The best-selling book of 20 years, 『Dool Kim Yong-ok's Commentary on the Diamond Sutra』, has been published in a new version.
The Diamond Sutra, along with the Heart Sutra, is one of the most precious scriptures of Korean Buddhism.
This is the very sutra that the 6th patriarch, Hye-neng, heard when he was a woodcutter and immediately became a monk.
The original 『Daol Kim Yong-ok's Commentary on the Diamond Sutra』, first published in 1999, has been consistently loved by readers, but because it was written in a mixture of Korean and Chinese characters, it was difficult for those unfamiliar with Chinese characters to read.
After 20 years, the author, with the Mahayana spirit of conveying the essence of Buddhism to the general public in an easily accessible manner, undertook a large-scale revision project to completely revise the book into a purely Korean version.
By adding Korean pronunciations to the entire original text of the Diamond Sutra, anyone can read it in Korean while looking at the original Chinese text.
In the author's commentary on the scriptures, vocabulary written solely in Chinese characters was changed to Korean, and Chinese characters were added where necessary.
Additionally, for sentences that were difficult to understand, explanations were supplemented to ensure that the meaning was easily conveyed.
And while preserving the author's sensibility and academic perspective from 20 years ago, he added new feelings and up-to-date information where necessary, giving the entire book a contemporary vitality.

Buddhism is not atheism.
If we insist on calling Buddhism atheistic, it can only be used in the context of fundamentally saying that God cannot enter the realm of human language, which is existence and non-existence.
… … How can theology be said to be the only path to religion, and how can God be said to be the only subject of religion? --- p.26

I am not preaching the Diamond Sutra to spread Buddhist doctrines to people.
In my opinion, the Diamond Sutra is not a Buddhist scripture.
How can I, who have said that the essence of religion is not found in the sutras, say that the Diamond Sutra is the ultimate truth of Buddhism? The Diamond Sutra does not speak of Buddhism.
It merely expounds a few insights into the ultimate truth that all previous religions, whether Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Confucianism, or Taoism, had sought.
The Diamond Sutra is not a doctrine.
That's insight! --- p.35

Therefore, this Diamond Sutra is the first movement of Mahayana Buddhism and a great scripture with comprehensive contents that encompasses the final and final possibility.
… … The fact that Seon Buddhism could not help but take the Diamond Sutra as its primary scripture proves that the possibility of Seon was already structurally embedded within the early Buddhist movement, and at the same time, it well represents the historical situation that, despite being anti-Buddhist, Seon Buddhism signifies a return to the early spirit of the Mahayana movement.
--- pp.47~48

In other words, there is no Buddhist scripture with such a broad range of thought as the Diamond Sutra, and for that very reason, it was inevitable that it would be the most memorized, recited, and recited throughout the history of Buddhism in East Asia.
To understand the Diamond Sutra is to understand the alpha and omega of the Mahayana Buddhist spirit.
--- p.48

The Diamond Sutra that I am going to discuss here is, of course, the Diamond Sutra translated by Raja.
But what is important is that there are countless editions of Raja's Diamond Sutra.
However, the most authentic version of Rajip's Diamond Sutra is the Goryeo Tripitaka Koreana edition preserved in the Janggyeonggak of Haeinsa Temple in Korea.
And Japan's 『Daijo Tripitaka Koreana』, which is generally considered the most precise edition of the four seasons, is also based on our 『Goryeo Tripitaka Koreana』.
--- pp.56~57

The common belief that the core of Buddhist doctrine is “cutting off attachment” (滅集) is nothing more than a delusion born from a narrow view.
… … The lightning should not strike the chain of attachment to the objective world surrounding my existence.
That is, the power of the Diamond Wall must soon fall upon my very existence.
--- pp.79~80

When I disappear, the object also disappears, and the chain of obsession loses its place to exist.
It is here that the new standards for understanding Buddhism, the so-called Hinayana and Mahayana, are established.
--- p.81

The term “Mahayana” is, of course, a term that arose from the fact that those who used the term “Mahayana” tried to establish the reason for the existence of Mahayana by creating the term “Hinayana” as a means to justify their “Mahayana”ness.
… … That is, although there is Hinayana in Mahayana, there is no fundamental basis for the distinction between Hinayana and Mahayana in Hinayana.
--- pp.83~84

The ultimate basis for the distinction between Hinayana and Mahayana is the new concept of “Bodhisattva.”
… … It means rejecting any sense of distinction, superiority, or privilege that only I, or a certain group I belong to, can obtain salvation.
This rejection of the sense of superiority and privilege is the beginning of Mahayana.
This Mahayana spirit is the Ilseung spirit and the Bodhisattva spirit.
This Bodhisattva spirit is precisely the thought of Prajna.
And the first clear definition of this Prajna thought is the Diamond Sutra.
--- p.93

The Diamond Sutra is the Mahayana teaching that defines the most primal meaning of “no-self.”
--- pp.93~94

The theory of wisdom and prajna is also denied, and all “enlightenment” is also denied.
Well, then, there would be no such thing as a viciously anti-Buddhist heresy like the Heart Sutra.
Because it completely destroys the basic Buddhist doctrines preached by the Buddha from start to finish.
Is Prajna Buddhism truly Buddhist? Or is it anti-Buddhist? --- p.115

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
I have been memorizing this Sermon on the Mount with great enthusiasm since I was young, but I never understood its meaning.
… …
Being poor in spirit means having no “self” to show off.
… … It is in line with the “nothingness” of the Diamond Sutra and the “emptiness” of the Heart Sutra.
--- p.145~147

For a Bodhisattva, there should never be an entity called “I.”
If there is an ego, then it is not a bodhisattva.
In other words, the rules of becoming a bodhisattva mean practicing non-self.
Without the practice of non-self, the wisdom of Prajna becomes impossible.
(Pages 188-189)

There's nothing like antibiotics to kill bacteria.
However, if you continue to take antibiotics because you like them, it will cause a bigger illness.
The idea of ​​emptiness is the best medicine to cure our chronic disease of believing that existence is the existence of a substance.
However, if you become obsessed with emptiness itself, you will develop a bigger illness.
That is what is called the evil taking emptiness.
--- p.224

The thought of Prajna fundamentally denies the world of our “language.”
But even though it is wrong, we cannot live without the medium of language.
If you look closely at what I am writing now, it is nothing but a mass of contradictions.
Language itself is a mass of paradoxes.
It is a fundamentally ignorant act, like hanging an unnecessary sign that says “No Graffiti” on a clean wall without any graffiti.
However, the Diamond Sutra affirms language as “wonderful and existential.”

--- p.291