A
Brief Talk about The Scripture of The Supreme-Wisdom Heart (Updated on
2019/07/11)
Translator in the time of Sui and Tang Dynasties, China (AD.602-664): Xuanzang (Who translated the said Scripture from Sanskrit into Chinese.)
Translator in the modern time: Tao Qing Hsu (Who translated the said Scripture from Chinese into English.)
Teacher, speaker and writer: Tao Qing Hsu
Introduction
The
Scripture of The Supreme-Wisdom Heart is generally spoken as Heart Sutra which
is short for The Maha Prajna Paramita Hrdaya Sutra. The title as said is
Sanskrit and some words of Sanskrit in the content are too many syllables to
pronounce. It is thus more difficult for us to understand and recite it. Furthermore,
I find that some of translations from Sanskrit into English or from Chinese
into English are not complete. It might confuse us. Therefore, I translate it
from Chinese into English according to my knowledge and understanding of the
Heart Sutra. The original Chinese version what I use is translated from
Sanskrit into Chinese, and is used freely and universally in China and Taiwan.
The translator is a famous Buddhist monk, Xuanzang (AD 602-664), which was a
person in ancient China. What I have translated can be found in the website of Buddha’s
Virtue & Love Widely and Universally. And now I have a brief talk about
heart sutra by my own version of translation. I hope that this version would be
more helpful for all people in the world to understand and recite it by such
easy way.
The
Content of The Scripture of The Supreme-Wisdom Heart
When Pusa
Self-ease-perceiving is deeply practicing the supreme wisdom,
It
reflects and views its Five Aggregates are all empty,
and is thus free from all suffering.
“Pusa” means “Bodhisattva” in Chinese,
and is short for Bodhisattva, which you can find. So we can also pronounce it
as “Busa” in short if you like. It is also called god or Spirit. For the
Buddhists, most of the people accept and think that the God is Pusa, too. When
someone follows the path of Buddha, however, it has not yet completely
enlightened, and still has some obstacles in heart about nuisance and what as
known, even though this, it can use its power of kindness and sympathy to save
sentient beings to be free from all suffering, we call such person “Bodhisattva”
for honor it. In Chinese language, we call it “Pusa”, which is transliterated
from Chinese words and its original language is also from Sanskrit.
In the earth or worldly world, there
are two kinds of “Pusa”(Busa, Bodhisattva). One is Buddhist monk or nun. The
other is Buddhist non-monk or non-nun. That is mentioned from The Sutra of an
Upasaka’s Precepts.
So now, we have one concept that there
is one person who is given one title as “Pusa” (Bodhisattva or god) for
honoring him or her. And the Pusa’s name is called as Self-ease-perceiving. Why
I use these words, because its meaning is totally concerned about the content
of the heart sutra. If you completely understand it, you will know why the
“Pusa” is named as Self-ease-perceiving. The complete meaning is that to
perceive oneself is in the state of peace and freedom, or to deeply practice
the supreme wisdom by perceiving oneself by the way of peace and freedom. Such
person feels itself free and is at ease. Its heart is in freedom and nothing
could limit and control its heart and mind. There are immeasurable meanings
waiting for you to find out. So, it really has the meaning for you. The most
important is that you understand the meaning, so the heart sutra would be truly
helpful for you.
In
Sanskrit, the Pusa as aforesaid is Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. And the supreme wisdom is parajna paramita. Sanskrit might have no meaning for us,
because it is not our language. The pronounce of “Pusa” is similar to “Pizza”,
so it is easier to remember and recite, especially for the elder people. That
is why I use this word ”Pusa” instead of Bodhisattva.
The
whole content of this heart sutra is talking about why it is the supreme wisdom.
Now there is one person, who is Pusa Self-ease-perceiving, and has deeply
practicing the profound and supreme wisdom. From this, we can find one
important point. That is telling us, if we have done as what Pusa Self-ease-perceiving
has done, we might get into the profound supreme wisdom.
In
practicing as said, Pusa Self-ease-perceiving finally finds its Five Aggregates
are all empty. For generally speaking, the practicing in the teaching of Buddha
is including the meaning of seeing from eyes, hearing from ears, smelling from
nose, tasting from tongue, acting from body and minding from conscious.
