Heart Sutra: Buddha's Mother: Perfect Wisdom

(Buddha's Wisdom) Who is PRAJNA PARAMITA? The mother behind the Heart Sutra

• The Buddha's [6] Mothers' Day (Prajna Paramita as 7th)

Perfection of Insight, Prajnaparamita (LACMA)

All hail the Goddess (Devi) Prajna Paramita (of Java), the Mother of the Perfection of Wisdom, the most tremendous, the most excellent of the Ten Perfections (paramitas) which the historical Buddha cultivated for aeons as the Bodhisatta (the "being bent on supreme enlightenment").

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

What in the world? It turns out that was just Conze's way of saying "...". And other parts were explained to me as having been written in an archaic form of Old (liturgical) Chinese few people spoke, which they were very embarrassed to admit. The Berkeley Zen Center was even more forthcoming, suggesting it was just something to chant, not something one could hope to make sense of, like a Sanskrit seed-mantra. So they just chanted it, on the one hand, rote, mindlessly, thoughtlessly, with no investigation that it might actually mean something sensible. I, on the other hand, was tenacious, spending years making sense of it. And every year it made more and more sense.

The lost meaning has been recovered. 

My Theravada study of it revealed exactly what it was all about after a few years due to some key phrases that do not make sense on their own but make perfect sense as references to ancient Buddhist texts, such as lists of the BASES (ayatanas). The final crowning explanation came from Alan Watts* making sense of the strange wording, which might trip one up for years. I attribute this to a flexible way of translating any Sanskrit or Pali word, all of which have much wider valence, admitting to a range of translations, not one fixed English word to serve all situations.

• 

  A bodhisattva helping living beings

  The key secret is to realize that Śūnyatā ("Emptiness," void) is synonymous with the Pali suññatā ("impersonal" = anatta). Then everything else falls into place.
• 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.

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  Avalokitesvara (in basalt)

  "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.
• 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)

Better than [the Goddess of Compassion] Kwan Yin (the feminine form of Avalokiteshvara)? More beloved than [the Cosmic Buddha of Light] Amitabha? No, probably not, but what is higher and more exalted than wisdom?

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

Now, one may ask, Why is Avalokiteśvara -- who is later transformed into the Goddess or Personification of Compassion (Kwan Yin/Guanyin) -- addressing Ven. Sariputra of all people in this most famous of all apocryphal "discourses"?

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 personified Wisdom (Sophia): The personification of wisdom
• But there has to be a "self," right? No, here are some examples of in what sense there is not-a-self: Egoless Led Zeppelin (JBLZE) in Hollywood?

How to make the Heart Sutra simpler?

Rewrite it in modern English so readers get it

Holding lotus, symbol of blossoming

Wow, this perfection of wisdom is cool! It's eye-opening!

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 implies emptiness, and emptiness implies form. Emptiness is not different than form, and form is not different than emptiness. They are mutually dependent. Anything that is empty, impersonal, and not-self is form.

• 

  The Zen ensō (zero, circle)

  [Conze translates these famous line 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 in the world does it mean? "Form" (Rūpa) and "Emptiness" (Pali Suññatā, Sanskrit Śūnyatā), Alan Watts explains in the video below, go together, are inseparable, are relational, one revealing the other, making no sense without the other. The instant one comes into being (arises), the other necessarily comes into being at the same time, for one cannot be without the other, just as opposite pairs depend on one another: being/nonbeing, birth/death, origin/cessation, yin/yang, figure/background. One would be meaningless without the other, for the other provides contrast and give it its definition.
• So it would, in fact, be more sensible (better for meaning) to translate this line as, "Form (shape, color) reveals (exactly is, is inseparable from, always goes with, is inseparably related to) emptiness..." or "Form (solidity, density, tangibility) is not (designated, defined, found) without emptiness (a hollow or void) because they co-arise mutually. "One (exhibits) brings out the fact of the other.]
• What is an Enso? (Lion’s Roar)

And the same is true of [of the other four heaps/aggregates] sensations, perceptions, formations, and consciousnesses.

• 

  Sali is Ven. Sariputra in this scene.

  [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.]

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"

There are no bases for these things [that are all dependently originated]: no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind, nor the things that impinge on them: forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, or objects of mind, nor the things these sense depend on for their sensitivity: no element (sensitive tissue) of sight, and so forth, until we come to: no element (sensitive tissue) at the heart of consciousness.

[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

Likewise, really, there is no ignorance, so there is no end of ignorance [since it doesn't really exist except as an illusion), and so forth, until we come to: There is no aging and death, no end of aging and death. There is no disappointment, no coming into being, no extinction, and no path to the extinction of disappointment. There is no knowing, no attainment, and there is no non-attainment of this realization.

