THE PRAJNA PARAMITA HEART SUTRAWith
the Standless Gathas and Explanation of Translated by Upasaka I Kuo Jung Sponsored by The Buddhist Text Translation Society
SUTRA: THEREFORE
KNOW THE PRAJNA PARAMITA, THIS GREAT DIVINE MANTRA, THIS GREAT BRIGHT
MANTRA, THIS SUPREME MANTRA, THIS UNEQUALLED MANTRA, ABLE TO REMOVE ALL
SUFFERING, TRUE, ACTUAL, AND NOT FALSE. GATHA: THIS GREAT DIVINE MANTRA IS HARD TO FATHOM EXHAUSTIVELY. THIS GREAT BRIGHT MANTRA ILLUMINES THOUSAND CUBED WORLD SYSTEMS. THIS SUPREME MANTRA IS THE UTMOST ENLIGHTENMENT FRUIT.
THIS UNEQUALLED HANTRA REACHES TO THE ULTIMATE PEAK.
ALL SUFFERING REMOVED; THE TURNING WHEEL COMES TO REST.
TRUE, ACTUAL, AND NOT FALSE, EVERYONE PROGRESSES.
THE ABOVE DISCLOSES PRAJNA'S DEPTHS,
BRIEFLY EXPLAINING THE CH’AN OF PATRIARCHS EAST AND WEST. EXPLANATION: What are the four meanings of "mantra"? You have forgotten and I do not remember either. Forgotten and not remembered, we need not speak of them. Now
we will talk about: THIS
GREAT DIVINE MANTRA IS HARD TO FATHOM EXHAUSTIVELY. THIS GREAT DIVINE MANTRA was discussed last week. Now HARD TO FATHOM EXHAUSTIVELY will be explained. It means not at all easy to investigate. In other words you have no way of imagining what this great divine mantra is like. There is no way its inconceivable realm can be known. I spoke about the Chinese characters for 'wonderful' and 'divine' before. Both the divine and the wonderful are inconceivable; however, the divine belongs to movement and wonderful belongs to stillness. Both movement and stillness are inconceivable; the inconceivability in movement is the divine and the inconceivability in stillness is the wonderful. Therefore, the divine is the wonderful and the wonderful is the divine. Were it not the divine, then it would not be wonderful. Were it not the wonderful, then it would not be divine. Therefore, the divine and the wonderful are HARD TO FATHOM EXHAUSTIVELY. There is no way of knowing them. Because they are too divine and too wonderful, there is no way to explain them so they will be understood. If they were not the divine and the wonderful, then you could speak of them, but you cannot talk about the divine and the wonderful. THIS
GREAT BRIGHT MANIRA ILLUMINES THOUSAND CUBED WORLD SYSTEMS.
The PRAJNA PARAMITA HEART SUTRA is also the GREAT
BRIGHT MANTRA. Because it is great brightness, the store of light of
the Thus Come One, THIS GREAT BRIGHT MANTRA illumines and destroys all darkness. If you recite the Heart
Sutra, you illumine and destroy your darkness, ignorance and affliction
of life after life in limitless previous kalpas. Illumining and
destroying your own affliction and ignorance is talking about the
internal direction. If you
wish to speak of the external direction, when you recite this great
mantra, you are able to emit light, which illumines the great
trichiliocosm. Therefore
the gatha says, THIS
GREAT BRIGHT MAUTRA ILLUMINES THOUSAND CUBED WORLD SYSTEMS. The
universe of a thousand cubed world systems is the world outside.
