Diamond Sutra – Talk 1 – 2008 Series

The Diamond Sutra is a Mahayana sutra from the genre of Prajnaparamita ('perfection of wisdom') sutras. In this series Norman will referernce the Diamond Sutra - Red Pine Edition. Our apologies that the last few seconds of the recording were inadvertently cut off. Diamond Sutra 1 By Zoketsu Norman Fischer | June 24, 2008 Abridged and edited by Barbara Byrum and Deborah Russell Tonight I am going to begin the first of three talks on the Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra. Three talks are not enough to cover these thirty-two chapters of the Diamond Sutra, so I am going to see if I can at least say a word about the first five of the chapters. Thich Nhat Hanh has said this about the first five chapters: Please read and re-read the first five chapters of the sutra. All of the essentials have been presented, and if you re-read these sections, you will come to understand its meaning. Once you understand, you may find the Diamond Sutra like a piece of beautiful music. Without straining at all, the meaning will just enter you. I'm using Red Pine's translation. Red Pine is a tremendous Buddhist sage and treasure of our time. He has recently come out with these translations. It really makes a new contribution to these texts, whenever a new translator with a fresh eye and good understanding and good ability in the language comes along. It is like the sutra comes alive all over again. The Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra, chapter one: Thus have I heard: Once the Bhagavan was dwelling near Shravasti at Anathapindada Garden in Jeta Forest, together with the full assembly of 1250 bhikshus and a great many fearless bodhisattvas. One day before noon, the Bhagavan put on his patched robe and picked up his bowl and entered the capital of Shravasti for offerings. After begging for food in the city and eating his meal of rice, he returned from his daily round in the afternoon, put his robe and bowl away, washed his feet, and sat down on the appointed seat. After crossing his legs and adjusting his body, he turned his awareness to what was before him. A number of bhikshus then came up to where the Bhagavan was sitting. After touching their heads to his feet, they walked around him to the right three times and sat down to one side. All traditional commentaries begin with the title - Vajracchedikaprajnaparamita Sutra. "Vajra" means diamond, which we know, because usually the sutra is given the English name Diamond Sutra. In tantric Buddhism, vajra also means "thunderbolt; a lightning flash in the sky." In both cases, the sense is of something "dazzling, brilliant, bright, powerful, sudden, and dramatic." A diamond, of course, cuts through everything, and nothing can cut it. Since the cchedika part of vajrachhedika means "cutter," we can imagine a diamond cutter like a sword. So you always see Manjushri Bodhisattva holding up a sword. We can imagine that it is made out of diamond, which cuts through confusion and delusion. But a cosmic thunderbolt also cuts through in the same way. Here maybe the metaphor is "illuminating." A diamond, a lightning flash, cuts through the darkness of the sky and illuminates the whole sky suddenly. So you could say that the Vajracchedika is the diamond-sword-thunderbolt sutra. Prajna paramita I think we all know. Prajna means wisdom. Paramita means "perfection" or "going beyond," in the sense that something that is perfect is something that goes beyond the thing. In other words, it is unsurpassable. It's perfect. It can't surpass perfection. Usually when I talk about prajna, wisdom, I always say that this is not the same as what we usually mean by wisdom. This is a very particular kind of wisdom. It is the wisdom that perceives the empty nature of conditioned existence. Like the Heart Sutra says, form - which stands for form, feelings, perception, formations, consciousness - is emptiness. Form is empty; feelings are empty; perceptions are empty; impulses to action are emp...