Yetgeul › Jingang Jing (The Diamond Sutra) › Complete in one volume

Section 21 — What is spoken is not the Dharma非說所说分第二十一

Jingang Jing (The Diamond Sutra) 金剛般若波羅蜜經 · Kumārajīva, Chinese translation · 402 (Later Qin, 4th year of the Hongshi era) · 3 passages · 134 Chinese characters · reading time 0.5 min

Jingang Jing (The Diamond Sutra) Complete in one volume "All marks that exist are empty and false" — a sutra that teaches one to give rise to the mind without dwelling anywhere. It follows, just as they stand, the thirty-two sections into which Prince Zhaoming divided it. It is told that Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch, heard one line of this sutra and set his heart on awakening.

1There Is No Dharma to Speak

「須菩提！汝勿謂如來作是念：『我當有所說法。』莫作是念。何以故？若人言：如來有所說法，即為謗佛，不能解我所說故。須菩提！說法者，無法可說，是名說法。」

"Subhuti! Do not say that the Tathagata thinks, 'There is a Dharma I have spoken.' Do not think so. Why is this? Because if someone says the Tathagata has a Dharma he has spoken, that is to slander the Buddha, for they have not understood what I say. Subhuti! To speak the Dharma is to have no Dharma that can be spoken; that is only the name of speaking the Dharma."

Interlinear notes 1

法無可說，所說非法

There is no Dharma to speak, and what is spoken is not the Dharma.

2Will Beings of the Future Believe?

爾時，慧命須菩提白佛言：「世尊！頗有眾生，於未來世，聞說是法，生信心不？」

Then the venerable Subhuti (慧命) said to the Buddha, "World-Honored One! Will there be beings in an age to come who hear this Dharma spoken and give rise to a believing mind?"

3Not Beings, and Not Not-Beings

佛言：「須菩提！彼非眾生，非不眾生。何以故？須菩提！眾生眾生者，如來說非眾生，是名眾生。」

The Buddha said, "Subhuti! They are not beings, and they are not not-beings. Why is this? Subhuti! Because beings, beings — the Tathagata says they are not beings; that is only their name."

‹ Section 22 — No dharma to attainContentsSection 20 — Leaving form, leaving mark ›Listen to this piece