Chapter Twenty-Four · The Sutras We Chant · 金刚经

金刚经 The Diamond Sutra — what is actually chanted

"All conditioned things are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows; like dew and like lightning — thus should you contemplate them." Every SG/MY Buddhist knows that four-line verse; it closes almost every sutra recitation in the Chinese tradition. This page gathers what laypeople actually chant from the Diamond Sutra — the incense verse, the opening, and every famous line — with the English meaning of each.

What it is

The Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra (金剛般若波羅蜜經), translated by Kumārajīva in the Yao Qin dynasty (401 CE), is one of the most beloved of all Mahāyāna sutras. Its title: the wisdom that cuts through everything like a diamond, and the thunderbolt. The full sutra is long — this page gives the sections SG/MY temples and lay practitioners actually recite, plus the one-line verses everyone knows by heart. Traditionally it is said the fifth patriarch Hongren urged people simply to recite this sutra to see one's nature and become a Buddha, which is why it is so widely read.

— Alison's thoughts

When I first read that this sutra was what the Fifth Patriarch urged people to recite just to "see one's nature," I felt a quiet relief. We so often think awakening must be complicated — retreats, rituals, a special state of mind. But the Diamond Sutra says the opposite: look at the things you already clutch (your reputation, your worries, your plans) and see them as dream, bubble, shadow. Not to despise them, just to loosen the grip. In a Singapore where everything pushes us to hold on tighter — to the bonus, the ranking, the perfect school for the kids — this is the gentlest rebellion. The mind that "abides nowhere" isn't spaced-out. It's free enough to actually be here, with the person in front of us.

The incense verse 香赞 (before opening any recitation)

炉香乍热　法界蒙熏　诸佛海会悉遥闻　随处结祥云　诚意方殷　诸佛现全身
南无香云盖菩萨摩诃萨　南无香云盖菩萨摩诃萨　南无香云盖菩萨摩诃萨

The incense now rises; the whole Dharma-realm is perfumed. All the Buddha-assemblies hear it from afar; auspicious clouds gather everywhere. With sincerity now keen, all Buddhas manifest in full body. Homage to the Bodhisattva of the Cloud Canopy of Incense (×3). — the standard opening of every sutra-recitation service.

The opening gatha 开经偈

无上甚深微妙法　百千万劫难遭遇　我今见闻得受持　愿解如来真实义

The Dharma, supreme, profound, subtle and wonderful — hard to encounter even in a hundred thousand million kalpas. Now that I see and hear it, may I receive and uphold it, and may I understand the Tathāgata's true meaning. — Composed by Empress Wu Zetian (Tang); used to open all Chinese sutra recitations.

The opening 如是我闻

如是我闻。一时，佛在舍卫国祇树给孤独园，与大比丘众千二百五十人俱。尔时，世尊食时，著衣持钵，入舍卫大城乞食。于其城中，次第乞已，还至本处。饭食讫，收衣钵，洗足已，敷座而坐。

Thus have I heard. Once the Buddha was staying in the Jeta Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada's Park in Śrāvastī, together with a great assembly of 1,250 bhikṣus. At mealtime the Bhagavat put on his robe, took his bowl, and entered the great city of Śrāvastī to beg for food. Having begged in due order within the city he returned, ate, put away robe and bowl, washed his feet, and sat on the arranged seat.

The famous lines 核心名句 (chanted and recited most)

凡所有相，皆是虚妄。若见诸相非相，即见如来。
All conditioned appearances are illusory. If you see that all forms are not forms, you see the Tathāgata.

是故须菩提，诸菩萨摩诃萨应如是生清净心，不应住色生心，不应住声香味触法生心，应无所住而生其心。
Therefore, Subhūti, great bodhisattvas should thus give rise to a pure mind — not dwelling on form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or objects; one should give rise to the mind without dwelling anywhere. — 应無所住而生其心: "Arise the mind that abides nowhere." The line that awakened Chan Master Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch.

过去心不可得，现在心不可得，未来心不可得。
The past mind is unobtainable, the present mind is unobtainable, the future mind is unobtainable. — the "three minds" that slip through our fingers like water.

若以色见我　以音声求我　是人行邪道　不能见如来
If one sees me by form, or seeks me by sound, that person walks a deviant path and cannot see the Tathāgata.

一切有为法　如梦幻泡影　如露亦如电　应作如是观
All conditioned dharmas are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows; like dew and like lightning — thus should you contemplate them. — the famous four-line verse, chanted at every sutra's close and often at funerals.

Where and when SG/MY Buddhists chant it

Transference and funeral rites (殡仪馆, 头七, 百日): one of the most common sutras for 助念 (helping the dying) and 超度 — especially the four-line verse 一切有为法, which comforts grief.
Home morning/evening practice: often recited with the Heart Sutra; 应无所住而生其心 is the core silent-line.
中元节 and 清明 memorial services: often recited repeatedly to " dissolve karma and open wisdom."

Ref: 金剛般若波羅蜜經, Kumārajīva trans. — chant text cross-checked: 佛教经典网 book.bfnn.org (full text), 维基文库金剛般若波羅蜜經註解 (CBETA X25n0506); 香赞/开经偈: fotang.org.cn; usage: standard Chinese Mahāyāna practice.

— Alison's thoughts

"应无所住而生其心" — the mind that abides nowhere. My trouble was always that I lived everywhere at once: in what happened yesterday, in what might go wrong tomorrow, in what people might think. Worry is just the mind refusing to put anything down. This line isn't telling us to stop caring — it's telling us to hold things lightly, like a bird on a branch that doesn't grip the wood. And the four-line verse at funerals, "all conditioned things are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows" — it doesn't deny the grief. It says the heaviest pain is also flowing, also passing, like dew burned off by morning sun. That's not cold philosophy. That's the courage to love what is leaving.

— Chapter Twenty-Four · The Sutras We Chant · Metta 慈悲