Seventeen

At that point Subhuti said to the Buddha, "World Honored One, when good mean and good women awaken the inspiration for unexcelled perfect enlightenment, how should they live? How should they conquer their minds?"

The Buddha told Subhuti, "Good men and good women who have awakened the inspiration for unexcelled perfect enlightenment should develop an attitude like this: 'I should liberate all living beings through extinction. After having liberated all living beings through extinction, there is not a single living being who has been liberated through extinction.'

"What is the reason? SUbhuti, if bodhisattvas have an image of self, an image of person, an image of being, or an image of a liver of life, then they are not bodhisattvas.

"What is the reason? Subhuti, in reality there is no state of awakening the inspiration for unexcelled perfect enlightenment.

"Subhuti, what do you think---when the realized One was with Dipankara Buddha, was there any state of attaining unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment?"

"No, World Honored One. As I understand the meaning of what the Buddha says, when the Buddha was with DIpankara Buddha there was no state of attaining unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment."

The Buddha said, "That is so. That is so. Subhuti, in reality there is no state in which the Realized One attained unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment.

"Subhuti, if there were a state in which the Realized One attained unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment, the Dipankara would not have given me the prediction, `In a future age you will be a buddha named Shakyamuni.'

"Because there was in reality no state in which I attained unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment, therefore Dipankara Buddha gave me the prediction, saying, `In a future age you will be a buddha named Shakyamuni.' Why? Because the realization of the Realized One is the meaning of the suchness of all things.

"If anyone says that the Realized One has attained unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment, Subhuti, really there is no such thing as the Buddha attaining unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment. Subhuti, in hte unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment attained by the Realized One, there is neither reality nor unreality.

"Therefore, the Realized One says that all things are Buddha's teachings. SUbhuti, `all things' are not all things; therefore they are called `all things.'

"For example, Subhuti, it is like a person whose body is large."

Subhuti said, "World Honored One, the realized One says that a person whose body is large is not large bodied, but is called large bodied."

"Subhuti, bodhisattvas are also like this. If they say, `I am going to liberate countless living beings,' then they are not to be called bodhisattvas.

"Why? Subhuti, in reality there is no such thing as a `bodhisattva.' Therefore Buddha says that all things have no self, n o person, no being, and no liver of life.

"Subhuti, if bodhisattvas say, `I am going to adorn a buddha-land,' they are not to be called bodhisattvas. Why? The Realized One says that adorning buddha-lands is not adornment, it is called adornment.

"Subhuti, if bodhisattvas realize selflessness, the Realized One says they are tru bodhisattvas." [Translation by Thomas Cleary]

Subhuti asked: "How, Buddha, does one who seeks the Bodhisattva Path tread it?"

Buddha answered: "One who sets out on the Bodhisattva Path should coninuously think, 'I must lead all beings to absolute Nirvana; nevertheless even when all beings have been led to Nirvana, no being in reality has been led to Nirvana.' For if the idea of a being, entity or personality should arise in him, he is not a Bodhisattva. He who has set out on the Bodhisattva Path is not one of the dharmas.

"Do you think, Subhuti, that when the Tathagata was with the enlightened one there was any dharma by which he came to know supreme enlightenment?"

"There was not," Subhuti answered, "any dharma by which the Tathagata has known supreme enlightenment."

"For this reason," Buddha said, "Tathagata signifies attributelessness, and if someone were to say, `The Tathagata has fully known supreme enlightenment [text missing]' The dharma of the Tathagata is neither real nor unreal. Hence the Tathagata teaches that all dharmas are the Buddha's own special dharmas. Why? The Tathagata has taught that all dharmas together are no dharma named `Bodhisattva'?"

"No, Buddha," Subhuti answered.

"Thus," Buddha continued, "the Tathagata teached that all dharmas are selfless and are not beings, entities or personalities. Even if a Bodhisattva wished to create tranquil Buddha-fields, he should not be called a Bodhisattva, for the Tathagata has taught that tranquil Buddha-fields are not really tranquil Buddha-fields.

