Bảo Anh Lạc Bookcase 31 KEY WORDS In the Vajracchedikā Sūtra (Fifth Printing) Bhikkhunī Giới Hương Hồng Đức publication 2020 Contact: Huong Sen Buddhist Temple 19865 Seaton Avenue, Perris, CA 92570, USA Tel: 951-657 -7272, Cell: 951-616 -8620 Email: [email protected] [email protected] Facebook: https://www.huongsentemple Web: www.huongsentemple.com Copyright@2020 by Bhikkhuni Gioi Huong, Sunyata Pham, Huong Sen Buddhist Temple in the United States. All rights reserved. CONTENTS The Fifth Printing.................................................................... i Preface.... .............................................................................. ii Introduction .......................................................................... iii CHAPTER I: ORIGIN OF THE VAJRACCHEDIKĀ SŪTRA 1. The Maha Prajñā Pāramitā Sūtra ....................................... 1 2. Birthplace of the Vajracchedikā Prajñā Pāramitā Sūtra .... 2 3. Meaning of the Vajracchedikā Sūtra Title ....................... 4 4. Relation of Venerable Subhūti and the Vajracchedikā Sūtra ................................................................. 8 5. Relation of the Sixth Patriarch Huineng and ..................... the Vajracchedikā Sūtra ........................................................ 19 CHAPTER II: KEY WORDS IN THE VAJRACCHEDIKĀ SŪTRA 1. Dwelling in and Subduing One’s Mind ............................. 30 2. Producing the Pure Mind without Dwelling Anywhere .... 54 3. All with Marks is Empty and False ................................. 57 4. If Someon Seen All Marks as No Marks, .......................... Then He Would See the Tathāgata ...................................... 64 5. See the Tathāgata in Forms is Practicing ........................... a Deviant Way ...................................................................... 67 6. The Past, the Present and Future Thoughts ........................ are Ungraspable ................................................................... 76 7. Either the Dharms or non-Dharmas should ....................... be Abandoned ...................................................................... 83 8. The Merits of Holding and Reciting the Four Lines of Verse of the Vajracchedikā Sūtra are Greater Than Those of Giving the Precious Gems Over the Three Thousand Great Thousand World Systems ................................................. 93 9. The Merits of Holding and Reciting the Four Lines of Verse of the Vajracchedikā Sūtra are Greater Than Those of Giving Up Bodies which are as Many as Grains of Sand of the Ganges River .................................................................. 103 10. If Someone Says the Tathāgata has Spoken Dharma, ..... He Slanders the Buddha ..................................................... 108 11. The Adornment of Buddha-Lands is as ........................... No Adornment; Therefore, It is Called Adornment ....... 118 12. Patience is as No Patience; Therefore, ............................. It is called Patience ............................................................ 129 13. Prajñā Pāramitā is as No Prajñā Pāramitā; ..................... therefore, It is Called Prajñā Pāramitā ............................. 140 14. All Particles of Dust are as No Particles .......................... of Dust; therefore, They are Called Particles of Dust ..... 149 15. The totality of All Marks is as Totality of All Marks; therefore, It is Called the Totality of All Marks .............. 151 16. The Thirty –Two Marks Are as No Thirty-Two Marks therefore, They are called the Thirty-Two Marks ............ 154 CHAPTER III: THE MERIT OF BELIEVING IN THE DHARMA SAYINGS OF THE VAJRACCHEDIKĀ SŪTRA 1. The Supreme Ralation of Venerable Subhūti and ............. the Vajracchedikā Sūtra ...................................................... 164 2. Reciting this Sūtra is Foremost and Most Rare .......... 166 3. Believing in the Vajracchedikā Sūtra is to ......................... Worship Numberless Buddhas .......................................... 170 4. The The Vajracchedikā Sūtra is the Mother ...................... of All Buddhas .................................................................... 175 5. Reducing the Karmic Hindrances by the Merits ............... of Reciting the Sūtra ............................................................ 177 6. If someone Hears This Sūtra and is Not Frightened, ....... That Person is Most Rare ................................................... 179 7. Respecting the Sūtra ....................................................... 182 8. To Make Offering to 84,000 Buddhas is Incomparable .... to the Merits of Reciting the Vajracchedikā Sūtra ............ 183 CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION .......................................... 