Master Wang Xianglu | 2022-12-06 | Download | AI assisted translation
| 金刚经义随说 | A Discursive Explanation of the Meaning of the Diamond Sūtra |
|---|---|
| 稽首世尊善赐护念 | I bow to the World-Honored One, who graciously bestows protection and mindfulness. |
| 今我发愿随说是经 | Today I vow to offer a discursive explanation of this sūtra. |
| 普愿众生信心清净 | May all sentient beings universally attain pure faith. |
| 深解义趣不乐小法 | May they deeply understand its meaning and intent, and take no delight in lesser dharmas. |
| 以佛智慧悉知是人 | With the Buddha’s wisdom, all such persons are fully known. |
| 荷担菩提即为如来 | To undertake bodhi is to become a Tathāgata. |
| 不取于相即生实相 | Not grasping at appearances, one thereby gives rise to the true mark. |
| 通达无我是名庄严 | To penetrate the absence of self is called adornment. |
| 如来于第四时，说般若经。计十六会，六百卷，《金刚经》乃其一也。以金刚喻般若者，又百喻之一也；或以大火聚喻般若，言无物不遭其焚烧；或以大日轮喻般若，言无幽不照等等，计有百喻。 | The Tathāgata taught the Prajñā sūtras during the fourth period of his teaching. They comprise sixteen assemblies and six hundred fascicles, of which the Diamond Sūtra is one. Prajñā is likened to vajra, one of a hundred metaphors; it is also likened to a great mass of fire, for there is nothing it does not burn, or to the great orb of the sun, for there is no darkness it does not illuminate. There are altogether a hundred such metaphors. |
| 而如来说法，不外八识、二无我、五法、三自性。所言五法者，乃名、相、妄想、正智、如如是也。《大般若经》具八十一科，色为八十一科之首。《金刚经》说一句“不住色布施”，言以一赅八十一科。自五蕴、六根、十八界、十二缘、四谛、六度、三十七助道品、以至菩提涅槃等，尽不可住是也。 | Yet the Tathāgata’s teachings do not go beyond the eight consciousnesses, the two kinds of selflessness, the five dharmas, and the three natures. The five dharmas are names, appearances, deluded thought, correct wisdom, and suchness. The Great Prajñā Sūtra contains eighty-one categories, the first of which is form. When the Diamond Sūtra speaks the single phrase, “giving without abiding in form,” it encompasses all eighty-one categories in one statement. From the five aggregates, six sense faculties, eighteen realms, twelve links of dependent origination, four noble truths, six perfections, and thirty-seven factors conducive to awakening, through to bodhi and nirvāṇa, none is to be abided in. |
| 经只一卷，文约义深，难于解释。前半部破四相，后半部破法见。以众生迷妄之习，在根为见，在境为相，一切相乃一切见之根本也，终不离我、人、憎、爱四种情妄。最后言三际心不可得，云何于不可得之心中，执缚诸见而滞四相耶？行者欲明三心不可得，自非修证不可，尤非认识透澈者，不能信心不逆也。 | Though the sūtra comprises only one fascicle, its wording is concise and its meaning profound, making it difficult to explain. Its first half demolishes the four marks; its latter half demolishes attachment to dharmas. Because sentient beings are deluded by habitual tendencies, these tendencies become views at the faculties and appearances in relation to objects. All appearances are the basis of all views, and in the end they never depart from the four deluded emotions of self, other, hatred, and love. Finally, the sūtra says that the three minds are unobtainable. How, then, can one cling to various views and remain stuck in the four marks within a mind that is unobtainable? If practitioners wish to understand that the three minds are unobtainable, they must practice and realize it. Above all, unless they understand it thoroughly, their faith cannot remain free from opposition. |
| 此经注释，当依无著菩萨十八住说，则如是住，方不生法相。又天亲菩萨二十七疑各解，前已略表，合印一册。非分段细讲不可，且俟异日，今则随说其义，不分片段，一知半解愿与诸君参究之。 | In annotating this sūtra, one should follow Bodhisattva Asaṅga’s explanation of the eighteen abidings. Only by abiding thus does one avoid giving rise to dharma marks. Bodhisattva Vasubandhu also explains each of the twenty-seven doubts. I have outlined this previously and gathered it into a single printed volume. It cannot be fully explained without detailed section-by-section exposition; that must await another day. For now, I shall explain its meaning discursively, without dividing it into sections, and offer this partial understanding for all of you to investigate together. |
| 古德云：“诸佛说空法，为度于有故”。无上甚深微妙，原不应以凡夫之见，去测度思量。世尊本意，在“灭度一切众生，入无余涅槃”。但不是佛可以度生，只是众生自己灭度。佛不过借一切幻法，使众生自己去波罗蜜。 | An ancient worthy said, “The Buddhas teach the Dharma of emptiness in order to liberate those attached to existence.” The unsurpassed, profound, and subtle teaching should never be measured and conceived through the views of ordinary beings. The World-Honored One’s original intent was “to liberate all sentient beings and lead them into nirvāṇa without remainder.” Yet it is not that the Buddha can liberate sentient beings; sentient beings themselves attain liberation. The Buddha merely employs all kinds of illusory dharmas to enable sentient beings themselves to cross to the other shore. |
| 原因众生颠倒，不得不度，故为“说波罗蜜”。若明众生本来是佛，不必定取灭度，故曰“即非波罗蜜”。但亦不舍此法，不妨立一假名，故曰“是名波罗蜜”。反复三义，类皆如此。波罗蜜者，言到彼岸也，由迷岸到觉岸。 | Because sentient beings are inverted and confused, they must be liberated; thus he speaks of “pāramitā.” If one understands that sentient beings are originally Buddhas, there is no need to fix upon liberation; thus he says, “it is not pāramitā.” Yet neither is this dharma abandoned. One may establish a provisional name for it, and thus he says, “it is called pāramitā.” These three meanings recur in the same way throughout. Pāramitā means reaching the other shore: from the shore of delusion to the shore of awakening. |
| 明心见性，明自己之金刚般若，悟自己之常住真心。本来如如不动即是佛性，此佛性不是佛所独有、众生所无，不是佛单有一个金刚菩提，给众生去荷担，还自众生自己荷担者这本有金刚菩提。 | To realize the mind and see one’s true nature is to recognize one’s own vajra prajñā and awaken to one’s own ever-abiding true mind. The original thusness, unmoving, is Buddha-nature. This Buddha-nature is not possessed by Buddhas alone and absent in sentient beings. Nor is it that Buddhas alone possess a vajra bodhi for sentient beings to undertake; rather, sentient beings themselves undertake this inherently possessed vajra bodhi. |
| 荷担即是承当，直下承当，自己本来具足是佛，即是第一波罗蜜，故曰“彼非众生”。然以烦恼习气颠倒而论，又不能说不是众生，故曰“非不众生”。因为是众生，佛所以说法。佛与佛更有何法可说。 | To undertake means to accept responsibility—to accept it directly. To accept directly that one is originally complete and is Buddha is the first pāramitā; thus it is said, “they are not sentient beings.” Yet when considered in terms of inverted afflictions and habitual tendencies, one cannot say that they are not sentient beings; thus it is said, “nor are they not sentient beings.” Because they are sentient beings, the Buddha teaches the Dharma. What Dharma could one Buddha possibly teach to another Buddha? |
