Scripture of Buddhism

The Diamond Sutra.

Thirty pages of controlled demolition: every category it raises it then denies, including the teaching, the teacher, and the merit of reading it. A copy from 868 CE is the oldest dated printed book on earth.

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LanguageSanskrit, then Chinese

Composedc. 2nd–4th century CE

What it holdsEmptiness argued by dismantling every category it uses, including its own title

How it is usedChanted and copied for merit — the world's oldest dated printed book is a copy of it, from 868 CE

Understanding it — context, not catechism: how this passage is held

The Diamond Sutra's method is relentless negation, and it is aimed at the reader's tendency to convert insight into property. The Buddha teaches, then denies there is a teaching; describes beings to be saved, then denies there are beings; promises merit for the sutra, then dissolves the merit. The famous closing verse compares all conditioned things to a dream, a bubble, a flash of lightning. Its most quoted physical fact is genuine: a scroll copy found sealed at Dunhuang, printed in 868 CE and now in the British Library, is the earliest dated printed book known — commissioned, its colophon says, for free distribution.

From the sources — the passages this rests on; concise renderings, cited

So you should see all this fleeting world: a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream, a flash of lightning in a summer cloud.
Diamond Sutra, closing verse (rendered)
The sutra's last word after thirty pages of negation.

The same ground, other faiths

claims that share this one's ideas

Atman and Brahman are one — the self is the absolute. Hinduism · core tenet Go deeper →

Syadvada — the sevenfold answer. Jainism · core tenet Go deeper →

God contracted to make room for the world. Judaism · core tenet Go deeper →

Fana. Islam · the interior Go deeper →

Sahaj — the state that holds by itself. Sikhism · the interior Go deeper →

Five forms, one Brahman. Smartism · core tenet Go deeper →

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Where next

← The Lotus Sutra.the previous passage in Buddhism The Heart Sutra. →the next passage in Buddhism Buddhism's Stories & Scripture roomback up one layer Propose a change to this passageone button — it routes to the review pool