What we have seen, heard, smelled,
tasted, acted and thought is forms, sounds, flavor, taste, touch and law. What is
thus arisen from the matters, feeling, cognition, action and conscious, no
matter it is in material or spiritual form, will be all accumulated or
aggregated in our conscious and sub-conscious.
So it is called as Five Aggregate. In
Sanskrit, it means Skandha. The Buddha said that the eyes, ears, nose, tongue,
body are the five fundamental roots of our human body. Any distress or trouble
is arisen from these five roots, and is described as sand or dust which might
pollute our heart. Furthermore, our conscious is arisen from these five roots
while the five roots are connecting the realm of outside. And our conscious
thus could further perceive and distinguish things of outside around us, and
the inside of ourselves, the physical or mental matters(feeling, cognition and
thought in our inside). It is called Five Consciousness, which is the conscious
of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, or body. Then, any realm or field of self
conscious would be formed accordingly. Thus, that is why a world around us is
formed. In other word, it is not other people's world, but, it is our own world
created by ourselves and according to our Five Aggregate. For example, some of
the young persons think that Taiwan is an island of ghost. However, many aging
people think that Taiwan is an island of treasure. So, whether Taiwan is an
island of ghost or is an island of treasure, it is felt and judged according to
our own conscious.
“All law is generated from or is
extinguished according to the causes and conditions.”
“The law which is spoken according to
the causes and conditions, I say it is empty.”.”
The above two sentences are said by
ancient Buddhist masters, and would be helpful to awaken us to understand the
nature of emptiness. Please note that the meaning of law in Buddhism is
general, it could be included the phenomenon of physical and mental matters
inside and outside, and the phenomenon of and any rules of the world. In other
word, the nature of all law is the picture of emptiness, because all law is
created by causes and conditions. If the cause and condition are eliminated,
any law is not existed accordingly.
From aforesaid, we might have
understood that the Five Aggregates are generated from any causes and
conditions. As we have known that the Five Roots might be as the causes and what
have been in the outside of the Five Roots might be as conditions. Then when
the causes encounter or link to the conditions, any effect, outcome,
consequence or result is generated.
Therefore, the Five Aggregates might
be as the consequence here. Accordingly, we could image that, if there was no
Five Roots, there would be no Five Aggregates. Thus, the world in the outside
or inside of the Five Roots is totally disappeared. Of course, our five roots
are there. The deep meaning and teaching is that we should not be controlled,
affected or acted by our own five roots mistakenly. If we mistakenly use the
five roots, it would thus generate any bad consequence to harm ourselves or
others in physical and mental body.
The Buddha said:” Our heart is a
worker of drawing, who can draw all worlds. (Our heart is a painter, who can
paint all world. )” So, whether our outside or inside world is bright or dark
is depending on our own heart.
I use the word ”reflect”, which I mean
to look into our inside, because everything what is generated from our Five
Roots could be reflected in our sea of heart, which is as if an invisible
mirror and the reflection of all are in it, so all can be viewed by us.
Especially, when we close our eyes and make a meditation.
Do not ignore these two words
”reflect” and “view”, because it is very important here. Why? As my experience
of practicing, it is the method of key points to realize the profound wisdom. To
use these two methods in practicing the law of Buddha is good for us.
In a word, Pusa Self-ease-perceiving
has liberated from all suffering, because it has realized that all causes and
conditions for Five Aggregates, including the Five Aggregates themselves, are
all empty. If all is empty, where you can find the suffering, let along to bear
it? So what is the truth? The truth is that there is indeed no suffering. All
what you have from Five Roots is all illusion, including the suffering. Why?
Most people are obsessing what we have
seen, heard, smelled, tasted, touched, and thought. Meanwhile, they thus have
generated the feeling of love, favor, joy, happiness, sad, anger, greed,
resentment, infatuation and hatred. Any emotion and feeling would birth any suffering,
pain, distress, affliction and troubles. The disorder world in our outside and
inside are thus generated at the same time. In fact, all is fake, because it is
coming from mistakenly using our five roots.
Shelizi!
The material world is no difference
from the emptiness.
The emptiness is no difference from
the material world.
The material world itself is the
emptiness.
The emptiness itself is the material
world.