| 佛悯众生迷而不觉，不知自家宝藏，不敢承当自己本来是佛，佛设种种方便，权说实说，无非要众生去承当，勿自放弃。但一时口授者曰言说，传于文字者曰章句，集章句者曰经。 | The Buddha pities sentient beings, who are deluded and unaware, who do not know their own treasure and do not dare to accept responsibility for being originally Buddhas. The Buddha establishes various skillful means, teaching provisionally and teaching directly, all so that sentient beings may accept this responsibility and not abandon themselves. What is orally transmitted at a given time is called speech; what is transmitted in writing is called sentences and verses; and a collection of sentences and verses is called a sūtra. |
| “金刚经”者，一切如来悟心之门也。了无明之妄心，即妙慧之真心，故曰悟心。十方国土中，最上第一希有之法，惟有一乘法，只是一心。 | The Diamond Sūtra is the gateway through which all Tathāgatas awaken to mind. The deluded mind of ignorance is itself the true mind of wondrous wisdom; hence it is called awakening to mind. Among the lands of the ten directions, the supreme, foremost, and rarest Dharma is solely the One Vehicle Dharma: it is simply the one mind. |
| 但所以说法，经是文字，不回向到自性上去，般若何由放光？故曰是经不过“名为金刚般若波罗蜜，以是名字，汝当奉持”。 | Yet the Dharma is taught through sūtras, which are written words. If one does not turn them back toward one’s own nature, how can prajñā emit its light? Thus it is said that this sūtra is merely “called Vajra Prajñāpāramitā; by this name you should uphold it.” |
| 所以者何？经不过是幻笔幻文，表此幻法，如筏喻者，皆不可取、不可说，是故“不应取法，不应取非法”。不取不舍，故曰“不住于法而行布施”。岂但不住，并不住亦不住，以“实无有法，发阿耨多罗三藐三菩提心者”。 | Why is this so? A sūtra is merely illusory brushwork and illusory writing, expressing this illusory dharma. Like the parable of a raft, all of it cannot be grasped or spoken of. Therefore, “one should not grasp dharmas, nor should one grasp non-dharmas.” Neither grasping nor abandoning, it is therefore said: “without abiding in dharmas, practice giving.” Not only does one not abide; even non-abiding is not abided in, for “in truth, there is no dharma by which one gives rise to the mind of unsurpassed, complete, and perfect awakening.” |
| 虽果成罗汉道，我不作是念，我得阿罗汉道。虽如来自己在燃灯佛所，成佛授记，亦云“于法实无所得”。要如是生心，始是无住生心。无住非是不住，直是无物可住。干干净净，是名清净。 | Even having attained the path of arhatship, one does not entertain the thought, “I have attained the path of arhatship.” Even when the Tathāgata received the prediction of Buddhahood in the presence of Dīpaṃkara Buddha, he said, “In regard to dharmas, I have truly attained nothing.” Only when the mind arises in this way is it the arising of mind without abiding. Non-abiding does not merely mean refraining from abiding; it means that there is simply nothing whatever in which to abide. Utterly clean and pure—this is called purity. |
| 成就最上第一希有之法，以如是庄严自性净土，故曰庄严佛土，却又说“即非庄严，是名庄严”，表示一切法，都是假名，妙用在我。我即非我，妙亦不有。故曰“佛说般若波罗蜜，即非般若波罗蜜”。 | To accomplish the supreme, foremost, and rarest Dharma is to adorn the pure land of one’s own nature in this manner. Thus it is said to adorn the Buddha-land, yet it is also said, “this is not adornment; it is called adornment,” indicating that all dharmas are merely provisional names, while their wondrous functioning lies with oneself. I am not I, and even the wondrous does not exist. Therefore it is said: “The Buddha teaches prajñāpāramitā, which is not prajñāpāramitā.” |
| 又曰“如来无所说”，以如是妙莲金刚宝觉，只四句偈，已可尽其微妙。 | It is also said, “The Tathāgata has nothing to teach.” This wondrous lotus, vajra, precious awakening can have all its subtle profundity exhausted in just a four-line verse. |
| 般若为诸佛之母，诸佛之所自出，岂有相福德所可较量？故三千七宝布施不能比，恒沙七宝布施不能比，恒沙身命布施不能比，乃至每日三时以恒沙身命布施，经无量万亿劫，亦不能比。 | Prajñā is the mother of all Buddhas, that from which all Buddhas arise. How could it be compared with meritorious blessings based on appearances? Therefore, giving the seven treasures sufficient to fill three thousand great thousand-world systems cannot compare with it; giving the seven treasures as numerous as the sands of the Ganges cannot compare with it; giving bodies and lives as numerous as the sands of the Ganges cannot compare with it. Even if, three times every day, one gave bodies and lives as numerous as the sands of the Ganges for immeasurable billions of kalpas, it still could not compare with it. |
| 功德较量，凡夫原要惊怖不信，不知一为有相，有生灭，终不足恃。一为无相无生灭，恒常不变；一为可夺，一为不可夺；一为有量，一为无穷；一为入生死，一为出三界；一为增添恼苦，乐不永久，一为究竟清净，得大自在；所以不能并论。 | In comparing merits, ordinary beings are naturally startled and disbelieving. They do not know that one is characterized by appearances and arising and ceasing, and therefore can never be relied upon; while the other is without appearances and without arising or ceasing, constant and unchanging. One may be taken away, while the other cannot be taken away. One is limited, while the other is inexhaustible. One enters birth and death, while the other leaves the three realms. One increases affliction and suffering, with happiness that does not last; while the other is ultimately pure and gains great freedom. Therefore, they cannot be discussed on the same level. |
| 佛说种种法，三藏十二部，无非要众生得慧眼，明心见性，启发金刚宝觉，认清这要紧东西。 | The Buddha taught all kinds of dharmas, the Tripiṭaka and twelve divisions of the canon, solely so that sentient beings might obtain the wisdom eye, realize the mind and see their true nature, awaken vajra precious awareness, and recognize this crucial matter clearly. |
| 可怜世人迷至今日，好容易走到修行觉路上来，百千万劫难遇之机，难得之身，尚在盲修瞎练，不知本地风光，处处皆是，行住坐卧，穿衣吃饭时，何尝离开本心地？在在金刚回露，处处般若放光。 | How pitiable are people of this world, deluded even to this day. Having finally entered upon the path of practice and awakening—an opportunity difficult to encounter in hundreds of thousands of millions of kalpas, with a human body difficult to obtain—they still practice blindly and train blindly. They do not know the scenery of their original ground. Yet it is everywhere: while walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, while dressing and eating, when have they ever departed from their original mind-ground? Everywhere vajra reveals itself; everywhere prajñā emits its light. |
| 自己终日是如来，终日不见自己是如来，却终日去寻如来。 | All day long, one is a Tathāgata; all day long, one fails to see that one is a Tathāgata, and all day long seeks the Tathāgata elsewhere. |
