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

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I am not to be perceived by means of any visible form,

Nor sought after by means of any audible sound;

Whosoever walks in the way of iniquity,

Cannot perceive the blessedness of the Lord Buddha. ssss1

In the twenty-ninth chapter of The Diamond Sutra, wherein is expounded “the majesty of the absolute,” Sakyamuni declared that a disciple who affirms that “Buddha” comes or goes, obviously has not understood the meaning of his instruction. Because, as we learn from our text, the idea “Buddha” implies neither coming from anywhere, nor going to anywhere. This purely spiritual concept of Buddha seems to have seized the imagination, and inspired the writer of the Yuen-Chioh Sutra,ssss1 to whom are ascribed the following significant lines:—

“Like drifting clouds, like the waning moon, like ships that sail the ocean, like shores that are washed away—these are symbolic of endless change. But the blessed Buddha, in his essential, absolute nature, is changeless and everlasting.”

Again, in the seventeenth chapter of The Diamond Sutra, it is declared that in the word “Buddha,” every Law is intelligibly comprehended.ssss1 To Western minds, it might become necessary to resist a natural inclination to ascribe to those elements of thought, an influence which had its inception in a nation other than the Indian.ssss1 But, lest we should appear to detract from the native glory of Sakyamuni Buddha, perhaps it might prove opportune to remark, that there is sufficient evidence in the ancient Vedic hymns, Upanishads, etc., to indicate clearly the probable starting-points in the evolution of his thought. It seems to be to the everlasting honour of some early Indian philosophers, that they endeavoured carefully to combine in an abstract spiritual unity, all the essential elements usually comprehended under the term “Divinity.”ssss1 This may in a manner explain why the devout Buddhist, possessing a natural mental tendency—induced by persistent Hindoo influence—is enabled to regard “Buddha”ssss1 in a purely spiritual sense, as the Onessss1 in whom all Laws are comprehended and become perfectly intelligible.