Key Words in the Vajracchedika Sutra

The Vajracchedika Prajna Paramita Sutra is a summary of profound meanings of the entire Maha Prajna. This set of 600 volumes is the ultimate, instant, perfect Dharma (beyond both Hinayana and Mahayana). It is a guide for the meditator to break up attachment to the formations and helps us straighten the mind to see the Buddha nature.

Key Words in the Vajracchedika Sutra is a wisdom koan, explaining the methods of settling and subduing the mind and returning to the inherent Buddha nature. The Dharma voice of the Buddha is very powerful and can bring us back to the true essence of Vajracchedika, without acceptance of any form, whether it is the golden body (kaya) or the wonderful sound of Tathagata.

Dr. Bhikkhuni Gioi Hong (world name Sunyata Pham) was born in 1963 in Binh Tuy, Vietnam and ordained at the age of fifteen under the great master, the Most Venerable Bhikkhuni Hai Trieu Am. In 1994, she received a Bachelor's Degree in Literature from Sai Gon University. She studied in India for ten years and in 2003, graduated with a PhD in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Delhi, India. In 2005, she settled down in the United States and in 2015, she earned a second Bachelor's Degree in Literature at the University of Riverside, California.

Currently, she is pursuing a degree in the Master of Arts Program at the University of California, Riverside and works as a lecturer at the Vietnam Buddhist University in HCM City. She favors quietly reflecting on Dharma, and that leads her to write, as well as translate, Buddhist books and lyrics for music albums on her Bao Anh Lac Bookshelf.

In 2000, she established Huong Sen Temple, Binh Chanh, Sai Gon. Viet Nam. In 2010, she founded Huong Sen Temple in Perris, California, USA, where she serves as abbess.

Those who have recited the Vajracchedika Sutra (the Diamond-Cutter of Perfect Wisdom) many times will know the meanings of prajna, what emptiness (sunyata) means, what the non-perception of a self, a being, a soul, or a person means and the meaning of this famous Dharma sentence:

Those who by my form did see me,

And those who followed me by voice

Wrong the efforts they engaged in,

Me those people will not see.

Another paragraph defines the meaning of Tathagata: "Since previous lives, the Tathagata has neither ever come nor gone in the future who is so-called the Tathagata."

The Vajracchedika Prajna Paramita Sutra (the Diamond Cutter of Perfect Wisdom) is a Mahayana Sutra. Over thirty years ago when I was a sramini, I often sat under the carambola tree of the temple to memorize the Vajracchedika Sutra. The sutra was read in Sino-Viet which was very hard to understand. Yet if it was read in Vietnamese, it was still hard for a young novice like me at that time. My master did not request me to memorize it; he just told me to read it in order to be ready for the Vajracchedika Sutra's chanting event in the temple. However, there was something inside urging me to learn it by heart, such as it may benefit some way in the future or I may memorize it for the contest (as memorizing the Quan Am Quang Tran previously), or I just tried to find a reason to be sitting under the carambola tree, collecting its fruits which were on the ground. I tasted and enjoyed the sweet fruits.

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