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Diamond Sūtra

Diamond Sūtra 5

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English · F. Max Müller

‘Now, what do you think, O Subhati, should a Tathagata be seen (known) by the possession of signs?’ Subhiti said: Not indeed, O Bhagavat, a Tathagata is not to be seen (known) by the possession of signs. And why? Because what has been preached by the Tathagata as the possession of signs, that is indeed the possession of no-signs.’

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English · F. Max Müller

After this, Bhagavat spoke thus to the venerable Subhuti: ‘Wherever there is, O Subhiati, the possession of signs, there is falsehood; wherever there is no possession of signs, there is no falsehood. Hence the Tathâgata is to be seen (known) from no-signs as signs.’ of the decay of the good Law, who, when these very words of the Sfitras are being preached, will frame a true idea?’ The Bhagavat said: Do not speak thus, Subhati. Yes, there will be some beings in the future, in the last time, in the last moment, in the last 500 years, during the decay of the good Law, who will frame a true idea when these very words are being preached.

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English · F. Max Müller

‘And again, O Subhati, there will be noble-minded Bodhisattvas, in the future, in the last time, in the last moment, in the last 500 years, during the decay of the good Law, there will be strong and good and wise beings, who, when these very words of the Sfitras are being preached, will frame a true idea. But those noble-minded Bodhisattvas, O Subhuti, will not have served one Buddha only, and the stock Se a 8S of their merit will not have been accumulated under one Buddha only; on the contrary, O Subhati, those noble-minded Bodhisattvas will have served many hundred thousands of Buddhas, and the stock of their merit will have been accumulated under many hundred thousands of Buddhas; and they, when these very words of the Sutras are being preached, will obtain one and the same faith’, They are known, O Subhiti, by the Tathâgata through his Buddha-knowledge; they are seen, O Subhuti, by the Tathagata through his Buddha-eye; they are understood, O Subhiti, by the Tathagata. All these, O Subhhti, will produce and will hold fast an immeasurable and innumerable stock of merit. And why? Because, O Subhuti, there does not exist in those noble-minded Bodhisattvas the idea of self, there does not exist the idea of a being, the idea of a living being, the idea of a person. Nor does there exist, O Subhuti, for these noble-minded Bodhisattvas the idea of quality (dharma), nor of no-quality. Neither does there exist, O Subhuti, any idea (samgña) or no-idea. Andwhy? Because, O Subhuti, if there existed for these noble-minded Bodhisattvas the idea of quality, then they would believe in a self, they would believe in a being, they would believe in a living being, they would believe ina person. And if there existed for them the idea of no-quality, even then they would believe in a self, they would believe in a being, they would believe in a living being, they would believe in a person. And why? Because, O Subhhti, neither quality nor no-quality is to be accepted by a noble-minded Bodhisattva. Therefore this hidden saying has been preached by the Tathagata: “By those who know the teaching of the Law, as like unto a raft, all qualities indeed must be abandoned; much more no-qualities'”’

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F. Max Müller's translation (1894) of the Vajracchedikā, read from scans of the printed volume. A few section numbers the scans did not show are run into the section before.

Buddhist Mahāyāna Texts, Sacred Books of the East vol. 49 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1894): the Buddha-karita of Aśvaghoṣa, translated by E. B. Cowell; the Larger and Smaller Sukhāvatī-vyūha, the Vagrakkhedikā and the Pragñā-pāramitā-hṛdaya-sūtra, translated by F. Max Müller. Public domain. Text read from scans in the Internet Archive. · Source ↗

Buddhist Mahāyāna Texts, Sacred Books of the East 49 (1894). Public domain. Read from scans of the printed edition: every word was checked against three or four independent scans of the same printing and corrected where they agree; footnotes, running heads and page numbers are left out. Diacritics the OCR could not read are not reproduced.

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