So feeling, the cognition, the action,
and the conscious are the same as above mentioned.
“Shelizi” is a name in Sanskrit. He is
a disciple of the Buddha, and is listening to the teaching of the Buddha. This
whole scripture of the supreme-wisdom heart was said by the Buddha Sakyamuni,
and was recorded by his disciples after he died.
So, as we have known and what we have
said, the matter, feeling, cognition, action, and the conscious are the Five
Aggregates. All of them and its nature is emptiness. Meanwhile, the Buddha said
that the emptiness itself is the Five Aggregates. How we realize the concept as
said? The matter, feeling, cognition, action and the conscious are generated
from the emptiness. In a word, the emptiness and the existence are one. The
empty and the having are one.
Any existence and having, such as
material world, the spiritual world, the matter, feeling, thought, cognition,
action and conscious are coming from the combining of any cause and condition.
Once any one of cause and condition is disappeared or is never appeared, any
existence would be disappeared or any might-be existence would be never
appeared. It would help us understand why any existence or having is the
emptiness.
Shelizi!
All law is the phenomenon of emptiness
which is neither generated nor eliminated, neither defiled nor purified, and
neither increased nor decreased.
All law is the phenomenon of
emptiness, which is also means that all law is the emptiness-picture; all law
is the blank picture. It expresses that the nature of all law is emptiness.
Why? As we have mentioned, all law is coming from the combining of causes and
conditions. If any causes or conditions are disappeared or removed, any laws
would not be existed.
“all law” includes matters, feelings, thoughts,
cognition, action, conscious in our inside world, and what we have seen, heard,
smelled, tasted, touched, thought, and any forms, rules, appearance, phenomenon
in our outside world.
When we realize that all is empty,
then we realize that all exists. It is as if the universe which is the great
emptiness, however, it contains the all. The Buddha had been telling us one
concept that all is illusion, which should not be persisted or obsessed.
Because all law and all existence, including the physical and mental matters,
would be in the following four states: formation (to form), existence (to
exist), destruction (to destruct) and emptiness (to empty), and in the
following four states: generate, dwell, change, eliminate. So, we know that the
final state of all law is elimination and emptiness. We could ask the following
questions to ourselves.
Why do I persist or obsess in doing or
having something that its final state is the elimination and emptiness? If I
persist or obsess in doing or having something that its final state is empty, I
might be a silly person. Not to persist in doing something does not mean not to
do something. We shall do all right things and do all things rightly, even
though we know that their final states are empty. What we should do is to do
our best in the right thing to benefit the public as possible as we can. The
Buddha wants to teach us is that we should not obsess or indulge in anything in
selfish things, because that would cause our pain in life. As aforesaid, the teaching
of Buddha is not negative. On the contrary, it is very positive.
In the phenomenon of emptiness, it is
neither generated nor eliminated, neither defiled nor purified, and neither
increased nor decreased. We can find that generate and eliminate are the
opposite concept, so such as defile and purify, increase and decrease. That
means there is no such opposite concept or any such opposite matters in the
emptiness. It is very important for us to know it in learning Buddha, because
the Buddha’s nature is the nature of emptiness.
In Zen, one person asked for awakening
of its own Buddha’s nature from an ancient Buddhist master. The Buddhist master
said that: “Do not think of the good. Do not think of the evil.” Then, the
person was awakened immediately.
In the emptiness, there is no
argument. In our world and our life, there are so many troubles and distress
that come from what we persist in the opposite concept, matter, feeling,
cognition, action, and conscious. For example, if one person persisted in what
is right, and the other persisted in what is wrong, then, these two persons
would argue with each other, because they had the different opinion. Then, the
fighting is happened. If we could abandon any meaningless persistence, and be
in the state of emptiness, there would be no burden in heart such as troubles
or nuisance. In this way, we should cultivate the heart of abandonment as said.
There is thus no material world in the
emptiness, and no feeling, cognition, action, and conscious;
No eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and
mind;
No form, sound, smell, taste,
sensation, and law;
No realms of eyes, and even until no
realms of conscious;
No ignorance, and no end of ignorance,
and even until no aging and death, and no end of aging and death;
No suffering, aggregating,
eliminating, and Tao;
No wisdom and attainment.
