What are some important passages from the Diamond Sutra?
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The Diamond Sutra, or the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, has been considered as one of the most important Sutras of both Mahayana Buddhism and Vajrayana Buddhism. First written in Sanskrit, then it was translated into Chinese (金剛般若波羅蜜經) and became popular in East Asia from 5th century by the Buddhist monk Kumārajīva. Nowadays, the earliest Chinese printed book that was “discovered” in 1907 was the Diamond Sutra, which dated back to the year of 868 AD. In Vietnam, it was known as Kinh Kim Cương.
The content of Diamond Sutra is about the discussion between the Buddha and a senior monk, Elder Subhuti (Tu Bồ Đề) about the Emptiness characteristics of livings and universe. Similar to the Heart Sutra, once again, the Emptiness became the main theme of the discussion. In general, these Sutras are the cores of Prajnaparamita (The Perfection of Wisdom) in practices.
The well-know English translation of the Diamond Sutra (translated by a Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk) was under the name The Diamond that Cuts Through Illusion [1]. In my opinion, the most important passage from Diamond Sutra should be the 4-line Gāthā (or verses) at the end:
Sanskrit text:
तारका तिमिरं दीपो मायावश्यायबुद्बुदं। सुपिनं विद्युदभ्रं च एवं द्रष्टव्यं संस्कृतं।
Chinese text:
一切有爲法
如夢幻泡影
如露亦如電
應作如是觀
Vietnamese text [2]:
Tất cả các pháp hữu vi
Như cơn mộng, như ảo ảnh, như bọt nước, như bóng
Như sương mai, như ánh chớp
Nên nhìn nhận chúng như thế.
English translation:
All composed things are like a dream,
a phantom, a drop of dew, a flash of lightning.
That is how to meditate on them,
that is how to observe them.
At the end, everything has its Emptiness. When regarding all everything is basically empty, all kinds of sufferings and distresses will be erased!