| 以为密宗即生成佛，禅宗彻悟是佛，净土花开见佛，我修了一、二十年，何以三十二相、八十种好，竟不见半点影子，神通变化、顶上放光，也不见有何凭据，可见即生成佛，真是欺人之谈，我尚且做不到，何况初学之人？末法时代，原无上乘根器，只要令伊闻思，且谈不到修证，所以要经过三大阿僧祗劫，自然能成佛。 | People suppose that Esoteric Buddhism’s attainment of Buddhahood in this very life, the Chan school’s thorough awakening as Buddhahood, and the Pure Land teaching’s seeing the Buddha when the lotus opens must mean this: “I have practiced for ten or twenty years. Why have I not seen even the faintest trace of the thirty-two marks and eighty excellent characteristics? Nor have I seen any evidence of spiritual powers, transformations, or light shining from the crown of my head. Clearly, attainment of Buddhahood in this very life is truly deceptive talk. If I cannot accomplish it, how much less can beginners? In this Dharma-ending age, there are no longer capacities for the supreme vehicle. We need only let people hear and contemplate the teachings; cultivation and realization are not yet to be spoken of. Therefore one must pass through three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas before one can naturally become a Buddha.” |
| 如此颠倒思量，真是梦中说梦。经上明明说见性成佛，不说是变相成佛，先把这要紧东西明白，便是见性成佛，密宗即生成佛，即是此理。 | Such inverted thinking is truly speaking of dreams within a dream. The sūtra plainly says that seeing one’s true nature is becoming Buddha; it does not say that becoming Buddha means acquiring transformed physical marks. First understand this crucial matter, and that is seeing one’s true nature and becoming Buddha. This is precisely the principle of Esoteric Buddhism’s attainment of Buddhahood in this very life. |
| 惟因自家力量不够，上仗毗卢遮那佛神变加持之力，使我速证菩提，开此觉慧，归到元来本觉。至于三十二相，八十种好，此是相上成佛，要把习气除净，必经过阿僧祗劫，断无此生办到之理。 | Only because our own strength is insufficient do we rely above on the power of Vairocana Buddha’s miraculous blessing, enabling us swiftly to realize bodhi, open this awakened wisdom, and return to the original inherent awakening. As for the thirty-two marks and eighty excellent characteristics, these concern becoming Buddha in terms of appearances. To eliminate habitual tendencies completely requires asaṃkhyeya kalpas; there is absolutely no possibility of accomplishing this in the present life. |
| 世人不察，妄计便宜，颠倒贪得，遂分两派：一派是求即生得神通，知过去未来，以为可以成佛度众，世人讥为狂魔；一派是谨慎小心，老实念佛，一切不管，只求生西，世人又评为自了。 | People of the world do not examine this and vainly seek easy advantage. Greedily and perversely seeking gain, they thus divide into two factions. One faction seeks to obtain spiritual powers in this very life, to know the past and future, believing that it can thereby become Buddha and liberate sentient beings; the world ridicules them as mad demons. The other faction is cautious and careful, honestly recites the Buddha’s name, concerns itself with nothing else, and seeks only rebirth in the West; the world again judges them to be concerned only with their own liberation. |
| 门户水火，各不相让，兄弟阋墙，自称孝子。何况三十二相，终是妄相，八十种好，宁非幻景？故曰：“不可以身相得见如来”，又曰“转轮圣王亦是如来”，“若色见声求，是人行邪道”等等。 | Their sectarian divisions are like fire and water, and neither yields to the other. Brothers quarrel within the walls, each claiming to be a filial son. Moreover, the thirty-two marks are ultimately deluded appearances; are the eighty excellent characteristics not illusory scenes? Therefore it is said, “One cannot see the Tathāgata through bodily marks.” It is also said, “A wheel-turning sage king is also a Tathāgata,” and “If one seeks through form or sound, that person follows a mistaken path,” and so forth. |
| 哀哉众生，自家宝藏无量，却向外面求乞，还要引导众盲同入火坑。佛故特地表演入舍卫大城乞食。城中一段，正是不开口说法。须菩提应机而请，世尊亦应机而酬。 | Alas for sentient beings! Their own treasure is immeasurable, yet they beg for it outside themselves and even lead many blind people together into a pit of fire. This is why the Buddha deliberately demonstrated entering the great city of Śrāvastī to seek alms. The passage concerning the city is precisely a teaching without opening his mouth. Subhūti asked in response to the occasion, and the World-Honored One likewise answered in response to the occasion. |
| 先表众生一切业障生死之根，在一“我”字。以有我，遂有执，以执取名相，遂入颠倒。开首先破四相，故曰“凡所有相皆是虚妄”。此相不单指有色诸相，凡一切法、非法、相、无相，都属于相，都属于名，都属于幻。 | He first indicates that the root of all sentient beings’ karmic obstacles and birth and death lies in the single word “I.” With self, there is attachment; grasping names and appearances through attachment, one enters into inversion. At the outset, he demolishes the four marks, and therefore says, “All appearances whatsoever are illusory.” These appearances do not refer only to visible forms. All dharmas and non-dharmas, appearances and non-appearances, belong to appearances, belong to names, and belong to illusion. |
| 只因众生病根在执见，先执一个我，故曰“如来说有我者，则非有我，而凡夫之人以为有我”。“我”字是众迷之根。有我相，即立人相；人我对立，合之曰众生相；此见不除，坚固执持如寿命，是寿者相。 | Because the root illness of sentient beings lies in clinging to views, they first cling to a self. Thus it is said, “When the Tathāgata speaks of a self, it is not a self, yet ordinary people take it to be a self.” The word “self” is the root of all delusion. With the mark of self, the mark of person is established; self and person stand in opposition, and together they constitute the mark of sentient beings. If this view is not removed and is held fast as something enduring like a lifespan, that is the mark of a living being. |
| 仁者勿执人相便当作“人”解，凡一切外境，形形色色都属人相。我是心的代表，心境相对，不依般若无由解脱，根尘锁缚，缚于人我，我与我所，生死之根。 | Benevolent ones, do not take the mark of person to mean only “human beings.” All external objects, in their myriad forms and colors, belong to the mark of person. The self represents the mind; mind and objects stand in opposition. Without relying on prajñā, there is no way to liberation. The faculties and their objects bind and fetter us, binding us to self and person, to self and what belongs to self—the root of birth and death. |
| “若复有人知一切法无我，得成于忍”，就是通达无我法者，如来说名真是菩萨。“若有我相人相众生相寿者相，即非菩萨”，非菩萨即是凡夫，凡夫心量窄小，要广大比喻，遂借四维上下虚空以形其大。又言福德性，亦等虚空之大，非有形之福德相可比。 | “If, moreover, someone knows that all dharmas are without self and thereby attains acceptance,” means that one who comprehends the dharma of non-self is called by the Tathāgata a true bodhisattva. “If there are the marks of self, person, sentient being, or life span, then one is not a bodhisattva.” Not being a bodhisattva means being an ordinary being. Ordinary beings have narrow mind-capacity; to illustrate what is vast, the text therefore invokes the space in the four directions, above and below. It further says that the nature of merit and virtue is likewise as vast as empty space and cannot be compared to the marks of tangible merit and virtue. |
