The Diamondness of the Diamond Sūtra
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The Diamondness of the Diamond Sūtra
Journal Article
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Description
Based on the study of two Indian commentaries extant in Tibetan on the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, the paper investigates the significance of the title of this exceedingly popular Mahāyāna scripture. Tracing back the symbolism of the vajra to its origin in Vedic myth, it proceeds to show the survival of its imagery in the Buddhist idea of the vajropama-samādhi. This is followed by an analysis of Kamalaśīla's explanation of the meaning of the term "Diamond-Cutter", which relates it to a threefold path-structure inherent in the text itself. Then the central topic of the sūtra, the support of abhisamaya is analysed and found to be allied in meaning to vajropama-samādhi and āśraya-parāvṛtti, the "conversion of support". The next part of the paper seeks to extend this symbolism to the rest of the āśraya constituting the text, utilising Vasubandhu's explanation of the meaning of "non-corruption" (mi nyams-pa). Finally, the essential meaning of "vajra-cutting" is found to be encapsulated in the seemingly paradoxical threefold logical pattern repeatedly employed by the sūtra: X is (spoken of as) no-X; therefore it is (called or spoken of as) X.
Citation
Agócs, Tamás. "The Diamondness of the Diamond Sūtra." Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 53, no. 1–2 (2000): 65–77.
Interconnections
3 Scholarship on
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.
This is Vasubandhu's commentary on the Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitā (the "Diamond Cutter" Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra), organized around a structuring scheme of seven topics or subjects (saptārtha), from which the text takes its title. It is preserved in the Tibetan Tengyur and represents one of the major early Indian commentarial approaches to the sūtra, alongside the closely associated tradition of verse summaries attributed to Asaṅga with prose commentary by Vasubandhu, which survives independently in two Chinese translations (Taishō 1511 and 1513). Vasubandhu (fl. 4th–5th century CE) was a foundational figure in Indian Buddhist philosophy and, with his half-brother Asaṅga, a principal founder of the Yogācāra school.
This is Kamalaśīla's commentary on the Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra (the "Diamond Cutter" Perfection of Wisdom sūtra), preserved in the Tibetan Tengyur. Notably, its own colophon gives a fuller title than the standard catalog heading—'phags pa rdo rje gcod pa dbu ma'i tshul du rgya cher 'grel pa, "An Extensive Commentary on the Diamond Cutter in the Manner of Madhyamaka"—explicitly signaling its Madhyamaka interpretive framework from within the text itself. Kamalaśīla (d. 795 CE) was a major Indian Madhyamaka scholar and student of Śāntarakṣita, renowned above all for his role in the Samye debate against the Chinese Chan teacher Moheyan and for his three-part Bhāvanākrama ("Stages of Meditation"), composed at the request of the Tibetan emperor. His engagement with the Vajracchedikā fits within this broader context: the sūtra was a text of real importance in the doctrinal controversies of late eighth-century Tibet, cited by both Kamalaśīla and Moheyan in support of their respective positions, alongside works like the Laṅkāvatārasūtra. This commentary stands alongside the commentary by Vasubandhu as one of the major Indian exegetical treatments of the sūtra to survive in Tibetan translation. The Tibetan translation is credited to the Indian preceptors Mañjuśrī and Jinamitra, together with the editor-translator Yeshe De.
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