Herein contains the ESSENCE of Buddha's teachings.
http://www.tonglen.oceandrop.org/TNH_Talk1.htm
The
Sutras on Dependant Co-arising
and
Great Emptiness
Dear
Sangha,
Today is the
19th March and we are in the New Hamlet in the
spring retreat.
We have
studied the Sutra on the Middle Way and at the same time we have
looked at the Sutra on Dependent Co-arising and the Sutra on Great
Emptiness. The Sutra on Dependent Co-arising is No. 296 in
the Samyukta Agama. The word "Samyukta" is
generally understood as "miscellaneous." This word gives us a
rather negative first impression, as if items classed as
"miscellaneous" were unimportant. The Samyukta
Agama is, in fact, a collection of sutras which contain
the essence of the Buddhadharma. If you look deeply
into the sutras of the Samyukta Agamayou will see the
source of Buddhism, thus making it even greater than the
other Agamas, like the Madhya
Agama or the Dirgha Agama. These last two
collections have been organised in a special manner; but in
the Samyukta Agama, presentation is more natural. If
you want to get close to the original teachings of the Buddha,
examine the Samyukta Agama. It is a collection of
short sutras containing the essence of
the Buddhadharma. The Sutra on Dependent Co-arising,
The Sutra on the Middle Way, and The Sutra on Great Emptiness are
all there in the Samyukta Agama.
First, we
shall examine the sutra called Causes and Conditions and dependent
Co-arising. (Because "causes and conditions", and "interdependence"
carry a similar meaning, it is sufficient to call the sutra
"Dependent Co-arising.")
The word
"Cause" means the seed, the principle cause or condition.
"Conditions" here means other necessary conditions, but they may
not be the principle conditions. Studying the word as written in
Chinese reveals a number of things, one being that there is
something very great within a small boundary or square. If
something is to become great, it must break through those
boundaries. Thus there are four walls enclosing the word "great" in
the Chinese character. When you look at a mustard seed, it is small
because the other conditions are not there for it to be great. But
when the mustard seed is put into the earth and watered, it becomes
a great plant. The conditions to bring the mustard seed to fruition
are water, earth, fertiliser, and warmth. Notice that the
conditions are also causes, but the primary cause, of course, is
the seed itself; and the subsidiary causes are the conditions
necessary to support the primary cause to develop. Thus, we can
translate causes and conditions as interdependent origins or
dependent co-arising. "Co" means together; simultaneously;
"dependent" means relying on each other. Something cannot arise
alone, nothing can stand on its own; everything is dependent upon
something else.
We have the
word "independence". There are Buddhists who live in America who
say that although we celebrate Independence Day, we cannot really
live without being dependent on other countries. We should talk
about celebrating "Dependence or Interdependence Day." Because one
country has to depend on other countries in order to
exist.
"Causes and
Conditions" and "Interdependent Origins" are terms; "Dependent
Co-Arising" is a term. In the Sutra of Great Emptiness and the
Sutra on Causes and Conditions, it is said, "This is, because that
is." This is the meaning of interdependence. "This arises because
that arises". The word "arises' is better than the word "born".
This is the definition of the Sutra of Dependent Co-arising and it
is repeated many times in the Agamas: "This is;
therefore, that is." "This is, because that is; this is not,
because that is not." "This ceases to be because that ceases to
be." "This is like this, because that is like that." That is the
definition of co-arising in the sutra and that is the best
definition we can give. If we smile, the mirror smiles back at us,
because if we are kind, our brothers and sisters will be
kind.
In Buddhism
there are many theories concerning causes and conditions. There are
theories which talk about "four causes and conditions," or twenty,
or twenty-two conditions, or twelve causes and conditions; but
regardless of the number, "conditions" which are related to each
other bring about a result which is existence or co-existence. If
those causes and conditions were not related, they could not result
in existence. When these conditions are together, connected, or
inter-related, we recognise a phenomenon, we have a perception
about a phenomenon. The teachings on Dependent Co-arising say that
whether a Buddha is or is not present in the world, dependent
co-arising remains the basis of everything. This truth, this law is
always there in the field of all phenomena. This truth, or law, is
always present in all dharma realms.