| 又如“身如须弥山王”、“人身长大”等句，亦是表此法王身，点到金刚般若。 | Likewise, such phrases as “the body is like Mount Sumeru, king of mountains” and “the human body is immense” also indicate this body of the Dharma King, pointing to vajra prajñā. |
| 是故发菩提心者，明此妙心本来周遍法界，恒沙妙用终不离这个东西，故曰“在在处处若有此经”、“一切诸佛及诸佛阿耨多罗三藐三菩提法，皆从此经出”。 | Therefore, those who arouse bodhicitta understand that this wondrous mind originally pervades the dharma realm, and that its wondrous functions, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, never depart from this. Hence it is said, “Wherever this sūtra is found,” and “All Buddhas and the dharmas of all Buddhas’ unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening arise from this sūtra.” |
| 经，即指常住真心，即此真心不异诸佛，当尊重若弟子，当如塔庙，皆应恭敬，作礼围绕，以诸华香而散其处。此并非僭妄自大，以佛所亲许故，当仁不让。佛是真语者、实语者、如语者、不诳语者、不异语者。 | The sūtra refers to the ever-abiding true mind. This true mind is no different from all Buddhas and should be revered as one would revere one’s teacher; it should be treated like a stūpa or temple, with reverence, prostrations, circumambulation, and the scattering of flowers and incense upon the place. This is not presumptuous self-aggrandizement, for the Buddha himself has affirmed it; one should therefore not decline what is rightfully one’s responsibility. The Buddha is one who speaks truth, speaks reality, speaks thusness, does not deceive, and does not speak otherwise. |
| 无非劝世人要通达无我法，做个真实菩萨。乃凡夫自甘劣小，不堪承绍，故曰“若乐小法者，即著我见、人见、众生见、寿者见，则于此经不能听受读诵，为人解说”。 | All this is simply to urge worldly people to comprehend the dharma of non-self and become true bodhisattvas. Yet ordinary beings willingly settle for the inferior and the lesser, unable to undertake and carry on this charge. Hence it is said, “If those who delight in lesser dharmas are attached to the views of self, person, sentient being, and life span, then they cannot hear, receive, read, recite, or explain this sūtra to others.” |
| 若能发广大心，视一切众生与我皆可成佛，圣凡之别不在形体，乃在心量，自无惊怖之理。《大日经》云：“甚深无相法，劣慧所不堪”。 | If one can arouse a vast mind and see that all sentient beings, like oneself, can become Buddhas, then the distinction between sages and ordinary beings does not lie in bodily form but in mind-capacity. There is then naturally no reason for alarm or fear. The Mahāvairocana Sūtra says: “The profound dharma without characteristics cannot be borne by inferior wisdom.” |
| 其所以狂乱狐疑，都由不信上来，不信由夙世少种善根上来，故曰“不于一佛二佛三四五佛而种善根，已于无量千万佛所种诸善根”，“乃至一念生净信者”。又曰“信心不逆，其福胜彼”，甚为希有。 | The reason for their wild confusion and foxlike doubts lies entirely in their lack of faith. Their lack of faith results from having planted few wholesome roots in former lives. Hence it is said, “They have not planted wholesome roots before one, two, three, four, or five Buddhas, but have planted all manner of wholesome roots before countless millions of Buddhas,” and, “Even if they give rise to pure faith for a single thought.” It is also said, “If their faith does not turn back, their merit exceeds that,” which is exceedingly rare. |
| “以要言之，是经有不可思议不可称量无边功德，如来为发大乘者说，为发最上乘者说”。要人荷担如来阿耨多罗三藐三菩提，“皆得成就不可量不可称无有边不可思议功德”，如是人等即为如来，言即与如来不二。 | “To sum up, this sūtra possesses inconceivable, immeasurable, boundless merit and virtue. The Tathāgata teaches it for those who have set forth on the Great Vehicle and for those who have set forth on the Supreme Vehicle.” It calls on people to undertake and carry the Tathāgata’s unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening, so that they “all attain immeasurable, incalculable, boundless, inconceivable merit and virtue.” Such people are themselves Tathāgatas; that is, they are nondual with the Tathāgata. |
| 佛在他经上屡屡说过，要人承当荷担，毋庸惊怖，此义却是难信，故曰“当知是经义不可思议”，原不是凡夫意境所可思议得到。所以要通达经义，不单是解释文字，此经义是上至十方三世一切诸佛，下至遍法界各类众生，同此平等一义。所谓阿耨菩提，所谓大圆觉，本是生佛平等，觉了便同佛，迷了是众生，不迷即觉，不觉即迷。 | In other sūtras, the Buddha repeatedly tells people to accept and carry this responsibility, without alarm or fear. Yet this meaning is difficult to believe; hence it is said, “Know that the meaning of this sūtra is inconceivable.” It is not something that can be conceived within the mental sphere of ordinary beings. Therefore, to comprehend the meaning of the sūtra is not merely to explain its words. Its meaning is that, from all Buddhas throughout the ten directions and three times above to every class of sentient being throughout the dharma realm below, all share this single principle of equality. What is called unsurpassed awakening, what is called great perfect enlightenment, is originally the equality of sentient beings and Buddhas. When awakened, one is the same as a Buddha; when deluded, one is a sentient being. Not being deluded is awakening; not being awakened is delusion. |
| “若心有住”，即住于六尘外境，“即为非住”，言即不能住于无上菩提矣。迷则如人入暗，即无所见；觉则如人有目，日光明照，见种种色。故不着一切法，处处是般若作用。 | “If the mind abides anywhere,” it abides in the external objects of the six sense faculties; “then it is not abiding,” meaning that it cannot abide in unsurpassed awakening. Delusion is like a person entering darkness and seeing nothing; awakening is like a person with eyes who, illuminated by bright sunlight, sees all kinds of forms. Therefore, when one does not attach to any dharma, prajñā functions everywhere. |
| 然人忽迷忽觉，般若非隐非显，要其本体，毫无殊别。根本即不生不灭，所以不增不减，不垢不净，不一不异，不来不去，都无所立，毕竟平等，所以谓之坚固不坏，具坚利明体相用三德之金刚般若。 | Yet people suddenly become deluded and suddenly awaken, while prajñā neither hides nor manifests. As to its essential substance, there is not the slightest distinction. Fundamentally it neither arises nor ceases; therefore it neither increases nor decreases, is neither defiled nor pure, neither one nor different, neither comes nor goes. Nothing can be established there, and it is ultimately equal. Thus it is called indestructible, vajra prajñā, endowed with the three virtues of solidity, sharpness, and luminosity in substance, characteristic, and function. |
| 第此金刚般若，虽生佛平等，以业力习气各有差别，妙用亦各各差别，故曰“一切圣贤，皆以无为法而有差别”。况悟虽顿悟，修属渐修，根本虽明，习气仍在，终不废持戒修福。布施是檀波罗蜜，即总摄六波罗蜜。 | Although this vajra prajñā is equal in sentient beings and Buddhas, differences in karmic force and habitual tendencies give rise to corresponding differences in wondrous functioning. Hence it is said, “All sages differ through unconditioned dharmas.” Moreover, although awakening may be sudden, cultivation is gradual. Though the root is clear, habitual tendencies remain; therefore, upholding precepts and cultivating merit must never be abandoned. Giving is dāna-pāramitā and encompasses all six pāramitās. |
