Subhuti said to Buddha: World-honored One,
will there always be men who will truly believe after coming to
hear these teachings?
Buddha answered:
Subhuti, do not utter such words! At the end of the last
five-hundred-year period following the passing of the Tathagata,
there will be self-controlled men, rooted in merit, coming to hear
these teachings, who will be inspired with belief. But you should
realize that such men have not strengthened their root of merit
under just one Buddha, or two Buddhas, or three, or four, or five
Buddhas, but under countless Buddhas; and their merit is of every
kind. Such men, coming to hear these teachings, will have an
immediate uprising of pure faith, Subhuti; and the Tathagata will
recognize them. Yes, He will clearly perceive all these of pure
heart, and the magnitude of their moral excellences.
Wherefore? It is because such men will not fall back to cherishing
the idea of an ego-entity, a personality, a being, or a separated
individuality. They will neither fall back to cherishing the idea
of things as having intrinsic qualities, nor even of things as
devoid of intrinsic qualities.
Wherefore? Because if such men allowed their minds to grasp and
hold on to anything they would be cherishing the idea of an
ego-entity, a personality, a being, or a separated individuality;
and if they grasped and held on to the notion of things as having
intrinsic qualities they would be cherishing the idea of an
ego-entity, a personality, a being, or a separated individuality.
Likewise, if they grasped and held on to the notion of things as
devoid of intrinsic qualities they would be cherishing the idea of
an ego-entity, a personality, a being, or a separated
individuality. So you should not be attached to things as being
possessed of, or devoid of, intrinsic qualities. This is the reason
why the Tathagata always teaches this saying: My teaching of the
Good Law is to be likened unto a raft. [Does a man who has safely
crossed a flood upon a raft continue his journey carrying that raft
upon his head?] The Buddha-teaching must be relinquished; how much
more so mis-teaching!
- Diamond Sutra
