선화 상인의 반야심경 강설 (영문판) PDF 다운로드
The Heart of
Prajna Paramita Sutra
When Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva was practicing the profound prajna paramita, he illuminated the five skandhas and saw that they are all empty, and he crossed beyond all suffering and difficulty.
Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness; emptiness does not differ from form. Form itself is emptiness; emptiness itself is form. So, too, are feeling, cognition, formation, and consciousness.
Shariputra, all dharmas are empty of characteristics. They are not produced. Not destroyed, not defiled, not pure, and they neither increase nor diminish.
Therefore, in emptiness there is no form, feeling, cognition, formation, or consciousness; no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind; no sights, sounds, smells, tastes, objects of touch, or dharmas; no field of the eyes, up to and including no field of mind-consciousness; and no ignorance or ending of ignorance, up to and including no old age and death or ending of old age and death. There is no suffering, no accumulating, no extinction, no way, and no understanding and no attaining.
Because nothing is attained, the Bodhisattva, through reliance on prajna paramita, is unimpeded in his mind. Because there is no impediment, he is not afraid, and he leaves distorted dream-thinking far behind. Ultimately Nirvana!
All Buddhas of the three periods of time attain Anuttarasamyaksambodhi through reliance on prajna paramita. Therefore, know that prajna paramita is a great spiritual mantra, a great bright mantra, a supreme mantra, an unequalled mantra. It can remove all suffering; it is genuine and not false. That is why the mantra of prajna paramita was spoken. Recite it like this:
Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha!
The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra
A GENERAL EXPLANATION OF THE TITLE
Commentary:
The explanation of the Heart Sutra will be divided into two sections: a general explanation of the title, and an explanation of the meaning of the text. The general explanation of the title will be further divided into a discussion of the sutra title and a discussion of the translator.
Seven categories of titles have been divised for the three treasuries (tripitaka) and the twelve divisions of the sutras spoken by the Buddha:
1) The first kind of title refers exclusively to persons. The Buddha Speaks of Amitabha Sutra is an example, since both Shakyamuni Buddha and Amitabha Buddha are personages.
2) The Nirvana Sutra is an example of a title which is determined exclusively by reference to dharma. Nirvana, which signifies a dharma (dharmalaksana), is used for its title.
3) In the third category are titles comprised of analogies. The Brahma Net Sutra is an example of this kind of title. The text of the sutra employs in its discussion of the precepts (the rules of moral conduct taught by the Buddha) the analogy of the cylindrical net-curtain belonging to the king of the Great Brahma Heaven; the curtain is a manifestation of his adornments. All through the netcurtain are holes, and in the empty space of each hole there is a precious pearl, each the brightest and most valuable of all pearls. All the way around, the precious pearls illuminate each other with light, and the emptiness interpenetrates. This precious pearl illuminates that precious pearl – back and forth. That is what is meant by their “illuminating each other.”
Your light illuminates my light and my light illuminates yours. However, the lights do not oppose one another. One of them is incapable of saying, “Keep your light out of my light,” or, “I don’t want my light to shine on you.” There is none of that; they illuminate each other and the emptiness interpenetrates.
In other words, then, the precepts are like the light of the precious pearls; they illuminate each other. If you keep a precept, that is, if you obey a rule of moral conduct without fail, it emits light. Each precept you keep has light. Each of the ten major and forty-eight minor Bodhisattva precepts, which are explained in the Brahma Net Sutra emits rays of light, just like the pearls in the Brahma net-curtain.
Why are the precious pearls embroidered in the holes? It indicates to us that originally, before we keep the Bodhisattva precepts, there are holes. How do we know there are holes? Because there are leaks, also called outflows (asrava). Yet the leaks can be transformed into precious pearls. If you keep a precept, a precious pearl shines. If you break a precept, there is a leak. “The lights illuminate each other and the emptiness interpenetrates” represents the Buddhadharma, the minds of the Buddhas, the minds of the Bodhisattvas, and the minds of all living beings – every mind responding to every other, mind with mind.
How did the Buddhas realize Buddhahood? It was through the cultivation of the precepts. And Bodhisattvas as well must cultivate the precepts to become Buddhas. Living beings must also keep the precepts; then they can cultivate and become Buddhas. All this represents transformation, endless transformation. Thus the title of the Brahma Net Sutra is comprised exclusively of analogy. The first three of the seven kinds of sutra titles are called the unitary three, while the next three kinds are called the dual three:
4) The first of the three kinds of dual title makes reference to both persons and dharmas. The Manjushri Asks about Prajna Sutra is an example, since Manjushri is a person and prajna is a particular dharma.
5) The next kind of title refers to both persons and analogies; the Lion’s Roar of the Thus Come One Sutra is an example. The Thus Come One (tathagata) is a person, and the lion’s roar is an analogy. The Buddha’s exclamation of the Dharma is likened to a lion’s roar: “When the lion roars, the hundred beasts are terrified.”
