The Diamond Sutra (4) – Second Commentary – Zen Fools
Part 1-4
Thus did I hear. One time, the Buddha was staying in Jeta Grove in Sravasti, residing with 1,250 great monks.
Commentary:
As mentioned earlier, “to hear in this way” means to listen to things as they truly are (in their suchness). Let me explain a bit more about “seeing and hearing things as they are.”
Suppose I hand you a cup filled with something and say, “Drink this as it is.” How would you drink it to truly follow my instruction?
Naturally, you would drink it without adding anything like sugar or salt, and without removing any of its original contents.
Likewise, when I say to see and hear things as they are, it means to perceive things without attaching any words, including names—those imaginary labels we use to describe the form, or define the identity of what we see and hear. These labels are neither innate nor essential; they are artificial and external, created by humans.
For example, a flower was not a flower until we called it so. It never declared, “I am a flower; call me a flower.” Nor did it ever mention its colour or size, yet we arbitrarily attach labels like “flower”, “red”, “yellow”, “pink”, “big”, or “small”.
When you hear in this way—that is, when you see and hear everything as it truly is, unswayed by forms or words—all distinctions between things vanish, and all things become nameless. This is called non-duality, Buddha-nature, or emptiness. In this state, there is only non-duality, only Buddha-nature, and everything seen by the eyes or heard by the ears is merely a manifestation of Buddha-nature.
When you see and hear in such truth, reading a sentence like, “At one time, the Buddha was staying at the Jetavana monastery in Śrāvastī, together with twelve hundred and fifty great monks,” allows you to feel the Buddha-nature in every single word. This is not merely reading a historical account of the Buddha but directly encountering the Buddha. It is not just picking up black beans from white paper but reading the sutras in their truest sense.
Do not forsake the Buddha right before your eyes while chasing the Buddha who dwelt in Śrāvastī’s Jetavana monastery 2,500 years ago.
Disciple: “What is the Buddha before me?”
Master: “To answer would be to diminish not only you but myself as well.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