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)

All those who appear as supremely awakened teachers the three periods of time -- past, present, and future -- fully awake to this utmost realization, right and perfect awakening because they have perfected the wisdom that has gone beyond.

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?

(Alan Watts, Zen Reconsidered, Part 2) Alan Watts explains shunyata at Minute 32:34

We were happy just to CHANT it

Reciting Heart Sutra for Wisdom, Compassion, Purification; Om Gate Mantra (Buddha Weekly)

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Is enlightenment possible for everyone?

 

Icon of Holy Wisdom (Vologda)

(Dalai Lama) Can everyone be enlightened? Moksha ("liberation," vimutti, "freedom" from samsara and suffering, "deliverance," salvation) is of two kinds, two levels, a happy life here and now [with possibly a heavenly rebirth for moral behavior hereafter] or attaining liberating-insight and final emancipation here and now in this very life through moral behavior, stillness (samadhi, settled calm, concentration), and vipassana (comprehending and cultivating Dependent Origination sufficient in theory and complete in practice).

• 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

The Heart Sutra: When self is not-self

THE HEART SUTRA is a classic. It is the most read, most chanted, and certainly the least understood of all the apocryphal Mahayana Buddhist texts. Here is a new translation by Wisdom Quarterly.

The Heart Sutra

Who looks down and hears cries of the world?

Amen (aum'n). All honor to the [personification of the] Perfection of Wisdom, lovely and holy!

Avalokita, the great-deva and bodhisattva, was realizing the wisdom that has gone beyond.

He looked down from on high and beheld only FIVE HEAPS, seeing that in and of themselves they were impersonal, utterly empty.

The Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara

Herein [within this Dharma], O Śāriputra, form is emptiness, and the very emptiness is form; emptiness does not differ from form, and form does not differ from emptiness: Whatever is emptiness, that is form.

The same is true of [the other four heaps]

• feelings,
• perceptions,
• formations,
• consciousness.

Herein, O Sariputra, all things (dhammas) are marked with emptiness; they are [non-dual] neither produced nor stopped [neither originated nor annihilated], neither defiled nor immaculate, neither deficient nor complete.

Therefore, O Sariputra, in emptiness [in that they are impersonal and not the thing themselves but what they depend on] there is neither form nor feeling, nor perception, nor formation, nor consciousness;

• no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind;
• no forms, sounds, scents, tastes, tangibles, nor objects of mind;
• no sight-organ element, no sound-organ element, no scent-organ element, no taste-organ element, no touch-organ element, no mind-consciousness element.
• There is neither ignorance nor extinction of ignorance...there is neither decay and death nor extinction of decay and death.
• There is no suffering, no origination, no cessation, no path.
• There is no cognition, no attainment and no non-attainment.

The Heart Sutra is brief in Sanskrit, the cul-
mination of 100,000 lines of explanation

Therefore, O Sariputra, it is because of one's [letting go, no longer clinging, and] non-attaining that a being-bent-on-enlightenment, through having brought about the Perfection of Wisdom, dwells without thought-coverings.

In the absence of thought-coverings, one no longer trembles; one has overcome what can upset, and in the end one nirvanas [nirvana as a verb].

All of those who appear as supremely awakened ones in the three periods of time [past, present, future] fully awake to the utmost, right and perfect enlightenment because they have brought about the Perfection of Wisdom.

• [because they have perfected liberating-wisdom].

Therefore, one should know the perfection of wisdom as the great mantra ["thought instrument"], the mantra of great knowledge, the utmost mantra, the unequalled mantra, allayer of all suffering, in truth, for what could go wrong?

Heart as in emotions, love, eros? - No

By the perfection of wisdom has this mantra been delivered. It runs: gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha.

("Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond, O what an awakening, so it is!)

This completes the heart [pithy telling, summary, conclusion, culmination] of perfect wisdom.

• When is "self" (I, me, mine, soul, myself) not-self? When wisdom is perfected to see that all things (but particularly the Five Aggregates clung to as self) are not only impermanent, not only unsatisfactory, but are also impersonal (anatta), which is to say "empty" (shunyata), devoid of self, essence, ego, thingness.
• Well, then, if this is the perfection of wisdom, wouldn't "I" rather be ignorant? Why? Well, that way I could exist forever and ever, right? Ignorance is bliss, and if it gives you eternal life or, in any case, endless wandering in this impermanent, miserable, impersonal illusion, stay as you are. Well, but, isn't it better than not existing? The other choice isn't not existing; it is waking up. I think I'd rather dream on and on, I mean, if it weren't such a nightmare sometimes. Can I go to heaven? Yes, the Buddha pointed the way to heaven (sagga), many heavens of extreme longevity, very blissful. They all still bear these Three Marks of Existence, but they are good respites.