6) The sixth kind of title is established by reference to dharma and analogy. In the Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra, prajna paramita is the dharma and heart is the analogy.
7) The one remaining variation combines all three unitary elements: person, dharma, and analogy. The Sutra of the Flowering Adornment of the Buddha of Great Expanse, commonly known as the Avatamsaka Sutra, is the example here. This kind of title is said to be “complete in one.” Great Expanse symbolizes the substance of the dharma, and Flowering Adornment represents its function. The dharma of great expanse was cultivated by the Buddha in order to realize Buddhahood. He cultivated the six paramitas and the ten thousand practices and used the flowering of those causes to adorn the attainment of the supreme fruit, which is Buddhahood.
The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra
The Five Categories of Recondite Meaning
Now I will explain the text of the sutra by means of eight-line verses, which I wrote some time ago. I used them once before to lecture on this sutra. This is the first verse
Verse:
Wonderful wisdom can reach the other shore right now;
The true mind itself can merge with enlightenment’s source.
Dharma and analogy comprise its title, which transcends the relative.
Empty of the characteristics of all dharmas is this substance beyond words.
Fundamental non-attainment is its purpose and intent,
And by using its power of eradication, the three obstacles are cleansed away.
The “butter division” is determined to be the meaning of this teaching,
A maha turning around: this is the prajna boat.
Commentary:
Each of the eight lines of the first verse speaks about the Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra according to the five categories of recondite meaning.
1) Explanation of the Title. The first three lines of the verse explain the meaning of the title of the sutra in accordance with the first category of recondite meaning, the explanation of the title.
Wonderful wisdom can reach the other shore right now. Prajna is wonderful wisdom, and paramita means to reach the other shore. When you use the wonderful wisdom of prajna, you reach the other shore.
The true mind itself can merge with enlightenment’s source. To say “true mind” is to speak both of the mind and of prajna. When you have the wonderful wisdom of prajna, you have the true mind, and so you naturally merge with the source of enlightenment. You are united with the original enlightenment of the Buddha; you join with it; you flow into and become the substance of the original enlightenment. “Merge” implies uniting into a single substance.
Dharma and analogy comprise its title, which transcends the relative. The title, the Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra, is made up of references to both dharma and analogy. The phrase “which transcends the relative” indicates a dharma which reaches a state of non-relativity. Prajna paramita is that dharma, and heart is the analogy.
There are three types of prajna: the prajna of language, the prajna of contemplative illumination, and the prajna of the characteristic of actuality. The prajna of the characteristic of actuality is the ultimate wisdom, wonderful wisdom, and the wisdom which penetrates to the foundation. It can also be said to be the wisdom which arrives home and the wisdom of the Buddha.
What else can it be called? It is called the true heart (In Chinese, the character xin means both heart and mind. The word “heart” in the Sanskrit title of the sutra is translated as hrdaya. The usual Sanskrit word for mind or heart in the non-physical sense is citta.
The Chinese character xin is used as a translation for both hrdaya and citta.). The true heart is wisdom; wisdom is the true heart. Because prajna can be translated “true heart,” the two hundred fifty or so words of this sutra are the heart within the heart – the heart within the six hundred chapters of the prajna text of the Great Prajna Sutra. Yet in still another way it is the heart within the heart. The sutra is the heart of prajna, and since prajna is the heart, it is the heart of that heart. And therefore the text is called the Heart Sutra.
Since prajna can be translated as heart or mind, the Great Prajna Sutra can be called the Great True Heart Sutra. It’s not a false heart – not a false mind. The present sutra explains fully the wonderful principle of its actual use. The dharma in the title is prajna paramita, the dharma of reaching the other shore. “Heart” is the analogy, and it is used in the sutra to indicate that the heart (which is to say the mind) is the theme of one’s entire life and that it transcends all opposites.
2) Discernment of the Substance. Empty of the characteristics of all dharmas is this substance beyond words. What is the sutra’s substance? It is “empty of the characteristics of all dharmas,” a phrase which is different in wording but identical in meaning to the line in the sutra text, “All dharmas are empty of characteristics.” “Empty of characteristics” simply means that the substance of the sutra is without any characteristics, and “substance beyond words” means that nothing can be said about it. Since its substance is “empty of the characteristics of all dharmas,” there isn’t anything at all.
You ask, “Then what is there that is worth saying?” This “substance beyond words” has already passed beyond the characteristics of speech, the characteristics grasped by the mind, the characteristics of written language; it has passed beyond all characteristics. It is all dharmas.
