Subhuti asks the Buddha a question

(In order to hear what is being conveyed in the following, one needs to stay with it, it bears fruit, but we have to work a bit.... and sometimes just come back later)

Subhuti said to the Buddha, 'Bhagavan, if a noble son or daughter should set forth on the bodhisattva path, how should they stand, how should they walk, and how should they control their thoughts?'

The Buddha said to him, 'Subhuti, those who would now set forth on the bodhisattva path should thus give birth to this thought: 'However many beings there are in whatever realms of being exist, I shall liberate them all. And though I thus liberate countless beings, not a single being is liberated'.

'And why not? Subhuti, a bodhisattva who creates the perception of a being cannot be called a 'bodhisattva'. And why not? Subhuti, no one can be called a bodhisattva who creates the perception of a self or who creates the perception of a being, a life, or a soul.'

Seng-chao says, 'Nothing arises on its own. Everything is the result of karma. All it is is karma. It possesses no self-nature. According to the Middle Path, since nothing possesses any self nature, it does not exist. Yet we give things a name, hence they do not not exist. Because we do not not give them names, we keep liberating beings. But because their natures are empty, we do not actually liberate anyone. And why don't we liberate anyone? If the concept of a self existed, we could say that somebody is liberated. But since neither a self nor an other exist, who is liberated? It is only a fiction.'

Ch'en Hsiung says, 'Manjushri once asked the Buddha, 'What do you mean when you say not a single being is liberated?' And the Buddha replied, 'Our nature is ultimately pure and subject to neither rebirth nor nirvana. Thus, there are no beings to liberate, and there is no nirvana to be attained. It is simply that all beings revert to their own nature.'

- The Diamond Sutra
text and commentaries translated by Red Pine

~ Jeff Bickford, mahakalaradio.org 7/23/20