“All form is illusive and unreal”
(What we see isn’t what is real)
In my view there are 4 main teachings in the Diamond Sutra. This is the first of the four I will present.
Chapters related to this teaching:
Chapter 5
The Buddha then spoke to Subhuti: “All that has a form is illusive and unreal. When you see that all forms are illusive and unreal, then you will begin to perceive your true Buddha nature.”
Chapter 10
“A disciple should develop a mind which is in no way dependent upon sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensory sensations or any mental conceptions. A disciple should develop a mind which does not rely on anything.”
“Therefore, Subhuti, the minds of all disciples should be purified of all thoughts that relate to seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching, and discriminating. They should use their minds spontaneously and naturally, without being constrained by preconceived notions arising from the senses.”
Chapter 14
“Therefore, Subhuti, disciples should leave behind all distinctions of phenomena and awaken the thought of the attainment of Supreme Enlightenment. A disciple should do this by not allowing their mind to depend upon ideas evoked by the world of the senses – by not allowing their mind to depend upon ideas stirred by sounds, odors, flavors, sensory touch, or any other qualities. The disciple’s mind should be kept independent of any thoughts that might arise within it. If the disciple’s mind depends upon anything in the sensory realm it will have no solid foundation in any reality. This is why Buddha teaches that the mind of a disciple should not accept the appearances of things as a basis when exercising charity.”
My commentary on these passages:
I think it is stated fairly clearly in these passages: “All that has a form is illusive and unreal.“
This reminds me of recent understanding and theories about how the brain forms our perception of reality. One of these advancements is about how the brain can be viewed more as a predictive model, rather than only as responsive to whatever sensory input is coming in.
Here is one book I have read about this topic that I recommend:
The Experience Machine: How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality
by Andy Clark
Here is a quote from that book:
“This means that what we perceive today is deeply rooted in what we experienced yesterday, and all the days before that. Every aspect of our daily experience comes to us filtered by hidden webs of prediction – the brain’s best expectations rooted in our own past histories”.
and one more:
“The idea (the main topic of this book) is that human brains are prediction machines. They are evolved organs that build and rebuild experiences from shifting mixtures of expectation and actual sensory evidence.”
It appears possible that our brain creates our perception of the world, not based on any underlying “reality”, but on an accumulation of input it has received over some period of time.
For example, when we are seeing the visual field, we are likely seeing mostly an assembled view of our brain’s expectations. That image only changes or draws our attention if there is something unexpected that happens within that field of perception. It is a way for our brains to preserve power by expending energy mainly to detect the important or unexpected, and not the unchanging or routine. Your brain may fill in most of your experience with an accumulation of perceptions it has acquired, including expectations and predictions based on that accumulated information.
Another example related to an altered perception of reality is the growing knowledge of how our focus and attention can significantly filter what we perceive. We can miss some very large segments of “what is really out there” because of our focus and attention.
To me these examples corroborate in modern day concepts what the Buddha was saying in these passages from long ago.
Specifically the Buddha says: “If the disciple’s mind depends upon anything in the sensory realm it will have no solid foundation in any reality”.
And he also said: “They should use their minds spontaneously and naturally, without being constrained by preconceived notions arising from the senses.”
“All that has a form is illusive and unreal” –
“All that has a form”, to me means anything we can perceive as having a shape or taking up space.
“is illusive and unreal”, to me means that this form has no underlying “reality” on a level that is absolute or knowable to the human mind.
The whole phrase to me means that our perceptions are dependent upon unconscious processes that alter everything that we perceive in ways unknown to us, and that therefore what we see is not reality in the ultimate sense.
What we see as form is not a pure reality, but a view of it
filtered through our fallible perceptions and preconceptions.
The Buddha does not really prescribe a remedy for this situation in this sutra, but seems to say that realizing this teaching is a starting point to reaching the “highest, most fulfilled, and awakened mind”.
In this passage he implies one possible prescription: “They should use their minds spontaneously and naturally, without being constrained by preconceived notions arising from the senses.”
Just how to do this is not fully described here.
Summary:
I have provided some of the direct quotes from chapters of the Diamond Sutra that pertain to this teaching about form being illusive and unreal.
In addition I have given a brief personal interpretation of how I currently view this teaching of the Diamond Sutra.
The next teaching will be: “Words Cannot Express Reality”.