The affliction in our own self—nature which can be illumined
and destroyed is the inside world. Inside and out, outside and in, all
is light. Everywhere, inside and out, this bright light, the original
substance of your wisdom manifesting, is just the PRAJNA PARAMITA
HEART SUTRA; it is your very own original wisdom
illumining ten billion world systems. THIS
SUPREME MANTRA IS THE UTMOST ENLIGHTENMENT FRUIT. THIS
SUPREME MANTRA. There is none higher. Because it reaches the Buddha
fruit, it is called 'supreme'. When you recite this PRAJNA PARAMITA
HEART SUTRA, you go step by step from the ground of the common
person until you arrive at the ground of Buddhahood, the fruit of
enlightenment. So the gatha says it is THE UTMOST ENLIGHTENMENT
FRUIT. THIS
UNEQUALLED MANTRA REACHES TO THE ULTIMATE PEAK. Originally
the enlightenment of those of the two vehicles is known as equal
enlightenment. UNEQUALLED, there is nothing which can be its equal. In
other words, this is going to the very final Buddha fruit, to the very
final ultimate enlightenment. The mantra REACHES TO the highest peak of
the mountain, THE ULTIMATE PEAK. ALL
SUFFERING REMOVED; THE TURNING WHEEL COMES TO REST. What
is most important is the removal of all suffering. Were it unable to
remove all suffering, it would not be of any great use. However, it can
remove any suffering whatsoever: the three sufferings, (1)
the suffering within suffering, (1)
the suffering of birth, The
mantra is ABLE TO REMOVE ALL SUFFERING. ALL
SUFFERING REMOVED; THE TURNING WHEEL COMES TO REST. If
you have the ability to be liberated from the revolving wheel, then the
turning wheel can stop. If you are not liberated from the turning wheel,
then it cannot come to rest. You must end birth and death to leave the
revolving wheel, so when the gatha says THE TURNING WHEEL COMES
TO REST, this is just the ending of birth and death. How
do you remove the three sufferings and the eight sufferings? How do you
put an end to birth and death and get out of the turning wheel? You must
end: (1)
the suffering of love for views (also known as 'the affliction (2)
the suffering of love for desire (also known as 'the affliction (3)
the suffering of love for form (also known as 'the affliction (4)
the suffering of love for the formless (also known as 'the (5)
the suffering of love for ignorance (also known as 'the There
must be an end to these five dwellings and the two deaths must eternally
cease. The
five dwellings were spoken of before. 'Dwelling' indicates solidity and
durability, a place which does not move. Because of this solidity, upon
coming face to face with a state, a kind of greed-love for it arises in
your heart. Before you have met with the state, this kind of greed-love
does not exist. As soon as you meet with it, the greed—love is
produced. This is what is called the affliction of dwelling in love of
views. The dwelling in love of desire is the heavens of the desire
realm. Dwelling in love of form is the heavens of the form realm, and
dwelling in love of the formless is the heavens of the formless realm.
Although life span is long in the heavens of the formless realm,
affliction and ignorance have not yet been cut off.
Because most people are attached and dwell very solidly in them,
these five are called the five dwellings of affliction. If they were
explained in detail, one could not finish talking about them in a long
time, so now I am just mentioning their names. "Two deaths eternally cease. "Some people who have not listened to sutras before hear 'two deaths' and think, "Oh, do you have to die twice?" These refer to two kinds of dying, not dying twice. People have two kinds of birth and death, not one kind of birth and death. What are the two? There is 'share-section' birth and death and 'change' birth and death. What is 'share—section' birth and death? You have your share and I have my share; this is called 'share'. You have your body section and I have my body section: this is called 'section'. I am five feet eight inches tall, there is a person here who is more than six feet tall. Because he is even taller than I am, I say that in the future he will be a high Sanghan. Now he is not yet a high Sanghan. This is just you having your section and me having any section. This is what is called 'share-section' birth and death. From the day of birth to the day of death is a section, and from the bottom of your feet to the top of your head is also a section. All these are 'share-sections'. At the fourth fruit of Arhatship, one has cut off the 'share-section' birth and death, but has not yet ended 'change' birth and death. Only in the eighth ground of the Bodhisattva 11 and above is one able to end 'change' birth and death. 