Background

Ven. Sariputra, monk foremost in wisdom

The Buddha did not utter this "sutra," but Mahayana Buddhism is not too concerned with what the historical Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) taught. Its interests are in Cosmic Amitabha and Kwan Yin (Avalokita, Avalokiteshvara).

• This figure is transformed in some cultures into a female figure, a feminine icon, called Kwan Yin (Kwun Yum, Guanyin, Kuanyin, Kannon, Kanzeon, Chenrezig, Lokanat, Lokabyuharnat, Lokesvara, Gwaneum, Quan Am, Nātha...).

And instead of the historical Buddha and his teachings, focus is turned to new "Cosmic Buddhas" like Amitābha and Medicine Buddha and Great Bodhisattvas like Ksitigarbha and other Vedic and Hindu syncretistic figures. Gone are countless Vedic gods, now reborn as Buddhist figures.

Who was the deva (god, godling, deity, lit. "shining one") Avalokiteśvara, this tenth-level bodhisattva?

Originally, it was a male deity who looked down and heard the cries of the world with boundless compassion. And this is the central figure in this, the Heart of Perfect Wisdom Sutra.

Buddhism may be described as the marriage of wisdom and compassion. One represents compassion, so who represents wisdom?

Heart Sutra, Siddham script, Japan (wiki)

It is the other figure in this work, the overly intellectual disciple Śāriputra, whom the Buddha declared "foremost in wisdom" among monks but viewed dimly in Mahayana Buddhism, just as in Theravada, where everyone loves easy-to-love Ānanda and Sariputta gets short shrift.

Avalokiteshvara (Mes Indes Galantes)

Mahayana turns him into a stick figure here, a scarecrow representing dunderheaded thinkers who lack compassion and direct knowledge. It is said by professors of Buddhist studies that poor Sariputra is often put in this light in Mahayana texts. Of course, this is a very unfair representation, but then whom to attribute it to?

Who is the author here, a Vedic Brahmin, an ancient Central Asian scholar writing in Gandhari, a Chinese compiler of Hindu and Buddhist texts brought to China by the Monkey King in the Journey to the West? We would like to know.

• 

  Avalokitesvara (researchgate.net)

  What is Buddhism?
• The Diamond Sutra
• The Lotus Sutra
• The Sayings of the Buddha in Forty-Two Sections
• The Sutra of Complete Enlightenment
• Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra (氆丐惕)
• Background: Heart Sutra - Wikipedia

• Translated and edited by Dhr. Seven for Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal based on the original rendition of the ancient text by Edward Conze, The Heart Sutra (buddhism.org)

The Heart of Perfect Wisdom Sutra

Edward Conze (trans.) edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

The personification of Wisdom: Prajna Paramita (Indonesia)

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Thanks to Edward Conze we have the Heart Sutra in poetic English. It's not a perfect translation, but it was better than anyone could do to put it into modern English we could understand. The short version runs like this with minor updates by Dhr. Seven):

The beauty of Sofia ("Wisdom")

Om! Homage to the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajna Paramita), the lovely, the holy!

Avalokita, the deva and bodhisattva, was moving in the deep course of the Wisdom that has gone beyond.

He looked down from on high, beheld but five heaps, and saw that in and of themselves they were empty.

Here [in this Teaching or Dharma], O Sariputra, form is emptiness [impersonal], and the very emptiness is form;

1. emptiness does not differ from form, form does not differ from emptiness, whatever is emptiness, that is form,
2. the same is true of feelings,
3. perceptions,
4. impulses, and
5. consciousness.

Here, O Sariputra, all things (dharmas) are marked with emptiness; they are not produced nor stopped, not defiled nor immaculate, not deficient nor complete.

Therefore, O Sariputra, in emptiness there is no form, nor feeling, nor perception, nor impulse, nor consciousness.

There is no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; there is no form, sound, scent, savor, sensation, nor object of mind; no sight-organ element, and so forth, until we come to: There is no mind-consciousness element.

There is no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance, and so forth, until we come to: There is no decay and death, no extinction of decay and death.

There is no suffering, no origination, no stopping, no path. There is no cognition, no attainment, and no non-attainment.

Praja Paramita personified: What's better than wisdom?

Therefore, O Sariputra, it is because of his non-attainmentness that a bodhisattva, through having relied on the Perfection of Wisdom, dwells without thought-coverings.

In the absence of thought-coverings, one has not been made to tremble.

One has overcome what can upset, and in the end, one attains to nirvana.

All those who appear as buddhas in the three periods of time fully awake to the utmost, right and perfect enlightenment, because they have relied on the Perfection of Wisdom.

Therefore, one should know the prajna-paramita as the great mantra, the mantra of great knowledge, the utmost mantra, the unequalled mantra, allayer of all suffering. In truth -- for what could go wrong?

