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

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By referring to our Chinese text, we are led to suppose that The Diamond Sutra was “delivered expressly for those who had entered the Path which leads to Nirvana,” and for those who are “attaining to the ultimate plane of Buddhic thought.” Our Chinese annotators also appear to be unanimous in suggesting, that the “spiritual wisdom” of The Diamond Sutra is understood only in its rudimentary forms, by those of immature or uninitiated mind.

Concerning what has been termed the “agnosticism” of The Diamond Sutra, Sakyamuni Buddha, when he admissibly delivered the text, indicated clearly that there is a sense in which the “highest perfect knowledge”ssss1 may be referred to as “unknown.” Dante appears to have had a similar difficulty regarding “knowledge” and “power” wherewith to express the higher forms of spiritual experience; and the following lines, constituting the opening stanzas of The Paradiso, may serve to elucidate the Buddhist position, and make it perhaps more intelligible to those who are as yet unfamiliar with its peculiar modes of thought:—