We are
already familiar with the term dharmadhatu. It has
lying behind it the word, "world." lokadhatu in
Sanskrit. In Sanskrit the word "world" refers to this world. Within
this world you see things that appear to be born and they die,
apparently independent of each other. The grapefruit is independent
of the lemon. But in the dharmadhatu, the lotus is
not different from the meditation hall, a man is not different from
his brother, all things are interconnected; in the one is the all.
All dharmas, all phenomena, dwell in the dharmadhatu. If we can be
in touch with them deeply, we can be in touch with their no-birth
and no-death nature. The more superficial way of looking is we will
be caught in the lokadhatu and we will see them
being born and dying and not being related to each other. In The
Sutra of Co-arising, we should understand that according to the
teachings concerning Dependent Co-arising all phenomena dwell in
their dharma nature. We have our dharma nature; the flower has its
dharma nature. If we can be in touch with that, we are beyond the
ideas of being born and dying. If we can be in touch with the
dharma nature of the flower, we won't see the flower as something
separate from other things. So the idea of phenomena dwelling in
the dharmadhatu is very important. We can see
the essence of the Mahayana already in these
sutras.
When we come
to line 11 we see the words, "these phenomena which are
interdependent". When we observe things properly and do not look at
them in an upside-down manner, we can penetrate dependent
co-arising. We will realise the teaching of interdependence. Here
the word "penetrate" means to become one with the truth of
interdependence. If we are in accord with that, one with that, we
have exact and absolute understanding, that is called "to witness"
and "to penetrate" and "to be in accord with." Then we will know
clearly what is meant by the teaching on interdependence. When we
have seen that, we are no longer caught in returning to the past to
ask, "Was I there in the past? If so, what kind of creature was I?
What kind of person was I? What was my form? What was my content?
And we are not occupied with the future asking, "In the future will
I exist, and if so, what kind of species will I be?" When I return
to the present, I will not ask questions about whether or not I
exist. Who says, "Do we exist or not? Where did I come from, where
will I go?" These are questions we ask when we have no
understanding of dependent co-arising. When we have been able to
penetrate these teachings, we go beyond these ropes which bind us,
like the view of self, the view of sentient beings, and the view of
lifespan. Or the view of divination, wanting to divine the future,
"How will we be in the future, what is my destiny tomorrow?" When
we, in Plum Village, look in to the poem of 'Kieu', to find out our
future for the year, what we are doing is asking the ancestral
teachers, "How should I practise this year?" We are not trying to
divine about the future.
When we have
gone beyond these four ideas, we come to situation of the
birthlessness of dharmas. Birthlessness means no-birth and
no-death. This birthlessness of dharmas, is the dharmadhatu, it is
the basis of nirvana. When we practice skilfully we can penetrate
the teachings of interdependence. As far as the teachings of
interdependence are concerned there is right view, the view of
things as they are. This is the skilful view, the skilful
understanding, the skilful practice, and the skilful penetration.
The practice has to be skilful. It is not necessary to work so hard
that we exhaust ourselves in order to realise the way; instead, it
is because we have the skills to do that. 'Practicing skilfully'
means that our practice needs our intelligence, we have to use our
intelligence when we practice.
That is the
Sutra on Interdependent Co-arising, and now we will go on to the
Sutra on Great Emptiness. The Sutra on Great Emptiness also means
interdependent co-arising. Emptiness does not mean non-existence.
Emptiness means embracing everything - completely free, not being
caught in an idea. This is what I heard at a time that the
Buddha was staying in the Buffalo Herdsmans' Village, the
Buddha said to the bhikkhus, "I will teach you the Dharma. This
Dharma is beautiful in the beginning, beautiful in the middle, and
beautiful at the end, its meaning is good, and its taste is good,
it is clear and pure. The life of a monk or nun is clear and
bright". This teaching is called the Great Emptiness Sutra,
the Mahasunyata Sutra. Bhikkhus, you should listen
carefully, and accept this Sutra skilfully.
What is
Emptiness? This is because this is not, this arises because that
arises. Because of ignorance there is impulses; because of impulses
there is consciousness, which results in this great heap of
suffering. We notice that the Six Ayatanas have
been left out. Out of this great mass of suffering arises old age,
sickness, and death. Because we are born, we must to grow old and
die. If anyone asks: "Who is it that has to grow old and die? This
birth, old age, and death, to whom do they belong?" A lack of
understanding makes people state, "It is I, myself, who has to grow
old and die, this old age and death belong to me, to the self."
This is the subject matter of this sutra. When we say old age and
death, people ask, "Who is it that grows old? Who is it that dies?"
These are not intelligent questions. Living beings are caught in
the idea of self. They say we are born, we grow old, we die, and so
we are afraid. But if we are able to overcome the idea of self we
will not say, "I am the one who was born, I am the one who grows
old, I am the one who dies; this birth and death belong to me," if
we say this we then take upon ourselves a lot of suffering with no
benefit.
According to
the teachings of interdependent co-arising, when we understand that
everything is caused and conditioned we don't need a self lying in
the centre of things like this. When we ask, "Who is born, who
grows old, who dies?" It is like when we look at a flower and ask,
"Who is opening?" We don't need someone who is a bud, someone who
opens, and the flower will still be a bud and open. You don't need
an "I" which is born, which will die, and which grows old, why do
you need it? Because we say, "If there is birth, there has to be an
"I" that is born, if there is ageing, there has to be an "I" that
grows old, and if there is death, there has to be someone who will
die." In truth, when we master the teaching of dependent
co-arising, birth is simply birth; old age is simply old age, death
is death; there is no "I" in that. It is only when we are caught in
the idea of self that we say there has to be an "I" who is
born.
Look at the
flower: Has it a soul within it, a self within it? Does it need to
have a self in order to be born, in order to open, and in order to
fade; does it need an "I" in order to exist? The idea that there
has to be an "I" who is the subject to make other things possible
is a misconception. The twelve causes and conditions are like that.
You don't need a subject going around in the twelve links of
dependent co-arising. Dependent co-arising occurs anyway. Rain
happens; you don't have to ask, "Who is falling?" For there to be
rain, there doesn't have to be an "I." In many languages, it is
necessary to say "it" is raining. We have to have a self which is
raining. But if there is rain, is there a self in the rain? We get
used to this way of speaking, that there has to be a subject, a
self, and only then can there be action. In language people have to
put in a subject of the word rain, so we have to say, "it rains".
In Vietnamese we say the sky is raining, or the weather is
raining.
To practice
together in order to see this we must be skilful in our practice,
in our looking, in our awakening. When we say, "I know the wind is
blowing," this sentence can be divided into two phrases. One is "I
know," the other, "the wind is blowing." This is truly a funny
statement. How can you have wind that doesn't blow? As soon as you
have wind, you have blowing; without blowing there is no wind. The
blowing is part of the wind. What's the point of saying, "The wind
is blowing?" Why not just say, "the wind"? We also have the phrase,
"I know." Do we have to have an "I". To just say "know" is enough,
we don't need "I."
It's the
same when we say, "A cloud is floating in the sky, a flower is
opening." If a cloud is not floating in the sky, then it's the
water in the river; if a flower is not open, it's not yet a flower,
it's a bud. "I know" is the same. "Know" is a verb and our
languages state that verbs require subjects, so you have to have
the word "I". If we wish to say the truth, just to say "rain" is
enough. So, with "I know" you can remove the I, "know" is enough on
it's own. Why do you know, when we know we have to know something,
to know that the wind is blowing. "The wind is blowing," is the
object of the knowledge. Therefore the object has a subject within
it. When you know, you have to know something, so all you have to
say is "the wind is blowing", you can get rid of the "know". Or if
you like you can just say, "wind". Look into wind and you will see
the knower there, because the wind is the object of your knowledge,
and if it's wind it must be blowing. So instead of saying, "I know
that the wind is blowing", you can just say "wind". In order to
save space and time, and in order to be nearer to the truth, all
you have to say is "wind", "cloud", "flower", "know". You don't
need a subject. The flower needs no self in order to be born; old
age doesn't need a self in order to be old age; we have simply
become accustomed to the habit of thinking and speaking with a
subject, with a self. This has been happening for so many past
generations, but, unfortunately, the idea that there must be a
subject is something that hides the truth from us.
We know that
there are twelve causes and conditions, and they can lead to a
great mass of suffering. If we are able to transform these twelve
links we will have a lot of freedom and happiness. One of these
twelve links is ignorance. Is it necessary to say that ignorance
comes before everything else? Do we need to say, "In the beginning
there was ignorance?" We know there is no beginning and no end.
That is why we say, "We are your disciples since beginningless
time." If we say, "In the beginning there was ignorance," we
haven't understood anything. It's the same when we walk, sit,
touch, eat, there is ignorance in it. All we need is mindfulness,
and we will see ignorance in our daily life. Ignorance is a lack of
clarity, a lack of looking deeply.
Ignorance
brings in its train impulsive action. Impulse means
energy, samskara. When we misunderstand another
sister, that is ignorance which results in irritation and aversion
to that sister. Energy is called here Samskara, it is
an energy which pushes us to do or say something, that is our
action. This action lies in our unconscious mind. Can we see that
we all have ignorance and impulses in our unconscious mind? Let us
consider a glass of water as an example of our consciousness. One
drop of black ink in that glass of water, and the water becomes
black. That glass of water is our consciousness, and these drops of
ink, ignorance, cloud our consciousness. All our jealousy, all our
despair, come from this ignorance. These negative emotions
are samskara; they are impulses that make us suffer
and make others suffer. Therefore ignorance leads to
impulses(samskara); and samskara also
leads to ignorance; ignorance and samskara give
rise to each other. If we sit quietly and look at ourselves we will
see ignorance and samskara holding hands in us.
When we see and acknowledge this, and smile, we will already feel
better, we feel that we can intervene at this point, and that is
what is meant by practicing. So with a drop of black ink in a glass
of water, clarity becomes obscured. When our wisdom is obscured, it
can no longer be called wisdom; instead, we must call it
consciousness. Consciousness is therefore wisdom which contains a
drop of black ink.
Prajna is
the glass of clear water without the drop of ink in it, once we
have the drop of ink in it,
then prajna becomes vijnana, it
becomes consciousness. Impulses give rise to consciousness, and
consciousness give rise to impulses. We must see clearly that our
conscious mind is holding hands with our samskaras.
We don't know what they are planning together, but we should find
out. Only mindfulness will help us to see what these two are
plotting together.
Consciousness arises in
two ways: as form (or body), and as mind. In Sanskrit it
is namarupa. Our aggregates (skandhas),
our body, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and
consciousness, all belong to this field of psyche-soma and they are
all a manifestation of consciousness. Consciousness is present in
all skandhas. Because
these skandhas contain wrong consciousness,
wrong samskaras; they are therefore the objects of
grasping, and we get caught by them. So they are called the five
elements of grasping. In our own person
our skandhas already contain grasping, because
they are the manifestations of consciousness coloured by ignorance.
Psyche and soma are Greek terms. Psyche refers to our feelings, our
perceptions, and our consciousness; and soma is our body. When we
look into psyche and soma, we see consciousness, ignorance, and
impulses. In our body, there is ignorance. If this ignorance did
not exist in our body, it would not be as it is. It is through
ignorance that we eat junk foods, and we live in a certain way;
that is why our body is what it is.
