DIAMOND SUTRA

Like many Buddhist sutras, the Diamond Sutra (Sanskrit: Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra) begins with the famous phrase "Thus have I heard."  Incidentally, the title properly translated is the Diamond Cutter of Perfect Wisdom, but it is popularly referred to as the Diamond Sūtra.

The history of the teaching is not fully known, but scholars generally consider it to be from a very early date in the development of Prajñāpāramitā literature.  A translation of it from Sanskrit into Chinese appeared in the 4th Century A.D. and is said to have inspired the enlightenment of Hui-neng, who went on to become the Sixth Patriarch of Ch'an (Zen in Japanese) Buddhism.

In the sūtra, the Buddha has finished his daily walk with the monks to gather offerings of food, following which he sits down to rest. Elder Subhūti steps forward and asks the Buddha a question having to do with the nature of perception.  In the dialogue that follows, the Buddha attempts to help Subhuti unlearn his preconceived, limited notions of the nature of reality and enlightenment.  The Buddha often uses paradoxical phrases such as, "What is called the highest teaching is not the highest teaching."  He uses metaphors to describe impermanence, as in a well-known four-line verse at the end of the text:

All conditioned phenomena
Are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, or shadows;
Like drops of dew, or flashes of lightning;
Thusly should they be contemplated.

The Diamond Sūtra can be read in 40 to 50 minutes and therefore is often memorized and chanted in Buddhist monasteries. This sūtra has retained significant popularity in the Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition for over a thousand years.