| 世事纷纭往来，无非人对人，但人只知利己，不知利他。布施是个对治法门，不一定以七宝等为布施，乃一切人事往还，都包括在布施之中。惟布施而立人我之相，即有来去之酬、厚薄之分、得失之见、恩怨之辨。 | The affairs of the world are endlessly complicated and consist entirely of people dealing with people. Yet people know only how to benefit themselves and do not know how to benefit others. Giving is a dharma gate of counteraction. It need not consist of giving the seven treasures and the like; all human dealings are included within giving. But if one gives while establishing the marks of self and other, there arise calculations of repayment, distinctions of generosity and stinginess, views of gain and loss, and discriminations between gratitude and resentment. |
| 不知世事根本无常，岂能一一均等如愿。种种烦恼，随之纷起，往往为德不卒。怨因恩起，翻善为恶，所以世善不圆。然非世善之不圆，乃行善人无般若以融通，故不彻底，遂不云大。 | They do not understand that worldly affairs are fundamentally impermanent; how could everything turn out equally and as one wishes? All kinds of afflictions then arise in profusion, and one often fails to carry virtue through to completion. Resentment arises from kindness, and good turns into evil; thus worldly goodness is incomplete. Yet it is not that worldly goodness itself is incomplete, but that those who perform good deeds lack prajñā to integrate and harmonize it. Therefore, it does not reach completion and cannot be called great. |
| 能明此义，则布施少至一文，有般若即无量无边功德，无般若则三千七宝未足为胜。今度尽十二类众生，皆入无余涅槃，此功德岂可比量。但不在功德之大小，乃在心量之圆遍。 | If one understands this meaning, then even giving as little as a single coin, when accompanied by prajñā, brings immeasurable and boundless merit and virtue. Without prajñā, even three thousand measures of the seven treasures are insufficient to surpass it. Now, to liberate all the twelve classes of living beings and lead them all into nirvāṇa without remainder—how could such merit be measured? Yet the issue is not the magnitude of merit and virtue, but the completeness and pervasiveness of one’s mind-capacity. |
| 一有能度之我，即有所度之众，四相全立，即非菩萨，是名凡夫。况众生即烦恼之代表，烦恼尽众生尽，法门无量，其义不二。行者尊重佛旨，疑经即是疑佛，岂不入地狱哉。 | As soon as there is a self that can liberate, there are sentient beings to be liberated; all four marks are thereby established. Then one is not a bodhisattva but is called an ordinary being. Moreover, sentient beings represent afflictions: when afflictions are exhausted, sentient beings are exhausted. Dharma gates are immeasurable, but their meaning is not two. Practitioners should revere the Buddha’s intent. To doubt the sūtra is to doubt the Buddha; how could one then avoid falling into hell? |
| 是以狐疑不信，即同谤佛，故曰“但应如所教住”，言不必犹豫也。住者，住于无住生心之妙谛上，不见一切相，乃至诸佛无相，诸法无相。凡所有相，皆是虚妄。诸相皆无，实相自现。 | Thus, foxlike doubt and disbelief are equivalent to slandering the Buddha. Hence it is said, “One should simply abide as instructed,” meaning that there is no need to hesitate. To abide means to abide in the wondrous truth of giving rise to mind without abiding. One sees no marks whatsoever: even the Buddhas are without marks, and all dharmas are without marks. All that has marks is false and illusory. When all marks are absent, the true mark manifests of itself. |
| 实相即是法身，即是如来，故曰“离一切诸相，即名诸佛”。凡夫执相而妄计为有，二乘执空而偏计为无，一个颠倒，一个断灭，同落死海，不得超脱。由于世人自甘劣小，不肯仰体释迦如来之本意。 | The true mark is the dharmakāya; it is the Tathāgata. Hence it is said, “To be free from all marks is called all Buddhas.” Ordinary beings cling to marks and falsely reckon them to exist; adherents of the two vehicles cling to emptiness and one-sidedly reckon it to be nonexistence. One is inverted, the other annihilationist; both fall into the sea of death and cannot transcend it. This is because worldly people willingly settle for the inferior and the lesser and refuse to look up to and comprehend Śākyamuni Buddha’s original intent. |
| 故曰“闻是言说章句，信心清净，即生实相”，实相即是如来，“当知是人，成就第一希有功德”。且人无古今，根无利钝，“如来灭后，后五百岁”，亦有人“能生信心，以此为实”。所以轻慢后学，即入贡高地狱。 | Hence it is said, “When, on hearing these statements and passages, one’s faith becomes pure, the true mark arises.” The true mark is the Tathāgata. “Know that such a person accomplishes the foremost and rarest merit and virtue.” People are not divided by ancient or modern times, nor are faculties fixed as sharp or dull. Even “in the latter five hundred years after the Tathāgata’s passing,” there will be those “able to give rise to faith and take this as true.” Therefore, to slight later learners is to enter the hell of arrogance. |
| 尤不可专尚空谈，执理废事；持戒修福，岂可偏废，故曰忍辱波罗蜜。老实刻苦去做，只不著相耳。忍辱是无诤三昧，世人最不肯做。佛特表自己过去生中，被歌利王割截身体，又作忍辱仙人，于尔所世，无我相等等。 | Still less should one prize empty talk alone, cling to principle, and neglect phenomena. How could upholding precepts and cultivating merit be neglected? Hence the teaching speaks of kṣānti-pāramitā. One must honestly and diligently put it into practice, simply without attachment to marks. Forbearance is the samādhi of noncontention, something worldly people are least willing to practice. The Buddha especially cited his own past life, when King Kali dismembered his body and he was the Sage of Forbearance; throughout all those lives, there were no marks of self and so forth. |
| 以动念即乖，见色即是割目，闻声即是截耳，是谓“割截身体”。皆因贪得而起，故曰歌利王。 | For as soon as a thought stirs, one has already gone astray; seeing a form is like having one’s eyes cut out, and hearing a sound is like having one’s ears severed. This is what is meant by “dismembering the body.” It all arises from greedy acquisition; hence the name King Kali. |
| 至于布施，佛在“燃灯佛前，得值八百四千万亿那由他诸佛，悉皆供养承事，无空过者”，具此胜因，合此胜缘，结此胜果，故曰“果报亦不可思议”，又岂可轻视因果哉。是故佛法于世间，不离世间觉，岂谓佛法言空，尽废人事。果无病者，何用医生。一切法，皆是佛法。以一切法，皆是对治。 | As for giving, before Dīpaṅkara Buddha, the Buddha “encountered eighty-four hundred million nayutas of Buddhas and served and made offerings to them all, without letting a single opportunity pass.” Possessing this supreme cause, meeting these supreme conditions, and bringing forth this supreme fruition, it is said that “the karmic result is also inconceivable.” How, then, could one take cause and effect lightly? Therefore, Buddhadharma in the world is awakening that does not depart from the world. How could one say that Buddhadharma teaches emptiness and thereby discard all human affairs? If there were truly no illness, what use would doctors be? All dharmas are Buddhadharma, because all dharmas are countermeasures. |