That is talking about the Five Roots
and Five Aggregate as aforesaid. When we use our eyes, we see all the matters.
When we use our ears, we hear all the sounds. As such until that we have the
conscious for all the law when we use our mind. However, in the emptiness,
there are no such things. Even though, such things as what happened are empty. Then,
we might have a question what it has any meaning for us, when all is the emptiness.
To image that there is a road, from A point to B point, there is nothing in the
road, so we can go forward without any obstacle from A to B, meanwhile, others
can come to us in the road without any obstacle from B to A. To think about
that, then the meaning will be present to us. There is meaning on the Buddha’s
path, which is waiting for us to find out. It is the deep teaching of Buddha
and it is incredible.
In other word, the five roots and the
five aggregate might be an obstacle in our heart and would cause our suffering
in life. Secondly, they would be an obstacle in our communication with each
other. That is because we misuse our five roots and mistakenly obsess or
indulge in our five aggregate.
In the Buddhist Scripture, the Buddha
said: The ignorance is the Buddha Nature. The problem is the Bodhi. We might
have a question, that the ignorance and the Buddha Nature which seems like the
opposite concept, why both of them are equal? We might have the same question
about that the problem is the Bodhi. We might understand that from a lotus. A
lotus grows in the mud. Mud is described as the ignorance or problem. A lotus
is described as Buddha’s Nature or Bodhi. No matter a lotus or mud, both of
them never depart from each other.
A great Buddhist master in ancient
China had said that:
The law of Buddha exists in the world,
And never departs from the worldly
feeling.
Leaving the world to ask for
the Bodhi,
As if to demand the rabbit’s
horns.
The Bodhi is in Sanskrit, which also
means wisdom, Buddhahood or the supreme-equality enlightenment.
In the emptiness, there is no
ignorance. The Buddha said that the ignorance is as if there is no light, which
could not light the path of our life. In Buddhist Scripture, no light means
ignorance. In fact, in the emptiness, there is neither light nor without-light.
That is, there is no knowing and no ignorance in the emptiness. Why?
Any knowing and ignorance are
established by whether to know any objects or things. In other word, any
knowing and ignorance is also coming from any cause and condition. Any cause
and condition could be established or disappeared at any time. In the
emptiness, if there is no cause and condition, any existence or the having
could not be created or established, including the ignorance itself.
Then, we know that our wisdom is created
from the knowing and the ignorance. That is also from any causes and conditions,
and it is no matter the causes and conditions are good or bad.
In the body of emptiness, there is no
aging and death, and no end of aging and death. It is some kind of difficulty
to understand it, because it seems beyond our cognition. I think it is more
concerned about our soul, our spiritual body, or our spirit. There is a
Buddhist Scripture of Amitabha, which talks about the vows of a Buddha, Amitabha,
who is also named as Immeasurable Longevity. That is said by the Buddha Sakyamuni.
One day, I seem to understand it and to link it with no aging and death. Then,
I have found that there would be the immeasurable longevity, if there was no
aging and death. Furthermore, it talks about the incarnation of life and the
eternity of Buddha’s nature.
If we understand this Buddhist
Scripture of Amitabha, we would understand that Amitabha is not someone else,
we and Amitabha are one. Then, if we are one, why not we are not immeasurable
longevity? Of course, our human bodies have the aging and death, but our souls
have no forms and no such change.
In other word, there is no aging and
death, and no end of aging and death, in our soul, our spiritual body or our
spirit. If we really understand it, we would liberate from the suffering of
life and death.
In the phenomenon of emptiness, there
is no suffering, aggregating, eliminating, and Tao. There is no such concept,
even the action, such as to feel the suffering, to accumulate the feeling of
suffering, to eliminate the aggregating of such feeling, and to go in the path
of practicing the Buddha’s law. Tao is the transliteration from the Chinese
word. Its original meaning is path, road, or way. And then, it is extended to
be the practicing of Buddha’s law. Why I use this word ”Tao”, because it has
the meaning. If we say that we walk in the path of Buddha, it means that we do
something like Buddha to do.
We might have one question. Why the
Buddha wants to deny the Tao, to go in the path of practicing the Buddha’s law?
