Preface to the Diamond Sutra Commentary

Reading the *Diamond Sutra* causes one’s worldly thinking to dissolve. Its principles are profound, its nature is detached, its practice is non-attached, and its appearances are not appearances. These four aspects illuminate one another, turning back and forth, ultimately returning to the absence of self, absence of person, absence of sentient being, and absence of life span—that is all. The sutra repeatedly urges us to uphold it, and diligently compares its merit, which is the main outline of the entire text. Thus we know this is the supreme secret seal of Prajna, truly enabling people to awaken to the emptiness of nature and to let go of attachment to forms and appearances. It is like a diamond, like a blazing fire, like a sword that can cut through a hair blown against its blade, like a pearl rolling on a plate, like chasing the wind or shadow grasping—impossible to hold—just like that. Many people recite it, but those who truly understand are few. I have often lamented that the words of this sutra are profound and its meaning subtle: its metaphors, though numerous, are not redundant; its examples, frequently presented, are not excessive. Even the efforts of the Three Treatise masters to explain it remain hard to grasp, much like Guo Xiang’s commentary on Zhuangzi. Therefore, I take these treatises to examine the sutra, use the sutra itself to verify its verses, delete and edit what is superfluous in the treatises, and supplement what is missing in meaning. Combining various treatises, I form my own interpretation, calling it the "Comprehensive Explanation." This is merely my humble opinion, offered for correction. Ah! Even just reading the text directly can remove stinginess and dissolve mental tangles—how much more so when we understand the treatises through the explanation, and the sutra through the treatises? Surely this will do more than merely dissolve our thoughts!

During the intercalary month of the Xīnwèi year (Jiādìng period, 1211), on the day of the full moon, I, Bǎitíng Shànyuè, set down my final words.