3) Elucidation of its basic purpose. Fundamental non attainment is its purpose and intent. The fifth line of verse explains the third recondite meaning, elucidation of the sutra’s basic purpose: fundamental non-attainment. In one passage the sutra says, “There is… no understanding and no attaining.” Non-attainment is the sutra’s purpose and intent. Now I will make use of worldly dharmas to explain the Buddhadharma. The word “person” is an ordinary noun, the designation by which human beings are distinguished from other categories. Just as a person is simply called a person, analogously every sutra is called a sutra.
Now what is a certain person’s specific name? The name by which he is identified is perhaps Smith or Brown. To discuss the specific name is what is meant by explanation of the title. What does Smith look like? Is he tall or short, black or white, fat or thin? What about his body? (In Chinese the single character ti means both body and substance) Is it fully formed or not? Does he have eyes? Ears? A nose? That is what is meant by investigating the characteristics of his substance. After the substance has been revealed, then the basic purpose should be elucidated. What is meant by elucidation of the basic purpose? Smith is very learned he could be a secretary or a Ph.D. That is what is meant.
4) Discussion of the Function. Continuing the analogy, what does Smith do all day? What can he do? Observations of that sort reveal the person’s usefulness and capabilities.
And by using its power of eradication, the three obstacles are cleansed away. “Eradication” is what the sutra is capable of doing. What can the Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra do? Its function is to cleanse away the three obstacles: the retribution-obstacle, the activity-obstacle, and the affliction-obstacle.
Of retribution-obstacles, the first of the three obstacles, there are two kinds: dependent retribution and primary retribution (In Chinese, the character bao means both reward and retribution). Primary retribution is the body, while dependent retribution refers to food, clothing, dwelling, and so forth – the material environment on which the body is dependent. Therefore, primary retribution is the retribution you are undergoing right now, the dependent retribution is your environment.
There are all sorts of primary retribution. Some bodies are good ones and some are not. Some are especially full and handsome in their appearance, so that everyone who sees them likes them. Merely by looking upon a particular body, everyone loves and respects the person as someone who is outstanding.
Perhaps a particular person really has wisdom, or another really has good roots. With respect to good roots and wisdom there are two types of people. First are those who have wisdom and no good roots. What are those people like? Most of them are weird ghosts and monstrous demons who have come into the world as people. They were mountain essences who after a long time as old spirits and ghosts became capable of eating people, and when they died, they were able to be reborn as people possessed of a little bit of intelligence.
Compared to most people they are intelligent, but they muddle up everything they do – their activities are not at all intelligent. They do whatever is harmful, and, without exception, they lack propriety. Everything that is most harmful to people and disruptive to the order of society is what they want to do. Such people, the ones who have some wisdom but no good roots, seem only to be afraid that the world won’t be in disorder.
The second kind, those who have good roots but no wisdom, are those who in their lives exclusively performed good deeds but did not study the sutras. As a consequence they don’t have much wisdom; in fact, they are very stupid.
Some people undergo the primary retribution of being especially ugly. Others have both a beautiful and full appearance and a long life full of wealth, honor, and respect. Still others have a very short life besides being ugly. There are all kinds of primary retributions, which are the fruitions of causes planted in the past.
Dependent retribution consists of one’s living conditions, clothes, food, and so forth. It too comes from causes in your previous lives. If in previous lives you planted seeds of good, the fruition in this life will be a good reward. If in former lives you planted the seeds of evil, they will reveal themselves in this life by their fruition in your retribution. Therefore, you should certainly be very cautious in everything you do! If you do not plant the causes of evil, then in the future you won’t undergo their fruition in evil retribution.
The second of the three obstacles is the activity-obstacle. Not only those who have left the home-life to become members of the Sangha (The Sangha is the community of Buddhist bhikshus (monks) and bhikshunis (nuns)), but also those at home should certainly have an occupational activity. While involved in a particular activity, many problems will arise, many difficult situations which will make you afflicted and unhappy. That is what is meant by the activity obstacle.
The third obstacle is the affliction-obstacle. Everybody has afflictions, yet where do they come from? Most are generated from thoughts of greed, of anger, and of stupidity. How can you acquire afflictions? Have greed in your mind, insatiable greed, and afflictions will arise. How else can you acquire afflictions? Have a temper. A situation isn’t right for you, and so you become afflicted with anger. Again, how do you give rise to afflictions? By being stupid. You misunderstand situations and so are afflicted.
Why do you become afflicted? Thoughts of contempt, of arrogance, and of condescension generate afflictions. Furthermore, you doubt everything, and because of your doubting you become afflicted.
Why are you still afflicted right now? Because you have deviant views and see situations incorrectly. If no matter what is happening, you have proper knowledge, proper views, and genuine wisdom, you will see very, very clearly and will understand completely. When clarity and understanding appear in the midst of circumstances, then there is no affliction. It is the deviant views of greed, hatred, stupidity, arrogance, and doubt that produce the affliction-obstacle.
