The One Mark Is No Mark, The Diamond Sutra

The One Mark Is No Mark

Quotes:

“‘There is, in reality, no such thing as an arhat. World-Honored One, if an arhat entertains the thought  ‘I have attained realization as an arhat,’ this would mean that he is still attached to the notions of ‘self,’ ‘person,’ ‘sentient being,’ and ‘life span.’”

“World-Honored One, you have said that I am the most proficient in terms of the attainment of the meditative absorption of no-contention and that I am the arhat who is most free from desire. However, I do not entertain the thought that I am an arhat who is free from desire. World-Honored One, if I were to entertain the thought that I had attained the level of the arhat, then you would not have said of me that I enjoy the practice of forest dwelling.”  The Diamond Sutra, Chapter 9

實無有法名阿羅漢。世尊！若阿羅漢作是念：『我得阿羅漢道。』即為著我、人、眾生、壽者。世尊！佛說我得無諍三昧，人中最為第一，是第一離欲阿羅漢，我不作是念：『我是離欲阿羅漢。』世尊！我若作是念：『我得阿羅漢道。』世尊則不說須菩提是樂阿蘭那行者。以須菩提實無所行，而名須菩提是樂阿蘭那行。」

金剛般若波羅蜜經 卷 9 

Remarks:

The above quotes from the Diamond Sutra mean that an arhat has nowhere to enter as he does not enter any of the six sense objects (form, sound, odor, taste, contact, and mental object). Why? This is because an arhat no longer takes the mental consciousness or the conscious self as real; thus, there is no self that exists to claim he is an arhat. When he renounces the existence of the conscious self or mental consciousness, there is no longer a true self that exists and there will be no one to attain arhatship. Thus, an arhat cannot speak of attaining arhatship, so the sutra states, “There is, in reality, no such thing as an arhat. World-Honored One, if an arhat should entertain the thought ‘I had attained realization as an arhat,’ this would mean that he is still attached to the notions of ‘self,’ ‘person,’ ‘sentient being,’ and ‘life span.’”

 In other words, only a Dharma that is eternally the same in mark can truly denote no mark; only an eternally no-mark entity can be eternally one mark, without a second mark. Any dharma that has a mark/sign will have many different appearances. For example, the perceptive mind reflects myriad feelings (pain, happiness, anger, etc.) from daily encounters that are deemed marks or signs of human consciousness.

On the other hand, the tathagatagarbha is signless. It is also known as the sign of reality-suchness (S: bhūta-tathatā) and is formless. When a bodhisattva has realized the existence of the tathagatagarbha and aligns himself with it as the True Self to settle his mind, he cannot tell others that he is enlightened. Why? It is because the tathagatagarbha is devoid of the phenomenal nature of the self and of sentient beings. It is signless and is beyond any attainment of fruition. Any level of attainment of fruition belongs to the five-aggregate self, yet the five-aggregate self is false. Toward this end, given that the five aggregates are subsumed under the tathagatagarbha, from the aspect of the ultimate Reality, we can confidently say that the tathagatagarbha and the five aggregates have no attainment of any fruition.

I suppose we can now understand why, as the Diamond Sutra states, “[t]here is, in reality, no such thing as an arhat.” It is because we can now grasp the underlying meaning of the Buddha and can understand the notion of “True Self” taught in the Diamond Sutra. 

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