Candi temples: A candi (from Kawi caṇḍi [1]) is a Hindu or Buddhist temple in Indonesia, mostly built during the Zaman Hindu-Buddha or "Hindu-Buddhist period" between the 4th and 15th centuries.
Does the Indonesian yakkhaor "Bigfoot"(Orang Pendek) live in these jungles protecting natural resources?
Misogyny: literally "hatred of females," figuratively promoting separation of the sexes or normative sex role stereotyping [or saying there are only two genders]
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."
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.
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-hṛdayaDiscourse) 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.
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.
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).
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.
[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.]
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.
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).]
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.
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!")
(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).
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
[Though what most individuals in the West imagine a eunuch is may well be in doubt since it has more to do with testicles and testosterone production than the presence or absence of a penis after castration, which most think means "penis removal." Removal of the male gonads or testes, such as in the case of Italian Catholic castratos, will produce a "eunuch" with an intact penis but not a means of producing adequate male hormones.]
[What are testosterone, steroid hormones, and synthetic steroids? They are androgenic or masculinizing compounds, present and important in the development and of both males and females, is what makes a person "virile" (Pali viriya "energetic, effortful, industrious, heroic"). Although androgens are commonly thought of only as male sex hormones, females also have them, but at lower levels: They function in libido and sexual arousal. Androgens are the precursors to estrogens in all humans.]
Indeed, related terms are found in several Indo-Aryan languages (cf. Turner 1966;435, no. 7717, panda- [m.] "a eunuch, weakling"; Monier-Williams 1899:580; Childers 1875;328):
Sanskrit: panda-h (m.) "a eunuch, weakling"; pandaka-h (m.) "a eunuch, weakling"; pandaga-h (m.) (probably) "a eunuch, weakling"; pandra-h (m.) "a eunuch, impotent man"; pandraka-h (m.) "a eunuch, impotent man."
Pali: pandaka- (m.) "a eunuch, weakling"; pandika (f.).
Prakrit: pamda-, pamdaga-, pamdaya (m.) "a eunuch, weakling."
The Indo-Aryan terms are usually taken to be loanwords from Dravidian (cf. Mayrhofer 1956-1980.II:196; Burrow 1973:384):
That there is a second meaning is also not in dispute. However, what, exactly, that meaning is has been the source of controversy.
According to one interpretation, the second meaning of pandak is "male homosexual." This cannot possibly be correct and is based upon a critical misinterpretation of a key [Theravada Buddhist] text, namely, the story about a pandaka who was ordained as a [Buddhist monk or] Bhikkhu [1] and who, overcome by sexual desire, went around trying to persuade other Bhikkhus and lay persons to sodomize him.
[Indonesian Orang Pendek means "short person" or "little man," a kind of cryptid Bigfoot creature or bipedal primate from the remote, forested mountains of the island of Sumatra.]
After several lay persons did so, the Sangha [2] was criticized for allowing such a person to be ordained as a Bhikkhu.
When this came to the Buddha's attention, He forbade pandakas from being ordained and ordered the pandaka in question to be expelled from the Sangha. [He also set up a rule not to ordain pandakas in the future and that if someone had already been ordained and was found to be a pandaka, that person was to be immediately expelled. See Buddhism, Sexuality, and Gender edited by UCSB Prof. José Ignacio Cabezón for more details on this incident.]
As noted by Kelvin Wong (2005), it is clear from the Pali Tipitaka [3] that the Buddha was aware of the difference between eunuchs, hermaphrodites, and homosexuals.
1. A Buddhist Monk. A Buddhist Nun is called "Bhikkhuni."
2. The Buddhist Monastic Order.
3. The canonical scriptures of Theravadin Buddhism, preserved in the Middle Indo-Aryan language now known as "Pali," the original meaning of which was simply "text." These scriptures are divided into three-"baskets" (ti-pitaka): (1) the disciplinary rules for Monks and Nuns (Vinaya Pitaka); (2) the discourses of the Buddha and several of His chief disciples (Sutta Pitaka); and (3) the "higher doctrine" (Abhidhamma Pitaka) [or the Dharma explained in ultimate terms].
The British Pali Text Society was established in 1881 and gave us some of the very first translations of ancient Theravada Buddhist texts by such renowned and influential scholars as:
who in turn had such a preponderant influence on Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journalthat, were it not for PTS and BPS, there would be no WQ in the English language.
Why Pali and not Sanskrit?
Pali [Magadhior Magadhi Prakrit, a lingua franca similar to but simpler than Vedic Sanskrit, the exclusive liturgy language of elitist Brahmin priests who adhered to the Old Vedic Religion that preceded Hinduism by thousands of years] is the language of the most complete collection of early Buddhist texts, the Pali canon or Ti-pitaka (the collected Buddhist texts in "Three Baskets" of suttas, vinaya, and abhidhamma), which constitutes "the word of the historical Buddha" as handed down by the tradition of Theravada (the "Teachings of the Enlightened Elders of the Buddha") Buddhism for over 2,000 years.
