I have expressed such a meaning sporadically on some self-** platforms before, but I feel that it is not complete enough, and it also leads to a very large difference in the understanding of some readers, so I feel that it is still necessary to write this text and completely express this personal meaning.
The Diamond Sutra is a Buddhist scripture that many Buddhist practitioners and readers are familiar with, of course, because of the popularity of Zen Buddhism in China, and the six patriarchs who made Zen Buddhism "bloom with five leaves" in China were enlightened by the Diamond Sutra. In fact, as far as personal understanding is concerned, I have also read the "Lengyan Sutra" and "Heart Sutra", which are quite respected by Zen Buddhism, but the former is too thick and the grammar is ancient, so it is not easy for people today to read it, let alone practice according to the law. The Heart Sutra is so condensed that it is difficult for a 200-word classic to use as a specific guide for practice. And the Kumarosh version of the "Diamond Sutra" (Xuanzang's version of the "Diamond Sutra" is a little astringent, because Xuanzang speaks of the original flavor, that is, the hard translation, but readers, especially practitioners, are difficult to read) More than 5,000 words of text are beautiful and catchy, and it is not difficult to understand, and it is not hindered to read, so it is much more widely spread than the "Lengyan Sutra". Personally, I also concentrated on the Diamond Sutra when I couldn't bite through the Lengyan Sutra first. Of course, there is no broken sentence in the original work of the "Diamond Sutra", but the "Diamond Sutra" recited by people today has the broken sentence of Prince Liang Zhaoming, that is, it is divided into 32 points, and this broken sentence does make it very helpful for today's people to understand and recite the "Diamond Sutra". But after reading the Diamond Sutra after the sentence was 32 minutes, I quickly had a personal understanding, although this understanding did not make much sense.
As far as my current understanding goes, putting aside the profound philosophies mentioned in the Diamond Sutra, and only in terms of guiding the practice of the Dharma, my personal understanding is that the entire Diamond Sutra Buddha is telling us how to go from ordinary people to Buddhahood and the whole process after becoming a Buddha: first of all, it is about attaining the four fruition positions (as the Mahayana classic "Diamond Sutra" The four fruition positions are the four fruition positions mentioned in Hinayana Buddhism, namely Sudra, Stoham, Anaham, Arhats, not the four meditations and eight concentrations that Mahayana Buddhism often says), which are the main contents of the first nine points;Secondly, from the tenth to the eighteenth points, it talks about how to continue to practice and become a Buddha after reaching the arhat fruit, and the sign of becoming a Buddha is that the Buddha has five eyes, namely the physical eye, the heavenly eye, the discerning eye, the Dharma eye, and the Buddha's eyeThe third part is from the nineteenth to the twenty-seventh point to talk about what the state of a Buddha is after becoming a Buddha, and the state of uninterrupted and imperishable after being divided into Buddhas in the twenty-seventh part means that pure cultivation and cultivation are not BuddhasAfter that, the 28th to 32nd points again emphasize the key points in the practice, and focus on the essence of the Dharma: "All the Dharma is like a dream bubble, like dew and like electricity."
After understanding this way, if we go back and carefully study the first nine points of the Diamond Sutra, we will find that all practitioners know the Dharma of precepts, wisdom, listening, meditation, and the six degrees (precepts, generosity, forbearance, diligence, meditation, and prajna), but in the Diamond Sutra, how to attain the four fruition positions (the highest being an arhat) is not so complicated. Because after talking about the causes and causes of the first division, Subodhi's question about how to achieve the three bodhisattvas of Abudarasambodhi (meaning supreme enlightenment), the Buddha's formal ** starts from the third point, and the Buddha pointed out very clearly in the fifteenth point of "sutra merits" that the "Diamond Sutra" is "said for the Mahayana people, for the most superior ones", so Prince Zhaoming used "Mahayana authentic points" in the title of the third point Because Hinayana Buddhism does not talk about the power of aspiration to save immeasurable and boundless sentient beings, because in Hinayana it is believed that individuals are not capable of saving sentient beings when they have not attained the four fruits, they are simply unable to save sentient beings (it makes sense in principle), but those who practice Mahayana should first start with "wishing power to save sentient beings". Therefore, when the Buddha first talked about the practice of Mahayana Buddhism, the first thing he had to do was to make a wish to save sentient beings, which is the development of bodhicitta in Mahayana Buddhism.
