Читать книгу The Diamond Sutra (Chin-Kang-Ching) or Prajna-Paramita онлайн

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In one of the opening passages of The Diamond Sutra, we find that Sakyamuni Buddha, in reply to an enquiry by Subhuti, suggests that by means of this “wisdom,” enlightened disciples shall be enabled to bring into subjection every inordinate desire.

“Every species of life, whether hatched in the egg, formed in the womb, evolved from spawn, produced by metamorphosis, with or without form or intelligence, possessing or devoid of natural instinct—from these changeful conditions of being I command you to seek deliverance in the transcendental concept of Nirvana. Thus you shall obtain deliverance from the idea of an immeasurable, innumerable, and illimitable world of sentient life; but, in reality there is no idea of a world of sentient life from which to obtain deliverance. And why? Because, in the mind of an enlightened disciple, there have ceased to exist such arbitrary ideas of phenomena as an entity, a being, a living being, or a personality.”

A similar process of reasoning appears to permeate the whole of The Diamond Sutra, and whether appertaining to a living being,ssss1 a virtue,ssss1 a condition of mind,ssss1 a Buddhist kingdom,ssss1 or a personal Buddha,ssss1 there is implied in each concept a spiritual essence, only imperfectly described, if not entirely overlooked, in the ordinary use of each particular name. Shakespeare enquired, “What’s in a name?” and in a thought inspired by the rose and its delicious fragrance, suggested with Buddha, that there is little, or nothing, in a name which explains the real nature of an object. Even a “particle of dust” seems, to the Buddhist mind, to embody in its composition a subtle spiritual element, entirely “inscrutable,” and quite “incomprehensible.”