Diamond Cutter Sutra: A Commentary by Dzogchen Master Khenpo Sodargye

"Studying the Diamond Sutra is to realize that your life of fluctuating change, of happiness, fear, anger, and sorrow, is not the true essence of life. Life's essence lies only in cutting the attachment to all phenomena and realizing that there has neverbeen anything such as an "I." Attachment is the only root cause of all our suffering; even the most minor attachment can still cause unending distress. Yet the Buddha taught that it is better to have attachment as gigantic as Mount Meru to "existence" than attachment as tiny as a mustard seed to "nonexistence." That is, when people believe they are giving up attachment, and that all phenomena are emptiness so there is no need to attach to virtue, they fall into the worst trap of attachment-the horrendousattachment to emptiness. So how do we destroy attachment without being led astray? With this question in mind, Khenpo Sodargye translates the Diamond Sutra, the world's earliest dated printed book, from the view of the Sutrayana, so that readers will understand its actual meaning (incidentally preparing readers to understand the view of the Great Perfection and Mahamudra). Before recognizing the nature of the mind, we must hold on to things that are virtuous and right. Like a boat, these can help us cross a river, so until we reach the other shore, it makes no sense to give them up. The division of the sutra into 32 chapters, according to the Chinese Buddhist tradition, makes it easier for readers to understand the meaning stage by stage. The dialogue between the Buddha and his disciple, Subhuti, gives a view of the world that deconstructs our normal categories of experience and to indicate that we are always relating to figments of our own imagination, that what we think are real entities in the world are constructs, conceptualizations. But that is not how the text is used. The Diamond Sutra is chanted, often from memory, and used to make merit, especially to counteract the effects of bad actions, bad karma, that people have committed in the past. It has been said that the sutra doesn't actually work like a book, but more like performance pieces. It's not enough to read the score, you've got to play the music, and then you'll see how it works and the kind of effects it has on your mind. May be good to do an audiobook version, though an audio version exists online. The translation lineage: around 402, when Kumarajiva made the first translation from Sanskrit into Chinese, he made a choice about how to take a certain kind of formula in the text (based on atype of compound where you can go one way or the other), and that choice has been repeated by every single translator of the text in China, and every single translation from Chinese into English. The only people who didn't translate the text in that way were the Tibetans. (There is only one existing translation of the Tibetan Diamond Sutra, which Sordargye found is exactly the same as the version found in the Prajna section of the Kangyur.) Khenpo Sodargye uses Kumarajiva's version along with versions byXuan Zang and Yi Jing of the Tang dynasty (602-664, 635-713) for reference. Sodargye found that, among all the translations, Yi Jing's version is closest to the Tibetan version, whereas Kumarajiva's version differs somewhat from it. Following the translation of Kumarajiva, Sodargye presents a commentary in plain words"--
Khenpo Sodargye translates and provides commentary on the Diamond Cutter Sutra, the oldest printed book in China, shedding light on the Buddha&;s teachings on how to destroy attachment without being led astray; the author is a household name in China and his books and CDs sell in the millions in China.In the profound teachings of the Diamond Cutter Sutra, the Buddha offers a view of the world that deconstructs our normal categories of experience to show us that what we think are real entities in the world are actually our conceptualizations. The Buddha teaches us to cut our attachment to all phenomena and to the &;I,&; which are empty of inherent existence, and in so doing, cut the root cause of our suffering. Yet without wise guidance we may think that because all phenomena are empty there is no need to be attached to virtue, and thus we fall into the worst trap of all&;an attachment to emptiness. How do we destroy our attachment without being led astray? With this question in mind, Dzogchen Master Khenpo Sodargye provides sparkling commentary on the Diamond Cutter Sutra so that we understand its actual meaning, thus preparing us to understand the view of the Great Perfection and Mahamudra. Before recognizing the nature of the mind, we learn we must hold on to things that are virtuous and right. Like a boat, these can help us cross a river; until we reach the other shore, it makes no sense to give them up.