"Subhuti, the Bodhisattva who continually [d]wells on the selflessness of all dharmas, however, is known by the Tathagata, the supremely enlightened one, as a Bodhisattva of Great Courage." [Translation by Joshua Pritikin]

Again the venerable Subhuti asked the Buddha, "Bhagavan, if someone sets forth on the bodhisattva path, how should they stand? How should they walk? How should they control their thoughts?"

The Buddha said, "Subhuti, someone who sets forth on the bodhisttava path should give birth to the thought: 'In the realm of complete nirvana, I shall liberate all beings. And while I thus liberate beings, not a single being is liberated.' And why not? Subhuti, a bodhisattva who creates the perception of a being cannot be called a `bodhisattva.' Neither can someone who creates the perception of a life, or even the perception of a soul be called a `bodhisattva.' And why not? Subhuti, there is no such dharma as setting forth on the bodhisattva path.

"What do you think, Subhuti? When the Tathagata was with Dipankara Tathagata, did he realize any such dharma as unexcelled, perfect enlightenment?"

"To this the venerable Subhuti answered, "Bhagavan, as I understand the meaning of what the Tathagata has taught, when the tathagata was with Dipankara Tathagata, the Arhan, the Fully-Enlightened One, he did not realize any such dharma as unexcelled, perfect enlightenment."

And to this the Buddha replied, "So it is, Subhuti. So it is. When the Tathagata was with Dipankara Tathagata, the Arhan, the Fully-Enlightened One, he did not realize any such dharma as unexcelled, perfect enlightenment. Subhuti, if the Tathagata has realized any dharma, Dipankara Tathagata would not have prophesied, `Young man, in the future you shall become the tathagata, the arhan, the fully-enlightened one named Shakyamuni.' Subhuti, it was because the Tathagata, the Arhan, the Fully-Enlightened ONe did not realize any such dharma as unexcelled perfect enlightenment, that Dipankara Tathagata prophesied, `Young man, in the future you shall become the tathagata, the arhan, the fully enlightened one named Shakyamuni.'

"And how so? `Tathagata,' Subhuti, is another name for what is truly real. `Tathagata,' Subhuti, is another name for the dharma with no beginning. `Tathagata," Subhuti, is another name for what never begins. And how so? No beginning, Subhuti, is the highest truth. Subhuti, if anyone should claim, `The Tathagata, the Arhan, the Fully-Enlightened One realize unexcelled, perfect enlightenment,' such a claim would be untrue. Subhuti, they would be making a false statement about me. And how so? Subhuti, the Tathagata did not realize any such dharma as unexcelled perfect enlightenment. Furthermore, Subhuti, in the dharma realized or taught by the Tathagata, there is nothing true and nothing false. Thus, the Tathagata says `all dharmas are buddha dharmas.' And how so? `All dharmas,' Subhuti, are said by the Tathagata to be no dharmas. Thus are all dharmas called `buddha dharmas.'

"Subhuti, imagine a perfect person with an immense, perfect body."

The venerable Subhuti said, "Bhagavan, this perfect person whom the Tathagata says has an `immense perfect body,' Bhagavan, the Tathagata says has no body. Thus is it called an `immense, perfect body.'"

The Buddha said, "So it is, Subhuti. And if a bodhisattva says, "I shall liberate other beings,' that person is not called a `bodhisattva.' And why not? Subhuti, is there any such dharma as a bodhisattva?"

The venerable Subhuti replied, "No indeed, Bhagavan. There is no such dharma as a bodhisattva."

The Buddha said, "And beings, Subhuti, `beings' are said by the Tathagata to be no beings. Thus are they called `beings.' And thus does the tathagata say `all dharmas have no self, all dharmas have no life, no individuality, no soul.'

"Subhuti, if a bodhisattva should thus claim, `I shall bring about the transformation of a world,' such a claim would be untrue. And how so? The transformation of a world, Subhuti, the `transformation of a world' is said by the tathagata to be no transformation. Thus is it called the `transformation of a world.'

"Subhuti, when a bodhisattva resolves on selfless dharmas as `selfless dharmas,' the Tathagata, the Arhan, the Fully-Enlightened One pronounces that person a fearless bodhisattva."[Translation by Red Pine]