189 Source ................................................................................... 198 Bao Anh Lac Bookstore ..................................................... 199 With awakened wisdom, bright as the sun and the full moon, with immeasurable compassion to help humankind, we resolve to live beautifully. The Fifth Printing Key Words in the Vajracchedikā Sūtra was first published six years ago (2014), republished the second, third, and fourth times in 2015, 2016 and 2018 respectively by Tôn Giáo Publishing House,Vietnam. In this fifth reprinting (2020), for better use and service of the book, errors have been corrected, pictures, summaries, questions and discussions have been added at the end of each chapter, and especially, the book has been translated into English. We would like to gratefully acknowledge with special thanks Bhikkhunī Viên Quang, Bhikkhunī Nguyên Hiếu, and Pamela C. Kirby (English editors who worked as my assistants for English translating, proofreading, design and publication). Best Regards, University of California, Riverside Rainy Season, April 20, 2020 Bhikkhunī TN Gioi Huong PREFACE Those who have recited the Vajracchedikā Sūtra (the Diamond-Cutter of Perfect Wisdom) many times will know the meanings of prajñā, what emptiness (śūnyatā) means, what the non-perception of a self, a being, a soul, or a person means and the meaning of this famous Dharma sentence: Those who by my form did see me, And those who followed me by voice Wrong the efforts they engaged in, Me those people will not see.1 Another paragraph defines the meaning of Tathāgata: "Since previous lives, the Tathāgata has neither ever come nor gone in the future who is so-called the Tathāgata." In the Saṃyuktāgama Sutta, there is a story about self and possession of self, 2 which Ananda presented to the 1 Vajracchedikā Prajñā Pāramitā Sūtra, Sanskrit translated into English by Edward Conze, London: Sacred Text Series, https://universaltheosophy.com/sacred-texts/diamond-Sūtra/ 2 Non-self, Saṃyuktāgama Sutta, No.33, Vol.2, translated from Chinese into Vietnamese by Sa Môn Thích Tịnh Hạnh; translated into Vietnamese by Bhikkhunī Giới Hương. http://vnbet.vn/dai-tap-v-bo-a-ham-v-trung-a-ham-biet-dich-kinh-tap-a-ham-so- 1/tap-a-ham-quyen-2-kinh-33-phi-nga-13491.html Buddha that: "I have ever heard the Tathāgata who preached about the self and possession of self, but I do not completely understand it at all. I hope that the Blessed One will kindly explain it for me and the Assembly." The Blessed One replied, "Listen to this: if you clap your hands together, then surely a sound is made. So, where did that sound come from and after that the sound is gone, where will that sound abide?” "Dear Lord, that sound does not come from anywhere or reach to anywhere. Due to conditions, it is emitted and without conditions, it does not utter.” The Buddha concluded, "In the same way, self is something unreal; it is like the sound of two hands clapping. But because human beings have delusion and ignorance, they think it is true, but in fact, self is nothing. And possession of self is what belongs to self, like a pile of firewood, though it has the shape, after burning, the firewood is only a pile of ashes. It is not real. For a long time, beings thought “this is mine, this belonged to me, but nothing was mine.” From the basic tradition of Theravāda and over a few hundred years later, the theory of non-self in the Sutta Pitaka has been sublimed in the spirit of the Middle Way (Mūlamadhyamakakārikā) or Prajñā of the Mahāyāna (Bắc Truyền). The Vajracchedikā Sūtra states the doctrine of non-self in another way: there is no self, no being, soul or person. Through the two cited examples of both traditions, there is not much difference in the doctrine of non-self. The latter is not the difficult metaphors, but the true form non-self of all things, but beings do not understand and practice this. The Vajracchedikā Sūtra has thirty-two passages in total. Venerable Bhikkhunī Giới Hương relies on the Vietnamese translation of the most Venerable Trí Tịnh3 and the English translation of Edward Conze.4 She annotates each paragraph which is supported with many well-illustrated quotations from other scriptures in order to help the reader easily understand the deep meaning. When reading the Key Words in the Vajracchedikā Sūtra, we are more receptive to it, as there are stories about ancestors Đức Sơn, Long Đàm or King Kalinga and sages. She has explained it thoroughly, but emphasizes here that the reader or the practitioner must attest to the Dharma as it is. This result will come fast or slow depending on the wisdom and performance of each person. The Vajracchedikā Sūtra considers the importance of 3 Kinh Kim Cang Bát-nhã Ba-la-mật (Vajracchedikā Prajñā