| 今要发无上菩提心，应离一切相，要离一切相，只有般若观照。了脱根尘。所谓“不住色等生心，应生无所住心”。第此妙谛，无实无虚。若以为有，则真如无相；若以为无，则自性具足。 | Now, to arouse the mind of unsurpassed awakening, one should leave all marks behind. To leave all marks behind, there is only prajñā contemplation. One must transcend the sense faculties and their objects. As it is said, “Do not give rise to mind abiding in form and the like; one should give rise to a mind that abides nowhere.” Yet this wondrous truth is neither real nor unreal. If one takes it to exist, suchness is without marks; if one takes it not to exist, intrinsic nature is complete in itself. |
| 虽有无俱遣，而不言断灭，即是佛智慧。经云：“唯佛与佛，乃能证知”。故曰“以佛智慧，悉知是人，悉见是人，皆得成就无量无边功德”，即是第一波罗蜜。 | Though both existence and nonexistence are cast aside, this does not mean annihilation; this is the Buddha’s wisdom. The sūtra says: “Only a Buddha together with a Buddha can fully realize and know it.” Hence it is said, “With the Buddha’s wisdom, he fully knows such people and fully sees such people; all attain immeasurable and boundless merit and virtue.” This is the foremost pāramitā. |
| 世人因果未明，环境顺逆不常，中途退转，由无般若，今世受持此经，为人轻贱，是先世业报，不能避免，只可减轻，智者翻以速了为喜。况罪业从心，心生幻法，心灭法灭，罪福性空，无有体相，假立有无，在此一念。 | Worldly people do not clearly understand cause and effect. Their circumstances are not always favorable or adverse, and they regress midway because they lack prajñā. If, in this life, one upholds this sūtra and is despised by others, this is karmic retribution from former lives. It cannot be avoided, but it can be lightened; the wise instead rejoice that it will be resolved more quickly. Moreover, karmic offenses arise from mind: mind gives rise to illusory dharmas, and when mind ceases, dharmas cease. The nature of offenses and blessings is empty, without substance or marks; existence and nonexistence are provisionally established in this single thought. |
| 前念是先世，后念是今世。后念起，前念灭，觉照起，罪业销，故曰“先世罪业，即为消灭，当下即得阿耨多罗三藐三菩提”。 | The preceding thought is a former life; the subsequent thought is this present life. When the subsequent thought arises, the preceding thought ceases. When awakened contemplation arises, karmic offenses are dispelled. Hence it is said, “The karmic offenses of former lives are thereby extinguished, and at that very moment one attains unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening.” |
| 此经前半部破四相，后半部破法相，义无深浅，眼只一只，独具金刚只眼者，不是废生肉眼，必同具此肉眼、天眼、慧眼、法眼，共此四眼，自然明心见性，即是佛眼。佛则五眼具足。眼者，慧心也，但心依何起？依境而起。 | The first half of this sūtra demolishes the four marks, and the latter half demolishes the marks of dharmas. Its meaning has no depths or shallows; there is only one eye. One who uniquely possesses the vajra eye does not discard the physical eye, but must possess together the physical eye, heavenly eye, wisdom eye, and dharma eye. With these four eyes, one naturally realizes the mind and sees one’s true nature; this is the Buddha eye. A Buddha possesses all five eyes. The eye is the mind of wisdom. But on what does mind rely in arising? It arises in dependence on objects. |
| 境即空幻，心又安立？二祖觅心，了不可得，初祖即予印可。故曰“所有沙数佛世界如是……所有众生，若干种心，如来悉知……皆为非心，是名为心。所以者何？过去心不可得，现在心不可得，未来心不可得”。 | Objects are empty and illusory, so how can mind be established? When the Second Patriarch sought the mind, he could not find it at all, and the First Patriarch thereupon gave him confirmation. Hence it is said, “All Buddha worlds as numerous as the sands of the Ganges are thus … all sentient beings’ various kinds of minds are fully known by the Tathāgata … all are not mind; this is called mind. Why? The past mind is unobtainable, the present mind is unobtainable, and the future mind is unobtainable.” |
| 心既不可得，则相依何起？法依何生？诸法空相，说者为谁？故曰“若人言如来有所说法，即为谤佛，不能解佛所说故”。然定执如来无所说法，亦是谤佛，故曰“如来说一切法，皆是佛法”。 | If mind is unobtainable, on what do marks depend in arising? On what do dharmas depend in being produced? If all dharmas have the marks of emptiness, who is there to speak? Hence it is said, “If someone says that the Tathāgata has taught a dharma, that person slanders the Buddha, because they cannot understand what the Buddha has taught.” Yet to rigidly maintain that the Tathāgata has taught no dharma is also to slander the Buddha. Hence it is said, “All dharmas spoken by the Tathāgata are Buddhadharma.” |
| 又曰“佛说一切法，无我无人无众生无寿者。何以故？如来所说法，皆不可取，不可说，非法非非法”，只要世人一切勿执而已。是故说时默，默时说，能通斯义，则山河大地，草木瓦砾，处处皆是说法者，处处皆现如来身。 | It is also said, “The Buddha teaches all dharmas as without self, person, sentient being, or life span. Why? The dharmas taught by the Tathāgata cannot be grasped and cannot be spoken of; they are neither dharmas nor non-dharmas.” It merely requires worldly people not to cling to anything. Therefore, speaking is silence, and silence is speaking. Those who comprehend this meaning find that mountains, rivers, the great earth, grasses, trees, tiles, and stones are everywhere teachers of the Dharma, and that the Tathāgata’s body appears everywhere. |
| 夫“如来者，诸法如义”。“如”言不变，“来”言随缘，随缘不变，不变随缘，亦如亦来，故名“如来”。“诸法如义”者，百界千如，无一实法，无实无虚，义属平等。 | Now, “Tathāgata” means “the thusness of all dharmas.” “Thus” means unchanging, and “come” means according with conditions. In according with conditions, it remains unchanging; unchanging, it accords with conditions. It is both thus and come, and therefore is called “Tathāgata.” The “thusness of all dharmas” means the hundred realms and thousand suchnesses: not a single dharma is truly real; neither real nor unreal, their meaning is equality. |
| 愚者妄执如是为有形相，认为若坐若卧，若来若去，定有三十二相等等，不知法王身安得有相，不可以色见声求，行入邪道。况此心体，非实非虚，若言其有，无相无名；若言其无，妙用恒沙。 | Fools mistakenly cling to such things as having form and appearance. They think that whether sitting or lying down, coming or going, there must certainly be the thirty-two marks and so forth. They do not know how the Dharma King’s body could have marks; one cannot see it by form or seek it by sound. To do so is to enter a wrong path. Moreover, this substance of mind is neither real nor unreal. If one says it exists, it has no form and no name; if one says it does not exist, its wondrous functioning is as countless as the sands of the Ganges. |
