Part Seven · The Vow and Emptiness · The Deepest Question of the Volume

In this part, the vow and emptiness meet face to face.

The question is one only: prajñā says there is nothing to attain—no self, no attainment, all dharmas empty. Then on what ground can a mind with nothing to attain still make a vow? If this question cannot be answered firmly, every vow raised in the first six parts hangs in mid-air; answered firmly, the vow stands, at last, all the way to the bottom.

Three chapters in order, one layer each. Chapter one, "Vowing with Nothing to Attain": in the Diamond Sūtra, the Buddha teaches the greatest vow of all—I should bring all beings to final liberation—and says in the same breath that not a single being is in reality liberated, and that no dharma whatever arouses the awakening-mind. The bow drawn full, and the archer empty; and Nāgārjuna himself blocks the fork of "since all is empty, no vow need be made." Chapter two, "Immovable for Having No Ground": the true guarantee of non-retreat is not gripping the vow at its tightest, but seeing that the vow was never arisen—no thing has arisen that could be lost, and so no thing can make it turn back. Chapter three, "The Bodhisattva Does Not Abide in Nirvāṇa": an unwearying, unretreating vow walks up to the gate of nirvāṇa—and turns away without entering. Rest is declined, not because it is impossible, but because of the vow.

This is the deepest doctrinal stretch of the whole book. Be at ease: every step will be taken slowly; and at the end it will be plain that the view from the summit is one ordinary people can see too—for the place where it finally comes down is still the moment any person joins their palms and makes a vow.