To begin, let’s listen to the English chant of the Heart Sutra:
Below, Bob Harris explains the Heart Sutra.
Next find an explanation of the Heart Sutra from the Wikipedia of Buddhism:
The main part of the (longer version of the) sutra begins when the Buddha, with his students gathered around him, enters into a state of deep meditation. At this time, his disciple Avalokiteshvara experiences a profound insight into the empty nature of all phenomena.
Then Shariputra, another close disciple of the Buddha, asks Avalokiteshvara: “How should someone train if they wish to engage in the practice of prajnaparamita?” He is asking, in other words, “How can I practice these teachings (on prajnaparamita) in order to realize the true nature of things?”
In response to Shariputra, Avalokiteshvara describes the “true nature of things” by referring to specific sets of phenomena that are described in the Abhidharma teachings.[10] Thus, Avalokiteshvara explains emptiness in terms of:
- the five skandhas,
- the twelve ayatanas, and
- the eighteen dhatus.
In the Abhidharma teachings, each of the above sets of phenomena are used to illustrate the impermanent, compounded nature of all phenomena. However, the early Abhidharma scholars still posited the existence of ultimately real mental and physical factors called dharmas. In regards to the physical factors, the early Abhidharma theory was similar to the Western theory of the “atom.” The Abhidharma theory described the physical factors as indivisible particles that were the “building blocks” of all other phenomena.
Thus, in reference to the skandha of form (rupa), meaning physical matter, Avalokiteshvara states:Form is empty. Emptiness is form.
In this famous statement, Avalokiteshvara refutes the existence of even the atomic-sized physical particles described in the Abhidharma. He is asserting that there are no “building blocks” of physical matter; there is no smallest particle. All of phenomena is lacking inherent existence (svabhāva); thus all things are empty (śūnyatā) in nature.
Avalokiteshvara goes on to state: In emptiness, there is no form…
Here, Avalokitishvara is not saying that “form” (rupa) doesn’t exist. His meaning is that when you analyze “form” on the deepest level, according to the logic of the Prajnaparamita teachings, you find there is no inherent existence (svabhāva). Thus while form appears to be solid and lasting, on the ultimate level, the true nature of all form is that things appear, yet they are empty–like a magicians trick, a mirage, or a sand castle in sky. (See Eight similes of illusion.)
Avalokiteshvara continues:[there is] no sensation, no recognition, no conditioning factors, no consciousness
Here, Avalokiteshvara is saying the the remaining skandhas within the “five skandhas,” the mental factors, also lack inherent existence. The nature of these mental factors is empty.
Avalokiteshvara continues:
- In reference to the twelve ayatanas:… [there is] no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind; no visible form, no sound, no odour, no taste, no texture and no mental objects
- In reference to the eighteen dhatus:There is no element of the eye, up to no element of the mind, and further up to no element of the mind consciousness.
In the above statements, Avalokiteshvara is pointing to the empty nature of all the constituents of reality. He then goes on to assert the emptiness of the twelve links of dependent originationand the Four Noble Truths.
Thus, Avalokiteshvara states, the bodhisattva relies on the perfection of wisdom teachings, which present the highest, most subtle view of the nature of reality–that all phenomena are completely empty of inherent existence.
Avalokiteshvara concludes by reciting the Heart Sutra mantra, which is considered a condensation of the perfection of wisdom teachings.
The Buddha then arises from meditation and praises the words of Avalokiteshvara.
***
If you are motivated to read an excellent commentary on the Heart Sutra, for further reading, I recommend going to this link: https://buddhawithin.org.uk/2019/04/19/heart-sutra/
The article’s conclusion:
… the point, which is that the Truth, Prajnaparamita, cannot be grasped.
We can approach it by using our logical mind, but the nearer we get to it, the more that way of thinking breaks down. However hard we try, we can never grasp the prize. Yet the effort is not wasted. As we struggle to understand we are forced to let go of our wrong understanding and step into a space of not knowing, very clear and awake. This is the state in which the Living Truth can reveal itself to us as we let go of our proud clinging to our views and preconceptions.
In this way we come to balance the faculties of Prajna (wisdom) and Shraddha (faith). In the end the Truth erupts into our awareness as direct experience that satisfies the heart. It is our heart that knows that what we have found is true. It is our heart that overcomes its fear and comes to learn to trust what it has discovered.
So all there is to do in the end is to abide, to rest, to stay, just as one is, in the Reality of Prajnaparamita. How should one rest? With faith and confidence. In other words, without fear. Then the Living Truth is simply there. It has adhistana (blessing), power and influence from its own side.
So you can open out to that and be as receptive as you can be. That is perhaps what it means, in essence, to pray. It is a very humble and grateful frame of mind.
Finally, my commentary: At the risk of sounding sacrilegious, and I am only in my beginning stages of trying to become one with the Heart Sutra, it seems to me that modern thinkers such as Elon Musk are convinced that we are in a computer like simulation, and in so thinking he is trying to come up with his own Heart Sutra. Certainly, near death experiencers and other seers all report something like an Akash, a record of all things that have ever happened, although, I might add, perhaps that record is malleable. A similar line of thinking is that we are caught in a Matrix, and that is why the movie, “The Matrix” captured a resonance in so many people. And particle physicists are driven to find smaller and smaller particles. They are trying to understand reality but haven’t yet found what they are looking for. Physicists are perplexed by wondering why the universe is mathematical. Many years ago, the Buddhists were also trying to understand the physics of existence, but they conceded. So, nothing matters. None of these thoughts and grasping for explanations matter. One of my favorite lines in the explanation of the Heart Sutra in the link above, is “At first we discover the world to be empty, but when we examine Reality more deeply we find that this empty world is inseparable from the awareness that discovers it.” The reason I like this sentence so much is that I think consciousness is fundamental to the structure of the universe, the glue that holds it together. But do we have consciousness, or does consciousness have us? Albert Einstein would have called this idea “spooky”. So, yes, to some degree we help create our own reality, or, non-reality. This is all such a great mystery that cannot be solved by logic and so eventually we must abandon all attempts to grasp at solutions to it and just accept it. Perhaps at this point, we are EMPTY. We surrender. We become one with everything. This is when seekers like us are ready to go out into the world, and be, just as it is. We are that 5th stage of the Buddhist who has abandoned the goal of reaching the mountaintop in favor of living our life in this world of form by chopping wood and carrying water. In less eloquent terms, perhaps we have given up trying to understand this mysterious form world in which we live this now life. Or it is deeper, so deep that a oneness has occurred in one’s heart with our surroundings. The article concludes that fearlessness is the end state. By living from our heart and understanding and becoming wise through the portal of the heart, come compassion and kindness. Because, most all near death experiencers come back to tell us that the glue that holds everything together is LOVE. And, LOVE resides in the heart. Our heart is the portal to love and oneness.
One Seeker's Story 