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Sutra Studies: Heart Sutra
Floating_Abu
Veteran
The Heart Sutra
Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva,
when deeply practicing prajna-paramita,
clearly saw that the five skandhas are all empty,
and was saved from all suffering and distress.
Sariputra,
form is no different to emptiness,
emptiness no different to form.
That which is form is emptiness,
that which is emptiness, form.
Sensations, perceptions, impressions, and consciousness
are also like this.
Sariputra,
all things and phenomena are marked by emptiness;
they are neither appearing nor disappearing,
neither impure nor pure,
neither increasing nor decreasing.
Therefore, in emptiness,
no forms, no sensations, perceptions, impressions, or consciousness;
no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind;
no sights, sounds, odors, tastes, objects of touch, objects of mind;
no realm of sight up to no realm of consciousness;
no ignorance and no end of ignorance,
up to no aging and death,
and no end of aging and death;
no suffering, accumulation, cessation, or path;
no wisdom and no attainment.
With nothing to attain,
bodhisattvas
rely on prajna-paramita,
and their minds are without hindrance.
They are without hindrance,
and thus without fear.
Far apart from all confused dreams,
they dwell in nirvana.
All buddhas of the past, present and future
rely on prajna-paramita,
and attain anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.
Therefore, know that prajna-paramita
is the great transcendent mantra,
the great bright mantra,
the supreme mantra,
the unequalled balanced mantra,
that can eliminate all suffering,
and is real, not false.
So proclaim the prajna-paramita mantra,
proclaim the mantra that says:
gate, gate,
paragate,
parasamgate,
bodhi, svaha!
The Heart Sutra of Prajna.
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Comments
Isn't that shocking?
Nothing to attain, therefore endless to attain. Prajna-paramita, or wisdom perfection, is not hindered by specific goal but limitless.
ps: just a feeble attempt, so please refer to your teacher's Heart Sutra teaching if available!
Nothing to cultivate, nothing to maintain thus cultivation is possible.
To give you intimacy. Sound of clock go tick tick tick. Birds churp churp churp. Itchy arm pit. In each instant the empty universe asserts itself.
Thieves may enter but the house is empty.
To say so prematurely may be easy, but I believe suffering will tell the story.
Honesty and truth.
Namaste.
The Noble Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva,
while practicing the deep practice of Prajnaparamita,
looked upon the Five Skandhas
and seeing they were empty of self-existence,
said, "Here Shariputra,
form is emptiness, emptiness is form;
emptiness is not separate from form,
form is not separate from emptiness;
whatever is form is emptiness;
whatever is emptiness is form.
The same holds for sensation and perception,
memory and consciousness.
Here, Shariputra, all dharmas are defined by emptiness
not birth or destruction, purity or defilement,
completeness or deficiency.
Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness there is no form,
no sensation, no perception, no memory and no
consciousness;
no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body and no mind;
no shape, no sound, no smell, no taste, no feeling
and no thought;
no element of perception, from eye to conceptual
consciousness;
no causal link, from ignorance to old age and death,
and no end of causal link, from ignorance to old age and death;
no suffering, no source, no relief, no path;
no knowledge, no attainment and no non-attainment
Therefore, Shariputra, without attainment,
bodhisattvas take refuge in Prajnaparamita
and live without walls of the mind.
Without walls of the mind and thus without fears,
they see through delusions and finally nirvana.
All buddhas past, present and future
also take refuge in Prajnaparamita
and realize unexcelled, perfect enlightenment.
You should therefore know the great mantra of Prajnaparamita,
the mantra of great magic,
the unexcelled mantra,
which heals all suffering and is true, not false,
the mantra in Prajnaparamita spoken thus:
'Gate, gate, paragate, parasangate, bodhi svaha.'"
Much like a punch in the face.
