The setting
Vajracchedikâ Prajñâpâramitâ — Chapter I, abridged.
Adoration to the blessed Ârya-prajñâpâramitâ (perfection of wisdom)!
Thus it was heard by me: At one time Bhagavat (the Lord) dwelt in Srâvasti, in the grove of Geta, in the garden of Anâthapindada, together with a large assembly of Bhikshus, viz. with 1,250 Bhikshus, and with many noble-minded Bodhisattvas. Then the Bhagavat, having put on his garments in the morning and taken his bowl and cloak, entered the great city of Srâvasti to collect alms. Then the Bhagavat, after he had gone to the great city of Srâvasti for alms, having eaten and returned from his round, put away his bowl and cloak, washed his feet, and sat down on the seat intended for him, crossing his legs, holding his body upright, and turning his thoughts inward. Then many Bhikshus approached the place where Bhagavat was, saluted his feet by bowing their heads, walked three times round him to the right, and sat down on one side.
Seeing what is no-mark is to see the Tathâgata
The Bhagavat said: 'What do you think then, O Subhûti, should a Tathâgata be seen (known) by the possession of signs (lakshanas)?'
Subhûti said: 'Not indeed, O Bhagavat, should a Tathâgata be seen (known) by the possession of signs. And why? Because what has been preached by the Tathâgata as the possession of signs, that is indeed the possession of no-signs.'
After this, Bhagavat spoke thus to the venerable Subhûti: 'Wherever there is, O Subhûti, the possession of signs, there is falsehood; wherever there is no-possession of no-signs, there is no falsehood. Hence the Tathâgata is to be seen (known) from no-signs as signs.'
The bodhisattva produces a thought attached to nothing
'Therefore then, O Subhûti, a noble-minded Bodhisattva should in this wise frame an independent mind, which is not to be framed as attached to anything; he should not frame a mind as attached to form, nor as attached to sound, smell, taste, or objects of mind. He should frame a mind which is fixed nowhere.'
Verse on the body of the Tathâgata
And at that time, the Bhagavat uttered these two verses:
Those who saw me by my form, and those who heard me by my voice,
They engaged in false endeavours; will not see me.
A Buddha is to be seen (known) from the Law (Dharma); for the lords (Buddhas) have the Dharma-body;
And the nature of the Law cannot be understood, nor can it be made to be understood.
The closing simile
'And why? Because:
Stars, darkness, a lamp, a phantom, dew, a bubble,
A dream, a flash of lightning, and a cloud — thus we should look upon the world (upon all that was made).'
Thus spoke the Bhagavat enraptured. The elder Subhûti, and the monks, nuns, the faithful laymen and laywomen, and the Bodhisattvas, and the whole world of gods, men, evil spirits and genii, rejoiced at the words of the Bhagavat. And the treatise called Vagrakkhedikâ, the Pragñâpâramitâ, is finished.