The Heart Sutra can remove the three obstacles: the retribution-obstacle, the activity-obstacle, and the afflictionobstacle. How? It contains the genuine, wonderful wisdom which is the unmoving mind of true suchness, and so it removes and destroys the three obstacles. Wonderful wisdom: if we understand the Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra, then we can have that genuine wisdom; and with genuine wisdom, we can remove and destroy the three obstacles.
5) Determination of the Characteristics of the Teaching. The fifth recondite meaning is described by the seventh line of the verse. The “butter division”[1]i is determined to be the meaning of this teaching. The prajna paramita sutras belong to the “butter division.” “Butter” represents the fourth or prajna period of the five periods of the Buddha’s teaching.
A Maha turning around: this is the prajna-boat. Maha is the Sanskrit word for “great.” To turn the prajna-boat around doesn’t mean to turn it over. If you turn it over, there isn’t any prajna. You should turn your stupidity around, and that will be the prajna-boat; that is prajna. It can be compared to moving a boat up-stream. It is necessary to use a little effort, and it is not something that can be done easily. Although you don’t need to take three great asamkhyeya kalpas – three incalculably long ages – you must pass through at least one or two or perhaps three lifetimes before you can attain genuine wisdom.
“Oh,” you say, “even though it doesn’t require kalpas, it’s still a really long time, so I’m not going to cultivate.”
If you don’t want to cultivate, it’s not necessary; certainly no one will force you. Forcing is not the Way. Where my own disciples are concerned, I allow anyone who wants to fall to fall according to his own inclinations. If you don’t want to turn the prajna boat around, then you can follow the great flow, flow along with the current, and go downstream, go farther and farther down. If you turn around, you move upstream, and if you don’t turn around, you flow downstream. Take a look. Are you going upstream or downstream?
[1] The “butter-division” refers to the milk-products analogy for the periods of the Buddha’s teaching. The analogy is found in the Mahaparinirvana Sutra and was used by the Tian Tai School in conjunction with the five periods of the Buddha’s teaching. In the analogy, the original Dharma-nourishment is taken to be fresh milk. In each successive period it becomes richer and more purified. Yet it is all the same basic substance, the source-nourishment. Butter represents the prajna teachings of the fourth period, to which the Heart Sutra belongs. The five periods of the Buddha’s teaching and the milk-products analogy are these: 1. Avatamsaka (21 days) whole milk (ksira) 2. Agama or Mrgadava (12 years) coagulated milk (dadhi) 3. Vaipulya (8 years) curds (nevanita) 4. Prajna-paramita (22 years) butter (ghrta) 5. Saddharmapundarika-Mahaparinirvana (8 years) clarified butter (ghee).
The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra
The Five Periods of the Buddha's Teaching
The Dharma spoken by the Buddhas was divided into five periods and eight teachings by the Great Master Zhi Yi, “The Wise One” (538-597 A.D.). The five periods will be categorized bymeans of the two kinds of wisdom, expedient and actual.
1) The Avatamsaka period represented in the world by the Avatamsaka Sutra, consists in the Dharma spoken by the Buddha during the first twenty-one days of his teaching. The period includes one kind of expedient Dharma and one kind of actual Dharma: the gradual and the sudden. That is, the Avatamsaka Sutra teaches one kind of expedient wisdom and one kind of actual wisdom.
The Avatamsaka Sutra explains the doctrine of the dharma realms: the dharma realm of phenomena; the noumenal dharma realm; the dharma realm in which phenomena are unobstructed; the dharma realm in which noumenon is unobstructed; and the dharma realm in which both phenomena and noumenon are unobstructed. Although this teaching was spoken for the sake of Bodhisattvas, the Avatamsaka Sutra nonetheless contains one kind of expedient dharma, along with the actual wisdom, that is, along with the real Buddhadharma.
2) In the second or Agama period, the Buddha spoke no actual Dharma, or actual wisdom, but instead spoke an expedient Dharma. At that time all sentient beings were like children, and since they did not understand the Buddhadharma, the Buddha used various expedient dharma-doors to induce and guide them, to transform them, and to take them across.
3) During the third period, the Vaipulya, the Buddha spoke three kinds of expedient Dharma and one kind of actual Dharma. At that time the four teachings were explained together: the treasury (tripitaka) teaching of the Hinayana; the connecting teaching; and the special teaching, which are the three expedient dharmas; and the perfect teaching, which is actual Dharma. “Revile the one-sided and upbraid the small” indicates that the one-sidedness of the small vehicle, the Hinayana, is wrong. “Praise the great and extol the perfect” commends the perfect teaching of the great vehicle, the Mahayana. In the Vaipulya period, the four teachings were explained together.
4) The fourth period is the Prajna period. In it there were two kinds of expedient Dharma – the connecting and special teachings – and one kind of actual Dharma, the perfect teaching.
