The mind that abides in no one thing is then able to abide as conditions arise and change, protecting us from the many snares of karma. When the mind abides in things, it cannot recognize wisdom, and its attachments make it impossible for us to get a clear handle on life’s priorities. Only a mind that does not abide in anything is not alarmed, frightened, or scared, and is thus free from distortion and delusion. As long as the mind is seeking something, our faith, too, will become distorted.

The Buddha said to Subhuti, “So it is, so it is. Moreover, if a person hears this sutra and does not become alarmed, or frightened, or scared, then this person is indeed a rare person.”

What does the Buddha mean when he says “not become alarmed, or frightened, or scared”? The great master Sengzhao offered the following explanation:

Having attained the Mahayana wisdom through listening, one consistently listens to the teachings and one’s body will show no sign of fear; so it is called being “not alarmed.” Having attained the Mahayana wisdom through contemplation, one experiences a deep faith without any doubt; so it is called being “not frightened.” Having attained the Mahayana wisdom through cultivation, one cultivates the practice according to the teachings,band one will never be maligned; so it is called being “not scared.”

The Buddha says that, if upon hearing the Diamond Sutra people “believe it and [do] not turn their minds against it;’ their merit will exceed that from the giving of their lives countlessly over a period of countless eons. “Believing it and not turning the mind against it” means being able to receive and uphold the wisdom written in the Diamond Sutra. The mind not abiding in any single place will not produce calumny. By receiving, upholding, reading, and chanting the Diamond Sutra, one is able to benefit oneself, and by explaining it to people, one is able to benefit others. In his Exegesis on the Diamond Sutra the Sixth Patriarch Huineng states:

The faithful are obedient to principles, and so the text says “not turning against if’ Practice and understanding in accord with one another is known as “receiving it”; determination and diligence are known as “upholding it”; the undistracted mind is known as “reading it”; and seeing nature and not turning against it is known as “chanting it.”

The Vastly Profound and Gloriously Pure Non-Retrogressing Dharma Wheel Sutra states:

Ananda, the faith of a great bodhisattva is pure, for there is no faintheartedness. They attain a pure mind with respect to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. They watch over their six sense organs and want for nothing. They cause living beings with no faith in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha to generate the joy of faith. With the joy of faith generated, the mind will not be self-indulgent; and when generating the aspiration for enlightenment, one will not cling to mental notions. Faith brings the realization that the six great elements,¹ are equal to the dharma realm.

Those who practice the bodhisattva path are able to maintain a faith that does not regress. They are naturally harmonious and meek. There is no faintheartedness for they are in want of nothing. They enter the ocean of the Triple Gem and receive the treasure of wisdom capable of fulfilling all their wishes.

The faith of ordinary people is fragile, and hearing examples of people with good intentions who are not rewarded may cause them to question the Dharma. Such people believe in the Dharma one day and then doubt it for three. This is not unlike a fisherman who fishes for three days and then dries his nets for five. Such people are ignorant and, even if they wish to be enlightened, will not become enlightened.

Once there was an old monk who wished to raise funds to build a temple, so he would spend his days chanting sutras and reciting Amitabha Buddha’s name at the town market, hoping for donations.

Three months went by and no one took any notice of him. Near the monk’s spot in the town square there was a boy who sold wheat cakes who became quite incensed by what he saw. The boy thought to himself, “Gosh, that old monk is really having a rough time. I’ll give him the money I get from selling these wheat cakes.”

So the boy took the money obtained from selling wheat cakes that day and donated the entire sum to the old monk. When the people at the marketplace heard that the boy selling baked wheat cakes had made a donation, they felt ashamed. One merchant considered, “If a mere boy selling wheat cakes knows about cultivating merit, how can I not be as good as him?”

The news passed from one person to ten, then from ten to one hundred, and in short order the old monk secured all the funds needed for building the temple. The old monk was extremely grateful for what the boy had done, and he said to the boy, “Child, today you have shown such kindness and generated great merit. If you experience any sort of hardship in the future, remember to come to the temple to see me.”

After heading back, the boy was fired by his boss because he could not turn over the money from selling wheat cakes. Unable to find another job, the boy wandered the streets and was eventually reduced to begging. He often went hungry, contracted scabies, and eventually went blind. One day, the boy remembered what the old monk had told him, and step by step he groped his way to the temple.

