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Chan Meditation Center English Sunday Dharma Talk - Reflecting the Diamond Sutra -1 Talk By Gilbert Gutierrez
This lecture is an introduction to the Diamond Sutra, and is the first of 4 lectures in the Reflecting the Diamond Sutra series. The Sanskrit name for the Diamond Sutra is Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra. Vajra is a weapon, but can also be translated as diamond or thunderbolt. The sutra is so named because diamond can cut through illusions to get to the ultimate reality. The Diamond Sutra is one of the most powerful Buddhist sutras that is also one of the most difficult to talk about. This lecture is intended to lay the foundation, or to provide the primer, for readers before they go into the text of the sutra itself. The sutra is full of self-contradictory phrases such as “the 32 marks (of the Buddha) are not really such; they are merely called the 32 marks,” a style of negation that speaks in circles, like a never-ending Rubik’s Cube that can’t ever be solved. A reader may get frustrated and decide not to study it any further. This is because the sutra represents an esoteric means of communication that can’t be recorded in words and phrases. If one tries to fathom the meaning of the sutra from words on the page, one will only become a Buddhist scholar and not a true practitioner. As the Sixth Patriarch Huineng said, “Those who don’t look within, read only words.”
Although the Diamond Sutra is about prajna, or transcendental wisdom, it can’t really be separated from compassion. Wisdom and compassion go hand-in-hand. The enlightened Mind can’t help but to be compassionate. It’s like one wants to scratch an itch because it causes an unease, or dis-ease in the body, making it uncomfortable. Sentient beings are like spilled beans; they all have the same intrinsic nature and all belong to the same jar. Compassion is like collecting the scattered beans and putting them back in the jar to be whole again.
In the lecture, Master Gilbert asks people to define the word emptiness. Although most people have heard about emptiness, few understand what it really means. Emptiness is none other than the Mind itself. It has no characteristics; in fact, it’s what creates characteristics. Everything that appears is the fabric of the Mind; there is no separate existence.
People often speak of “no self;” it should be “not self” instead. Self is an appearance superimposed on MInd, nothing else. One should not look at the self to find the answer. There is no place to hang the hat, so to speak. If one lets go of the self, what is left?
Sutras are not meant to be read, but to be penetrated. In order to do that, one needs to have sincerity and perseverance in their practice. One will certainly feel confused, but it’s good to be confused, because that will encourage one to contemplate further, until the Mind reveals itself.
Note: Chan Meditation Center Facebook Online Sunday English Dharma Talk Links:
"Reflecting the Diamond Sutra" by Gilbert Gutierrez
Video 1/4 https://tinyurl.com/umssmcjj
Video 2/4 https://tinyurl.com/ezec2e9m
Video 3/4 https://tinyurl.com/uk32bpyx
Video 4/4 https://tinyurl.com/5b76m6vm
Written by Liang-Shiou Lin