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I love the Diamond Sutra. I read it every few years. To me, it's very funny. how can one read about all the absolutely galactic scale quantity of "merit" to be
by MrLeap 2y ago
I love the Diamond Sutra. I read it every few years. To me, it's very funny. how can one read about all the absolutely galactic scale quantity of "merit" to be gained right next to explanations about the illusory nature of words without laughing?
It's layered like an onion. One layer is meant to free people from illbeing. Another layer is for error correction codes and to make the message 'viral'. Another layer opened my eyes to incontrovertible truth about the noisy approximations and lossy signals that comprise the the human experience. So many layers read rather mystically at first, but you can always cut through it and find out it's not magic, it's really the way things are.
From another angle, it's a blob of metadata around a packet that contains instructions to all sentient beings -- in my words: "Relax. Be compassionate to yourself and others. All barriers to compassion are illusions. Tell this to other people. If you need to reformat the content as a listicle to get through to grandma, that's cool."
There's other angles. It's a fascinating document.
I believe the massively intelligent person(s) who composed it had a sincere objective to help all life.
- DiscourseFan 2y agoI never considered it as a text that attempts to show how quantity is always a kind of quality, so no matter how much you do something, it won't change how you exist in the world unless you change how you do it. What people are really after with weed and psychedelics is that kind of qualitative change, especially at the level of consciousness. But with dependent origination, changing how you in particular perceive the world does not actually change the world that you are a part of, and therefore doesn't lead to qualitative change of experience. What must be done, instead, is to change the world. True liberation is absolute.
- 613style 2y ago> changing how you in particular perceive the world does not actually change the world that you are a part of It's impossible to change yourself without changing the world, because those two things are not separate. Further, much of the world exists only as abstract ideas in my mind. When I change how I relate to and perceive them, I do change them in every way that matters.
- utensil4778 2y agoSure, if you discount the fact that other people exist, are conscious, have their own experiences of the same world and also experience joy, sadness, love, and suffering. To assert that your perspective is the only thing that matters is to assert that nobody else matters.
- sim7c00 2y agoit is not the spoon which bends...
- DiscourseFan 2y agoIf by "you" you mean the totality of the universe that you are a part of, then changing "your" consciousness does change the world, but if you think of yourself as merely an individual subject--not a subject as substance--then nothing you do to "yourself" will lead to liberation, because others inability to find liberation creates a contradiction within your own.
- zer0tonin 2y agoI think you must have read another text. Literally none of what you said is mentioned in the diamond sutra.
- DiscourseFan 2y agoConsidering the authoritative copy of the Diamond Sutra was written in Chinese, I doubt I would be able to give any direct quotations
- marmaduke 2y agoI like your summary. I also like Alan Watts' comment, that the mind is like a diamond, totally transparent but also the hardest, durable aspect of our existence.
- bamboozled 2y agoI think Alan Watts is awesome too. I love the talk he gives on the spiders web and the morning dew. I can and do listen to him for hours. Do you remember which talk this quote is from ?
- marmaduke 2y agoI don't remember the title now, and it's hard to find them on YouTube these days.. but it's at the start of a section specifically on the diamond sutra. Maybe this one ? I will listen later to check https://youtu.be/YkHYg2ajqhU?si=6ltKkxQ4KEAKkBBh https://youtu.be/YkHYg2ajqhU?si=6ltKkxQ4KEAKkBBh
- supportengineer 2y agoJust as we have our Einstein and our 10x developers, so did the people of ancient worlds.
- gbuk2013 2y agoFor me the Diamond Sutra is the essence of Mahayana Buddhism. > To me, it's very funny. how can one read about all the absolutely galactic scale quantity of "merit" to be gained right next to explanations about the illusory nature of words without laughing? It’s all part of one of the central themes that accumulating merit is for the phenomenal world and ultimately meaningless for the transcendent. “A bodhisattva does not need to build up virtue and happiness… A boddhisatva gives rise to virtue and happiness but is not caught up in the idea of virtue and happiness.”
- temporarely 2y ago> “A bodhisattva does not need to build up virtue and happiness… A boddhisatva gives rise to virtue and happiness but is not caught up in the idea of virtue and happiness.” collorary: If you wonder if you are a bohisattva you are not.
- blueprint 2y agowait til you read the lotus sutra. you'll find out what maha yana means.
- complaintdept 2y agoCould you recommend a translation?
- gbuk2013 2y ago
- mtalantikite 2y agoSame, I’ve had some very fortunate insights because of it. Any preferred translations? I’ve read the Watson one a couple times and just the other day was thinking of re-reading it since it’s been a few years, but maybe a different translation this time. I started looking at the Reeves translation but didn’t connect with it as I didn’t like how he dropped the Sanskrit terms in favor of things westerners would be more familiar with.
- blueprint 2y agobecause merit is not to be seen by signs. that's the whole point and what makes it so cosmic scale. may i suggest moving onto the lotus sutra. it will clarify some stuff.