De Qing's comments

Te-ch’ing says, “If bodhisattvas don’t see any beings they can liberate, and there are no lands they can purify, what then does a tathagata need five eyes for? The eyes are for knowing the thoughts of beings. However, the five eyes do not really exist.”

Te-ch’ing says, “All beings exist as beings in the mind of the Tathagata. Thus, whenever the thought of a being stirs, the mind of the Tathagata stirs. How could he not know this or see this? But Subhuti wonders when the thoughts of beings rise and fall if the thoughts of the Tathagata also rise and fall. Therefore, the Bhagavan says that the thoughts of these beings are suchness itself and neither rise nor fall, for they are as detached and impartial as the thoughts of the Tathagata. The Tathagata and beings are still and unmoving and free of any appearance of coming or going, of birth or death. What are called thoughts, buddhas, and beings are all three indistinguishable. Thus, thoughts cannot be found in any of the three time periods.”

Te-ch’ing says, “To break through attachments, the Buddha has previously declared that there are no lands to purify and there are no beings to liberate, and he now wonders if upon hearing this Subhuti might infer that since beings and lands are empty and the merit from offerings is non-existent there is no need to practice. To counter this, the Buddha says that the merit of no merit is the greatest merit of all. What the Buddha means by no merit is not no merit at all. When the extent of the mind is like that of space, the merit one obtains is even greater.”

Te-ch’ing says, “If a person practices charity without being attached to anything, how can there be any merit? In the next sentence, the Buddha answers that not only will there be merit, it will be immeasurably greater than that reaped by someone who is attached to something.”

Te-ch’ing says, “If bodhisattvas are attached to merit, their merit will be slight. Whereas if they cultivate merit without attachment to appearances, their merit will be far greater.”

Te-ch’ing says, “Having heard that one cannot liberate beings or purify lands while attached to form, Subhuti wonders, ‘If liberating beings and purifying lands are the cause of buddhahood and result in myriad virtues and perfect adornments, and there are no beings to liberate and no lands to purify, then there is no cause. Also, if there is no enlightenment to realize, there is no result. Once cause and result are both cut off, there is no buddha. But now the perfectly developed physical body and attributes of the Tathagata appear before me. Where do they come from?’ Thus, the Buddha tells him he should not view the Tathagata in terms of his perfectly developed physical body or his attributes.”

Te-ch’ing says, “This is aimed at breaking the attachment to physical attributes of the reward body in order to reveal that the dharma and reward bodies are one. The perfectly developed physical body is the Buddha’s reward body of myriad virtues and adornments. Because it is the result of liberating beings and purifying buddha lands for countless kalpas, the Tathagata speaks of it as a perfectly developed physical body. Since this reward body is essentially the dharma body, he says it is not a perfectly developed physical body. But since the reward and dharma bodies are one, he says it is called a perfectly developed physical body. First, he breaks through the attributes that are seen. Then, he breaks through the seeing that can see. Since the reward body is the dharma body, there are no attributes to be seen. Once wisdom and body are simply so, the defect of seeing is eliminated. And once the objective realm and wisdom merge into one, the dharma body reveals itself. The use here of such expressions as ‘is’ or ‘is not’ is meant to prevent beings from falling into the pitfall of affirmation or denial. Thus, in teaching the Dharma, there was nothing the Buddha could teach. All he did was protect beings from misconceptions by teaching them not to give birth to views and to get rid of their attachments. Students should realize that this is all he did.”

Te-ch’ing says, “Having heard that the Buddha has no visible form, Subhuti naturally wonders, if the Buddha has no body or attributes, who is it then who teaches this dharma? The Buddha answers this by saying that nothing is taught.”

Te-ch’ing says, “This eliminated the doubt that the Tathagata’s reward body spoke this dharma. From the time the Tathagata appeared in the world, he spoke no dharma. He attacked the attachments of beings with whatever was expedient, using a single ‘no’ or ‘not’ or other arresting expressions that brought the delusions of beings to a halt.”

Te-ch’ing says, “Because Subhuti’s conception of life and death has not yet ended, he gives birth to the notion of future beings. The Buddha answers that beings are essentially real and one with the Dharma. How could they have any future appearance.”