'Bodhisattva' is an extremely divine and holy name. Chinese people say P'u Sa which is a simplified form of address. The full form is 'Bodhisattva'. Some people, although they are not Bodhisattvas, claim they are. Some people who are Bodhisattvas will not admit it. You see, it is very strange: those who are not Bodhisattvas say they are, while those who are Bodhisattvas do not say so. Ultimately what kind of affair is this? Those who are not say they are, and those who are say that they are not. Those who are not are not; those who are. There is no need to say so. Whether you say so or not, if they are Bodhisattvas they are Bodhisattvas. Whether you say so or not, if someone is a Bodhisattva, he is still a Bodhisattva. Bodhisattvas do not advertise themselves in the newspaper saying, "Do you recognize me? I am a Bodhisattva." It is not like this. How is it? A Bodhisattva must have the Bodhisattva heart; he must cultivate the Bodhisattva practices, and do the business of a Bodhisattva. It is not to mouth 'Zen' talk, "I am a Bodhisattva." If you mouth out, "I am a Bodhisattva," then you are just a demon-obstacle ghost, a karma-obstacle ghost. Why? You are just like those deviant gods outside the Way who through automatic writing impersonate others saying, "I am Kuan Ti Kung." What are they really? They are just small ghosts. They are not even small ghosts, they are just transformations of animals with deviant knowledge and views, like the yellow skinned which impersonates this god and that. Genuine Bodhisattvas do not need to say, "Look at me. I am a Bodhisattva." For example, when the President travels, he does not need to introduce himself. "I am the American President, do you recognize me or not?" He does not have to speak like this, because without introducing himself, everyone knows, "Here comes Mr. Nixon, America's President." So it is not necessary to put advertisements in the paper saying, "I am a Bodhisattva." If you are a Bodhisattva, people will recognize you. If you are not a Bodhisattva, then people will also recognize you. What
proof do Bodhisattvas have? I will tell you. Bodhisattvas have ended the
two kinds of birth and death. 'Share—section' birth and death does not
exist and 'change' birth and death has also been ended. What
is 'change' birth and death? It is just thought--one thought is produced
and one thought is destroyed. This is not the case in samadhi. So
it is said, "The Naga is eternally in samadhi,” means the end of
both 'change' birth and death and 'share-section' birth and death. This
is the real, actual, genuine Bodhisattva. But you do not recognize him.
The wonderful is here. You cannot recognize a true Bodhisattva. If you
recognize a true Bodhisattva, you are a Bodhisattva too. TRUE,
ACTUAL AND NOT FALSE, EVERYONE PROGRESSES. Both
'share-section' birth and death and 'change' birth and death have ended.
THE FIVE DWELLINGS EXHAUSTED, TWO DEATHS ETERNALLY CEASE. This then is
called genuine enlightenment. ALL
SUFFERING REMOVED; THE TURNING WHEEL COMES TO REST. This
is the genuine Bodhisattva; TRUE, ACTUAL AND NOT FALSE, EVERYONE
PROGRESSES. Immediately go forward and cultivate. Do you want to be a
Bodhisattva? Then go forward and cultivate. Go forward with diligence
and vigor. You should not imitate this lazy sramanera, these lazy
bhiksus, lazy upasakas, and lazy upasikas who sleep day in
and day out. The lazy Sramaneras eyes never open. Today I kicked
him twice. Because he did not know what was going on, he thought,
"Have I turned into a snake?" and immediately woke up. Since
he did not know whether he had seen clearly or not, he was very funny to
look at. THE
ABOVE DISCLOSES PRAJNA’S DEPTHS.
The section of the PRAJNA PARAMITA HEART SUTRA above speaks
manifestly and the part that follows speaks secretly. BRIEFLY
EXPLAINING THE CH’AN OF PATRIARCHS EAST AND WEST. The
gathas above, which I composed, briefly explain the meditation
method of the Eastern and Western patriarchs. What is this method of
meditation? The first gatha said, RETURN
THE LIGHT INWARDLY TO CONTEMPLATE OWN BEING. THE
ENLIGHTENMENT OF ALL SENTIENCE SUCH IS SATTVA. You
should return the light inwardly. Everybody has the virtuous
character(istics) of the wisdom of the Thus Come One; however, because
of false thinking and attachment, common people are unable to verify it.
If you wish to attain the virtuous character of the wisdom of the Thus
Come One, you must not be attached. If you are capable of
non-attachment, then turn the light inward. Study these gathas, so that
you are fairly familiar with them and then sit and investigate dhyana.
The doctrine of the patriarchs of the East is just this. Just this is
also the doctrine of the patriarchs of the West. Of the East and West
mentioned before, India is said to be the West and China the East. The
East and West of the present are neither India nor China.