Next, the fourth part, "Wonderful Actions Without Dwellings", talks about "Giving without Dwelling". The fifth part, "Seeing Truth as Reason," talks about the inability to observe appearances during meditation, and the name is "all appearances are false." The sixth point, "Righteous Belief and Hope for Share," refers to the cultivation of "righteous belief and righteous thoughts," and the name is "the law should still be abandoned, not to mention illegal." The seventh point, "non-gain and non-saying", talks about cultivating the "non-action method", because all the "doing the law" is not the end. The eighth point, "according to the law", talks about the importance of generosity, especially the Dharma generosity. In the ninth point, "one phase is not divided", and directly talks about what the four fruit positions are.
From the above analysis, in fact, the Buddha is talking about how ordinary people can cultivate step by step to the four fruit levels in accordance with Mahayana Buddhism, and what they need to do is: make a wish to save sentient beings (developing bodhicitta is the fundamental difference between Mahayana Buddhism and Hinayana Buddhism), give alms without dwelling, meditate without meditation (not necessarily meditation), revise faith in righteous thoughts, practice non-action, and finally emphasize the importance of generosity, especially Dharma generosity, in practice.
Obviously, the Buddha's talk in the Diamond Sutra on how to cultivate from ordinary people to the four fruits, is somewhat different from the Mahayana Buddhism that we often hear, because whether it is talking about "precepts and wisdom" or "six perfections", there are practices of "keeping precepts" or "forbearance", especially "keeping precepts". Dharma practitioners know the story of the Buddha when Ananda asked, "What is the teacher?" when the Buddha attained Nirvana. But why is it that in the first nine points of the Diamond Sutra, the Buddha did not talk about keeping vows or forbearance? In fact, if you look at the scriptures more closely, in the first part, "The Causes and Causes of the Festival," the day in which the Buddha begs for food at the right time and then sits on a seat, the schedule itself is full of vows, but it is not emphasized when answering Subodhi's questions. As for "forbearance", in the fourteenth part, "Separation and Silence", the Buddha said very clearly, and also told a story that ordinary people could not endure such as "I cut off my body for King Gorei in the past". However, the Buddha put "forbearance" after attaining the four fruits, but before becoming a Buddha, which means that "forbearance" may not be necessary to be practiced before attaining the four fruits, but "forbearance" is necessary to become a Buddha.
Therefore, from the above analysis, if a Mahayana practitioner wants to attain the four fruition levels through practice: first he has to develop bodhichitta and then practice generosity, meditation, correction of faith and mindfulness, practice non-action, and practice giving.
Of course, there is a suitable group for any practice, and if a Mahayana practitioner is still unfamiliar with the essentials of meditation, then the Pure Land may progress faster. However, if you want to start with the cultivation of the four fruits, step by step to practice Mahayana Buddhism, then the Buddha said in the Diamond Sutra that "all the Buddhas and all the Buddhas and the Buddhas of the Buddha Abudhara and the Three Bodhisattvas come from this sutra", so it is safest to practice according to the stages mentioned in the Diamond Sutra. But if you feel that the "Diamond Sutra" is still too concise and to the point, it will be better to read the "Lengyan Sutra" again. Of course, if you can still worship the Master, and you have all the three jewels of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, then it is the best for spiritual practice. But as far as Buddhism is concerned, I personally feel that true practitioners do not need to be greedy for more, according to the first nine points of the "Diamond Sutra" in the Buddha said that the practice is like the Dharma (reciting the "Diamond Sutra" is of course based on the complete scriptures, it is impossible to only recite the first nine points, that is another matter), I believe that if you can cultivate the four fruit levels in this life, it is already immeasurable and boundless merit. See you in a shallow way!