5) In the Lotus-Nirvana period, which includes the Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra and the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, there was no expedient Dharma; there was only actual Dharma and actual wisdom. To summarize the five periods, in the Lotus-Nirvana period, only actual Dharma appears; there is no expedient Dharma. In the Prajna period, two expedient dharmas and one actual Dharma appear. In the Vaipulya period, three expedients and one actual Dharma appear.
In the Agama period there is only expedient and no actual Dharma, and in the Avatamsaka period there is one expedient and one actual – the gradual and the sudden. The above explanation employs the two types of wisdom, expedient and actual, to categorize the five periods. If the periods were explained in detail, there would be much, much more to say. So in lecturing on the sutras I explain a little more each time, I tell you a little more of what you haven’t heard. Listen a lot and you will understand a lot.
The Meaning of “Sutra”
Sutras have both a generic and a specific title. The generic title is simply “Sutra,” while the specific title distinguishes one sutra from another. The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra is the specific title of this sutra. “Prajna Paramita” is the dharma, “Heart” is the analogy, “Sutra” is the sutra. The Heart of Prajna Paramita is the heart within the heart. No other sutra in the Prajna Division has this name. I have already explained the specific title, the Heart of Prajna Paramita, by an eight-line verse. Now the word “Sutra” will be fully explained.
What is a sutra? A sutra is defined as “path”, the path necessarily passed through in cultivation of the Way. If you wish to cultivate, you must move along that path; if you don’t want to cultivate, following it is unnecessary. But, if you do want to cultivate, “Sutra” is the path you must take. Now, if people don’t walk on a path, it becomes wild and overgrown with vegetation.
For example, you may have been able to recite the Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra without referring to a text, but then four or five months pass without your reciting it, and you forget it. That forgetting is the path becoming overgrown. However, if you walk the path, if you cultivate the Way, then it won’t become overgrown, but every day will become smoother and brighter.
What is the benefit of reciting sutras? Reciting sutras doesn’t yield any benefits. You waste a lot of time and use a lot of energy to recite a sutra. For instance, what is gained by reciting the Heart Sutra in front of the Buddha? You read it from beginning to end, waste energy, spirit, and time, but don’t see any return from it. Ah, cultivators, don’t be so stupid! The benefits which you can see are not real; all appearances are empty and false. To grasp at a form, at what you can see, is not a benefit. That is why reciting sutras isn’t beneficial.
Don’t search for benefits. Recite the sutra once and your own nature is cleaned once. When you recite the Heart Sutra once, you have the feeling that you understand a little of its meaning; recite it twice or three times, and each time you understand a little more. Reciting sutras helps the wisdom of your own nature to grow. How much? You can’t see it; nevertheless, you can have a kind of feeling about it.
Therefore, it is not possible to talk about the benefits of reciting sutras. Moreover, each time you recite the sutra your afflictions decrease. You shouldn’t get upset during recitation by thinking, “You over there, you recited it wrong. You recited it too fast; I can’t keep up with you. The sounds that you make when you recite are really unpleasant, so I don’t like to listen to it.” No, don’t waste your effort in those directions. When reciting sutras or mantras, everyone should chant together.
It isn’t necessary for everyone to know the language the sutra is being recited in; but able to read the sutra or not, everyone should recite along together. For everyone to practice together, though, doesn’t mean your looking for my faults, and my looking for your faults. If there are really faults, everyone should find them. And if you yourself don’t find your own faults because they are too big, then your cultivation will not be attuned to receive a response.
Reciting sutras is a great help to one’s own nature in developing wisdom. Reciting the Diamond Sutra develops wisdom; reciting the Heart Sutra develops even more wisdom. You say that there aren’t any benefits gained from reciting sutras, yet the benefits are very great. It’s just that you don’t see them. You don’t see them? Then they are real benefits. Anything that you can see is just the skin. The word “sutra” has four other meanings: that which strings together; that which attracts; that which is permanent; and a method. “Stringing together” refers to the connecting of all the meanings which were spoken to make a sutra, as if a piece of thread were used to string them together.
A sutra “attracts” in that it can make use of opportunities for the transformation of sentient beings. This particular sutra is capable of responding to the causal opportunities of all sentient beings and of giving each a medicine to cure that being’s own particular disease. Just as a strong magnet can attract iron from a great distance, a sutra, like a magnet, draws in all sentient beings. We sentient beings are like iron, hard and stubborn, with large tempers and many faults. But as soon as we are pulled into the magnet, we begin to be slowly softened so that our faults fall away. That is the meaning of “that which attracts”.
A sutra is “permanent” because it is eternally unchanging dharma, and has neither beginning nor end. Not one word can be omitted from or added to a sutra; thus it is eternal. In ancient times and in the present, living beings have cultivated and will continue to cultivate according to this sutra.