| 而法法平等，无有高下，一切法皆是佛法。“修一切善法，即得阿耨多罗三藐三菩提”。然无有少法可得，何复云得耶？正以无实无虚，一切都属因缘假合，散之为微尘，合之为世界，究之都无自性。 | Yet all dharmas are equal, without high or low; all dharmas are Buddhadharma. “By cultivating all wholesome dharmas, one attains anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.” Yet not even the slightest dharma can be attained, so how can one speak of attainment? Precisely because there is neither reality nor unreality: all things are provisionally compounded through causes and conditions. Dispersed, they become motes of dust; combined, they become worlds. Examined to the end, none has any self-nature. |
| 微尘非微尘，世界非世界，只假立之一合相耳，然又岂微尘世界为一合相哉！凡一切心，一切法，幻起幻灭，都是一合相。所谓“一合相者，即是不可说，但凡夫之人，贪着其事”。 | Motes of dust are not motes of dust, and worlds are not worlds; they are merely provisionally designated as a single composite appearance. But how could motes of dust and worlds truly be a single composite appearance? Every mind and every dharma arises and ceases illusorily; all are single composite appearances. As it is said: “A single composite appearance is inexpressible; yet ordinary people greedily cling to such matters.” |
| 是故一切有为法，凡夫当之，坚固执持而勿舍，入梦幻泡影而不知，流浪生死，永无了期；二乘人当之，认为梦幻泡影露电而厌恶弃绝，不敢相接，由无智慧以观照故；大乘菩萨当之，虽知为梦幻等等，然有般若力，智悲双运，不取有为，不离有为。弥勒菩萨偈云：“非有为非离，诸如来涅槃”。 | Therefore, when ordinary beings encounter all conditioned dharmas, they cling to them firmly and refuse to let them go. They enter the dreamlike, illusory, bubble-like, shadow-like realm without knowing it, wander through birth and death, and never reach its end. When practitioners of the two vehicles encounter them, they regard them as dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows, dew, and lightning; they loathe and reject them, not daring to engage with them, because they lack the wisdom of contemplation. When Mahāyāna bodhisattvas encounter them, although they know them to be dreams and illusions and so forth, they possess the power of prajñā and operate wisdom and compassion together: they do not grasp conditioned dharmas, yet do not depart from them. A verse of Maitreya Bodhisattva says: “The nirvāṇa of all Tathāgatas is neither conditioned nor apart from the conditioned.” |
| 仁者读经，应受其义，达其法，生净信心，勿起疑怖，不取于相，自然八风不动，心境一如，自开佛慧。“于一切法，应如是知，如是见，如是信解，不生法相”。“如是”云者，即表不可说不可说，即是顿证毗卢觉王境界。 | When you read the sūtras, you should receive their meaning, comprehend their Dharma, and give rise to pure faith. Do not give rise to doubt or fear; do not grasp appearances. Then, naturally, the eight worldly winds will not move you, mind and circumstances will be as one, and the Buddha’s wisdom will open of itself. “With regard to all dharmas, one should thus know, thus see, thus believe and understand, without giving rise to the appearance of dharmas.” The words “thus” indicate what cannot be spoken, cannot be spoken: this is sudden realization of the realm of Vairocana, the King of Awakening. |
| 所以者何，此法直证心体，了无迂曲，不历阶梯，不俟修证，故曰“如来为发大乘者说，为发最上乘者说”，非乐小法者所堪。彼高推圣位，自鄙下劣，虽读此经，断无力量去如是承受。佛说法四十九年，只说“如是”两字。 | Why is this so? This Dharma directly realizes the substance of mind, with no detours at all. It does not proceed through stages and does not wait upon cultivation and realization. Therefore it is said, “The Tathāgata teaches this for those who have set their minds on the Great Vehicle and for those who have set their minds on the Supreme Vehicle.” It is not something that those who delight in lesser dharmas can bear. Such people exalt the sages’ stages and belittle themselves as lowly and inferior; even if they read this sūtra, they have no power at all to receive it in this way. The Buddha taught the Dharma for forty-nine years, yet spoke only the two words “thus.” |
| 三藏十二部之记载，亦只载“如是”两字。行者依教信受，至大彻大悟时，其心地平直寂灭现前时，亦只“如是如是”而已。以许多“如是”，呼应前面佛说“应如是住，如是降伏”，为一大总结。“如是”云者，即“如实知自心”，非另有何种妙法可得，故曰“不生法相”，又属全经之总结。 | The records of the Tripiṭaka and the twelve divisions of scripture likewise record only the two words “thus.” When practitioners faithfully receive the teaching and arrive at great, thorough awakening, when the level and quiescent ground of their minds manifests before them, there is likewise only “thus, thus.” The many instances of “thus” echo the Buddha’s earlier words, “One should thus abide, thus subdue,” and form a great summary. “Thus” means “to know one’s own mind as it truly is”; there is no other wonderful Dharma to be attained. Hence it is said, “without giving rise to the appearance of dharmas,” which is also a summary of the entire sūtra. |
| 世人一闻般若，即惊为此生非分，且引经语，谓妄谈般若等同谤佛云云，不知一切经，皆不离般若。读经即是谈般若，据此而论，何所逃罪？要在妄上注意耳。故不可言而与之言，妄也；可与言而不与之言，亦妄也。 | As soon as worldly people hear of prajñā, they are startled and think it beyond their place in this life. They even cite scriptural words, saying that to speak rashly of prajñā is tantamount to slandering the Buddha, and so on. They do not know that no sūtra is apart from prajñā. Reading sūtras is itself speaking of prajñā; if that is so, how could one escape this offense? The essential point is to be mindful of what is false. Therefore, to speak to someone when it is inappropriate is false; not to speak to someone when it is appropriate is also false. |
| 自己不能言而与人言，妄也；能言而不与人言，亦妄也。“圆顿教，勿人情，有疑不决直须争”，以当仁不让，故曰“金刚般若波罗蜜”。 | When one oneself is unable to speak yet speaks to others, that is false; when one is able to speak yet does not speak to others, that too is false. “With the perfect and sudden teaching, do not yield to human sentiment; when doubts remain unresolved, one must contend directly.” Since one does not yield when righteousness is at stake, it is called the “Diamond Prajñāpāramitā.” |
| 我今随说是经，未能尽达经义，普愿法界众生，各自回向自己之金刚般若，妙契信受，得大解脱者。 | In speaking informally on this sūtra, I have not been able fully to comprehend its meaning. May all sentient beings in the dharma realm turn back to their own Diamond Prajñā, wondrously accord with it in faith and acceptance, and attain great liberation. |
| 癸酉秋，因事北来，蒙沪上诸朋好，以不敏随说之金刚经义，记录付梓。草草随说，缺点甚多，深为惶歉。《金刚经》正合于今日般若初机，由体启用，以空荡有，未及空空，乃心地印证之经，非文字参考之书也。 | In the autumn of the Guiyou year, I came north on business. Friends in Shanghai kindly had my informal exposition of the meaning of the Diamond Sūtra recorded and sent it for printing. This was a hurried, informal exposition and has many shortcomings, for which I am deeply ashamed. The Diamond Sūtra is especially suited to present-day beginners in prajñā: it unfolds function from essence and uses emptiness to dispel existence, though it has not yet reached the emptiness of emptiness. It is a sūtra for the verification of the mind-ground, not a book for textual reference. |
