須菩提白佛言 世尊 佛得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提 為無所得耶 佛言 如是如是 須菩提 我於阿耨多羅三藐三菩提 乃至無有少法可得 是名阿耨多羅三藐三菩提
xū pú tí bái fó yán shì zūn fó dé ā nòu duō luó sān miǎo sān pú tí wéi wú suǒ dé yē fó yán rú shì rú shì xū pú tí wǒ yú ā nòu duō luó sān miǎo sān pú tí nǎi zhì wú yǒu shǎo fǎ kě dé shì míng ā nòu duō luó sān miǎo sān pú tí
Key Message
True awakening is a non-attainment. Even the concept of 'obtaining enlightenment' is the final form of grasping. What is released from this last clinging is the supreme and perfect awakening itself.
▸Section 22 is one of the most concentrated and startling passages in the entire sutra.
Section 22 is one of the most concentrated and startling passages in the entire sutra. Subhūti asks: 'World-Honored One, when the Buddha attained anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi — was it in fact a non-attainment?' The Buddha affirms without hesitation: 'Just so, just so (如是如是, rúshì rúshì). In the supreme and perfect awakening, there is not even the slightest dharma that can be attained. This is what is called anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.' The brevity of this exchange is itself the teaching. Genuine awakening requires no object to be seized, no achievement to be recorded, no enlightenment to be possessed. The concept of 'getting enlightened' is the final and subtlest form of clinging. What is liberated from even this grasping is the very thing called supreme and perfect awakening.