A sutra is a “method” followed in cultivation of the Way. In the three periods of time, past, present, and future, one cultivates according to this Dharma. What is honored in the three periods of time alike is called the method. What is unchanging in the past and present is called the permanent.
Sutra also has the meaning of a marking-line. In ancient China carpenters used a tool called the ink-cup and line. It consisted of a string which was inked black. When the carpenters wanted to be sure that their construction was straight and true, they would stretch the string out, pull it back, and snap it to, in order to make a straight black guideline.
To sum up, a sutra is a set of rules. To recite sutras is to follow the rules. If you don’t recite sutras, then you don’t follow the rules. Since you are now studying prajna, you certainly should respect the rules of prajna. If you do, you will certainly develop your wisdom.
I have spoken in general about the title of the sutra, and now I will talk about the translator. For everything we understand of this sutra, we should give great thanks to the translator. If he had never existed, we should be unable to see the sutra or even to hear its name. If that were the case, how would we be able to cultivate according to the methods prescribed in it? It would be impossible to find its path of cultivation. Therefore, we should thank the person who translated the sutra, since from that time up to the present moment, every generation has benefited from his compassionate teaching and transforming. It follows that the merit derived from translating sutras is inconceivably great.
The Translator
The text says that the Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra was translated by Tang Dharma Master of the Tripitaka Hsüan- Tsang on imperial command.
Tang refers to the Tang Dynasty of China (618-907 A.D.). Tripitaka is Sanskrit for “three storehouses” – the three storehouses of the Buddhist Canon. They are the sutras, which teach Samadhi (Single-minded concentration), the vinaya, which contains the precepts, or rules of moral conduct, and the shastras, which contain discussions of doctrine. A Dharma Master is one who takes the Buddhadharma as his master and also one who uses the Buddhadharma to teach and transform living beings. This Dharma Master, Hsüan-Tsang, took the Dharma as his master, and he also used it to transform sentient beings. He was perfect on both counts, so either way you use the title Dharma Master, it applies to him.
Dharma Master Hsüan Tsang’s roots were especially deep, thick, and wonderful. The state of his existence was inconceivable. From his own time up to the present he is Buddhism’s greatest Dharma Master. One might ask, “How can you say that he is the greatest?” When he went to India during the Tang Dynasty to bring back the texts of sutras to China, the great modern transportation network of buses, planes, boats, and trains did not exist. What did Dharma Master Hsüan Tsang use for transportation? He went from China through Siberia across the Himalayas to India on horseback.
Such a journey is extremely long and involves much suffering, for no others had made the trip before him. Even though there were no mountains where he lived, Tang Master Hsüan Tsang, before he left to bring back the sutras, practiced running and mountain-climbing every day. How did he do it? He piled up a lot of chairs and tables and jumped from one to the next, from table to chair back and forth. By practicing at home before undertaking the extremely long journey, he was able to attain his aim and reach India. He lived there for fourteen years and collected many sutras which he brought back to China.
When he returned from India, he received an imperial command to translate the sutras into Chinese from their original language of India. Now it is up to you Westerners to translate the sutras into the languages of the West. The merit derived by the people who take part in this work will be without limit, for it will benefit not only their own lives, but will be cause for the gratitude of generations of people in the West. Everyone can be included in the work of translation; no one should fall behind in learning Chinese. You Westerners should make an offering to the people of the West.
Now it can be said that the world has gone bad. Only if people understand the Buddhadharma can the evil age be turned back. If people don’t understand the Buddhadharma, then I am afraid this world will arrive at the time when it will be destroyed. The Christians talk about Judgment Day – the Last Day. If the Buddhadharma is translated into English, if everyone understands the Buddhadharma, if everyone knows better than to be lazy, and if people come forward to cultivate the Way with open hearts and minds, then the Last Day will be very far away in the future; it will be hard to say how many great ages away.
Basically there isn’t any “Last Day”. Why? Because the turning of the great Dharma wheel of the Buddhadharma will even pull in the sun, which then will be unable to set on a Last Day. There won’t be any final day. All such matters are living; they’re not fixed, certain, and dead. Don’t think that what is called the Last Day is the Last Day, for then there will in fact be a final day. Now, which is more probable: that there will be a final day or won’t be one? If everyone studies the Buddhadharma, then the day of destruction won’t come. It’s all very alive, so don’t see it as fixed and dead.
For instance, from time to time people have spread the rumor that there is going to be an earthquake in San Francisco that will cause it to fall into the sea. For several years now people have been talking about this, and a lot of wealthy people who are afraid of dying have moved away.
I spoke about this last year, too, and at that time one of my disciples in San Francisco sent another disciple in Seattle a letter saying that I couldn’t go to Seattle, because if I did, San Francisco would fall into the sea. I was unable to buy a plane ticket, and even though they were going to give me a plane ticket, I couldn’t go.