Since 1881 the Pali Text Society has promoted the study of Pali texts by publishing editions, translations, and other works related to the study of Pali literature.
On the new website one can purchase PTS publications, download many PTS publications for FREE, and find other material and links related to the study of Pali Buddhist texts.
One can also support the Society by becoming a member, getting a 20% discount on all purchases: palitextsociety.org
(Buddha's Wisdom) Heretical new texts turn the historical Buddha Shakyamuni's Dharma (Doctrine) on its head, infusing it with the Old Vedic Religion of the Brahmins, Taoism, Hinduism, and later thought, sometimes directly opposing what Gautama Buddha taught about nirvana and samsara and many other things, including the Ten Perfections (reduced by Mahayana to six) and the 31 Planes of Existence (reduced to six)...
Bones of the Buddha is a documentary about the British excavation of one of the eight stupas (Buddhist burial mound and reliquary found in Piprahwa, now India, near the border with Nepal) where the historical Buddha's cremation remains (sarira or relics) were placed after the Buddha's final nirvana (parinibbana). More
Ranajit Pal's Non-Jonesian Indology and Alexander makes sense of the ancient history of proto-India and India and sheds light on the real motives of Alexander the Great in his Gedrosian expedition.
(Yogmantras) July 21, 2025: Ever feel overwhelmed by life’s chaos and wish for a smoother, more peaceful journey?
What is the primordial sound, the shabda? OM
Dive into the timeless wisdom of the Rigveda 1.41.4, a profound Vedic verse that reveals the secret to a life free of obstacles and filled with clarity.
In 2025, as mindfulness (Sanskrit smirti, Pali sati) and spiritual growth dominate digital platforms, this video offers a fresh take on aligning with truth and purpose to create a fulfilling life.
This mantra teaches us how to walk a path of ease by embracing truth, righteousness, and the guidance of wise souls. Learn practical ways to apply its teachings, from choosing honesty in daily decisions to surrounding ourselves with uplifting company.
Let’s go through a guided and powerful meditation practice, combining breathwork and visualization to clear mental clutter and foster inner calm.
With the rise of YouTube #shorts for quick spiritual insights, this video taps into the growing demand for meaningful content.
Try this 5-minute daily routine to connect with the mantra’s energy and experience a stress-free mindset.
Ready to make life’s path smoother? Watch now and share in the comments how this wisdom inspires a more satisfying life!
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#Rigveda #VedicWisdom #Spirituality #Yoga #Meditation #SpiritualAwakening #Yogmantras #AncientIndia #VedicMantras #InnerPeace #DivineWisdom #SpiritualGrowth #CosmicOrder #DivineGrace #PathToLiberation #MantraMeditation #SpiritualJourney #VedicTradition #KarmaAndGrace #YogicWisdom
Yogmantras on YouTube; Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
(Chogyal Rinpoche) 🇬🇧 This rap was composed with the intention of making the daily recitation of the sacred Heart Sutra easily accessible to young people. May it be of benefit. [Don't show it to your grandmother or her head may explode.]
all dharmas [phenomena] are marked with emptiness;
They are neither produced nor stopped, neither defiled nor immaculate, neither 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; no forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touchables [tangibles], or objects 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.
Therefore, O Sariputra,
it is because of one's 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 [past, present, future] 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 spell [mantra], the spell of great knowledge, the utmost spell, the unequalled spell, allayer of all suffering, in truth -- for what could go wrong? By the prajnaparamita has this spell been delivered. It runs like this:
gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha.
(Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond, O what an awakening, all-hail!)
It's a beautiful sentiment to present this timeless classic of the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajna Paramita) literature to youth in an idiom they might appreciate and listen to more than grandmotherly droning and chanting in a temple setting. But it does bring up one minor problematic question: What is rap? Is it like poetry in that anything is if it says it is? The phonebook well-read can be [made to be] "poetic." So drop a beat behind it and any ol' grouping of words is "rapping"? May be. We can ask Weird Al or Justin Timberlake. But it seems to us that real rapping, which is why the young at heart like and relate to it so much, is its brutal honesty, simplicity, and funky @$$ beat.
It's the beat, the beat, the beat propelled by a propulsive lyrical accompaniment consistent with the feel or underlying sentiment of the genre. One has to wonder if N.W.A would have had as much success -- with the exact same musical elements -- if their lyrical content and message were "Officers Is Nice" instead of "F*** the Police." Similarly, what is arguably the greatest rap song ever [if such a thing were possible to accurately determine] might not really be with weaker lyrics. In the case of Ludacris' "Excuse Me, Miss, If I May Just Get Through," or as it is known on internet radio "Move B*tch," where "bitch" refers, of course, to a pregnant dog driving in front of him and his featured artists. Ergo, if we're going to really have a Heart Sutra Rap, methinks we need to get real, gritty, and street, not simply rely on poetic feet.
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Since 1881 the Pali Text Society has promoted the study of Pali texts by publishing editions, translations, and other works related to the study of Pali literature.
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