Twenty-eight: No Strings Attached
Subhuti, if one Bodhisattva bestows in charity sufficient of the seven treasures to fill as many worlds as there are sand-grains in the river Ganges, and another, realizing that all things are egoless, attains perfection through patient forbearance, the merit of the latter will far exceed that of the former. Why is this, Subhuti? It is because all Bodhisattvas are insentient as to the rewards of merit.
Then Subhuti said to Buddha: What is this saying, World-honored One, that Bodhisattvas are insentient as to rewards of merit?
[And Buddha answered]: Subhuti, Bodhisattvas who achieve merit should not be fettered with desire for rewards. Thus it is said that the rewards of merit are not received.
Bodhisattvas are insentient as to the rewards of merit…thus it is said that the rewards of merit are not received: Mahabodhisattvas no longer perceive karmic-rewards. This was fully articulated earlier in section twenty-four; now the focus is exclusively on “transcendent meritoriousness” as all is now grasped through the Tathatic-Eye as reflective of the Dharmadhatu, wherein there is no longer any perceived body of merit, as the Absolute Buddha-Body of Perfect Suchness is the very Buddhafield itself that gives birth to all merits bearing no-body and no-rewards as the Tathagatas are devoid of either.