3-8-2011 Prajnaparamita Hrdaya Sutra: A Realized Realm

The Art Of Meditation 

By Master Sheng-yen Lu
Translated and published by Lei Zang Si Singapore

This was translated from Grandmaster Lu's 45th book, 坐禪通明法.

CHAPTER 22 - Prajnaparamita Hrdaya Sutra: A Realized Realm

Prajnaparamita Hrdaya Sutra reads:
Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva had practiced the prajnaparamita for a long time. He says that if you take the five aggregates as empty, you can eradicate all sufferings. Shariputra, you should know that form is no different from void and void is no different from form. Form is void and void is form. Feeling, perception, volitional behavior, and consciousness are also like this. Sharishi, please remember that all things are void. They neither come into being nor go into destruction; they neither become defiled nor can be cleaned; they neither increase nor decrease. Consequently, there is no form in the void. There is no feeling, perception, volitional activity or consciousness. Nor is there the eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue, the body, or the mind. Nor color, sound, smell, taste, touch. There is no longer the realm of vision, nor the realm of consciousness. There is neither aging and death nor the end of aging and death. There is no more of sorrow, cause of sorrow, cessation of sorrow, or path to liberation. There is neither wisdom nor acquisition. Everything is acquired precisely by non-acquisition. Bodhicitta is achieved by non-cultivation. This is the true prajnaparamita. Due to the prajnaparamita, there is no hindrance in your mind. Thanks to the absence of hindrance, there is nothing to be feared. You are far away from confusion and illusion, and will go into nirvana in the end. All Buddhas of the three times achieved the anuttara-samyak-sambodhi by practicing the prajnaparamita. It can be seen from this that the Prajnaparamita Hrdaya Sutra is the most effective mantra, a wisdom mantra, supreme mantra, and unequaled mantra. The Sutra can move all sorrow. This is absolute truth. For this reason we should chant the Prajnaparamita Hrdaya Sutra. Say this mantra now: "jie-ti, jie-ti, pra-jie-ti, prasang-jie-ti, bo-di-sa-po-he."
From ancient times up to the present day, there have been many high ranking monks who gave explanations to the Sutra. Their explanations have been merely literal interpretations of the written text. Possibly, however, not all of them have noticed that this is a description of a realm that has been once realized. Today, it has dawned on me that this Sutra is a record of how one felt upon realization. I say this because if you read the Sutra after you have realized, you would experience a mutual affinity of "So this is it." The following is what I felt:
"Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva" refers to all Bodhisattvas who have realized and enjoy self-mastery.
"Has practiced the prajnaparamita for a long time" means when you reach the very depth of concentrated meditation where great wisdom emerges.
"When you take the five aggregates as empty, you can eradicate all sufferings"-- This is the most subtle point of the entire Sutra. It is also the contemplation on the void in the three contemplations. There are other ways to reach this realm. One is the practice of "the return of the spirit" and the other is "return to the void after removing all karma."
"Form is no different from void and void is no different than form. Form is void and void is form. Feeling, perceptions, volitional activities and consciousness are also like this." -- This is the most enlightened observation and most subtle wisdom about the realm of form.
"All things are void. They neither come into being nor go into destruction; they neither become defiled nor can be cleaned; they neither increase nor decrease. There is no more of sorrow, cause of sorrow, or path to liberation. There is neither wisdom nor acquisition..."-- This is a description of the state of Dharmakaya (essence body) of all Buddhas: the tranquil state of the complete extinction of passions and freedom from the cycles of birth and death.
"Due to the prajnaparamita, there is no hindrance in your mind. Thanks to the absence of hindrance, there is nothing to be feared. You are far away from confusion and illusion." -- To realize is the reach the other shore, to reach the Ocean of Mahavairocana, to see the emptiness of the Dharma Realm. This is the purification of the eighth consciousness, and consequently there is no hindrance in the mind and there is nothing to be feared.
"They neither came into being nor go into destruction"-- Like a mirror, though it shows up forms of illusion, these forms in fact neither come into being nor go into destruction.
"They neither become defiled nor can be cleaned." -- Since these forms are illusionary without birth or death, it goes without saying that there is no defilement or cleanness to talk about.
"They neither increase or decrease." -- Like the water in the rivers, they come and go, flowing here and there, but with neither loss nor gain.
"To achieve the anuttara-samyak-sambodhi" -- This is exactly staying in "the realm of perfection when there is one mind without thought; there is nothing to lose in practicing the method of illumination." When one is far away from confusion and illusion, one's mind is not movable and can stay fixed on practice.
"jie-ti, jie, pra-jie-ti, prasang-jie-ti, bo-di-sa-po-he." -- This is the heart mantra. The first jie-ti is "the attachment to the idea that human beings have unchangeable forms." The second jie-ti means "attachment to the notion that all things have unchangeable forms." Put together they refer to attachment to the above both notions. The third jie-ti is the attachment to the notion that all sentient beings have real forms. The fourth jie-ti is the attachment to the notion that sentient beings have no real forms and that only things have real existence. The essence of this mantra is to eradicate the attachment to all the above four notions, so that, one can liberate himself as well as others and finally attain perfect enlightenment.
