3.1.11. The Diamond Sutra (Part One)

“All conditioned phenomena
Are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, or shadows;
Like drops of dew, or flashes of lightning;
Thusly should they be contemplated.”
— Prajñāpāramitā Diamond Sutra (Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra)

It feels almost playful to say: here we stand at the threshold of a text that can cut through every illusion we have ever held. I mean this quite literally. The Diamond Sutra is revered because it dismantles the very roots of delusion — with a sharpness that leaves no ground to cling to. Yet paradoxically, it is considered an advanced teaching, often inaccessible without prior inner cultivation. If you have journeyed this far, trust you are ready to wrestle with it. Let it meet you where you are; return to it again and again. Each reading will reveal something new.

I first encountered the Diamond Sutra over a decade ago, though “encountered” might be too strong. I listened to an old audio recording on repeat, letting its strange cadences sink in long before any real comprehension dawned. Over the years, its meaning has ripened. Even now, each return feels like opening a fresh gate.

Why is it called the Diamond Sutra?

Because it cuts through delusion as a diamond cuts glass. The Sanskrit word vajra means both diamond and thunderbolt — an image of invincible clarity.

At this stage, we are still creatures of concepts. Though we might glimpse the mind as distinct from its contents, we remain caught in thoughts and feelings. Yet the conceptual framework offered here is itself diamond-like: once internalised, it fractures habitual mental attachments. Anxiety dissolves. Worry fades. The very architecture of suffering begins to fracture.

Convocation of the assembly

The opening scene is deceptively simple. The Buddha dresses, gathers his bowl, begs for alms, eats, washes, and then sits. Many monks approach and seat themselves respectfully around him. Every detail here — his measured simplicity, his complete absence of personal desire — is a subtle teaching.

Subhūti’s request

Subhūti, ever earnest, asks:

“Most Honoured One, if sons and daughters of good families wish to awaken the highest mind, what should they do to quiet their drifting thoughts and subdue craving?”

The Buddha replies that absorbing and dwelling upon the teaching he is about to give will bring about precisely that tranquility and clarity. This is already a hint: the means of pacifying the mind is to penetrate the view offered by this sūtra.

All beings liberated, yet not

Then comes a vast, startling promise:

“All living beings — whether born of eggs, wombs, moisture, or spontaneously; whether with form or without, with perception or without — all shall be led by me to final Nirvāṇa. And yet, in truth, not a single being has been liberated.”

How can this be? Because the notion of “being” is itself an illusion. Enlightenment does not liberate beings; it liberates the illusion of beings. This is a direct challenge to any lingering sense of selfhood — the very conceptual delusion that must be uprooted to progress.

The practice of unattached giving

The Buddha turns next to generosity:

“A disciple should practice charity without attachment to appearances, sounds, smells, tastes, touch, or qualities. This is how compassion truly leads to Highest Perfect Wisdom.”

A bodhisattva gives without seeing giver, gift, or recipient. Generosity stripped of all self-reference becomes a clean act, untouched by subtle grasping. This is charity as pure function, free of the entanglement of “me,” “you,” or “this.”

No real form

“Can the Buddha be recognised by bodily form?”

“No,” replies Subhūti. “All forms are illusive and unreal.”

Form arises from ignorance mingling with mental darkness. Our senses build a seemingly solid reality around us, but these impressions are transitory, lacking inherent substance. Even the Buddha’s physical body, perceptible to ordinary beings, is only elemental matter — not Buddha. The true Buddha, the Dharmakāya, is pure omniscient awareness.

The danger of clinging to emptiness

There is a profound warning embedded here. The Buddha urges us to discard not only all notions of self, other, or universal self, but also all notions of their non-existence. To fixate on “emptiness” is simply to construct a new conceptual idol. The correct approach is cognitive ambivalence: to dwell equally in the possibility that the Buddha exists or does not. This balance arrests the mind’s compulsion to speculate.

The teaching beyond teaching

“Does the Buddha teach any teaching?”

Subhūti replies, “No — there is no independently existing teaching or attainment. The truth cannot be contained or expressed.”

This is not a slight to dharma. Rather, it reveals its profound subtlety. Words are crude maps pointing to a hidden treasure. Clinging to them will only slow us.

Real merit has no merit

In a striking metaphor, the Buddha compares vast material generosity — filling thousands of worlds with treasures — to the merit of understanding even four lines of this sūtra. The latter is far greater, because it touches the roots of delusion. Yet paradoxically, such merit is characterised precisely by “not being merit,” for there is no self to whom merit could accrue.

No attainment, no self to attain

The Buddha and Subhūti explore how true disciples do not think of themselves as entering streams, attaining once-returning or non-returning states, or even achieving enlightenment. These are names only. A disciple who truly sees reality knows there is neither coming into being nor passing away — merely designations overlaying the flux.

Beyond the senses

The senses only arise with objects. In a dark room, we do not see “nothing”; we see darkness. Awareness meets an object, and “seeing” happens. In truth, all sense experience is an ephemeral interplay of object and awareness. The Diamond Sutra pushes us beyond the tyranny of these sense impressions, urging a mind that does not rely on appearances.

The supreme vehicle

At last, the Buddha proclaims that the merit of this teaching is “inconceivable, incalculable, boundless.” Even humble places where it is recited become sacred. But here is the subtle catch: all effort must ultimately cease. The path ends when we abandon paths altogether. The last vehicle is a vehicle to no vehicle.

The Diamond Sutra is like the Green Lion of alchemy — a universal solvent, dissolving even gold. Here, it is our final refuge for cutting through the most stubborn illusions of self, merit, and conceptual attainment. We must tread carefully, balancing deep trust with profound cognitive ambivalence. As we proceed, let this teaching soak slowly into the marrow of our being, reshaping the very architecture of perception.

This text is excerpted from the upcoming book Citrinitas: A Course in Modern Alchemy. The complete volume will include additional study guides, glossaries, and extended teachings. Learn more about the book here.