自在（梵文：ईश्वर），音譯伊濕伐羅，佛典用語。又作無礙、縱任，即自由自在，隨心所欲，做任何事均無障礙。此為諸佛及上位菩薩所具之功德，故佛亦稱自在人。
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/自在
An except from Nagarjuna's Seventy Stanzas: A Buddhist Psychology of Emptiness (which I highly recommend for any students of Mahayana, or Theravada for that matter):
I also recommend Nagarjuna's Mlamadhyamakakrik: The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way
Therefore, Shariputra, without attainment,
bodhisattvas take refuge in Prajnaparamita
and live without walls of the mind.
Without walls of the mind and thus without fears,
they see through delusions and finally nirvana.
All buddhas past, present and future
also take refuge in Prajnaparamita
and realize unexcelled, perfect enlightenment.
Thanks @RichardH and @porpoise
Here is the one from some of the Tibetans in the Lama Yeshe Archive: Heart Sutra
Perhaps it will help clarify the context a bit better for some of the comments in this thread as it shows that the Heart Sutra is the basis of a practice explanation for interested Buddhists - not to be taken just as everything goes, nothing to attain etc
Practice, practice, practice
Namaste.
To those who think about nothing to attain,
I think the mention and description of the things one who have walked the path experienced, are simply to inspire those who are walking the path right now.
To motivate them to get the work done and see for themselves.
imo, the only useful thing in this sutra is:
"when deeply practicing prajna-paramita,
clearly saw that the five skandhas are all empty,"
The rest is inspiration, telling us what we can expect if we do the above.
So to me, im just thinking "let do this "when deeply practicing prajna-paramita,
clearly saw that the five skandhas are all empty" and compare the findings of my observations with those of whoever wrote this Sutra.
"Therefore, in emptiness,
no forms, no sensations, perceptions, impressions, or consciousness;
no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind;"
Sense organ + sense object + contact = arising of sense consciousness
Each part requires the other condition thus everything is like grasping at sand. Empty of any abiding entity. That isn't to deny the vivid appearance but to point out that even the skandhas are empty.
In life there is only movement, which is the dynamic stillness. What is there to grasp to? We are nakedness itself but what good does that help others?
Anyways just my intellectual babbling.
So good morning.
The writer is reaffirming that within emptiness we cannot even find the skandhas, either arising from body or mind (remember form is just one of the skandhas and it refers to the physical body and processes).
While meditating on the sutra some years ago and pondering how any discussion of this or that line devolves to confused argument, I realized the writer of the sutra was playing a trick on us and busted out laughing in a room full of serious Zen meditators.
There is no argument that this sutra means something profound, as its popularity over the centuries demonstrates. Exactly what it means is subject to endless debate. Yet there is something about this sutra that nibbles at the mind, that makes us want to take it apart and examine it line for line to see what the heck they're talking about. It's beautiful and profound and we need to know what makes it so powerful. But, this sutra is in the form of a poem or chant in and of itself and should be chanted or read in its entirety along with the famous last lines. Like any poem or tune, from the first word to the last word, it takes your mind on a journey.
So what happens when we try to take it apart, to dissect it to see what makes it so special? The lines become nonsense, or meaningless, or illogical or confusing. Just when we think one line or point being made begins to make sense, the next line takes us in a different direction.
The meaning of the sutra disappears when we look past the overall form and the emptiness of the individual lines is apparent.
In other words, the sutra itself is the metaexample of what it's trying to say. The form of the sutra is composed of emptiness. The emptiness of the component parts is what creates the form of the sutra. Emptiness is form and form is emptiness. Does knowing that form is ultimately empty mean the form doesn't exist or has no meaning? Of course not. Form is also form, and emptiness is also emptiness.
For what it's worth.
http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/heartstr.htm
But the quote seems to say that there are no skandhas?
its a non affirming negation. we grasp at the skandhas if there is a such thing as the skandhas. everything is like a dream, appearing yet as soon we look its gone.
we cannot say it exists, doesn't exist, neither or both. any view or movement of attachment/aversion is the assumption that there is actually something there to grasp, hold onto, escape from, change, etc.
it appears to be nihilistic, but it isn't because its not positing something to nothing. but rather it is taking away this something that we assert and whats left is the suchness of phenomena, which pop like bubbles.
hope this helps.
