh
agavän said, “Subh
üti, wh
at do you thin
k about this?
If it is though
t that th
e Tathägata con
siders, ‘the dh
arma is dem
-on
strated by me,’ Subh
üti, do not view
it like that, because th
edh
arma th
at is demon
strated by the Tath
ägata does not exist
wh
atsoever. Subhüti, if som
eone w
ere to say ‘the dh
arma is dem
-on
strated by the Tath
ägata,’ Subhüti, h
e would deprecate m
esin
ce non
existent an
d wron
gly seized. Wh
y is that? Subh
üti, be-cause th
at demon
strated dharm
a called ‘demon
strated dharm
a,’w
hich
is referred to saying ‘dem
onstrated dh
arma,’ does n
otexist w
hatsoever.”
Then, the venerable Subhüti said to the B
hagavän, “Bhagavän,
in the future period, will th
ere be any sentien
t beings w
ho, h
av-in
g heard th
is demon
stration55 of such
a dharm
a as this, w
illclearly believe?”
Th
e Bh
agavän said, “Subh
üti, they are n
ot sentien
t beings
nor n
on–sen
tient bein
gs. Wh
y is that? Subh
üti, so-called ‘sen-
tient bein
gs,’ because they w
ere taught by th
e Tathägata as n
on–
sentien
t beings, th
erefore are called ‘sentien
t beings.’
“Subhüti, what do you think about this? D
oes that dharma th
atw
as man
ifestly and com
pletely realized by the Tath
ägata, unsur-
passed perfect and com
plete enligh
tenm
ent, exist w
hatsoever?”
26
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
Materials for a D
ictionary of the Prajñäpäramitä L
iterature, Edw
ardC
onze, Suzuki R
esearch Foun
dation, Tokyo, 1973.
The Practical Sanskrit-English D
ictionary, Vaman
Shivaram
Apte,
Rin
sen B
ook Co., K
yoto, 1992.
Tibetan-Sanskrit D
ictionary, Lokesh
Ch
andra, R
insen
Book C
o.,K
yoto, 1982.
20
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
Th
e venerable Su
bhü
ti replied
, “Bh
agavän, th
at dh
arma
that w
as man
ifestly and
comp
letely realized by th
e Tath
ägata,u
nsu
rpassed
perfect an
d com
plete en
lighten
men
t, does n
otexist w
hatsoever.”
Th
e Bh
agavän said, “Subh
üti, it is so; it is so. For it, 56 even th
eleast dh
arma does n
ot exist and is n
ot observed; 57 therefore, it is
called ‘unsurpassed perfect an
d complete en
lighten
men
t.’“Furth
er, Subhüti, th
at dharm
a is equivalent sin
ce, for it,in
equivalence
58 does not exist w
hatsoever; th
erefore, it is called‘un
surpassed perfect and com
plete enligh
tenm
ent.’ T
hat un
-surpassed perfect an
d complete en
lighten
men
t – equivalent as
selfless, with
out sentien
t being, w
ithout livin
g being, w
ithout
person – is m
anifestly an
d completely realized th
rough all virtu-
ou
s dh
armas. Su
bh
üti, virtu
ou
s dh
armas called
‘virtuo
us
dharm
as,’ they, taugh
t by the Tath
ägata as just non
-dharm
as,are th
erefore called ‘virtuous dharm
as.’“Further, Subhüti, com
pared to any son of the lineage or daugh-ter of the lineage collecting a heap of the seven types of preciousthings about equaling w
hatever Sumeru, king of m
ountains, existin a billion w
orld systems, and giving gifts, if som
eone, h
aving taken
up even as little as a stan
za of four lines from
this w
isdom gon
ebeyon
d, were to teach
it to others, Subh
üti, compared to th
ish
eap of merit, th
e former h
eap of merit h
aving n
ot approached
even a h
undredth
part, does not w
ithstan
d comparison
.“Subh
üti, wh
at do you thin
k about this? If it is th
ought th
atth
e Tathägata con
siders, ‘Sentien
t beings are liberated by m
e,’Subh
üti, do not view
it like that. W
hy is th
at? Subhüti, because
those sen
tient bein
gs wh
o are liberated by the Tath
ägata do not
exist wh
atsoever. Subhüti, if som
e sentien
t being w
ere to be lib-erated by th
e Tathägata, th
at itself would be, of th
e Tathägata,
grasping a self, graspin
g a sentien
t being, graspin
g a living be-
ing, graspin
g a person. Subh
üti, so-called ‘grasping a self,’ th
atis taugh
t by the Tath
ägata as non
-grasping, yet th
at is grasped bych
ildish ordin
ary beings. Subh
üti, so-called ‘childish
ordinary
beings,’ th
ey were taugh
t by the Tath
ägata as just non
-beings;
therefore, th
ey are called ‘childish
ordinary bein
gs.’“Subh
üti, wh
at do you thin
k about this? Is on
e to be viewed
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
25
BIB
LIO
GR
APH
Y
The Vajra C
utter Sütra, from th
e Lh
asa Zh
ol bKa’-’gyur, sh
es phyin
sna tsh
ogs, vol. ka, folios 215a–235b, originally prin
ted in 1934.
