The Heart Sutra

by Red Pine

  In addition to taking refuge in the Three Treasures, monks and nuns and lay practitioners agree to abide by certain precepts in regulating their conduct, such as not killing, not stealing, not lying, not engaging in sexual misconduct, and not using intoxicants. In the case of bodhisattvas, this list of negative prohibitions is amended to include the more positive injunctions of the Six Paramitas, or Perfections: generosity, morality, forbearance, vigor, meditation, and wisdom. Here, the bodhisattva’s refuge is in wisdom alone, as it includes the other five paramitas. However, the word paramita, as noted at the beginning of this commentary, distinguishes this wisdom as different from other forms of wisdom. This wisdom is “transcendent.” Thus, bodhisattvas know that all dharmas are marked with emptiness and that there is nothing to attain or not to attain. And realizing there is nothing to attain or not to attain, they take refuge in this realization. Anything less would be unworthy of a bodhisattva. Actually, anything less would be impossible. For a bodhisattva, there is nothing else to rely on.

  23. AND LIVE WITHOUT WALLS OF THE MIND: viharaty acitta-avaranah

  The refuge of Prajnaparamita is a refuge without walls. Buddhists recognize three barriers (avarana) to spiritual growth: walls of karma (karma-avarana), which include all limiting circumstances; walls of passion (klesha-avarana), which include anger and desire; and walls of knowledge ( jneya-avarana), which include all forms of delusion, namely, the belief that something exists when it does not or that something does not exist when it does. Here, Avalokiteshvara uses “walls of the mind” (citta-avarana ) as inclusive of all three but also to stress that such barriers are self-imposed. These are the barriers that emptiness dissolves. Commenting on this obstruction-less state, Conze says, “It may either be described as an object without a subject, or a subject without an object. When viewed as an object without a subject, it is called ‘Suchness.’ When viewed from the subject-side, the transcendental reality is known as ‘Thought-only’” (Buddhist Wisdom Books, pp. 95-96). In several Sanskrit editions of the Heart Sutra, citta-avarana is replaced by citta-alambana, “objects of the mind.” Although it comes to the same thing, there is not much support for this variation.

  Hui-chung says, “As long as there is the slightest dharma, there is an obstruction. But the mind and the world are empty. No matter how we think or act, nothing at all happens. How could there be an obstruction?”

  Pao-t’ung says, “For someone with no mind, there is still a barrier. What do I mean? A white cloud blocks the valley mouth. Returning birds can’t find the way to their nests.”

  Ching-mai says, “The absence of walls explains how the liberation door of emptiness works. This means by understanding that dharmas are empty inside and out, the vision of one’s wisdom is not blocked by the nature of existence.”

  24. WITHOUT WALLS OF THE MIND AND THUS WITHOUT FEARS: citta-avarana nastitvad atrasto

  Dwelling without walls, bodhisattvas see “things as it is,” to quote Shunryu Suzuki (cf. Not Always So). We fear what we cannot see. Once the walls with which we have surrounded ourselves are gone, we see the indivisibility of things, we see the light. In the light of Prajnaparamita, bodhisattvas realize the birthlessness of dharmas. And once they are able to endure such a realization, there is nothing left to fear. Fearlessness is characteristic of the eighth stage of the bodhisattva path, which is essentially the last stage, as the ninth and tenth stages concern buddhahood. Our fear begins with our separation from emptiness. And it ends with our reunion.

  Among the many fears that assail us, and there is one for every wall in the cities of our minds, there are five that are said to concern beginning bodhisattvas: the fear of survival (that we will not be able to survive if we practice generosity); the fear of criticism (that we will not be able to endure the criticism of associating with disreputable people while trying to liberate all beings); the fear of death (that we will not be able to give up our lives to help others); the fear of a bad existence (that we will be born during a time when the Dharma is not taught); and the fear of speaking before an assembly (that we will embarrass ourselves or fail to teach others).