Where are they? East is east and West is west; the directions
have not moved or changed, but the realms (states) have changed. East is
the people of the East and West is the people of the West. The West now
will give birth to a patriarch and the Eastern patriarchs are quite
numerous. There are so many of them, they are like water which flows to
the West. Whoever wants to be a patriarch yet wants to sleep all the
time cannot be successful. Now East is not East and West is also not
West. So it is said; "Not East and West," or "Not a
thing." North and South have also disappeared. Why? Now we have
developed relations with the moon. So from this side, we do not know to
which side we are going. There is no north, south, east and west. Now we
have all become the original one all become the center; yet the center
has no center. This is just
changing into great with nothing beyond, small with nothing within.
There is "neither I spoke about, before: Neither
great, nor small, neither inside, nor out. You
should get to this state. You should be capable of it, of seeing how
wonderful it is. That is truly no trouble at all. Ultimately, what is
the state of "neither great, nor small, neither inside, nor
out"? If you understand, without my needing to say, you will still
understand. If you do not understand and I tell you, you will still not
understand. Today we will explain a little faster and finish the last gatha. Neither
great, nor small, neither inside, nor out. is like the four meanings of mantra. You do not remember and I have also forgotten. SUTRA: THEREFORE TO SAY THE PRAJNA PARAMITA MANTRA IS THUS TO SAY THE MANTRA: GATE, GATE, PARAGATE, PARASAMGATE, BODHI SVAHA. EXPLANATION: Mantras
are neither translated nor translatable. Because they fall under the
'translate sounds but not words' category of the five categories which
are left untranslated, it is unnecessary to speak about them. Their
meanings are inconceivable. Now
I will speak about the mantra. GATHA:
THE MANTRA THUS A SECRET SHARE IS NOT WHAT THEY CAN UNDERSTAND. LIKE
A MONARCH'S EDICT, EVERYONE TOGETHER FOLLOWS. SO
TOO AS AMONG THE TROOPS, A SECRET PASSWORD. QUESTION,
THE REPLY NOT FITTING, QUICKLY ONE IS PUT IN LINE. THE
GREAT VEHICLE'S WONDERFUL PRINCIPLE LEAVES DISCTINCTIONS, YET THE COMMON LOT PERCEIVE THE FALSE CONDITIONED CAUSE AS TRUE. BECAUSE OF THE FINGER, GAZE AT THE MOON; THE FINGER IS NOT THE MOON. BORROWING THE MANTRA, ILLUMINE THE HEART; THE MANTRA IS THE HEART. EXPLANATION: THE
MANTRA THUS A SECRET SHARE IS NOT WHAT THEY CAN UNDERSTAND. The mantra belongs to the secret teaching; the secret teaching is inconceivable. You cannot use any kind of thought to think about what it is. "The path of words cut off and the place of the heart and the nature already destroyed," means that if you try to think about it, there is no way. LIKE
A MONARCH'S EDICT, EVERYONE TOGETHER FOLLOWS. The
analogy for this is one of the four kinds about which I spoke several
days ago: LIKE A MONARCH'S EDICT. When the monarch sends down an edict,
it is respectfully received by all the officials. SO
TOO AS AMONG THE TROOPS, A SECRET PASSWORD. It
is also like a secret password among the troops. Did I not say several
days ago that, for instance, they might say, "Troops, the password
for today is 'victory'." So as soon as the soldiers meet up with
another soldier, they ask, "Password?" If the soldier says,
'Victory', then he is one of their own people and there is nothing more
to say. If they ask you the password and you say, 'Lucky', which is
wrong, then the fighting begins. They shoot you. Because there are so
many people in the army, they use such secret passwords, one each day.