The Vajra C
utter Sütra, from th
e Tog Palace Man
uscript of the
Tibetan
Kan
jur, vol. 51, Leh
, 1979.
The Vajra C
utter Sütra, small edition
republished by FPM
T (details
unkn
own
)
Lan
chou edition
of the Vajra C
utter and Its Com
mentary (rD
o rjegcod pa dang de’i ’grel ba bzhugs so) con
tainin
g the Vajra C
utterSütra w
ith th
e comm
entary of C
one G
ragspa.
Vajracchedikä Prajñäpäramitä, edited an
d translated by E
dward
Con
ze, Serie Orien
tale Rom
a, Istituto Italiano per il M
edio edE
stremo O
riente, vol. 13, 1957.
“Th
e Man
uscrip
t of the V
ajracched
ikä Foun
d at G
ilgit, An
An
notated Tran
scription an
d Translation
by Gregory Sch
open,
1989.” In Studies in the L
iterature of the Great Vehicle: T
hree Mahäyäna
Buddhist Texts, edited by L
. O. G
ómez an
d J. A. Silk. A
nn
Arbor:
Th
e Un
iversity of Mich
igan, pp. 89–139.
Extensive Com
mentary of the Exalted Vajra C
utter Wisdom
Gone B
eyond(’Phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa rdo rje gcod pa’i rgya cher’grel pa), by K
amalaâh
ïla, translated
by the team
Mañ
juârï,
Jinam
itra, and Yesh
e sDe, from
volume m
Do ’grel m
a of the sD
edge bstan ’gyur, T
OH
3818, mD
o ’grel ma 204a–67a.
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
21
as the Tath
ägata due to perfect marks?”
Subhüti replied, “B
hagavän
, it is not so; on
e is not view
ed asth
e Tathägata due to perfect m
arks.”T
he B
hagavän
said, “Subhüti, it is so; it is so. O
ne is n
ot viewed
as the Tath
ägata due to perfect marks. Subh
üti, if one w
ereview
ed as the Tathägata due to perfect marks, even a chakravartin
king w
ould be the Tath
ägata; therefore, on
e is not view
ed as the
Tathägata due to perfect m
arks.”T
hen, the venerable Subhüti said to the Bhagavän, “B
hagavän,as I un
derstand th
e mean
ing of w
hat th
e Bh
agavän h
as said,on
e is not view
ed as the Tath
ägata due to perfect marks.”
Th
en, th
ese verses were spoken
by the B
hagavän
at that tim
e:
“Wh
oever sees me as form
, wh
oever know
s me as soun
d,h
as wron
gly engaged by aban
donin
g, 59 those bein
gs don
ot see me.
Th
e buddhas are dh
armatä
60 viewed; th
e guides are the
dharm
akäya.Sin
ce dharm
atä is not to be kn
own
, it is unable to be
know
n.”
61
“Subhüti, w
hat do you th
ink about th
is? If one grasps th
at ‘the
Tathägata A
rhat Perfectly C
ompleted B
uddha is due to perfect
marks,’ Su
bhü
ti, you sh
ould
not view
so for, Subh
üti, th
eTath
ägata Arh
at Perfectly Com
pleted Buddh
a does not m
ani-
festly and com
pletely realize unsurpassed perfect an
d complete
enligh
tenm
ent due to perfect m
arks.“Subh
üti, if one grasps th
at ‘some dh
arma h
as been desig-
nated as destroyed or an
nih
ilated62 by th
ose wh
o have correctly
entered th
e bodhisattva’s veh
icle,’ Subhüti, it sh
ould not be
viewed so; th
ose wh
o have correctly en
tered the bodh
isattva’sveh
icle have n
ot designated an
y dharm
a wh
atsoever as destroyedor an
nih
ilated.“Furth
er, Subhüti, com
pared to any son
of the lin
eage ordaugh
ter of the lin
eage wh
o, completely fillin
g with
the seven
kinds of precious th
ings as m
any w
orld systems as th
ere are grains
of sand of th
e rivers Gan
ges, were to give gifts, if an
y bodhisattva
24
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
Colophon to the L
hasa Zhol text: 70
Com
piled, revising th
e translation
of the In
dian abbot àilen
dra Bodh
i and
Yeshe sD
e with
the n
ew lan
guage standard.
Colophon to the English translation:
Th
is translation
of the Vajra C
utter Sütra is based on th
e Tibetan
Lh
asa Zh
oltext, h
aving com
pared it with
various other T
ibetan prin
tings as w
ell as with
Sanskrit version
s, and h
aving view
ed several excellent earlier E
nglish
trans-
lations. It w
as completed on
22 March
2002 at the C
han
drakirti Tibetan
Buddh
ist Meditation
Cen
tre, near N
elson, N
ew Z
ealand, by G
elong T
hubten
Tsultrim (th
e Am
erican B
uddhist m
onk G
eorge Ch
urinoff).
22
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
attained forbearance that dharmas are selfless and unproduced, 63
on th
at basis the h
eap of merit th
ey them
selves would produce
would be m
uch greater. Furth
er, Subhüti, a h
eap of merit sh
ouldn
ot be acquired by the bodh
isattva.”T
he ven
erable Subhüti replied, “B
hagavän
, should n
ot a heap
of merit be acquired by th
e bodhisattva?”
