The Diamond Sūtra has been translated six times in all, yet those who read and recite it have generally revered the Qin translation, presumably because its language is concise, pure, and easy to read. For this reason, literary scholars have produced as many as several dozen commentaries, most of which explain the wording while neglecting to elucidate the meaning; thus, the true purport of prajñā has remained far off. Prajñā is the wondrous truth that is the flower of the mind: neither real nor unreal, subtle and profound. Even a thousand sages cannot comprehend it fully; how could the private words of a single family exhaust its profundity?
The thirty-two divisions of the Diamond Sūtra were the work of Crown Prince Zhaoming of the Liang dynasty. With painstaking care he divided the text to benefit later students, and his merit in propagating the Dharma is indeed worthy of much praise. Unfortunately, later Indian commentaries, such as Maitreya’s eighty-stanza verse and the two treatises by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu, were not available to earlier scholars. Moreover, the meaning of the sūtra is profound: before Subhūti had even made his request, the World-Honored One had already responded to the capacities of his listeners and provided instruction.
Some passages speak of cultivation at the causal stage, while others speak of certainty at the stage of fruition. Although the wording before and after may be the same, their meanings differ. Thus, students are instead left at a loss as to where to begin with such teachings as non-abiding, subduing the mind, relinquishing appearances, and becoming a Buddha. Yet people still hold this difficult sūtra in their hands and never tire of reading it a hundred times. This is surely the distinctive karmic affinity with prajñā possessed by us Chinese; how could it be accidental?
My teacher, the lay practitioner Wang Xianglu, had been giving lectures at Mind-Seal Vihara for five years. Finding that the Liang commentary’s thirty-two divisions were not exhaustive, he consulted the intent of the great bodhisattva Asaṅga and redivided the text into twenty sections, with supplementary subsections, calling it A Connected Explanation by Sections.
Above, he explains the rationale for the divisions; below, he provides a connected exposition, enabling readers to understand clearly the meaning of the entire sūtra: What are its principal outlines? What are the essential methods for beginners to subdue the mind? What is the state of mind when one on the first bhūmi realizes the Way and brings forth the great body? And finally, for those who have already realized it, how is certainty attained? Each division is explained, and every section interpreted in detail, out of particular concern that students might not readily grasp the essential points.
He further prefaces it with a general exposition, appends concise charts, and selects passages from the sūtra to inspire investigation. At the end, he adds a section explaining characters for the convenience of beginners and to supplement what other books have not covered. Thus there are six approaches: general exposition, explanation of the divisions, commentary, passages for investigation, charts, and explanations of characters. In this way, a single sūtra is explained six times over. Thereafter, he proceeds to explain the Heart Sūtra, likewise interpreting its meaning by sections, seven in all. Together, the explanations of the two sūtras are concise in language and profound in meaning, totaling more than eighty thousand words. The benefit bestowed upon later students is truly immense.
While arranging these divisions, the Master had often considered how he might dedicate the merit to Crown Prince Zhaoming. When the manuscript was completed in the spring of the dingchou year, he unexpectedly received an invitation from the Zhang family of Wuzhen, Huzhou Prefecture, Zhejiang, to lecture on the sūtra. Wuzhen was the place where the Liang crown prince had annotated the sūtra, and it contained the remains of the place where the prince and Minister Shen had studied. The Master thereupon taught the Dharma at that very site. Several hundred people from various towns came to attend, and a Buddhist association was established. From that time onward, Wuzhen had Dharma assemblies.
This was also made possible through the efforts of Lay Practitioner Huiguang, the wife of Zhang Yunbo. Thus, the uncompleted aspiration of the Liang crown prince was brought to fulfillment through the Master. Such a felicitous conjunction of causes and conditions was likewise no accident.
In the autumn of the wuyin year, during the Ullambana Dharma assembly, the second bodhimaṇḍa of Tianjin Mind-Seal Vihara began. Plans were made to assist in delivering those throughout the ten directions who had died in the national calamity. Chao Zhangfu, Kuanfu, and Gongfu, acting in accordance with the final wishes of their late father, Lay Practitioner Jiuyu, entrusted the printing of this sūtra to us. Support came in abundance from every quarter. In connection with the posthumous centennial birthdays of my late father, Master Yiting, and my late mother, Madame Jiang, I was fortunate to contribute at the end of this work of merit. I therefore resolved to print one thousand copies and retain the printing blocks, hoping that they might endure for generations.
Moreover, the essential Dharma instructions given by the Master in Wuzhen, Shaoxing, and other places have been collected in the book The Initial Essential Determination for Studying Buddhism. Its text is of the utmost importance for beginners who are properly establishing the causal ground, and it is respectfully reprinted here as an appendix.
Alas! The Buddhadharma has long been in decline.
Every five hundred years, a great ruler is bound to arise. Since the seventeenth year of the Republic of China (1928), when Patriarch Dayu founded the tradition, the Buddha Way has shone anew. The various schools have been brought into harmony, enabling Master Xianglu to distinguish and propagate them. Without this, we lesser ones would never have known what prajñā is or what it means to become a Buddha. It would be like entering darkness, where nothing can be seen. How could this be merely one person’s private good fortune? Nevertheless, the sūtra is the sūtra, and the Master is the Master; the matter of birth and death is grave and can only be decided by oneself. The late Master said: “What enters through the gate is not one’s family treasure. It must flow forth from one’s own breast; only then can there be even a small measure of accord.”
May those in the world who read this sūtra take the raft as their metaphor, refrain from grasping at dharma appearances, and begin with their own awakening, so that they may not disappoint the compassion of those awakened before them.
Respectfully prefaced in the autumn of the wuyin year by Hanpu Zhu Quan, disciple of ancient Liangxi