At that time I told everyone, “If you really study the Buddhadharma, San Francisco won’t be allowed to move, because I haven’t lived here long enough.” Why did I say that? Well, this year I said to everyone, “Relax, all you have to do is recite the Shurangama Mantra and study the Buddhadharma with a sincere mind, and I will guarantee that San Francisco won’t budge.” I said that.
Why hasn’t San Francisco moved up till now? Because there are some people who have changed a little. Everybody recites the Shurangama Mantra and studies the Buddhadharma with a very sincere mind, so the gods, dragons, and the rest of the eightfold division of gods and ghosts are here to protect our Bodhimanda Way place, platform or seat of enlightenment. Chinese dao chang), our place of cultivation, to see that there are no disruptions. The meaning is the same as for the Last Day. If it is possible for the Last Day not to be the Last Day, it is even more possible that San Francisco won’t move, even if it wants to. It can’t find some other suitable place to rent, and it already has such a good place that it isn’t moving.
The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra
EXPLANATION OF THE MEANING OF THE TEXT
Sutra:
When Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva
Verse:
Reversing the light to shine within,
Avalokiteshvara enlightens all the sentient beings; thus he is a Bodhisattva.
His mind is thus, thus, unmoving, a superior one at peace;
With total understanding of the ever-shining, he is host and master.
Six types of psychic powers are an ordinary matter,
And even less can the winds and rains of the eight directions cause alarm.
He rolls it up and secretly hides it away;
And lets it go to fill the entire world.
Commentary:
The name Avalokiteshvara is Sanskrit; in Chinese it is rendered guan zi zai , “Contemplating Ease”. To be at ease is to be happy about everything and to be without worries or obstacles. To be unimpeded is to contemplate ease. If you are impeded, then you are not contemplating ease. Reversing the light to shine within is contemplating ease. If you don’t reverse the light to shine within, you’re not contemplating ease.
What is meant by “reversing the light to shine within”? Regardless of what the situation is, examine yourself. If someone has wronged you, you should think to yourself, “Basically, I was wrong.”
If you say, “When people don’t act properly toward me, I don’t look to see whether I’m right myself; I just smash them right away, smash their heads in so that blood flows” – then you haven’t won a victory, but have only shown your complete lack of principles and wisdom. To reverse the light to shine within is to have principles and wisdom. Reverse the light and contemplate whether or not you are at ease.
I will explain the two characters zi zai , which together mean “ease”. The zi is oneself, and the zai is where one is. I’ll say it word for word. Are you right here (zai), or aren’t you? In other words, do you have false thoughts, or not? If one has false thoughts, then one (zi) is not right here. It’s very simple. To reverse the light to shine within is simply to see whether you have false thoughts. If you have false thoughts, then you aren’t at ease. If you don’t have false thoughts, then you are at ease. That’s how wonderful it is.
Avalokiteshvara enlightens all the sentient beings; thus he is a Bodhisattva. What is a Bodhisattva? A Bodhisattva is somebody who wants to enlighten sentient beings. The Chinese word for “enlighten” is jiao , to make people understand. It isn’t the jiao , which means to stir up trouble. Add the element “hand” to the character jiao , meaning to enlighten, and it becomes another jiao : it turns into a lot of trouble. The stirring-uptrouble jiao is not to enlighten sentient beings, but to make them stupid and to try to turn what is good in their lives into what is evil. But here in the verse, jiao means to bring understanding to all sentient beings.
What is meant by “sentient?” Be careful not to misunderstand the text here by hastily assuming that the word “sentient” (you qing ) means emotional love (qing ai ) as the Chinese characters can be interpreted in another context. No, to enlighten sentient beings is to empty yourself of love. You must see love as empty. That is to be a Bodhisattva.
Therefore, the verse says, His mind is thus, thus unmoving, a superior one at peace. “Thus, thus, unmoving” means there is no dharma that is not thus. All dharmas are thusness-Dharma and all afflictions and troubles have disappeared. To be unmoved is to have the power of samadhi. Doesn’t the Lotus Sutra say, “His mind is at peace?” To be “at peace” this way is to be very happy and to possess great tranquility.
With total understanding of the ever-shining, he is host and master. You should have the total understanding of the evershining prajna wisdom. If you don’t understand, then you do not shine; if you are not shining, then you don’t understand. Therefore, you should understand and then understand even more, shine and shine even more. You should shine brightly in your total comprehension and totally comprehend in your shining brightness – that is understanding. You should be very clear.
What is being very clear? Being very clear is not being muddled and stupid. If you understand that to do a certain thing is wrong and you still go ahead and do it, that is piling stupidity on top of stupidity. You are doubly stupid. That is because you are not equal to being host. Being “host and master” is being able to be in control.
