Collection from Heavenly India, Volume 1

Composed by the Great Master Ciyun, [posthumously honored by imperial decree as] Dharma Treasure Great Master

Preserving the Dharma Speaker: Fifth-Generation Dharma Heir of Tiantai Teaching and Contemplation, Great Master Ciming<note>Hu

Preface to the Diamond Sutra

Preface:

The Diamond Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra is the essence of ultimate, unobstructed wisdom. Its core consists of three aspects: True Mark (the ultimate reality), Contemplative Wisdom, and Textual Teachings. Though threefold in appearance, they are one in substance—all are Prajñā. They neither produce nor contain one another. They cannot be separated, yet cannot be forced together. If we distinguish them without separating them, the sutra says: The inconceivable realm of wisdom is True Mark; the inconceivable light of wisdom is Contemplative Wisdom; the inconceivable torch of wisdom is the Textual Teachings. True Mark is the essence of the sutra; Contemplative Wisdom is its core principle; the Textual Teachings are its function. The core guides all virtues toward formlessness, reaching the ultimate. The function dispels all delusions, opening spiritual insight to the boundless. The essence, however, abides in the Middle Way—serene, unmoving, quiet yet containing all wonders, vast and limitless. Thus, it is the origin of all things.

The sage cultivates all three while dwelling in the One, and through the three realizes the One. This is called Pāramitā; dwelling in this, it is called the Secret Treasury. Vast and great! It is beyond conceptual thought. But we mourn for living beings who cling to existence, grasp at emptiness, are trapped in cages of discrimination, bound by attachments, and do not know how to free themselves. Thus, all sages have assembled in harmony: seven meetings at Vulture Peak, seven at the Jeta Grove, one in the Tushita Heaven, one on open ground—four locations and sixteen great assemblies in all. This sutra is from the Jeta Grove gathering. It is a diamond hammer, a sharp hoe, shattering the false mountains of dualistic death, breaking through the rock of ignorance. It opens the Five Eyes to see through all, penetrates the radiant union of the Three Wisdoms. Holding even a four-line verse surpasses the generosity of three rivers; guiding the three forms of giving equals the emptiness of the ten directions. For those without deep roots of faith, hearing this teaching can provoke wild confusion—this is truth!

Liang Dynasty Paramārtha referenced six kinds of diamond to illustrate the sutra's meaning, yet was criticized by scribes. Now, at the beginning of the scrolls, we see inscriptions of eight deities and four Bodhisattvas, prayer texts, Sanskrit verses, and miscellaneous dharani inserted. They split the sutra into thirty-two sections, cutting and dividing—though intended to honor, it becomes defilement. Hence, we now delete all such additions.