Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: The Diamond Sutra, BAUS class (10/6)

Monday, September 2, 2024

The Diamond Sutra, BAUS class (10/6)

CLASS: The Various Aspects of Meditation Theory in the Diamond Sutra

Not Czech monk Ven. Dhammadipa (Xing Kong)

Ven. Dr. Dhammadipa Sak, Ph.D. (aka Fa Yao) is the abbot of the US Zen Institute in Germantown, Maryland, and the Amata Meditation Center in Boyds, Maryland.

He previously served as the abbot of Chuan Yen Monastery (BAUS' CYM) and the Temple of Enlightenment. He is currently a vice president of the Buddhist Association of the United States (BAUS).

The Diamond Sutra

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This Sanskrit discourse is a Mahāyāna Buddhist sutra (a kind of apocryphal sacred text) from the genre of "Perfection of Wisdom" (Prajñāpāramitā) literature.

Translated into a variety of languages over a broad geographic range, the Diamond Sūtra is one of the most influential Mahayana sutras in East Asia, particularly prominent within the Chan (or Zen) tradition [1] alongside the Heart Sutra.

A copy of the Chinese Tang Dynasty version of the Diamond Sūtra was found among the Dunhuang manuscripts in 1900 by Taoist monk Wang Yuanlu and sold to Aurel Stein in 1907 [2]. They are dated back to May 11, 868 [3]. It is, in the words of the British Library, "the earliest dated printed book" [4].

It is also the first known creative work with an explicit public domain dedication, as its colophon at the end states that it was created "for universal free distribution" [5], a tradition carried on today by many Mahayana publishers given that the Buddha's Dharma is priceless.

Title

I did it, Batman! - There's no I. Keep meditating!

The Sanskrit title for this work is the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, which may be translated roughly as the "Vajra Cutter Perfection of Wisdom Discourse" or "The Perfection of Wisdom Text that Cuts Like a Thunderbolt" [1].

In English, shortened forms such as Diamond Sūtra and Vajra Sūtra are common. The title relies on the power of the vajra (diamond or thunderbolt and also an abstract term for a powerful adamantine weapon) to cut things as a metaphor for the type of wisdom that cuts through illusions to get at ultimate reality [1], which is what the Abhidhamma literature of the Pali canon aims to do.

This sutra is also called Triśatikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra ("300 lines on the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra").

The Diamond Sūtra is highly regarded in East Asian countries with historical traditions of Mahayana Buddhism [1]. [It is not considered an actual "sutra," a discourse by the Buddha or his immediate disciples, in the Theravada tradition of South and Southeast Asia.]

Translations of this title into the languages of some of these countries include... More

ABOUT THE TEACHER: Born in Taiwan and raised in Malaysia, Ven. Dhammadipa received his ordination in Sri Lanka in 1987. He earned a Ph.D. in theology and religious studies from the University of Bristol, UK, in 2005.

Ven. Dhammadipa has also been a visiting lecturer at the University of Chicago School of Divinity. His primary interests include Abhidhamma and meditation practices, and he frequently emphasizes the importance of meditation in society.

He is fluent in Chinese, Cantonese, Hakka, and English and is literate in several other languages including Pali, Sanskrit, Japanese, French, and German for his academic pursuits.