I could say that the Prajnaparamita Hrdaya Sutra is nothing but a realm of meditation under full self-mastery. In this realm, you start from the feeling that everything outside is empty, so that you stay away from the six objects of sensation and perception (color and form, sound, odor, taste, tactile object, and mental object) and keep under control your six sense organs. Then, it becomes a realm of void in which there is "no thought outside the realm and no realm outside the mind." This is contemplation of wisdom.
Inside oneself, the Buddha lights fill up one's entire body to purify his original nature. As a result, the minds of the past, the present and the future merge into one-- a realm in which "there is not thought beyond the event and no event beyond the mind." In this realm one can attain perfect enlightenment and eradicate all sorrow. This is also the work of light emanation from the brow-point-- everything comes by itself, as "acts without acting."
Intuitively, since you are away from confusion and illusion, you feel that there is no difference between tranquility and extinction, and that there is no distinction between the Buddha and yourself, and that there is nothing in the Dharma Realm. The sentences "There is neither form nor non-form. They neither come into being nor go into destruction. They neither get defiled nor can be cleaned. They neither increase nor decrease" constitute an understanding experience of such a realm. It shows one has entered the gate leading to the greatest liberation. At this point, one's Buddha nature merges with all the Buddhas in the dharma nature, after which one never returns to fall into the cycles of birth and death. This is ultimate realization.
Our meditation of luminosity is the best method for meditation, which teaches people to start with "initial tranquility," move onto luminosity at the brow-point, and finally merge with Buddhas from the ten directions. Following this method, you can become a Buddha directly. Only this method is detached from speech and form. We should treasure it for it is priceless.
Since I have attained realization, I always feel that my thinking is extraordinarily clear in my quiet sitting, staying stable in Samadhi. The samadhi light of the Original Nature illuminates the earthly world, with nothing unseen, nothing unfelt. Great sympathy goes to all sentient beings under Heaven, who are utterly unaware of birth and death-- practitioners who fall into wrong teachings or heresy are found everywhere; some tell great lies, slandering Buddhas and the sacred teachings; some even claim to have killed a certain Buddha or wiped out a certain school of thought; few people practice step by step as prescribed, but want to reach the sky in a single bound. In fact, the different ways of practice predetermine the final respective fruitions. I would list them as follows:
To practice the Ten Meritorious Acts of the lowest grade-- to be born as a human again. (Note: the ten acts are: avoid killing; avoid stealing; avoid committing adultery; avoiding telling lies; avoid slandering; avoid frivolous talk; avoid rude or harsh speech; greedlessness; tolerance; right view.)
To practiced the Ten Meritorious Acts of the middle grade-- to become an Asura.
To practice the Ten Meritorious Acts of the highest grade-- to become a celestial being.
To practice the Fourfold Noble Truths (the truth concerning sorrow, the cause of sorrow, the cessation of sorrow and the path to nirvana.) -- to become an Arhat.
To practice the Twelve Causations Method (the causations are: spiritual ignorance; blind volition; consciousness; mental functions and the formation of physical elements; the six sense-organs; contact with external objects; sensation; desire for pleasure; grasping what one desires; the state of existing; birth; old age and death) -- to become a Pratyeka Buddha.
To practice the Six Paramitas (charity; observing the precepts; perseverance; energy; meditation, and wisdom)-- to become a Bodhisattva.
To practice "objectless compassion" (the compassion of a Buddha which, based on the realization of the void, arises without perceiving any object)-- to become a Buddha in the present life.
According to my observation, in the present world, practitioners of small "root of goodness" make up the great majority while people with great "root of goodness" are difficult to find. Ordinary people can never understand my realization. Commoners with little intelligence, be they masters or ordinary monks, can never fathom my depth of understanding, nor can those who have practiced for Bodhisattvahood for a long time. It is an unparalleled event in the present age that I have realized " the meditation for luminosity" in the teeth of repeated slanders. In the world today, there are only methods to urge people to do good so as to be born human again or to join the celestial beings. The truly great methods of cultivation are nowhere to be found. It can be seen from this that people with great "root of goodness" are really rare nowadays.
The "meditation of luminosity" advocated by our Ling Xian Sect came into being in the right time. not only can it initiate beginners, or facilitate the intermediate practitioners, it can also help the most advanced cultivators to attain ultimate realization. It is much clearer now than ever which Dharma door is superior. The meditation of luminosity is unequalled.

For this I have composed the following verse:

Most superior is the meditation of luminosity,
Which can hardly be fathomed by ordinary men.
Embraced by the land of eternal tranquil light,
One can become a Buddha here and now.

Amituofo

Lotuschef

Pure Karma

True Buddha School