In this way they do not mistake outsiders for their own people. Mantras
have this meaning too. QUESTION,
THE REPLY NOT FITTING, QUICKLY ONE IS PUT IN LINE. This
means that if you do not answer the password correctly then they
"put you in line". THE
GREAT VEHICLE'S WONDERFUL PRINCIPLE LEAVES DISTINCTIONS... The
great vehicle belongs to great vehicle Dharma. The great vehicle's
wonderfully inconceivable Way-principle has no distinctions at all. It
destroys all dharmas and leaves all appearances. Whatever is said is
demolished, this is prajna Dharma. Whatever you say no longer
exists after you say it. YET
THE COMMON LOT PERCEIVE THE FALSE CONDITIONED CAUSE AS TRUE. Common
people suppose these kinds of knowledge and views these states of false
thinking and self-seeking are real. This is mistaking a thief for your
own son. This is being attached to everything with form and appearance,
being attached to shadows. BECAUSE
OF THE FINGER, GAZE AT THE MOON; THE FINGER IS NOT THE MOON. This Sutra points out for you a road on which to cultivate the Way. It is like using a finger to point out the moon. (Now people can go to the moon.) For instance, someone points at the moon with their finger and says, "There is the moon." You people, supposing that the finger is the moon, look at the finger and not at the moon. THE FINGER IS NOT THE MOON, so you should not falsely suppose it is. Although this Sutra teaches you to cultivate the Way, you should not suppose that this Sutra is the Way. It is necessary to cultivate the Way, before you can have attainment. If you do not cultivate and consider that the Sutra is the Way, then you are wrong. BORROWING
THE MANTRA, ILLUMINE THE HEART, THE MANTRA IS THE HEART. Because this mantra is inconceivable, borrowing its strength, you can illumine the heart. Just leave the discriminating heart, leave the self-seeking heart, leave the false-thinking heart. Recite this mantra and hold to it. Holding to this mantra is not understanding, yet in this not understanding there can then be true understanding. So BORROWING THE MANTRA enables you to "ILLUMINE THE HEART and see the nature". THE MANTRA IS THE HEART. If you illumine the heart and see the nature, then you will also understand the meaning of the mantra. —The end— TRANSFERENCE GATHA I vow that the merit from this work will adorn the Buddha's Pure Land, Repaying tour kinds of kindness above, and aiding those in the suffering paths below. May those who see and hear this work bring forth the Bodhi Heart, and when this causal body is done, be born together in the Ultimate Blissful Land. NOTES: 1 If, however, the reader wishes to refresh his memory, see VBS # 24, pp.20-21. 2 ibid., p. 19. 3 A trichiliocosm is a universe composed of 109 world systems. 4 See VBS #12, pp. 19-21. 5
6
7
The desire, form, and formless realms are also known as the triple
8
A line of a previous gatha said, FIVE DWELLINGS EXHAUSTED, TWO 9
For previous discussions of the two types of birth and death, see 10
11 For a listing of the 10 grounds(bhumi) see VBS 323. 12
13
Akin to the phenomena associated with the planchette in the West. 14
15
16
17 See note eight above. 18
Sramanera is a novice bhiksu. Bhiksu is the formal term
for a Buddhist 19
Lit. 20
Quoted from the Buddha's words upon attaining enlightenment: 21
22
23
24 See VBS #23 25 See note one above. 26
The Chinese transliteration is chieh ti chieh ti, po lo chieh
ti, 27
Tripitaka Master Hsuan Tsang of the T'ang Dynasty
28
29 See VBS # 24 30
Lit. 31
Lit. 32
33
The Surangama-sutra (T. 945), Roll 4, says: 34
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wu chu. See VBS #12, pp.22-23.
chu.
Kao seng. In Chinese ‘high’ and ‘tall’ are the same
character,
Seng is an abbreviated
transliteration of sangha, here meaning
p'u sa. See VBS #10, p.15 and p.19, notes 18 and 19.
fu luan.) The person, in this case writing, or
in other cases
Kuan ti kung, hero of the Three Kingdoms Period (
san
kuo shih)
).
Yu Shu, a type of weasel or polecat. The yellow fur
from
(hu li ching).
lung
“dragon”).
tsuo ch'an, 'sitting in dhyana.
ts'an ch'an ta tsuo.
pu shih tung hsi means both.
ch'eng i yuan hua. The Surangama Sutra (T. 945, Roll2) says
t'ang san
pien chih hsing, which means that they then
fulfill
sui shuo sui min.
p'an yuan, lit. 'climbing on causal connections'.
ming hsin chien hsing. 
ming also means
"to