Xufa's comments

Hsu-fa says, “The Buddha puts on his robe and takes up his bowl to uphold the precepts of morality. He washes his feet and takes his seat to enter meditation. Thus does morality give birth to meditation and meditation to wisdom. Also, by entering the city with his robe and bowl, he goes from the noumenal into the phenomenal. By washing his feet and taking his seat, he goes from the phenomenal into the noumenal. It is only by remaining unattached to the noumenal as well as the phenomenal that undifferentiated prajna can be realized.”

Hsu-fa says, “Essentially Subhuti is saying, ‘We have set out to attain the bodhisattva mind, but we do not know how to travel the bodhisattva path.’”

Hsu-fa says, “A person who is attached to objects is like a bird that walks on the sand, while a person who is not attached to objects is like a bird that flies through the sky. The one leaves tracks, while the other leaves none.”

Hsu-fa says, “These sentences about specks of dust, world-systems, and the thirty-two attributes are all meant to explain the meaning of how prajna is not prajna, or the appearance of no dharma.” Tsung-t’ung says, “Because the Diamond Prajnaparamita transcends the concept of words or letters, it doesn’t teach anything. Because it transcends the concept of passion, there are no specks of dust. Because it transcends the concept of humans and gods, there is no world. It even transcends the concept of the Buddha’s body. Thus, there are no thirty-two attributes.” (quoted by Hsu Fa)

Hsu-fa says, “The Buddha’s incarnated body is like an image that appears and disappears in a mirror. His real body is like the mirror’s basic ability to reflect. The Buddha doesn’t talk about emptiness here, only the absence of attributes in order to break through appearances. Thus, by practicing charity free of appearances we realize the fruit of practice that has no seed. Who practices charity free of appearances plants a great seed. And who sees the Buddha free of appearances harvests a great fruit.”