In the profound teachings of the Diamond Cutter Sutra, the Buddha offers a view of the world that deconstructs our normal categories of experience to show us that what we think are real entities in the world are actually our conceptualizations. The Buddha teaches us to cut our attachment to all phenomena and to the "I," which are empty of inherent existence, and in so doing, cut the root cause of our suffering. Yet without wise guidance we may think that because all phenomena are empty there is no need to be attached to virtue, and thus we fall into the worst trap of all - an attachment to emptiness. How do we destroy our attachment without being led astray?

With this question in mind, Dzogchen Master Khenpo Sodargye provides sparkling commentary on the Diamond Cutter Sutra so that we understand its actual meaning, thus preparing us to understand the view of the Great Perfection and Mahamudra. Before recognizing the nature of the mind, we learn we must hold on to things that are virtuous and right. Like a boat, these can help us cross a river; until we reach the other shore, it makes no sense to give them up.

Diamond Cutter Sutra : A Commentary, Dzogchen Master Khenpo Sodargye, Wisdom Publications, Paperback, 218 pages, $18.95

Khenpo Sodargye was born in Tibet in 1962 in what is today the Sichuan province of China. After spending his early years herding yaks, he entered the Buddhist monastery and went on to become the preeminent scholar of Larung Gar Buddhist Institute in Serthar. He has been especially effective at popularizing Tibetan Buddhism among Chinese communities and regularly speaks at universities in Asia and the West.

Preface	vii
Introduction	1
The Initial Virtue--The Title	5
The Middle Virtue--The Meaning	9
1. The Cause of This Teaching	11
2. Subhuti Asks Questions	17
3. The Genuine Great Vehicle	23
4. The Wonderful Practice without Fixation	29
5. The True Meeting	33
6. The Rarity of the True Faith	35
7. Unfindable and Indescribable	43
8. Born from Buddhadharma	49
9. One Characteristic, No Characteristic	55
10. Adorn Pure Land	65
11. Unconditioned Merit Is More Supreme	73
12. Venerating the Sublime Dharma	77
13. Upholding the Dharma	81
14. Peace Free of Conceptions	91
15. The Merit of Upholding This Sutra	115
16. It Can Purify Karmic Obscurations	121
17. Ultimate Selflessness	127
18. One Body, All Visions	141
19. Pervasive Liberation in Dharmadhatu	149
20. Transcend Form and Characteristics	153
21. Not What Has Been Said	157
22. No Dharma to Attain	161
23. Purifying Mind and Cultivating Virtue	163
24. Incomparable Merit and Wisdom	167
25. Liberate Nobody	169
26. Dharmakaya Has No Marks	173
27. Neither Nihilism nor Ceasing	177
28. No Attaining, No Clinging	179
29. Peaceful Deportment	183
30. The Conception of Oneness	185
31. No Conception, No View	189
32. What Appears Is Not Real	193
The Virtuous Ending--The Conclusion	197
Postscript	201
Notes	203
Index	205
About the Author	219