The Diamond That Cuts Through Illusion

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The Diamond That Cuts Through Illusion: Commentaries on the Prajñaparamita Sutra

Book

Translations of Sutras (Chi-Eng)

• A Few Good Men
• A Treasury of Mahāyāna Sūtras
• Abiding in Good and Noble Deportment
• Appendix to the New Edition of the Bodhicaryāvatāra
• Buddha Pronounces the Sūtra of the Great Cundī Dhāraṇī
• Chapter on Entering the Inconceivable Liberated State of Samantabhadra's Practices and Vows
• Dialogue With Bodhisattva Infinite Wisdom
• Mahāvaipulya Sūtra of the Tathāgata Store
• Myōhō-renge-kyō
• On Entering into the Inconceivable State of Emancipation by the Practice and Vows of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra of the Mahavaipulya Buddha Avatamsaka Sutra
• On the Pāramitā of Ingenuity
• Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma
• The Buddhist Feminine Ideal
• The Definitive Vinaya
• The Dhâranî of Tchundi
• The Diamond Cutter of Doubts: A Commentary on The Diamond Sūtra (Vajracchedikā-prajñā-pāramitā Sūtra) By Ch'an Master Han Shan
• The Diamond Prajna Paramita Sutra
• The Diamond Prajna-Paramita Sutra
• The Diamond Sutra (Chin-Kang-Ching), or Prajna-Paramita
• The Diamond Sutra (Hsüan Hua)
• The Diamond Sutra (Wai-tao and Goddard)
• The Diamond Sutra and The Sutra of Hui Neng
• The Diamond Sutra: The Perfection of Wisdom
• The Diamond Sutra: Translated from Kumarajiva's Chinese Version
• The Diamond That Cuts Through Illusion
• The Essentials of the Dharma Blossom Sutra
• The Flower Ornament Scripture: A Translation of The Avatamsaka Sutra
• The Giving Rise of the Ten Kinds of Mind of the Bodhisattva
• The Great Vows of Samantabhadra
• The Healing Buddha (1979)
• The Healing Buddha (1989)
• The Lankavatara Sutra: A Zen Text
• The Lion's Roar of Queen Śrīmālā
• The Lotus Sutra (2016) (BDK)
• The Lotus Sutra (Watson)
• The Lotus Sutra: A Contemporary Translation of a Buddhist Classic
• The Lotus Sutra: The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
• The Lotus of the Wonderful Law or The Lotus Gospel (2005)
• The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana-sutra (3 vols.)
• The Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sutra: The Śūraṅgama Samādhi Sutra
• The Prediction of Mañjuśrī's Attainment of Buddhahood
• The Scripture of Master of Medicine, Beryl Radiance Tathāgata and The Sutra of the Girl Candrottarā
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume Eight
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume Five
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume Four
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume One
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume Seven
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume Six
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume Three
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume Two
• The Shurangama Sutra: Sutra Text and Supplements
• The Skill in Means (Upāyakauśalya) Sūtra
• The Sky as a Mahāyāna Symbol of Emptiness and Generous Fullness: A Study and Translation of the Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā: Volume 2: Edition and Translation
• The Sutra of Queen Śrīmālā of the Lion's Roar and the Vimalakīrti Sutra
• The Sutra of the Lord of Healing
• The Sutra of the Master of Healing
• The Tale of King Udayana of Vatsa
• The Threefold Lotus Sūtra
• The True Lion's Roar of Queen Śrīmālā
• The Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra
• The Vimalakīrti Sūtra (Watson)
• The Vow to Live the Life of Samanta-bhadra
• The Vows of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra Sutra
• The Śūraṅgama Sūtra: A New Translation
• Vaipulya Sūtra of Śrīmālā's Lion's Roar That Reveals the Great Skillful Means of the One Vehicle
• Vajra-chhedika, the "Kin Kong King," or Diamond Sutra
• Vimalakīrti's Discourse on Emancipation
• Vimalakīrti-Nirdeśa-Sūtra: Translated from the Chinese

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

The Diamond Sutra, a mainstay of the Mahayana tradition, has fascinated Buddhists for centuries because of its insights into dualism and illusion: the “diamond” can cut through any obstacle on the road to enlightenment. In the Diamond Sutra, the Buddha responds to a disciple’s question about how to become a Buddha. The Diamond that Cuts Through Illusion presents a dialogue between the Buddha and his disciple, Subhuti, which illuminates how our minds construct limited categories of thought. The answer: we must move beyond personal enlightenment to follow the path of the Bodhisattvas, fully enlightened beings who postpone Nirvana in order to alleviate the suffering of others. It offers us alternative ways to look at the world in its wholeness so we can encounter a deeper reality; develop reverence for the environment and more harmonious communities, families, and relationships; and act in the world skillfully and effectively.

