Fourteen—Extinction Upon Abandoning Phenomena 

Subhuti understood its profundity upon hearing this sutra and was moved to tears. He said to the Buddha, “World-honored One, it is rare indeed for the Buddha to speak on such a profound sutra. I have never heard of such a sutra ever since I attained my wisdom eyes. 

“World-honored One, if someone generates pure faith upon hearing this sutra, they will give rise to real phenomena. This person will obtain the rarest of merits. 

“World-honored One, the real phenomena are non-phenomena. Therefore, the Tathagata named it real phenomena. 

“World-honored One, it is easy for me to believe, comprehend, accept, and uphold this sutra immediately upon hearing it. However, in the ensuing five hundred years, it would be most rare for sentient beings to hear, believe, understand, accept, and uphold the sutra. Why? Because [it is extremely rare for] a person not to have any view of self, others, sentient beings, and lifespan. The phenomena of self is non-phenomena, and so are the phenomena of others, the phenomena of sentient beings, and the phenomena of lifespan; they are all non-phenomena. Why? [Only] those who abandon all phenomena are called buddhas.” 

The Buddha told Subhuti, “Just so, just so, Subhuti! If there is a person who is not shocked, frightened nor fearful upon hearing this sutra, it is extremely rare indeed! Why? Subhuti, the Tathagata said that the first and foremost paramita is not the first and foremost paramita; it is [merely] named the first and foremost paramita. 

Subhuti, the Tathagata said that endurance paramita is not endurance paramita; it is [merely] named endurance paramita. Why? Subhuti, in the past, when King Kalinga dismembered my body, I was [in the state of] non-phenomena of self, others, sentient beings, and lifespan. Why? Because if I had the notion of self, others, sentient beings, and lifespan during the dismembering of my limbs, I would have felt hatred. 

“Subhuti! Also, think of the sages who have practiced endurance for the past five hundred lifetimes, wherein each lifetime, they have no phenomena of self, others, sentient beings, and lifespan. 

“Therefore, Subhuti, a bodhisattva should abandon all phenomena, generate the mind of anuttara samyaksambodhi, and give rise to the mind which does not dwell on sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, or anything at all. Even if the mind dwells on something, it is regarded as non-dwelling. 

“Therefore, the Buddha said that a bodhisattva should not dwell on form when he performs the acts of giving. Subhuti! A bodhisattva should perform the acts of giving to benefit all sentient beings. The Tathagata said, ‘All phenomena are non-phenomena. Also, all sentient beings are not sentient beings.’ Subhuti, the Tathagata speaks truthfully, realistically, accordingly, credibly, and absolutely. 

“Subhuti, all the dharma [anything] obtained by the Tathagata are neither real nor false. Subhuti, if a bodhisattva dwells on anything while performing acts of giving, it is as if he is in the dark; he will not see anything. If a bodhisattva does not dwell on anything when performing acts of giving, he is not blinded and will be able to see all sorts of forms as if the sun is shining. 

“Subhuti! In future lives, should there be good men and good women who can accept and uphold, read or recite this sutra, they will be known and seen by the Tathagata through his wisdom, and they will attain vast and boundless merits.”  

Today, we will continue on the Vajra Sutra. I will talk about one key point from this excerpt. [Subhuti said,] “World-honored One, if someone generates pure faith upon hearing this sutra, they will give rise to real phenomena. This person will obtain the rarest of merits.”  When others expound this sutra, they typically would not elaborate on this point. Most people will just give a simple explanation; because the text is in simple words, they will not explain further. However, you must pay attention [to the phrases] pure faith and giving rise to real phenomena.  

Focus on the phrase pure faith. Many people believe that when they have total faith or pure faith in their beliefs, it means that they have the pure faith that is mentioned in the sutra. They believe that they have “pure faith” if their faith is as pure as 9999 pure gold. We are not talking about plated gold here. Pure gold is considered as pure as it gets, despite having a very slight impurity of 0.0001%. But is this the kind of purity considered as the pure faith mentioned in the excerpt? 

I also have pure faith; I believe in my yidams—Golden Mother, Amitabha Buddha, and Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. I am pure as well. I would tell them everything, never concealing anything. Does this mean that I [by having this faith] will generate real phenomena? Impossible! The pure faith as mentioned in the sutra is not the same as this kind of faith [beliefs]. The pure faith involves practice. It is of utmost importance! Faith is pure only when it is put into practice, by which it is then called pure faith. How does one apply such practice? By applying the non-view of self, non-view of others, non-view of sentient beings, and non-view of lifespan! Only then would it be true purity. Simply believing in the buddhas is not it, as this is only superficial.  

In this state, by having pure faith, one reaches unhindered boundlessness throughout the three times across all ten directions. “Throughout the three times across all ten directions” is a Buddhist expression to signify all time and spatial dimensions. Throughout the three times refer to the past, present, and future as a stream of continuation, while all ten directions include the eight directions, as well as the above, and below. What does “the three times” represent? Time! It represents that time is pure. Thereby, one’s past, present, and future lives are all pure. “Across all ten directions” constitutes that all directions—which refers to the spatial dimension—are completely pure. [Hence, in pure faith, the time and spatial dimensions are pure, which essentially refers to non-phenomena.] 

