須菩提白佛言：「世尊！頗有眾生， 得聞如是言說章句，生實信不？」
Yifa: Subhuti addressed the Buddha saying, “World-Honored One, there are many sentient beings who, upon hearing sayings [bhāṣya] and statements such as these, will generate sincere faith, are there not?”
Sanskrit: evamukte āyuṣmān subhūtirbhagavantametadavocat- asti bhagavan| kecitsattvā bhaviṣyantyanāgate'dhvani paścime kāle paścime samaye paścimāyāṃ pañcaśatyāṃ saddharmavipralopakāle vartamāne, ye imeṣvevaṃrūpeṣu sūtrāntapadeṣu bhāṣyamāṇeṣu bhūtasaṃjñāmutpādayiṣyanti|
Diamond Sūtra Discussion
The rarity of true belief 正信希有分
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No obtaining, no expounding 無得無說分
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Comments
Subhūti asks a similar question in Section 21.
The English word true translates the Chinese 實, Sanskrit bhūta. In the Sanskrit version the time a five hundred (Sanskrit: pañcaśatyāṃ) year period after the extinction (Sanskrit: vipralopa) of the Dharma (Sanskrit: saddharma) is mentioned. This is not mentioned until below in the Chinese text. The Sanskrit word asti means "to be" (Chinese: 有). The English word "sayings" translates 章句 (Sanskrit: bhāṣya).
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佛告須菩提： 「莫作是說。如來滅後，後五百歲， 有持戒修福者，於此章句能生信心，以此為實， 當知是人不於一佛二佛三四五佛而種善根， 已於無量千萬佛所種諸善根，聞是章句， 乃至一念生淨信者，
Yifa: The Buddha told Subhuti, “Do not make such comments. Five hundred years after the passing of the Tathagata there will be those who uphold the precepts and cultivate rewards. From these statements they will be able to generate faith in mind, considering them to be true. Yet you should know, these people have not merely planted wholesome roots under one Buddha, two Buddhas, three, four or five Buddhas, but have already planted all wholesome roots under immeasurable thousands of tens-of-thousands of Buddhas. Hearing these statements, even for an instant, these people will generate pure faith.”
Sanskrit: api tu khalu punaḥ subhūte bhaviṣyantyanāgate'dhvani bodhisattvā mahāsattvāḥ paścime kāle paścime samaye paścimāyāṃ pañcaśatyāṃ saddharmavipralope vartamāne guṇavantaḥ śīlavantaḥ prajñāvantaśca bhaviṣyanti, ye imeṣvevaṃrūpeṣu sūtrāntapadeṣu bhāṣyamāṇeṣu bhūtasaṃjñāmutpāadayiṣyanti| na khalu punaste subhūte bodhisattvā mahāsattvā ekabuddhaparyupāsitā bhaviṣyanti, naikabuddhāvaropitakuśalamūlā bhaviṣyanti| api tu khalu punaḥ subhūte anekabuddhaśatasahasraparyupāsitā anekabuddhaśatasahasrāvaropitakuśalamūlāste bodhisattvā mahāsattvā bhaviṣyanti, ye imeṣvevaṃrūpeṣu sūtrāntapadeṣu bhāṣyamāṇeṣu ekacittaprasādamapi pratilapsyante|
Yifa: The Buddha told Subhuti, “Do not make such comments. Five hundred years after the passing of the Tathagata there will be those who uphold the precepts and cultivate rewards. From these statements they will be able to generate faith in mind, considering them to be true. Yet you should know, these people have not merely planted wholesome roots under one Buddha, two Buddhas, three, four or five Buddhas, but have already planted all wholesome roots under immeasurable thousands of tens-of-thousands of Buddhas. Hearing these statements, even for an instant, these people will generate pure faith.”