This revised edition includes Thich Nhat Hanh’s translation of the Sutra from the Chinese and, in his commentaries, his own diamond sharp insight, including new work on the environmental implications of the Diamond Sutra. A beautiful edition of one of Buddhism’s central texts. (Source: Parallax Press)

Citation

Nhat Hanh, Thich, trans. The Diamond That Cuts Through Illusion: Commentaries on the Prajñaparamita Sutra. Rev. ed. Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 2010. https://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/Thich%20Nhat%20Hanh%20-%20The%20Diamond%20That%20Cuts%20Through%20I.pdf

Publisher Link

https://www.parallax.org/product/the-diamond-that-cuts-through-illusion/#product-content

Table of contents

• WELCOME1
• THE VAJRACCHEDIKA PRAJÑAPARAMITA SUTRA5
• COMMENTARIES33

• PART ONE: The Dialectics of Prajñaparamita34
  • 1 The Setting
  • 2 Subhuti's Question
  • 3 The First Flash of Lightening
  • 4 The Greatest Gift
  • 6 Signlessness

• PART TWO: The Language of Nonattachment58
  • 6 A Rose Is Not a Rose
  • 7 Entering the Ocean of Reality
  • 8 Nonattachment

• PART THREE: The Answer Is in the Question77
  • 9 Dwelling in Peace
  • 10 Creating a Formless Pure Land
  • 11 The Sand in the Ganges
  • 12 Every Land Is a Holy Land
  • 13 The Diamond That Cuts Through Illusion
  • 14 Abiding in Non-abiding
  • 15 Great Determination
  • 16 The Last Epoch
  • 17 The Answer Is in the Question

• PART FOUR: Mountains and Rivers Are Our Own Body108
  • 18 Reality Is a Steadily Flowing Stream
  • 19 Great Happiness
  • 20 Thirty-Two Marks
  • 21 Insight-life
  • 22 The Sunflower
  • 23 The Moon Is Just the Moon
  • 24 The Most Virtuous Act
  • 25 Organic Love
  • 26 A Basket Filled with Words
  • 27 Not Cut Off from Life
  • 28 Virtue and Happiness
  • 29 Neither Coming Nor Going
  • 30 The Indescribable Nature of All Things
  • 31 Tortoise Hair and Rabbit Horns
  • 32 Teaching the Dharma

• CONCLUSION: Becoming a Modern Bodhisattva138

Interconnections

Works related to this item

1 Full translation of

Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra [वज्रच्छेदिकाप्रज्ञापारमितासूत्र]. 'phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa rdo rje gcod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་གཅོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Sūtra on the Perfection of Wisdom "The Diamond Cutter" (84000)]. Translated by Bodhiruci, Śīlendrabodhi, Ye shes sde, Kumārajīva, Paramārtha, Dharmagupta, Yijing, Xuanzang. Kangyur, RKTSK 16 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=16&typ=1.འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་གཅོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Classical WorksAbout this item

One of the most revered and recited scriptures of the perfection of wisdom genre (prajñāpāramitāsūtras), perhaps second only to the Heart Sūtra, both of which became especially popular in the East Asian Buddhist traditions. It is a crucial source for Mahāyāna tenets of selflessness and the emptiness of phenomena, and its discourse is framed as an explanation of how to enter into the vehicle of the bodhisattvas by developing and sustaining their enlightened perspective.

1 Teaching based on

Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra [वज्रच्छेदिकाप्रज्ञापारमितासूत्र]. 'phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa rdo rje gcod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་གཅོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Sūtra on the Perfection of Wisdom "The Diamond Cutter" (84000)]. Translated by Bodhiruci, Śīlendrabodhi, Ye shes sde, Kumārajīva, Paramārtha, Dharmagupta, Yijing, Xuanzang. Kangyur, RKTSK 16 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=16&typ=1.འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་གཅོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Classical WorksAbout this item

One of the most revered and recited scriptures of the perfection of wisdom genre (prajñāpāramitāsūtras), perhaps second only to the Heart Sūtra, both of which became especially popular in the East Asian Buddhist traditions. It is a crucial source for Mahāyāna tenets of selflessness and the emptiness of phenomena, and its discourse is framed as an explanation of how to enter into the vehicle of the bodhisattvas by developing and sustaining their enlightened perspective.

Śrāvaka - The disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain individual liberation or nirvāṇa. The final goal of the Hearers is to become an arhat, a state in which one has totally eliminated the inner problems of attachment, hatred and ignorance, the main causes for rebirth in this cycle of existence. There are four stages of a śrāvaka path including eight phases. Skt श्रावक  Tib ཉན་ཐོས།  Ch 聲聞  

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Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattvas'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattva'

Prajñā - One of the key terms for wisdom or knowledge, most often having the sense of insight, transcendent knowledge, or perhaps gnosis. In some contexts it can also refer to cognition or intellectual understanding. Skt प्रज्ञा  Tib ཤེས་རབ་  Ch 般若  

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Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Sūtra'

Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of the Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt महायान  Tib ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།  Ch 大乘  

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Anātman - The Buddhist teaching of "non-self" or "selflessness"—the understanding that there is no permanent, unchanging self or soul within living beings. Along with impermanence (anitya) and suffering (duḥkha), it is one of the three marks of existence that characterize all conditioned phenomena. Skt अनात्मन्  Tib བདག་མེད་པ་  Ch 无我  

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Śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt शून्यता  Tib སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་  Ch 空;空門  

Go to the page with the definition of 'emptiness'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhisattvas'