The Heart Sutra decrypted By Bodhankur Mahathero The Heart Sutra presents a highly compressed version of core Buddhist dogma.1,2 That dogma claims, albeit without providing
cogent evidence, that all skandas (i.e. aggregates,
indeed all dharmas = entities) are empty of inherent existence, elsewhere described as
being without atta.
However, in order to give the sutra its esoteric, specifically Mahayana
twist, the compiler of this sutra, probably taking his lead from the Brahmin scholiast
Nagarjuna, deliberately abstracted (and thus
generalised) the sutra’s core meaning (about emptiness) by deleting the
verbal elements ‘of inherent
existence’ (elsewhere ‘atta
and atta’s property’) from the body of the
text. When ‘empty of
inherent existence’ became (abbreviated, hence abstracted as) ‘emptiness’
per se, the meaning of the sutra became
uncertain, indeed, fuzzy (actually more irrational than it already was).
Rather than restore the deleted words back into the sutra to recover the
original meaning (read: dharma = dogma), Mahayana scholastics created a
veritable tsunami of highly imaginative but fundamentally irrelevant and
misleading commentaries (called ‘thickets of views’) about this distorted,
because fundamental detail deleted version of Buddhist dogma. The fundamentally meaningless (hence directed towards mental
emptiness) mantra that ends the Heart Sutra is a further compression
and abstraction to almost zero meaning content. Its repetition, as tantric
quiescence device, runs, as it were, an almost empty tape in the head. The
final compression of the Buddhist CREDO is silence (i.e. Zero Response). When the deleted words ‘of inherent existence’ are restored to the text, then the main body of the sutra reads as a simple (Theravada) restatement of core archaic Buddhist belief requiring neither interpretation nor commentary. |
Translation by Donald S. Lopez, Jr3 The Mahayana text with the words ‘of inherent
existence’ deleted from the body of
the text Inherent existence = svabhava sunyam = atma |
Translation
by Donald S.
Lopez, Jr
The missing
words restored by
Victor Langheld, alias Bodhangkur
Inherent existence ≈ atma (Pali: atta) Empty of inherent existence ≈ anatma (Pali: anatta) |
Pali Text sources |
At
that time, the Bodhisattva, the Mahasattva, the
Superior Avalokitesvara was contemplating the practice of the profound perfection of wisdom and saw that those five
aggregates also are empty of inherent existence. Form
is emptiness; emptiness
is form. Emptiness is not
other than form; form is not other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling, discrimination, compositional factors, and consciousnesses are empty. Sariputra, in
that way all phenomena are empty, without
characteristic, un-produced, un-ceased, stainless, not stainless, undiminished, unfilled. Therefore,
Sariputra, in emptiness
there is no form, no feeling, no discrimination,
no compositional factors, no consciousness, no eye, no ear, no nose,
no tongue, no body, no mind, no form, no sound, no odour, no taste, no object
of touch, no phenomenon.
There is no eye constituent, no mental constituent, up to and including no
mental consciousness constituent. There is
no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance,
up to and including no ageing and death and no extinction of ageing and death. Similarly,
there are no sufferings, no origins, no cessations,
no paths, no wisdom, no attainment, and also no non-attainment. Therefore, Sariputra, because
Bodhisattvas have no attainment they depend on and abide in the perfection of wisdom and their minds are
without obstruction and without fear.
Having completely passed beyond all error they go to the completion of
nirvana. All
the Buddhas who
abide in the three times have been fully awakened into unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment through relying
on the perfection of wisdom. Therefore,
the mantra of perfection of wisdom
is the mantra of
great knowledge, the unsurpassed mantra, the mantra
equal to the unequalled, the
mantra that thoroughly pacifies all suffering. Because it is not false it
should be known to be true. The
mantra of the perfection of wisdom is stated: Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone completely beyond, enlightenment., Svaha!” |
At
that time, the Bodhisattva, the Mahasattva, the
Superior Avalokitesvara was contemplating the practice of the profound perfection of wisdom and saw that those five
aggregates also are empty of inherent existence. Form
is emptiness of inherent existence; emptiness of inherent existence is form. Emptiness of inherent
existence is not other than form; form is not
other than emptiness of inherent existence. In the same way, feeling,
discrimination, compositional factors and consciousnesses are empty of inherent existence. Sariputra, in
that way all phenomena are empty of inherent
existence, without inherent existence characteristic, un-produced, un-ceased,
stainless, not stainless, undiminished, unfilled. Therefore,
Sariputra, in emptiness of inherent existence there is no
inherently existing form, no
inherently existing feeling, no
inherently
existing discrimination, no inherently
existing compositional factors, no inherently
existing consciousness, no inherently
existing eye, no
inherently
existing ear, no
inherently
existing nose, no
inherently
existing tongue, no
inherently
existing body, no
inherently
existing mind, no
inherently
existing form, no
inherently
existing sound, no
inherently
existing odour, no inherently
existing taste, no
inherently
existing of touch, no inherently existing phenomenon. There
is no inherently existing constituent, no
inherently
existing mental constituent, up to and including no inherently existing mental consciousness constituent. There is no inherently
existing ignorance, no inherently
existing extinction of ignorance,
up to and including no inherently
existing ageing and death and no
inherently existing extinction of ageing
and death. Similarly,
there are no
inherently
existing sufferings, no
inherently
existing origins, no
inherently
existing cessations, no inherently
existing paths, no inherently
existing wisdom, no inherently existing attainment,
and also no inherently existing non-attainment. Therefore, Sariputra,
because Bodhisattvas have no inherently existing attainment they depend on and abide in the perfection of wisdom and their minds are
without (possibly
existing, but inherently non-existing) obstruction and without (possibly existing, but inherently non-existing)
fear. Having completely passed beyond all (possibly
existing but inherently non-existing) error they go to the
completion of (inherently non-existing)
nibbana. All
the Buddhas who
abide in the (inherently non-existing) three times have been fully awakened into
unsurpassed, perfect, complete (inherently non-existing) awakening through relying on the (inherently non-existing) perfection of wisdom. Therefore,
the mantra of perfection of wisdom
(i.e. of the non-inherence of existence of all
sankharas) is the mantra of great knowledge, the unsurpassed mantra, the mantra
equal to the unequalled, the
mantra that thoroughly pacifies all (existing (?) but
inherently non-existing) suffering. Because it is not false it should be known to be
true. The
mantra of the perfection of wisdom is stated: Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone completely beyond, awakened, Amen!.” To wit: “Empty, empty, empty, empty (= awakening). Amen!” Meditation using the mantra “Empty, empty, empty, empty” pacifies (i.e. eliminates distress). @ 100% application, 100% elimination of distress (hence nibbana) is achieved. The same affect is achieved by visualising the SRI Yantra. Clinging to (or desiring) that which is empty of inherent existence leads to distress, and to the belated realization: “Vanity, Vanity, all is vanity” |
The quasi deity = Mahasattva Avalokitesvara
appears to have been invented by a Mahayana sectarian. Samyutta Nikàya Also
S. 35:85 see below ditto ditto Logic
conclusion Samyatta Nikaya 35:85 (see below) Sabbe sankhara anatta, i.e. ‘Know, all emerged phenomena are empty of atta!” Dhammapada |
For
empty of inherent
existence (to wit: anatma) read: svabhāva-sunyān For
(the) emptiness…of inherent
existence read: sunyata Note: The Tathagata responded to the two questions about atta (≈ inherent existence) which the wanderer Vacchagotta put to him, namely “How is it, Master Gotama, does SELF (≈ inherent existence) exist?” and “How is it, then, Master Gotama, does SELF (≈ inherent existence) not exist?” with silence. |
For anatta read: empty of atta
To wit, empty of SELF (hence permanent and empty of distress) Taken from the
Samyutta Nikaya 35 : 85
Ananda said: “ ‘Empty world, empty world’ is said Lord; in what way is ‘empty world’ said?” The Buddha answered: “It is because of what is empty of
SELF
and SELF’s
property that ‘empty world’ is said, Ananda. And what is empty of SELF
and SELF’s
property? The eye ... forms ... eye-consciousness … eye‑contact… any
feeling ... born of eye-contact ... The ear, etc... The nose, etc.... The
tongue, etc.... The body, etc.... The mind, etc … any feeling whether pleasant, painful or
neither-painful-nor‑pleasant born of mind-contact is empty of
SELF
and SELF’s
property.” |
1 … Similar to the Christian CREDO that
includes the most important beliefs of post Augustinian Christianity 2… E. Conze: Buddhist
Thought in India (1962 E. Conze: Thirty Years of Buddhist Studies (1967) 3… Donald
S. Lopez, Jr: The Heart Sutra explained
(1988) Donald S. Lopez, Jr: Elaborations ion emptiness (1996) Copyright ©
2018 Victor Langheld |