Precious Even Broken, Unattainable by the Small-Minded
The vajra similes continue: vajra is able to destroy every other jewel — the mind of bodhi is likewise, resolutely knowing every dharma with certainty. Vajra is able to destroy every mountain — the mind of bodhi is likewise, shattering and scattering every mountain of wrong view. Even when vajra is broken and no longer whole, every other jewel still cannot match it — the mind of bodhi is likewise, and even with a small lapse into laxity, the merit-jewels of the śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha still cannot match it. Even broken vajra can still remove the suffering of poverty — the mind of bodhi is likewise, and even with a small failing in dignified conduct, it can still remove the suffering of poverty. A small fragment of vajra is able to destroy anything at all — the mind of bodhi is likewise, and even taking a small object as its condition, it is able to destroy every delusion of ignorance. Vajra is not attained by ordinary people — the mind of bodhi is likewise, not attained by sentient beings of small mind.
Six Vajra Similes: Destruction, Brokenness, and Unattainability
「譬如金剛，能壞眾寶。菩提之心亦復如是，決定了知一切諸法。
「譬如金剛，能壞眾山。菩提之心亦復如是，壞散一切諸邪見山。
「譬如金剛，雖破不全，一切眾寶猶不能及。菩提之心亦復如是，雖小懈怠，聲聞、緣覺諸功德寶，所不能及。
「譬如破金剛，猶能除滅諸貧困苦。菩提之心亦復如是，雖復小失威儀趣法，猶能除滅諸貧窮苦。
「譬如小金剛，悉能破壞一切諸物。菩提之心亦復如是，緣小境界，能破一切無知癡惑。
「譬如金剛，非常人所得。菩提之心亦復如是，非小心眾生之所能得。
"It is like vajra, which is able to destroy every other jewel. The mind of bodhi is likewise: it resolutely knows every dharma with certainty.
"It is like vajra, which is able to destroy every mountain. The mind of bodhi is likewise: it shatters and scatters every mountain of wrong view.
"It is like vajra — even when broken and no longer whole, every other jewel still cannot match it. The mind of bodhi is likewise: even with a small lapse into laxity, the merit-jewels of the śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha still cannot match it.
"It is like broken vajra, which can still remove the suffering of poverty and hardship. The mind of bodhi is likewise: even with a small failing in dignified conduct or in the path, it can still remove the suffering of poverty.
"It is like a small fragment of vajra, which is entirely able to destroy anything at all. The mind of bodhi is likewise: even taking a small object as its condition, it is able to destroy every delusion of ignorance.
"It is like vajra, which is not attained by ordinary people. The mind of bodhi is likewise: it is not attained by sentient beings of small mind."
The recurring theme of vajra "broken and no longer whole" still surpassing every other intact jewel offers this catalogue's most explicit acknowledgment yet that a bodhisattva's own bodhicitta may coexist with genuine, visible lapses — "small laxity," "a small failing in dignified conduct" — without thereby losing its own superiority to the completed attainment of a lesser vehicle. Fazang reads this repeated qualification as pastoral rather than merely rhetorical: it directly reassures a practicing bodhisattva, aware of his own imperfections, that those imperfections do not disqualify the value of what he has already raised.
Part 382 Complete
Six more vajra similes are now given in full. Part 383 continues with vajra's unrecognizability to the unskilled, its own indestructibility, and the sole strength — Nārāyaṇa's own — able to wield it as a weapon.
Continue to Part 383 →