The old monk was a great cultivator, such that he had already developed heavenly eyes, and thus knew the boy’s predicament and that he was corning to the temple seeking aid. So that night he gathered the monks together and explained, “Tomorrow our temple’s great Dharrna protector and benefactor will be corning. Everyone should gather at the temple gate to respectfully receive this guest. We must show him great hospitality.”

The next day the entire temple staff had swept the place clean and was awaiting the benefactor’s arrival. But the morning became late afternoon, and no such person had shown up. The old monk sent someone to inquire about the matter and the receptionist replied doubtfully, “No great Dharrna protector and benefactor has made an appearance today.”

The old monk made a further inquiry, “You mean to say that no one has been by today at all?”

The young monk then spoke haltingly, “No, there was no one. Well, there was only one little blind beggar, that is all. He wanted to come in, but I was afraid he would spoil the great welcoming ceremony you had planned, so I gave him a few pieces of bread and sent him on his way.”

The old monk shouted, “That was our great protector and benefactor! Hurry and bring him back!”

Although some reluctance showed on the monk’s faces, no one dared disobey, so all they could do was leave the temple and start searching. Fortunately the blind boy walked slowly, and so it was not long before they caught up with him. The young boy was welcomed back into the temple and given a room, where he was treated with the utmost respect and cared for in every possible way. But no one could have imagined that one night, as the boy went to the latrine, he accidently fell into the cesspit and drowned.

As news of the boy’s death spread, many people became outraged by the injustice of the boy’s fate. One such affected person said, “You tell us now, how is goodwill rewarded? How can we say that karma exists in this world? This boy made a living by selling baked wheat cakes, and he was doing quite well for himself. But then he had to try to make some merit: first he gets fired and becomes a beggar, and then he contracts scabies and goes blind! Finally, after he settles down in the temple, he falls into the cesspit and drowns! How can you say that goodwill is rewarded?”

This kind of talk spread throughout the community until it reached the ears of the old monk. One day the old monk had gathered all the villagers together for a teaching, and used the opportunity to explain the fate of the boy:

“According to that boy’s karma, he would have suffered for three lifetimes: During the first lifetime he was to be poor and develop scabies; during the second lifetime he was to go completely blind; and during the third lifetime he was to fall into a latrine and drown. However, due to his one compassionate thought to give and generate great merit, the negative karmic effects of three lifetimes were combined into one, sparing him the hardship and torment of the two other lifetimes. Now he has already been reborn in heaven!”

With his one thought of compassion and his act of giving, the boy who sold baked wheat cakes eliminated the negative karma of three lifetimes all at once.

The people who were outraged at the injustice of the boy’s fate were treating the Dharma and merit like a business transaction, but sometimes what we only see with our physical eyes is not how things truly are. How things look on the surface are but a temporary combination of conditions; a false appearance created by the deluded mind. If we allow our minds to abide in deluded thoughts and deluded notions, we will alternate between faith and doubt, and then it will be impossible to attain enlightenment. This is why the Diamond Sutra says of itself that we should “believe it and not tum our minds against it: Only when we are not alarmed, not frightened, and not scared can our bodies and minds be free. Then the mind need not abide in anything.

“Subhuti, good men and good women during the period of declining Dharma will receive, uphold, read, and chant this sutra. If their virtues were completely described, there are some who would go mad upon hearing it, and they would form deep doubts and not believe it. Subhuti, you should know that the teachings of this sutra are inconceivable, and its karmic results are inconceivable.”

The Buddha states here that the meanings of the Diamond Sutra are so profound that they cannot even be conceived of, and that no language can fully describe them. The positive karmic results that can be attained through receiving and upholding the sutra are also inconceivable, for they are limitless and incalculable. The great master Sengzhao once said:

All the merit from this teaching transcends the mind, hence it cannot be imagined by the mind; it transcends language, hence it cannot be explained verbally. It cannot be weighed with a scale or quantified by any measure. If a person realizes the emptiness of self and phenomena and deeply understands true reality through this sutra, then their merit will be vast and on par with that of the Buddha mind, which is limitless and incalculable.

Source: Hsing Yun, Four Insights for Finding Fulfillment: A Practical Guide to the Buddha’s Diamond Sutra, Los Angeles: Buddha’s Light Publishing, 2012.

---

Footnote:

1. Earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness. Ed.