  Hui-chung says, “There is nothing to grasp in the mind. So what is there to seek? If you can’t find the mind, who is it who gives rise to fear? Thus it says, ‘without fears.’”

  Te-ch’ing says, “All dharmas are basically empty. But someone who relies on sentience or discrimination to view such things will become hopelessly entangled by the mind and its objects. Whereas someone who relies on the true wisdom of prajna will see that the mind and its objects are empty. And instead of obstructions, they will only meet with freedom. And because their minds are free of walls, there is nothing to fear from birth and death. And because there is nothing to fear from birth and death, there is also no buddhahood to seek. It is because of the fear of birth and death that we seek nirvana. But this is nothing but a dream or delusion.”

  Ching-mai says, “Having no walls and thus no fears explains the liberation door of formlessness. Once a person realizes dharmas are empty both inside and out, they know dharmas have no form. Unless they know dharmas have no form, they will be blocked outside and subject to countless fears inside. But once they realize dharmas have no form, they won’t be blocked outside and won’t find anything to fear inside.”

  25. THEY SEE THROUGH DELUSIONS AND FINALLY NIRVANA: viparyasa atikranto nishtha nirvanah

  The word viparyasa refers to what is upside-down, what is contrary to the way things are. In Buddhism this refers specifically to four delusions: claiming something is permanent that is not permanent, claiming something is pleasurable that is not pleasurable, claiming something is self-existent that is not self-existent, and claiming something is pure that is not pure. These four views of permanence, pleasure, self-existence, and purity are used by people to establish the reality of the mundane world, the world of sansara, the world of birth and death. Such views were considered to be mistaken by all early sects of Buddhism, but only with regard to the conditioned dharmas of sansara—conditioned dharmas being those subject to cause and effect. With regard to the unconditioned dharma of nirvana, the opposite was held to be true and to hold otherwise was thought to be equally mistaken.

  Since this sutra is a critique of the views of the Sarvastivadins in particular and other early Buddhist sects in general, Avalokiteshvara includes under “delusions” not only the four views of the mundane world but also the four views of those early sects that maintained nirvana was permanent, pleasurable, self-existent, and pure. Thus, bodhisattvas not only see through (atikranto ) delusions concerning the existence of sansara, they also see through delusions concerning the existence of nirvana. But this is not all. Bodhisattvas also see through delusions concerning the non-existence of nirvana, for existence and non-existence are terms in a dialectic that does not apply to what is beyond all duality.

  Several copies of the longer version of the Heart Sutra add the verb prapta (attain) at the end of the phrase nishtha nirvana (finally nirvana). Conze also included it in his Sanskrit edition of 1948/1957 (cf. Buddhist Wisdom Books), but he deleted it in his second edition in 1967 (cf. Thirty Years of Buddhist Studies). Other translators and commentators, either aware of this variant or thinking it must be implied, have taken this phrase to mean something equivalent to “finally attain nirvana.” But this would amount to the attainment of something that cannot be attained and would contradict Avalokiteshvara’s earlier statement in line 20 that there is “no knowledge, no attainment and no non-attainment.” To avoid this problem, I have read both viparyasa (delusion) and nishtha-nirvana (finally nirvana) as objects of the verb atikranto (see through), which is allowed by the vagaries of Sanskrit grammar in the absence of prapta. Thus, bodhisattvas do not reach or attain nirvana but overcome all delusions, including those that concern the ultimate goal of nirvana, namely, views that see nirvana as either permanent or not permanent, pleasurable or not pleasurable, self-existent or not self-existent, pure or not pure. Nirvana is simply the final d
elusion. Thus, Mahayana sutras never tire of telling us that bodhisattvas do not attain nirvana and even avoid it, that their goal is elsewhere, namely the liberation of all beings. This is also the view of the Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-five Thousand Lines, which states that while bodhisattvas lead others to nirvana, nirvana itself is a dream or delusion. And in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha tells Shariputra and the other arhans seeking to become bodhisattvas that the nirvana they have attained is really but an imaginary oasis on the road to buddhahood.