| 谈般若者，当因人而施。轻重不当，则受者领会不同。合于甲者，未必即当于乙，要观对方根器而为深浅。如经中“一合相”三字，其义甚广，有释为世界微尘分和之相者，有释为心境相对双空之相者。 | Those who speak of prajñā should apply it according to the person. If the degree is inappropriate, recipients will understand differently. What suits one person may not suit another; one must determine the depth of the teaching according to the other person’s capacities. For example, the three words “single composite appearance” in the sūtra have a very broad meaning. Some explain them as the appearance formed by the division and combination of worlds and motes of dust; others explain them as the appearance in which mind and objects, in their mutual opposition, are both empty. |
| 实则一合相乃一相无相之实相耳。凡夫未达实相者，必狂乱狐疑不信矣。不敏所说，系酬当时问者之机。既落语言，已成二义，非第一究竟义，自不免偏执不圆之愆，愿阅者依义不依文，依法不依人。更就心地法门修证所得而赐教正者，为幸多矣。 | In truth, a single composite appearance is simply the true appearance of one appearance with no appearance. Ordinary beings who have not realized the true appearance will certainly become confused, doubtful, and unbelieving. What I have said was in response to the capacities of those who asked at that time. Once it falls into language, it has already become a secondary meaning, not the ultimate primary meaning. Thus it inevitably contains the fault of partial attachment and incompleteness. I hope readers will rely on the meaning, not on the words; rely on the Dharma, not on the person. If they would further correct me with instruction based on realization attained through the Dharma gate of the mind-ground, I would be most fortunate. |
| 重九日王骧陆谨誌 | Respectfully recorded by Wang Xianglu on the Double Ninth Festival |
| 金刚般若，义味重重。如来为最上乘者说，故非深达法要，亲证实相者，不能道也。近世诸德，释《金刚经》者众矣。依文释义，已属甚难，若融贯全经之旨，随机应说者，我未之见也。 | Diamond Prajñā has layer upon layer of meaning and flavor. The Tathāgata taught it for those of the Supreme Vehicle; therefore, one who has not deeply understood the essential points of the Dharma and personally realized the true appearance cannot expound it. In recent times, many virtuous teachers have explained the Diamond Sūtra. To explain its meaning according to its wording is already very difficult; but as for those who can integrate the purport of the entire sūtra and teach appropriately according to circumstances, I have not seen any. |
| 海盐王骧陆居士，学佛多年，造诣深遂，所著有《弥陀心要》、《学佛究竟》及《金刚经》十八住表解、注释等书，已行于世。 | The lay practitioner Wang Xianglu of Haiyan has studied Buddhism for many years and attained profound realization. His writings, including Essential Points of Amitābha, The Ultimate Meaning of Studying Buddhism, and Eighteen Tables with Explanations and Notes on the Diamond Sūtra, have already circulated in the world. |
| 二十一年春，居士来沪杭暨内地各处传法，从而学者甚众，随机开示，或禅净双融，或密净合参，发前人之所未发。而《金刚经义随说》一书，系居士演讲，为同人所记录者。因关系于读经者极巨，故急付梓，以利同参。 | In the spring of the twenty-first year, the lay practitioner came to Shanghai, Hangzhou, and various places inland to transmit the Dharma, and many people studied with him. In his teachings he responded to each occasion: sometimes integrating Chan and Pure Land, sometimes jointly examining Esoteric Buddhism and Pure Land. He brought forth what earlier teachers had not brought forth. The book Informal Exposition of the Meaning of the Diamond Sūtra consists of the lay practitioner’s lectures, recorded by fellow practitioners. Because it is of great importance to readers of sūtras, it has been urgently sent for printing, for the benefit of fellow practitioners. |
| 竹籁曾叩居士佛法衰微之由，则曰只由不明因果，继又太息曰：“因果岂限于杀报等而已哉，凡学佛不明因地，欲求证果，何异拨无因果。故学佛以见性为主因，若反外求事相，妄分门户，较论短长，岂是佛性分内之事。 | Zhulai once asked the lay practitioner why the Buddhadharma had declined. He replied that it was solely because people did not understand cause and effect. He then sighed: “How could cause and effect be limited merely to karmic retribution for killing and the like? Whenever students of Buddhism do not understand the causal ground yet seek realization of fruition, how is that different from denying cause and effect? Therefore, in studying Buddhism, realizing one’s true nature is the primary cause. If instead one seeks outwardly among phenomena, falsely divides into sectarian schools, and compares their strengths and weaknesses, how could this be a matter belonging to one’s own Buddha-nature?” |
| 以纷纷外逐，遂致积习烦恼，增而不减。平时无一分把握，临终惟十念是赖。贪惑之因如是，业苦之果，可胜道哉。故学佛不论依何法门，当以归入心地为正因，先明自己之金刚般若，然后方有下手处。 | “Pursuing things outwardly in confusion thus causes accumulated habits and afflictions to increase rather than diminish. In ordinary times, one has not even a fraction of assurance; at the end of life, one can rely only on ten recitations. Such are the causes of greed and delusion; who could fully describe the resulting suffering of karma? Therefore, regardless of which dharma gate one follows in studying Buddhism, one should take return to the mind-ground as the correct cause. First understand your own Diamond Prajñā; only then is there a place to begin.” |
| 至波罗蜜法门，当以般若为宗，总持为法，净土为归。合禅净密而融一之，则庶乎其近焉。”旨哉斯言！即此数语，又无异于随说《金刚经》矣，亟附记以告世之明学佛因果者。 | “As for the Dharma gate of pāramitā, one should take prajñā as its principle, dhāraṇī as its method, and the Pure Land as its ultimate destination. Integrate Chan, Pure Land, and Esoteric Buddhism into one, and one may perhaps come close to it.” How profound these words are! These few words are no different from an informal exposition of the Diamond Sūtra. I hasten to append this note to inform those in the world who clearly understand the cause and effect of studying Buddhism. |
| 癸酉六月观音大士成道节山阴用无居士陈竹籁谨识 | Respectfully recorded by the lay practitioner Chen Zhulai, Yongwu, of Shanyin, on the Festival of Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva’s Attainment of the Way in the sixth month of the Guiyou year |
| （在文后附有王骧陆居士五年前所作偈言及《金刚经释义意见》，读之可以见其修证功深与宏法之旨矣。） | (Appended after this text are verses composed by the lay practitioner Wang Xianglu five years earlier, together with Remarks on an Explanation of the Diamond Sūtra. Reading them reveals both the depth of his cultivation and realization and his intention in propagating the Dharma.) |
| 【所说“偈言”即为《劝学佛勿分门户偈言》——整理者注】 | [The “verses” mentioned here are the Verses Urging Students of Buddhism Not to Divide into Sects—editor’s note.] |