Let me share an analogy. I often talk about the moon. There are no humans there, just an expanse of land. Whether there is life or not on the moon—as far as science is concerned—I am not sure. Let’s assume there is no life on the moon, not even a single person. Would time be of significance on the moon? No, there won’t be any use for time on the moon. Even space on the moon has no significance. Let’s say Grandmaster claims to be a landowner of some land on the moon. Yet is there any use for the land? No, there is no use nor value! So, its spatial aspect has no value either. Is land on the moon valuable? Perhaps! If you can travel there in the future, you could build a Hilton hotel and the people who would arrive on a space shuttle will give you US dollars to stay at your hotel. But can you spend it on the moon? Those dollar bills are just paper after all! It’s only useful on earth. Even if they pay in gold, would it be of any use on the moon? No. Then why do you want it? [Hence, time and spatial dimensions do not exist on the moon, or anywhere else.]  

This is the pure faith that we should have! [When one has non-phenomena of self, others, space, and time.] Let’s contemplate this further. Your mind is like the sky, as boundless as cosmic space. It is like the moon—there is no such thing as good or bad. There is also no such thing as self, sentient beings, time, nor space. This extent of purity is the greatest of all. Only this could be called pure faith. Without it, it is impossible to give rise to real phenomena. Real phenomena arise upon pure faith.  

Many people will not mention this in their Vajra Sutra exposition, for sure. They will not illustrate this point as I do. [applause]  

Confucius was a great Chinese sage. But why did he still seek Laozi for advice on the Dao/Tao?^[1] Laozi spoke on the Dao to Confucius, even though Confucius was already a great sage. What did Laozi say about the Dao? He only spoke on the two words, ultimate nothingness!^[2] What is ultimate nothingness? Ultimate nothingness is the same as complete emptiness. Ultimate nothingness is indeed the Dao. Isn’t it extremely profound? Laozi told Confucius that ultimate nothingness is the Dao. Confucius asked what the Dao is, to which Laozi told him that ultimate nothingness is the Dao! Ultimate nothingness is the reality! 

This is the reality or real phenomena that arises when one has pure faith. In the Vajra Sutra it is said, if someone generates pure faith upon hearing this sutra, they will give rise to real phenomena. This is what it means, yet nobody else who expounds the Vajra Sutra will talk about this. Most will only say that real phenomena appear whenever one has faith. How can it be that simple? If it is that simple, Confucius would not need to seek Laozi for advice. 

Real phenomena arise only from nothingness! Nothingness is the real phenomena! [The sutra continues to state that] …the real phenomena are non-phenomena! Do you understand this statement? Real phenomena refers to nothingness, and nothingness does not have any phenomena whatsoever. Therefore, real phenomena is actually non-phenomena, although it is called real phenomena. You must understand this concept! It would otherwise be very confusing why real phenomena is non-phenomena, and why non-phenomena [having no phenomena] is the real phenomena. Laozi already said that the ultimate nothingness is the reality. The real phenomena is when nothing exists. 

Pure faith is not easy to understand and not easy to explain. Only Grandmaster Lu can explain it. [applause] We know when Confucius sought Laozi about the Dao, Laozi told him that the ultimate nothingness is the reality. This concurs with the Vajra Sutra, that says non-phenomena is the real phenomena, and the real phenomena is non-phenomena. World-honored One, the real phenomena are non-phenomena. Therefore, the Tathagata named it real phenomena. Do you now understand? [The audience replies, “Yes!”]  

Anyone expounding on the Vajra Sutra should be able to pinpoint its most crucial parts. Otherwise, what in the world are you talking about?! This is an indestructible sutra! How can nothingness break down?! How can non-phenomena break down?! Those things are indestructible. When time and space are non-existent, how can it be destroyed? You must completely reach this profound realm to be a buddha. You cannot lack even in the slightest. 

Nowadays, only Grandmaster Lu understands this truth. [applause] There are many others, including masters, who have expounded on the Vajra Sutra. However, they do not have a real understanding of pure faith. Through my exposition, you immediately comprehend that the real phenomena is the non-phenomena and the non-phenomena is the real phenomena. Otherwise, most other explanations are superficial, merely skimming through it. What they were talking about was still destructible. Only the Vajra Sutra exposition by Grandmaster Lu is indestructible! 

Om mani padme hum.

[2]  Reaching Nothingness 至虛 zhixu is a concept in Daoism referring to the same idea as complete emptiness in buddhism. 

Next discourse on the Vajra Sutra: Discourse 41, 12 December 2021 - Chapter Fourteen—Extinction Upon Abandoning Phenomena (continued)

Previous discourse on the Vajra Sutra: Discourse 39, 5 December 2021 - Chapter Fourteen—Extinction Upon Abandoning Phenomena (continued) 

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Full webcast of 2021.12.11 Yellow Jambhala Group Practice (Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple, Redmond, USA) and dharma discourse with English interpretation: https://youtu.be/vg48rn4RW64