  As for the word nirvana, there are several explanations of its origin. The usual derivation is to interpret it as a combination of nir (a negative prefix) and either va, meaning “blow,” or van, meaning “desire.” Thus, nir-vana means “the cessation of breath” or “the cessation of desire.” Sanskrit etymologists, however, have dug much deeper and have extracted such diverse meanings from vana as the “path” of transmigration, the “stench” of defilement, the “forest” of the skandhas, and the “thread” of karma (cf. Mahavibhasha Shastra: 32). When Buddhist monks first began translating Sanskrit texts into Chinese, they tried dozens of equivalents for nirvana before finally giving up and simply transcribing the term, thus allowing it to take on different meanings depending on the context.

  Another common derivation was to understand nirvana as a combination of the negative prefix nir and the root vri, “to cover,” “to restrain,” or “to obstruct.” This is most likely the sense understood here, with nir-vana referring to “no walls of the mind,” as the word for “walls,” avarana, is also derived from vri. Thus, not only do bodhisattvas see through delusions of existence and non-existence, they see through delusions of having stepped past all such delusions. In other Prajnaparamita texts, such as the Ratnagunasancaya Gatha, the term nir-vriti, based on the same derivation, is used to describe that state into which bodhisattvas do not retire, for bodhisattvas vow to remain in sansara until all beings are liberated.

  In the Samyukt Agama, Jamburatha asks Shariputra, “You speak of nirvana. But what is nirvana?” And Shariputra answers, “Nirvana is the permanent cessation of desire, the permanent cessation of anger, the permanent cessation of ignorance, the permanent cessation of all passions. This is what is meant by ‘nirvana.’” And Jamburatha asks again, “Is there a path, a direction, a practice or set of practices that leads to nirvana?” And Shariputra answers, “There is. It is called the Eightfold Noble Path, from Right Views to Right Meditation” (1478).

  Fa-tsang says, “Outside, they have no fear of demons or injustice, thus evil conditions cease. Inside, they have no confusion of doubts or obstructions, thus evil causes stop. Nirvana is perfect peace. ‘Perfect’ means complete in every virtue. ‘Peace’ means free of every obstruction. Wisdom is able to plumb the very limits of nirvana.”

  Hui-chung says, “To look for something outside the mind or to see emptiness inside the mind is to be mistaken. To imagine something exists when it does not is to dream. What the mind depends upon are views. When you suddenly realize the source of the mind, there is nothing at all to grasp. Thus it says to ‘see through all delusions.’”

  Deva says, “The delusions people cling to are like the image of water in a fire, flowers in the sky, like fur on a tortoise or horns on a rabbit or like the child of a barren woman. Worldly desires, wealth, fame, and position are all like this. Fools think they are real. Those who are wise understand they are dreamlike conceptions and empty illusions and that their original nature is not apparent. Whatever is apparent is the result of delusion.”

  Ching-mai says, “This explains the liberation door of no desire. Once one realizes dharmas have no nature, and they aren’t blocked outside and have no fears inside, they come to know that dharmas are simply delusions, like dreams, and are false and not real. Thus, they see through them and don’t give rise to desires.”

  26/27. ALL BUDDHAS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE / ALSO TAKE REFUGE IN PRAJNAPARAMITA: tryadhva vyavasthitah sarva-buddhah prajnaparamitam ashritya ,

  As noted above, bodhisattvas see through the delusion of nirvana and thus the delusion of putting an end to their sansaric existence. Instead of nirvana, they take refuge in Prajnaparamita. For it is from the womb of Prajnaparamita that buddhas are born, which is why Prajnaparamita is called buddha-matri, the Mother of Buddhas. As the Buddha says in the Diamond Sutra, “From this is born the unexcelled, perfect enlightenment of tathagatas, arhans, and fully enlightened ones. From this are born buddhas and bhagavans” (8). Here, Avalokiteshvara reminds us of this process, that buddhas become buddhas by taking refuge in Prajnaparamita and not by attaining nirvana. In truth, they have nowhere else to go, for they have been left without even a speck of dust to stand on. Thus, by taking refuge in Prajnaparamita, they enter the womb of Prajnaparamita and await their rebirth as buddhas.

