- The Buddha's [6] Mothers' Day (Prajna Paramita as 7th)
| Perfection of Insight, Prajnaparamita (LACMA) |
The Heart Sutra is the world's most popular Buddhist sutra. Sadly, from a young age, even I recognized something in its magical wording (Edward Conze translation). It had a small tract of it in English and Chinese, and I would approach Chinese friends to translate some of the incomprehensible parts -- one line in particular: "until we come to."
| Sveta Sofia (Wisdom) of Bulgaria |
| The lost meaning has been recovered. |
The key secret is to realize that Śūnyatā ("Emptiness," void) is synonymous with the Pali suññatā ("impersonal" = anatta). Then everything else falls into place.A bodhisattva helping living beings - This is because what the Heart Sutra (Prajñā-pāramitā-hṛdaya Discourse) is talking about are the Five Aggregates clung to as self, pointing out that every "heap" -- each one of the Five Aggregates -- is actually devoid of self. It is impersonal and is in that sense "empty." It has no "independent existence." What kind of existence does it have? It has a dependently-originated one. It is foolish to think there is nothing there at all as if all things were the void: There is no thing there, but there is something, some stuff, something is appearing. In the ultimate sense, "things" (dhammas, dharmas, phenomena) have an existence and so are called "things." The one thing that is not a thing is nirvana (the deathless, amata/amrita, the unconditioned element). Nirvana, being free of conditions, does not bear the (three universal) marks of "things." This "self" we cling to is just such a "thing," a conglomeration of other "things" (aggregates, groups, heaps), bearing the universal marks of being impermanent, unsatisfactory, and impersonal.
"Self" arises in this way, not as a real entity but an illusion brought about by the presence of the aggregates. When one grasps that all there has ever been are phenomenal aggregates -- impermanent, disappointing, and impersonal -- then the heart naturally lets go with no prompting and becomes free of all clinging and all further suffering.Avalokitesvara (in basalt) - It is called the "Heart" (hṛdaya) Sutra not because of emotions or sweetness but because it comes as the culmination, the brief summary, the pith, the essence of 100,000 lines or verses of detailed explanation. It is the essence of perfected wisdom. It is the key to stream entry, that which when not grasped keeps us as ordinary worldling but when grasped causes a "change of lineage" (gotrabhu) to the noble ones. The Buddha himself said it. There are not enlightened disciples to be found in other traditions, at least not in the Buddhist sense of the term bodhi ("awakened," "enlightened," "liberated") because nowhere else is this Doctrine of No-Self ever taught, ever revealed, ever explained, although all popular religions seem to have an innate understanding that being egoless is far wiser than being full of ego. For example, in popular Christianity, in the eyes of God, what is the worst sin? Pride.
| Beloved Kwan Yin (Guanyin) |
The Buddha himself noted how popular and beloved Ananda was, whereas the monastics did not seem to realize the kalyana-mitta (noble/enlightening friendship) potential of Ven. Sariputta, the male monastic he declared foremost in wisdom. One can easily imagine the same thing must have happened among the females with the Buddha highlighting the value of the great bhikkhuni Ven. Khema, the nun he declared foremost in wisdom.
| Sariputta and MM become disciples |
UCLA Prof. Robert E. Buswell Jr. (who ordained as a monk in Korean Zen then Sri Lankan Theravada before becoming a Western academic) explained the reason to us in class. Brahminical/Chinese Mahayana is holding up the monk disciple (shravaka) the Buddha declared "foremost in wisdom" as a scarecrow, stick figure, or punching bag to mock his supposed "wisdom," as if he were a mere intellect, a clueless egghead, a Brahmin nerd, a clueless dork compared to their god (deva, deity) Avalokita, whom they declare an "enlightenment being" (bodhi-sattva) and "great being" (maha-sattva, a Mahayana maha-sthamaprapta).
- How the Western world has personified Wisdom (Sophia): The personification of wisdom
How to make the Heart Sutra simpler?
Rewrite it in modern English so readers get it
Avi, awake and wanting to awaken others, was reviewing the wisdom that has gone beyond. He looked down from on high and saw just five heaps, saw that in and of themselves they are impersonal, NOT A SELF, empty.
Herein, Sali, form is impersonal and the impersonal is form; the impersonal is not different than form, and form is not different than the impersonal. Anything that is impersonal, empty, and not-self is form.
[Conze translates it as: "Form is emptiness, and the very emptiness is form; emptiness does not differ from form; form does not differ from emptiness; whatever is emptiness, that is form; [whatever is form, that is emptiness;] the same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses (cetana, volitions), and consciousness." What does this mean? "Form" (Rūpa) and "Emptiness" (Sanskrit Śūnyatā, Pali Suññatā), Alan Watts explains below, go together, are inseparable, are relational, one revealing the other, making no sense without the other. The instant one arises, the other necessarily arises at the same time, for one cannot be without the other, just as pairs like being/nonbeing, birth/death, origin/cessation, figure/background. One would be meaningless without the other, for the other provides contrast and its very definition.]The Zen ensō (zero, circle) - What is an Enso? (Lion’s Roar)
And the same is true of [of the other four heaps/aggregates] sensations, perceptions, formations, and consciousnesses.
[Rather than a solid thing that can easily be grasped like form (Four Elements, maha-bhuta or dhatus, qualities of materiality of form-particles), the stream of consciousness is an impersonal PROCESS, not a static object.]Sali is Ven. Sariputra in this scene.
Herein [here within this Doctrine], Sali, all phenomena are impersonal. They bear the mark of being impersonal, empty: They are not produced and not stopped, not dirty and not clean, not missing something and not full.
So you see, Sali, in the impersonal, there is no form (no body composed of the Four Elements), nor sensations, nor perceptions, nor formations, nor consciousnesses.
| Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva as "Avi" |
[Why? It is because, after all, all things are impersonal, empty, not a self, so a bunch of them together don't make a self either).]
| Devi Prajnaparamita of Java |
And so, Sali, because of one's not-attaining anything that a being-bent-on-enlightenment, perfecting this wisdom that has gone beyond, dwells free of discursive thoughts. In their absence, one is free of trembling. One has overcome all that can upset and so realized nirvana.
| Sophia (Library of Celsus) |
So, Sali, everyone should know this perfection of wisdom as a kind of mantra, the mantra of great knowing, the utmost mantra, the unequalled mantra, the allayer of all disappointment and ill. It's true; I mean, what could really go wrong except that it be an illusion?
By perfecting the wisdom that has gone beyond, this mantra becomes clear, and it runs like this:
Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha!
("Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond, oh what an awakening, it's true!")
This is indeed the pith of perfect wisdom.
Self, in the ultimate analysis, does not exist
(Khenpo Sodargye's Teachings) If there is no self, who reincarnates? | National Taiwan U Q&A
*Alan Watts: "Form is emptiness, AND emptiness is form." Why?
We were happy just to CHANT it
Is enlightenment possible for everyone?
| Icon of Holy Wisdom (Vologda) |
- The Heart Sutra: Insights from Gautama Buddha's Teachings (Beetle Book Shop)
- Buddha's Wisdom (video); Dalai Lama (Q&A); Khenpo Sodargye (Q&A); Alan Watts (Zen Reconsidered, Pt. 2); Dhr. Seven (text), CC Liu (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly












