Eighteen: The All-Seeing Tathatic-Eye
Subhuti, what do you think? Does the Tathagata possess the human eye?
Yes, World-honored One, He does.
Well, do you think the Tathagata possesses the divine eye?
Yes, World-honored One, He does.
And do you think the Tathagata possesses the gnostic eye?
Yes, World-honored One, He does.
And do you think the Tathagata possesses the eye of transcendent wisdom?
Yes, World-honored One, He does.
And do you think the Tathagata possesses the Buddha-eye of omniscience?
Yes, World-honored One, He does.
Subhuti, what do you think? Concerning the sand-grains of the Ganges, has the Buddha taught about them?
Yes, World-honored One, the Tathagata has taught concerning these grains.
Well, Subhuti, if there were as many Ganges rivers as the sand-grains of the Ganges and there was a Buddha-land for each sand-grain in all those Ganges rivers, would those Buddha-lands be many?
[Subhuti replied]: Many indeed, World-honored One!
Then Buddha said: Subhuti, however many living beings there are in all those Buddhalands, though they have manifold modes of mind, the Tathagata understands them all. Wherefore? Because the Tathagata teaches that all these are not Mind; they are merely called “mind”.
Subhuti, it is impossible to retain past mind, impossible to hold on to present mind, and impossible to grasp future mind.
The Five Eyes of the Tathagata:
the human eye:
Referring to the Nirmanakayic-transformational Buddha Eye that peers into all localized territories of the perceptional-bicameral mind; partaking in a hypostatic-union of both Tathagata and Sentient-consciousness.
the divine eye:
Seeing into the nature of things regardless of obstructing time and space; this also has to do with clairvoyant and all siddhic-like abilities that transcend the usual norms of perception. This occurs on the Sambhogakayic plane.
the gnostic-eye:
The inner-eye that generates Buddhagnosis, thus being fully-attuned with ante-cognitive abilities and discernment as procured from proper bodhi-attunement that originates from the Tathatic-seed that intuitively sees into the incomprehensibility of all things.
the eye of transcendent wisdom:
Also known as the Dharma-eye; this is seeing through prajñā—undivided awareness in perfect wisdom yoked with the Tathagatakaya (the Luminous Spirit-Body-Mind of the Tathagata). The nature of śūnyatā, or the fundamental component of reality is fully revealed.
the Buddha-eye of omniscience:
The Dharmakayic-Eye that beholds All As One: the inner supracognition of Its own immutable Absolute Substance that precedes (and at the same moment encompasses) any time-bound notions of past, present, or future. In the Blessed Dharmakayic eyes of the Tathagatas, all time is as One, At-One-Ment. This is in league with Meister Eckhart who proclaimed,”The eye wherein I see God is the same eye wherein God sees me: my eye and God’s eye are one eye, one vision, one knowing, one love.”
impossible to hold on to present mind, and impossible to grasp future mind: this is the famous line wherein Te Shan Hsuan Ch’ien, the famous erudite scholar of the Diamond Sutra itself, was left spellbound by the old tea-woman on the roadside who shattered his scholastic garbage with that “satori-moment” question of “which Mind” (past, present, or future) did he desire to awaken.