So the eye itself is never truly experienced other than its effect, which is vision.
I am not enlightened so I think I am looking out there with my eye. But I don't know what this experience is. My eyes have tension in them. But when I try to find that tension it is just kind of energy and I cannot verbalize it other than just saying 'feeling'. I feel my feet are kind of sweaty. There is a breeze. Where does the wind come from?
Or as woody guthrie said "why can't the wind blow backwards (in a song).. why? oh why? oh why? Because because because because... goodbye goodbye goodbye."
"the eyes are looking out there"?
does it change anything?
Awareness is sharp and sensitive and wounded. Bodhicitta. Trungpa said that when we first find our wounds as we come from out of the cacoon we wonder what they are like deer having buds on their heads do not know what they will become. Dull statue awareness can cause rebirth as an animal. (one of Trungpa's students said)
It means exactly what it says.
It is truly beautiful
Namaste,
Abu
If you close your eyes, does this mean you can't see?
I think the Heart Sutra in that quote means exactly what it says. Surely that can only be known through practice.
This is the sutra of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva and who says all Bodhisattvas practice thusly
Namaste,
Abu
I would just like to add my perspective which is the Sutra is just a fully open honest basic expose of reality. It is so beautiful in its truth and to me, it is an encouragement that practice makes all things possible -- to the extent that the words make perfect sense in genuine realisation - just as they are.
I know that might sound offensive, but I just wanted to throw that out there as a possibility.
Best wishes,
Abu
How's that zendo training goin' for ya, furry one?
@Jeffrey
It is? Neat, it's a practice point.
I just kept reading down after my response to taiyaki and am laughing as I see the discussion has turned to the eye and enso even posted a picture of an eye!
Funny stuff
If instance if I focus on my butt on the chair then at that moment i am not focusing on the vision of the red strawberry. The movement of mental contact is from tactile to visual. Each moment of contact is key. And all there are is the 6 stream of consciousness, which intermingle to create the continuum we call "experience".
I would just change the slant actually -- I think it is not so much about where the eye starts and ends, or where we are looking because if you insist on talking about eye, vision, object etc (taiyaki), in Buddhist terms all that is is consciousness.
Eye consciousness for example.
But the Heart Sutra is much more encompassing than this.
Look:
Shariputra, therefore, in emptiness there is no form, no feeling, no discrimination, no compositional factors, no consciousness; no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind; no visual form, no sound, no odor, no taste, no object of touch, and no phenomenon. There is no eye element and so on up to and including no mind element and no mental consciousness element. There is no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance, and so on up to and including no aging and death and no extinction of aging and death. Similarly, there is no suffering, origination, cessation, and path; there is no exalted wisdom, no attainment, and also no non-attainment.
etc
IOW it is a relay of the knowing of the Buddhas:
“Shariputra, therefore, because there is no attainment, bodhisattvas rely on and dwell in the perfection of wisdom, the mind without obscuration and without fear. Having completely passed beyond error, they reach the end-point of nirvana. All the buddhas who dwell in the three times also manifestly, completely awaken to unsurpassable, perfect, complete enlightenment in reliance on the perfection of wisdom.
i.e. I am sorry but I think it is just a straight forward account of things, and in my own opinion, it can be never deducted with thought (reference Heart Sutra: no discrimination) because how can something which is secondary in this case i.e. discrimination deduce the true meaning of this Sutra which points to something beyond consciousness
Abu
Best wishes,
Abu
Are you saying there is always vision?
I want to say I appreciate how gracious and kind you always are.
I searched the Surangama Sutra as referred by Jeffrey and here is what is recorded (thankyou @Jeffrey for referring me to this) The Shurangama Sutra
I did a Search and found the Surangama Sutra - perhaps that will suffice.
I would also like to say that what I say is not so important as I hope that you will reconsider your practice, with mine.
Metta,
Abu