6. A mind of no place to dwell on…


Once I asked a monk “Does the sentence “to dwell nowhere to generate a mind” is the most wonderful one in the Diamond Sutra?”, he gently answered “no, in the Diamond Sutra, every sentence is wonderful!”.

Indeed, I gradually realize that every word in the Diamond Sutra is wonderful, and they seem to be more and more so, above all… when they are, as Edward Conze said, applied to our everyday life. The way they were written and expounded is precise and closely woven, convincing and, in brief …attractive! I have been attracted to the Diamond Sutra as previously was attracted to the Heart Sutra. It seems that the Heart Sutra – a discourse addressed to Sariputra (the Buddha’s disciple foremost in wisdom and insight) was an ultimate answer to the “why”, with a theoretical outlook; as to the Diamond Sutra, expounded to Subhuti (the Buddha’s disciple foremost in Emptiness understanding, formerly quick tempered and irascible but now excelled in pure conduct and in being free from all passions), was meant to answer the “how” in order to guide the practice. These instructions obviously were aimed at the Buddha’s great disciples or at the monastics and not at us, so… small wonder if we are puzzled, bewildered or confused. However, being puzzled, bewildered or confused has its good points.

Thanks to these states, we’ll strive to penetrate, to discover and take part in the process of brooding on or experiencing what we are studying, and if it seems trustworthy to us, we can apply it in our daily life in order to solve countless of our inflictions or entanglements. Isn’t that nice? For example the sentence “to dwell nowhere to generate a mind” is well known to everyone, and everyone mouths it as a mantra when they need some… comfort, or when they are wearied, grieved. It was also the sentence that the 6th Patriarch Hue Nang had eavesdropped more than 1000 years ago and attained the Great Enlightenment, so it’s worth our serious pondering isn’t it! Do not dwell anywhere to give rise to a happy, joyful, contented mind, free from “all ills and suffering”. Is it really so?