“I am master and I am host,” someone says. “I tell everyone else to do anything I think they should be doing. I am not controlled by other people, but I myself control others. I won’t do anything, so I just tell people to help me do my work, but I won’t help them do theirs.” No, being host and master is not like that. To be host and master is to be free of confusion and never to do anything confused. To be in control at all times is to have genuine wisdom. You are without prejudice, and you don’t act on the basis of deviant knowledge and views. You don’t take drugs or do anything improper or disruptive. If you act improperly, then you get a chance to take a look at stupidity.
Six types of psychic powers are an ordinary matter. If you can be in control, you will naturally have the six psychic powers. They are:
1) the psychic power of the heavenly eye;
2) the psychic power of the heavenly ear;
3) psychic power with regard to past lives;
4) psychic power with regard to the minds of others;
5) the spiritually based psychic powers; and
6) the psychic power of the extinction of outflows.
If you do not have the six types of psychic power, it is because you are not in control, because you are influenced by all the external circumstances you find yourself in. You are influenced by people and have no influence yourself to affect the situations that confront you. When you are able to turn situations around, then no matter what comes you will be unmoved. Don’t be bold and say that you already know how, because to be unmoved means that even in a dream you are not affected by states of consciousness. That is to be host and master. If you are not affected by internal or external states, and if you have real wisdom and the six psychic powers, then you have a very ordinary talent working for you – nothing spectacular, just something very ordinary.
And even less can the winds and rains of the eight directions cause alarm. “The winds and rains of the eight directions” refers to the last two lines of a famous poem by Su Dong Po (1037-1101):
I bow to the god among gods;
His hair-light illuminates the world.
Unmoved when the eight winds blow,
Upright I sit in a purple-gold lotus.
Su Dong Po sent the poem to the Great Master Fo-yin (1011- 1086), and the master’s reply was two words: “Fart, fart.” As soon as Su Dong Po saw Great Master Fo-yin’s criticism, he couldn’t get it out of his mind, and he rushed across the Yangtze – he lived on the south side of the river and Great Master Fo-yin lived on the north side – to find the master and scold him. He wanted to tell the master that he had written an enlightened poem, so how could the master possibly have replied, “Fart, fart?”
In fact, when Great Master Fo-yin criticized him, not only did Su Dong Po fart, he blazed forth and wanted to scorch Fo-yin to death. So he rushed across the river and burst into the master’s quarters without ceremony and shouted, “How could you possibly scold someone and slander him that way by writing ‘fart, fart’?”
Fo-yin replied, “Who was I slandering? You said that you were unmoved by the winds of the eight directions, but just by letting two small farts I’ve blown you all the way across the Yangtze. And you still say that the winds of the eight directions don’t move you? You don’t have to talk about eight winds; just my two farts bounced you all the way up here.”
Then Su Dong Po thought, “That’s right, I said that I’m unmoved by the eight winds, but two words have been enough to make me burn with anger.” Realizing that he still didn’t have what it takes, he bowed to the master and sought repentance. What are the winds of the eight directions?
1) Praise. For example: “Upasaka (Sanskrit term for a Buddhist layman), you are really a good person, you really understand the Buddhadharma, and your wisdom really shines. Furthermore, your genius is unlimited and your eloquence unobstructed.”
2) Ridicule. For instance: “It’s the scientific age now, and you are studying Buddhism. Why do you study that old superstitious rubbish?” Really ridiculous ridicule, and yet you think, “They’re right. How can I study Buddhism now in the scientific age? Cause and effect, no me and no you – how can such metaphysical theories be worth anything in the age of science? I am I, and people are people.” You become confused and are moved by the blowing of the wind.
3) Suffering. The wind of suffering makes you suffer. To be unmoved while ceaselessly performing ascetic practices is an example of being unmoved by the wind of suffering.
4) Happiness. To eat well, to wear good clothes, to have a good place to live, and to be especially happy all day long, thinking, “This certainly is good,” is to be moved by this wind.
5) Benefit. You think, “All I do is go to a lot of trouble cultivating. I don’t even have any false thoughts. Consequently, people come to me and make an offering of a million dollars to build a temple, and they are very, very happy.” That is to be moved by the wind of benefit.
6) Destruction. Perhaps the wind of benefit blew yesterday, but tomorrow people may come and ruin everything. They’ll tell people, “That monk is no good. Don’t believe in him; he will do anything. Believe in me instead.”
7) Gain.
8) Loss.
Those are the eight winds. The verse says, “And even less can the winds and rains of the eight directions cause alarm.” It means that the eight winds blow, but I don’t move.
He rolls it up and secretly hides it away. When you close this sutra, you should store it in a good place, not a place that indicates your lack of respect. You should respect it.
And lets it go to fill the entire world. When you open it, the wisdom of prajna fills the sixfold union – that is, north, south, east, west, above, and below, which together represent the world. This prajna dharma-door is very wonderful.
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