In the body of emptiness, there is no Tao. Tao is appeared by the suffering of
human beings and sensation beings. If there is no suffering, how could it be possible
to appear the Tao? Then, we might have one question. If there is no Tao in the
emptiness, is there any religion in the emptiness?
There is no wisdom and no attainment
in the phenomenon of Emptiness. If someone said that it had been awakened and
got a Certificate from a famous Buddhist Master, no matter how famous it is, it
is better for us to question it. And if someone said that it had been awakened
and it was in which level in heaven, we might have to doubt it. Why? Completely
understanding the heart sutra as follows, you will know.
Because of nothing to be attained, a Bodhisattva
depends and bases on the supreme wisdom, there is thus no hindrance in heart.
Due to no hindrance, there is no fear. It departs from the reversed dream. So the
Nirvana is exactly attained.
So, what is the supreme wisdom? The
Buddha said that nothing to be attained is the supreme wisdom. In fact,
including the supreme wisdom itself and the attainment of supreme wisdom
itself, all of them do not exist. Therefore, there is no hindrance in heart. If
someone said that I got the wisdom, which thus would become the hindrance in
heart, because it would be afraid of losing the wisdom and of being challenged.
There is the obtaining, there is thus
the losing. There is no obtaining, there is thus no losing.
The reversed dream refers to the heart
of obtaining and losing. When leaving the heart of obtaining and losing, there
is no hindrance and no fear in heart. There is no obtaining, no losing, no
hindrance and no fear in the emptiness. Accordingly, a Bodhisattva would
exactly attain the “Nirvana”, which means the perfect silence and peace is thus
exactly attained. Nirvana is Sanskrit.
All Buddha of Three Life Time has
attained the supreme-equality enlightenment by the supreme wisdom.
The Three Life Time means the previous
life, the present life and the next life. The supreme-equality enlightenment means
the Buddhahood. In Sanskrit, it is ” anuttarā-samyak-sambodhi ”. I do not use these words, because it
is difficult to understand, remember and recite.
All Buddha, including the Buddha in
the previous, the present, and the next life, have attained the
supreme-equality enlightenment by what have mentioned above in the content, which
is the supreme wisdom. What all Buddha have attained is the supreme-equality
enlightenment.
The supreme-equality enlightenment
means the heart with the highest and true equality to understand the truth. We
know when there is no opposite concept and matters, there would be the true
equality.
When the disciples doubt whether the
woman can get into the Buddhahood or not, the Buddha talks about the story in
concerning the Buddhahood of woman. So, no matter who is male or female, monk
or nun, non-monk or non-nun, all can get into the Buddhahood, because there is
no such concept of differentiation in the emptiness.
Therefore, the supreme wisdom is known
as the great-spiritual charm, the great- bright charm, the supreme charm, and the
no-grade equal charm, which can be realized to eliminate all suffering. It is
genuine and not false. That is why the charm of supreme wisdom is said, and is
recited as:
Gate Gate Paragate
Parasamgate
Bodhi Svahal
I use the word ”charm” instead of
“mantra”. The word “charm” may be more acceptable for the people. Charm means a
saying that is thought to have a magical power, such as the ability to bring
happiness. In Sanskrit, mantra means charm.
So, the supreme wisdom that we have
said is known as the great spiritual and bright charm. In this charm, there is
no obstacle in spirituality and it is full of light and happiness. It is also
the supreme charm. That means it is the highest and best charm to remove our
suffering.
It is also the equal charm of no grade.
In the emptiness, there is no grade. Due to there is no grade, it would not be
compared to be equal or un-equal. Here, I have to explain it more clearly. Otherwise,
it might be misunderstood. As we have learned, we know that there is no concept
of equality or inequality in the emptiness, not to mention the equality or the inequality.
Therefore, it is true equality. Accordingly, that is why it is true equal
charm. The equality from our personal cognition and consciousness is not
necessarily to be true equality, but more prejudice in personal interests.
To realize such charm could eliminate
our all suffering. It is true and not false.
“Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi
Svahal” is in Sanskrit, the whole means that:
Let us all together attain Buddhahood completely
with perfect wisdom.
I
wish that all sentient beings are free from all suffering,
And achieve
Buddhahood completely with the perfect wisdom.
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