By the prajna-paramita has this mantra been delivered. It runs like this:

Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha.

("Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond, O, what an awakening, so good to call!")

This completes the Heart of Perfect Wisdom.

Craving: SEX on the brain

Edward Conze, The Way of Wisdom: The Five Controlling Faculties (accesstoinsight.org) edited by Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson; Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

"Nobody told me, nobody told me. Who knew palm hairiness could spread!?"

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"Do not look long, do not look short."

The Buddha: "When [a meditator] practices the perfection of meditation for the sake of other beings, the mind becomes undistracted.

"For one reflects that 'even worldly meditation is hard to accomplish with distracted thoughts, how much the more full enlightenment! Therefore, I must remain undistracted until I have realized full enlightenment.'

"Moreover, Subhuti, a bodhisattva [someone bent on supreme enlightenment], beginning with the first thought of enlightenment, practices the perfection of meditation.

"One's mental activities are associated with the knowledge of all modes when one enters into meditation [absorption and insight, jhana and vipassana].

"When one has seen forms with the eye, one does not seize upon them as signs of realities of concern, nor is one interested in the details.

"One sets oneself to restrain that which, if one does not restrain one's organ of sight, might give rise to lust (covetousness), dejection (sadness), or other harmful and unwholesome states (dhammas) to reach the heart.

"One watches over the organ of sight. And the same with the other five sense organs — ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind.

"Whether one walks or stands, sits or lies down, talks or remains silent, one's concentration [samma samadhi = the first four jhanas = right concentration] does not leave one."

— Prajnaparamita, "The Perfection of Wisdom,"  Chp. 68

translated by Edward Conze; edited by Wisdom Quarterly

(c) From The Path of Purification

I'm beautiful on top although repulsive underneath.

(Visuddhimagga) This is the virtue that consists of the restraint of the senses:

"Here [in this Teaching] someone, (1) having seen a form with the eye, does not seize on its general appearance or the details of it.

"That which might, so long as one dwells unrestrained as to the (controlling) force of the eye, give rise to lustful/covetous, dejected/sad, harmful and unwholesome states to flood (and overtake) one, that one sets oneself to restrain:

"One guards the controlling force of the eye and brings about its restraint.

The Path of Purification

"Likewise when one has (2) heard sounds with the ear, (3) smelled fragrances with the nose, (4) tasted flavors with the tongue, (5) touched tangibles with the body, (6) cognized mind-objects (dhammas) with the mind" (M.i,180).

What does it mean?

Having seen a form with the eye: One has seen a form with visual consciousness capable of perceiving forms, which in normal language is usually called the "eye," though it is actually its tool, for the Ancients have said:

"The eye cannot see forms

because it is without thought;

thought cannot see forms

because it is without eye.

When the object knocks

against the door (of sight),

one sees with the thought

that has eye-sensibility

as its basis."

Yikes. Repulsive and revolting.

In the expression "one sees with the eye," only accessory equipment is indicated, just as one may say, "one shoots with a bow" (and not "with an arrow"). Therefore, the meaning here is: "having seen form with visual consciousness."

One does not seize on its general appearance (lit., "the sign"): one does not seize on its being a male or female, or its appearance as attractive, and so on, which makes it into a basis for the defiling passions (cravings, lusts, obsessions) to arise. But one stops at what is actually seen.

One does not seize on the details of it: One does not seize on the variety of its accessory features, like the hands or feet, the smile, the laughter, the talk, the looking here, the looking away, and so on, which are in common parlance called "details" because they manifest the defiling passions, by again and again (anu anu) tainting the mind with them.

But one seizes only on that which is really there (i.e., the repulsiveness of the 32 parts of the body).

How Ven. Mahatissa awakened

Mwah ha ha! Look, venerable, look at these teeth bones! Whaddya think?

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Mahatissa Thera lived on Mount Cetiya. One day the wandering Buddhist ascetic went to Anuradhapura to gather alms.

In a certain family a daughter-in-law quarreled with her husband then adorned and beautified herself like a celestial maiden. She left Anuradhapura early in the morning and went away to stay with relatives.

On the way she saw the ascetic and, as her mind was perverted (vipallasa = distorted), she gave a loud laugh.

Thank you, miss, thank you for smiling. I'm free.

The monk looked to see what was the matter. He acquired, at the sight of her teeth(-bones), the sign of repulsiveness and thereby realized full enlightenment...

The husband, who had run after her on same road, saw the monk and asked him whether he had by any chance seen a woman. The monk replied:

"Whether what went along here

Was a man or a woman, I do not know.

But a collection of bones is moving

Now along this main road."

[How does the flood of lust sink one? The cause or reason is non-restraint of the eye. A person dwelling without restraining the eye with the gate of mindfulness leaves the door of the eye open, and such unskillful states may flood in.] More