Sanskrit: api tu khalu punaḥ subhūte bhaviṣyantyanāgate'dhvani bodhisattvā mahāsattvāḥ paścime kāle paścime samaye paścimāyāṃ pañcaśatyāṃ saddharmavipralope vartamāne guṇavantaḥ śīlavantaḥ prajñāvantaśca bhaviṣyanti, ye imeṣvevaṃrūpeṣu sūtrāntapadeṣu bhāṣyamāṇeṣu bhūtasaṃjñāmutpāadayiṣyanti| na khalu punaste subhūte bodhisattvā mahāsattvā ekabuddhaparyupāsitā bhaviṣyanti, naikabuddhāvaropitakuśalamūlā bhaviṣyanti| api tu khalu punaḥ subhūte anekabuddhaśatasahasraparyupāsitā anekabuddhaśatasahasrāvaropitakuśalamūlāste bodhisattvā mahāsattvā bhaviṣyanti, ye imeṣvevaṃrūpeṣu sūtrāntapadeṣu bhāṣyamāṇeṣu ekacittaprasādamapi pratilapsyante|
Comments
The Maha Samnipata Sutra enumeraties five periods each of five hundred years for the decline of the Dharma (Red Pine 2001, ch. 6).
The English "passing" would also be translated as "extinction" (Sanskrit: vipralopa, Chinese: 滅). The Sanskrit word guṇa (Chinese: 福, English: merit) is used here for the only time in the Sūtra. The English word precepts translates the Chinese 戒 (Sanskrit śīla).
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須菩提！ 如來悉知悉見，是諸眾生得如是無量福德。 何以故？是諸眾生無復我相、人相、眾生相、壽者相 。「無法相，亦無非法相。 何以故？是諸眾生若心取相，則為著我、人、眾生、壽者。 「若取法相，即著我、人、眾生、壽者。何以故？若取非法相，即著我、人、眾生、壽者，是故不應取法，不應取非法。以是義故，如來常說：『汝等比丘，知我說法，如筏喻者，法尚應捨，何況非法。』
Yifa: “Subhuti, the Tathagata fully knows and fully sees all these sentient beings obtaining immeasurable rewards like this. Why is this? Because all these sentient beings are also without a conception of self, individuality, sentient beings or lifespan. They are without a conception of dharmas, and are also without a conception of non-dharmas.
Why is this? Because if the minds of all these sentient beings took hold of conceptions then they would become attached to a self, an individual, sentient beings or lifespan. If they took hold of a conception of dharmas then they would be attached to a self, an individual, sentient beings or lifespan. Why is this? Because if they took hold of a conception of non-dharmas then they would still be attached to a self, an individual, sentient beings or lifespan. For this reason, they should not take hold of dharmas, nor should they take hold of non-dharmas.”
“Due to this reason, the Tathagata always says: ‘All you bhiksus, know that the Dharma I teach is like in the parable of the raft. The Dharma should, nevertheless, be abandoned. How much more so what is not the Dharma?’”
Sanskrit:
jñātāste subhūte tathāgatena buddhajñānena, dṛṣṭāste subhūte tathāgatena buddhacakṣuṣā, buddhāste subhūte tathāgatena| sarve te subhūte aprameyamasaṃkhyeyaṃ puṇyaskandhaṃ prasaviṣyanti pratigrahīṣyanti| tatkasya hetoḥ ? na hi subhūte teṣāṃ bodhisattvānāṃ mahāsattvānāmātmasaṃjñā pravartate, na sattvasaṃjñā, na jīvasaṃjñā, na pudgalasaṃjñā pravartate| nāpi teṣāṃ subhūte bodhisattvānāṃ mahāsattvānāṃ dharmasaṃjñā pravartate| evaṃ nādharmasaṃjñā| nāpi teṣāṃ subhūte saṃjñā nāsaṃjñā pravartate| tatkasya hetoḥ ? sacetsubhūte teṣāṃ bodhisattvānāṃ mahāsattvānāṃ dharmasaṃjñā pravarteta, sa eva teṣāmātmagrāho bhavet, sattvagrāho jīvagrāhaḥ pudgalagrāho bhavet| sacedadharmasaṃjñā pravarteta, sa eva teṣāmātmagrāho bhavet, sattvagrāho jīvagrāhaḥ pudgalagrāha iti| tatkasya hetoḥ ? na khalu punaḥ subhūte bodhisattvena mahāsattvena dharma udgrahītavyo nādharmaḥ| tasmādiyaṃ tathāgatena saṃdhāya vāgbhāṣitā-kolopamaṃ dharmaparyāyamājānadbhidharmā eva prahātavyāḥ prāgevādharmā iti||6||
Yifa: “Subhuti, the Tathagata fully knows and fully sees all these sentient beings obtaining immeasurable rewards like this. Why is this? Because all these sentient beings are also without a conception of self, individuality, sentient beings or lifespan. They are without a conception of dharmas, and are also without a conception of non-dharmas.
