Before the Diamond Sutra, After It

Text

Prajñātāra tested the young prince Bodhidharma by placing a jewel before him and asking: 'Of all things, what is most luminous?' The other princes named the jewel. Bodhidharma said: 'The Dharma is most luminous.' Prajñātāra asked: 'Of all things, what is most vast?' The others named the sky. Bodhidharma said: 'The nature of mind is most vast, for it contains the sky.' Prajñātāra said: 'This one alone has turned the jewel's light back on itself.' Keizan's verse: The gem shines outward— / but what shines inside the gem? / Ask the prince with the quiet eyes. / He knows where the light was born.

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Speaker
  Prajnatara

Lineage: Indian Patriarchs

By Prajnatara

• The Prophecy of the Eastern Transmissionsaying
• No Need to Reciteproverb
• Send Bodhidharma Northproverb
• No Pride of Lineageproverb

From Denkoroku

• The Robe That Never Wears Out
• The Fragrance Without a Flower
• The Mind That Is Like Space
• The Auspicious Cloud
• The Wine Jar and the Dharma
• The Star That Does Not Move
• Entering the Gate as a Householder
• The Vow of Pārśva
• The Debate That Ended Without Debate
• Meeting Nāgārjuna

Sources

• contentZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation

  Zen project editorial

  Denkoroku, Case 28; Jingde Chuandenglu, Prajnatara chapter

  Denkoroku: Before the Diamond Sutra, After It