Diamond Sutra Ch21 - No Dharma to Teach

2009-02-12

“Subhuti, do not think that the Tathagata holds the thought ‘I have something to teach.’ Do not even think such a thing. Why not? Whoever says that the Tathagata has a Dharma to teach slanders the Buddha, because he does not understand my teaching. Subhuti, in teaching the Dharma there is no Dharma to teach. This is called teaching the Dharma.” Then the wise Venerable Subhuti said to the Buddha: “World Honored One, will there be sentient beings in the future [during the Dharma ending age] who will generate faith upon hearing these teachings?” The Buddha said, “Subhuti, they are neither sentient beings nor non-sentient beings. Why? Subhuti, the Tathagata teaches that sentient beings, who go through many births, are not sentient beings. Therefore they are called sentient beings.”It has become a running joke in the class as I kept saying, "we'll go through the remaining chapters quickly." I planned to go through three chapters this class, but still managed only one.

Two important ideas here: One, that there is "no Dharma to teach". Two: sentient beings are not sentient beings.

One: The Buddha taught so many Dharmas in so many years, yet he says he has nothing to teach. Why? Some of the reasons we discussed in class were:

1. The Buddha did not invent the Dharma. He said he learned from many past buddhas and bodhisattvas. He was simply describing reality for those of us who cannot see it clearly.
2. The Buddha had no ego. He doesn't claim credit for the great teaching.
3. What is the Dharma? In words? In book form? In interactions? In nature? In the Amitabha sutra, it says, "the trees and the birds all speak the Dharma."
4. No matter how well we teach, the Dharma can be misheard and misued, then the medicine can become poison.
5. Our buddha nature is complete in itself.

Two: sentient beings are not sentient beings.

1. The Chinese term of pudgala is 眾生, which liternally means "many births". Ordinary people die and take rebirths endlessly, unless they get enlightened and reach nirvana. However, what we perceive as deaths and rebirths are, in reality, the mindstream going through endless changes. So there is no real deaths and rebirths, just different experiences from one moment to the next.
2. Ordinary beings are really not ordinary beings, right?

We also talked about how the authors of some of the greatest Chinese classics are unknown. E.g. The three great "mysterious" classics, the philosophical text I-Ching (Book of Changes), author unknown; Tao Te Ching, the source of Taoist philosophy, nobody knows much about the author Lao Tze; The Inner Sutra of the Yellow Emperor, the basis of Chinese medicine, author unknown. The four great Chinese classic novels: Dreams of the Red Chamber, Journey to the West, Outlaws of the March, and Three Kingdoms, their authors are all in dispute. There is the idea, perhaps, that "it's not important that people know who I am, as long as the book/teaching is spread." To become rich from authoring books was a foreign idea in China before the modern age, in this land that loved the written words.