Why is this? Because if the minds of all these sentient beings took hold of conceptions then they would become attached to a self, an individual, sentient beings or lifespan. If they took hold of a conception of dharmas then they would be attached to a self, an individual, sentient beings or lifespan. Why is this? Because if they took hold of a conception of non-dharmas then they would still be attached to a self, an individual, sentient beings or lifespan. For this reason, they should not take hold of dharmas, nor should they take hold of non-dharmas.”
“Due to this reason, the Tathagata always says: ‘All you bhiksus, know that the Dharma I teach is like in the parable of the raft. The Dharma should, nevertheless, be abandoned. How much more so what is not the Dharma?’”
Sanskrit:
jñātāste subhūte tathāgatena buddhajñānena, dṛṣṭāste subhūte tathāgatena buddhacakṣuṣā, buddhāste subhūte tathāgatena| sarve te subhūte aprameyamasaṃkhyeyaṃ puṇyaskandhaṃ prasaviṣyanti pratigrahīṣyanti| tatkasya hetoḥ ? na hi subhūte teṣāṃ bodhisattvānāṃ mahāsattvānāmātmasaṃjñā pravartate, na sattvasaṃjñā, na jīvasaṃjñā, na pudgalasaṃjñā pravartate| nāpi teṣāṃ subhūte bodhisattvānāṃ mahāsattvānāṃ dharmasaṃjñā pravartate| evaṃ nādharmasaṃjñā| nāpi teṣāṃ subhūte saṃjñā nāsaṃjñā pravartate| tatkasya hetoḥ ? sacetsubhūte teṣāṃ bodhisattvānāṃ mahāsattvānāṃ dharmasaṃjñā pravarteta, sa eva teṣāmātmagrāho bhavet, sattvagrāho jīvagrāhaḥ pudgalagrāho bhavet| sacedadharmasaṃjñā pravarteta, sa eva teṣāmātmagrāho bhavet, sattvagrāho jīvagrāhaḥ pudgalagrāha iti| tatkasya hetoḥ ? na khalu punaḥ subhūte bodhisattvena mahāsattvena dharma udgrahītavyo nādharmaḥ| tasmādiyaṃ tathāgatena saṃdhāya vāgbhāṣitā-kolopamaṃ dharmaparyāyamājānadbhidharmā eva prahātavyāḥ prāgevādharmā iti||6||
Comments
Here the Buddha warns against notions (saṃjñā) of the four manifestations of self (Chinese: 四相 or 四見): a self, person, beings, and a life. We first met the four manifestations of self in Section 3. We will see them again in Section 14, Section 17, and Section 31.
The parable of the raft is from the The Discourse on the Snake Simile ("The Discourse on the Snake Simile: Alagaddupama Sutta (MN 22)", translated from the Pali, with an Introduction and Notes by Nyanaponika Thera. Access to Insight, 30 November 2013).
The Sanskrit text uses the compound buddhajñānena (Buddha wisdom), which is an instrumental case indicating that the Tathāgata achieves these things using Buddha wisdom.
The English word "sees" translates the Chinese 見 (Sanskrit: cakṣuṣā). The English word "immeasurable" translates the Chinese 無量 (Sanskrit: asaṃkhyeya). In this case the word "rewards" translates the Chinese 福德 (Sanskrit: puṇya).
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