Th
e Bh
agavän said, “Subh
üti, acquire, not w
rongly grasp; 64
therefore, it is called ‘acquire.’“Subh
üti, if someon
e says, ‘Th
e Tathägata goes or com
es orstan
ds or sits or lies down
,’ he does n
ot understan
d the m
ean-
ing exp
lained
by m
e. Wh
y is that? Su
bh
üti, b
ecause ‘th
eTath
ägata’ (‘the O
ne G
one T
hus’) does n
ot go anyw
here n
orh
as come from
anyw
here; th
erefore, one says, ‘th
e Tathägata
Arh
at Perfectly Com
pleted Buddh
a.’“Furth
er, Subhüti, if som
e son of th
e lineage or daugh
ter ofth
e lineage w
ere to render as m
any atom
s of earth as exist in
abillion
fold world system
, like this for exam
ple, into pow
der likea collection
of subtlest atoms, Subh
üti, wh
at do you thin
k aboutth
is? Would th
at collection of subtlest atom
s be man
y?”Subh
üti replied, “Bh
agavän, it is so. T
hat collection
of sub-tlest atom
s would be m
any. W
hy is th
at? Bh
agavän, because if
there w
ere a collection, th
e Bh
agavän w
ould not h
ave said ‘col-lection
of subtlest atoms.’ W
hy is th
at? Because th
at ‘collectionof subtlest atom
s’ that w
as taught by th
e Bh
agavän w
as taught by
the Tath
ägata as no collection
; therefore, on
e says ‘collection of
subtlest atoms.’ T
hat ‘billion
fold world system
’ that w
as taught
by the Tath
ägata was taugh
t by the Tath
ägata as no system
; there-
fore, one says ‘billion
fold world system
.’ Wh
y is that? B
hagavän
,because if th
ere were to be a w
orld system, th
at itself would be
grasping a solid th
ing. T
hat taugh
t by the Tath
ägata as grasping
a solid thin
g was taugh
t by the Tath
ägata as no graspin
g; there-
fore, one says ‘graspin
g a solid thin
g.’”T
he B
hagavän
said, “Subhüti, graspin
g a solid thin
g is itself aconvention; that dharm
a does not exist as expressed, yet it is graspedby ordin
ary childish
beings. Subh
üti, if someon
e were to say,
‘View
ing as a self w
as taught by th
e Tathägata an
d viewin
g as asen
tient bein
g, viewin
g as a living bein
g, viewin
g as a person w
as
The V
ajra
Cu
tter Sütra
23
taught by th
e Tathägata,’ Subh
üti, would th
at be spoken by righ
tspeech
?”Subh
üti replied, “Bh
agavän, it w
ould not. Sugata, it w
ouldn
ot. Wh
y is that? B
hagavän
, because that w
hich
was taugh
t byth
e Tathägata as view
ing as a self, w
as taught by th
e Tathägata as
no view
ing; th
erefore, one says, ‘view
ing as a self.’”
Th
e Bh
agavän said, “Subh
üti, those w
ho h
ave correctly en-
tered the bodh
isattva’s vehicle sh
ould know, sh
ould view, should
appreciate all dharm
as like this; th
ey should appreciate
65 liketh
is, not abidin
g wh
atsoever in an
y discrimin
ation as a dh
arma.
Wh
y is that? Subh
üti, because discrimin
ation as a dh
arma, called
‘discrimin
ation as a dh
arma,’ is taugh
t by the Tath
ägata as non
-discrim
ination
; therefore, on
e says ‘discrimin
ation as a dh
arma.’
“Further, Subhüti, compared to any bodhisattva m
ahäsattva who,
completely fillin
g unfath
omable an
d incalculable w
orld systems
with
the seven
kinds of precious th
ings, w
ere to give gifts, if any
son of the lineage or daughter of the lineage w
ho, having taken66
as little as a stanza of four lines from this perfection of w
isdom,
were to m
emorize or read or understand or correctly and thor-
oughly teach it to others in detail, on that basis the merit he him
-self w
ould produce would be m
ore, incalculable, unfathomable.
“How
should on
e correctly and th
oroughly teach
? Just how
one w
ould not correctly an
d thorough
ly teach; th
erefore, one
says, ‘correctly and th
oroughly teach
.’“A
s a star, a visual aberration, a lamp, an illusion, dew, a bubble,
a dream, lightning, and a cloud – view
all the compounded like
that.”T
hat h
aving been
said by the B
hagavän
, the elder
67 Subhüti,
tho
se bo
dh
isattvas, 68 the fo
urfo
ld d
isciples – b
hikêh
us,
bhikêh
unis, upäsakas an
d upäsikas69 – an
d the w
orld with
devas,h
uman
s, asuras, and gan
dharvas, overjoyed, h
ighly praised th
attaugh
t by the B
hagavän
.
The Exalted M
ahäyäna Sütra on the Wisdom
Gone B
eyond called ‘The
Vajra Cutter’ is con
cluded.