  Deva says, “‘Buddha’ is Sanskrit for ‘awakened,’ to awaken oneself and awaken others.”

  Fa-tsang says, “The buddhas of the past, present, and future take no other road and use only this gate.”

  Ching-chueh says, “Although we say the nirmana-kaya (manifestation body of a buddha) exists in three periods of time, in reality the past and future are without limit. The Tuchenglun Inscription says, ‘The nature of a tathagata is pure and not different in the three periods.’ Another commentary says, ‘The dharma-kaya [real body of a buddha] is pure, like the moon in the sky, and the sanbhoga-kaya [a buddha’s body of realization] is an empty image, like a reflection on the water. A reflection on the water is not the object itself, but being visible, it can lead us to the object, which is the moon in the sky. The sanbhoga-kaya is an empty image, but although it isn’t real, being visible, it can lead us to what is real, which is the pure dharma-kaya.’”

  Hui-chung says, “All vexation, ignorance, passion, and delusion of the past, the present and the future are fundamentally pure. Thus it says ‘all buddhas of the past, present and future.’ Because they realize fundamental wisdom without becoming attached to anything, it says they ‘take refuge in Prajnaparamita.’”

  Chen-k’o says, “Buddhas and ordinary people aren’t really different. Buddhas are simply people who are free of birth and death, love and hate, while ordinary people aren’t free of birth or death, love or hate.”

  28. AND REALIZE UNEXCELLED, PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT: anuttaran samyak sambodhim abhisambuddhah

  The expression “unexcelled, perfect enlightenment” goes back to the earliest scriptures of the Sarvastivadins as well as those of the Sthaviravadins (Theravadins) and was apparently first used by the Buddha. It was said that the addition of qualifiers such as anuttara (unexcelled) and samyak (perfect) was meant to distinguish the enlightenment (sambodhi) of a buddha from that of other sects. But it was also meant to distinguish the enlightenment of bodhisattvas from that of shravakas and pratyeka-buddhas.

  As it surpasses the understanding of those limited by concepts, it is called “unexcelled.” Since it is more complete than the understanding of those limited by reason, it is called “perfect.” And because it dispels the darkness of ignorance and shadows of delusion, it is called “enlightenment” (sambodhi). In the Sanskrit word for “enlightenment,” the prefix sam means “complete” and was added as an intensifier to bodhi, which by itself also means “enlightenment.” The verb here is abhi-sam-buddha, in which abhi-sam means “to reach completely,” and buddha means “awareness,” which I have summarized with “to realize.” This is the fruit of the seed cultivated by Avalokiteshvara at the beginning of this sutra where he looks upon the Five Skandhas and sees that they, and all other dharmas, are empty of self-existence. Thus, if the seed is empty, so is the fruit.

  In the Diamond Sutra, the Buddha says, “Subhuti, undifferentiated is this dharma in which nothing is differentiated. Thus is it called ‘unexcelled, perfect enlightenment.’ Without a self, without a being, without a life, without a soul, undifferentiated is this unexcelled, perfect enlightenment by means of which all auspicious dharmas are realized. And how so? Auspic
ious dharmas, Subhuti, ‘auspicious dharmas’ are spoken of by the Tathagata as ‘no dharmas.’ Thus are they called ‘auspicious dharmas’” (23).

  In the Vimalakirti Sutra, when the deva in Vimalakirti’s room tells Shariputra that attaining unexcelled, perfect enlightenment is impossible, because enlightenment cannot be grasped, Shariputra says, “But what does it mean then when we are told that buddhas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges attain, have attained, and will attain unexcelled, perfect enlightenment?” And the deva replies, “Shariputra, to say that there are three periods of time is simply a conventional way of talking. It does not mean that enlightenment exists in the past, the present, or the future” (7).