So if you
look into our feelings you will see the presence of consciousness,
of impulses, and of ignorance. And here consciousness means wrong
consciousness. So our five aggregates are related to consciousness,
the six objects of our senses, and the six organs of sense. Form
and psyche-soma gives rise to the six organs of sense, they
manifest as our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind, each in
turn giving us form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and object of
mind. When we have these twelve things we have contact, and when we
have contact between the six organs and the six objects of sense,
we have feeling-pleasant and unpleasant. Because these six organs
and objects of sense contain ignorance and impulses, when they come
together, because of contact, there is still ignorance, impulses,
and attachment. Therefore contact gives rise to feelings, and these
feelings are conditioned by ignorance. Sometimes, although we think
they are pleasant feelings, they are not, because there is
attachment, there is irritation because there is ignorance in our
feelings. There are things which are not beautiful, but we say they
are. Things which are not pure, we say are pure. Those things which
are not self, we say are self; things which are not enemy, we say
are enemy. So there is ignorance, and it is seen in the
five skandhas, the Six Ayatanas,
contact, and feelings. When feelings contain ignorance, then there
is grasping.
Grasping and
craving don't manifest only after ignorance. They are present in
ignorance from the start. In ignorance there is attachment,
jealousy, anger and hatred. This craving, this attachment gives
rise to grasping, and grasping makes the roots of craving grow
deeper. Once the roots have gone deeper, there is the arising of
the life of suffering, attachment, and bondage. The cycle of
suffering and bondage then manifests in terms of birth, old age,
and death. You can portray the Six Ayatanas, contact, and feeling
all together. Sometimes the Buddha talked like that, he said there
were only seven causes and conditions, and other times he said
there were eight, nine, ten, or twelve. So any number of causes and
conditions are correct, it doesn't mean that twelve causes and
conditions are more correct than ten causes and conditions. So we
can talk about the psyche-soma, but we can also talk about the
five skandhas. So we have twelve links; ignorance,
impulses, consciousness etc, and they’re all linked to one another,
they all influence each other. For example ignorance is not only
the cause of impulses, but impulses are also the cause of
ignorance, and ignorance is also the cause of consciousness and
psyche-soma. In each one of these eleven there is ignorance, in
each of the other eleven links there is samskara, and
in each the other eleven links there is consciousness. So do not
think that the twelve links are in a straight line, one leading on
to the next one. If you take a little of your flesh or your emotion
in one moment of your daily life, you will see that all of the
twelve links are in that small part you have taken. These twelve
causes and conditions lean on each other, are committed to each
other and bring about the great mass of suffering. Each one of the
twelve links is in relation with the other eleven.
If you don't
look practice, if you don’t look deeply, you allow this cycle to
continue. If you practice, if you light up the lamp of mindfulness,
you will say, "that is how it is working. You will say, "let it not
work like that anymore, we have suffered enough already." When we
bring mindfulness into the picture, this ignorance becomes less
dark, and clarity arises. Because we look deeply into the twelve
causes and conditions, the darkness of ignorance is released and
the light begins to appear. From where does this light come? It
comes from the consciousness. Within consciousness is ignorance,
but there is also a seed of awakening, and mindfulness. If we bring
the seed out of consciousness and light it like a lamp, that light
will make the darkness disappear. Very often our suffering, our
despair, helps us to awaken. Thus, clarity can come from ignorance.
When the lamp is alight the ignorance of our attachment, our
despair, will weaken and change. When we have clarity we don’t want
to pay someone back for what they have done, to make somebody
suffer for what they have done to us. We want to do something
greater, we want to help our sister who has made us suffer, because
we know then that if our sister is happy, we shall be happy. So we
have a good aspiration as the cause of our clarity. This clarity
gives rise to the bodhicitta, or the great
aspiration. If you have a great aspiration, have the energy
of bodhicitta within you, that is because you
have seen suffering, you have awakened to the presence of
suffering, and you want to put an end to it. That is why you give
rise to this great aspiration, this bodhicitta, which
comes from clarity.
Therefore
ignorance brings about samskaras which have
blindness in them, actions and emotions which contain fear,
attachment, hatred, and jealousy. When you have clarity this brings
about an energy. That is not blind energy; it is the energy which
will bring us to do things which are useful. We can call this
energy the energy of bodhicitta, or the great
aspiration. If ignorance gives rise to samskara,
clarity gives rise to great aspiration. This great aspiration does
not darken the mind; rather it gives rise to wisdom. In
consciousness there is ignorance, but in wisdom there is not.
Wisdom therefore makes our aspirations stronger and more solid.
When the mind is no
longer vijnana (consciousness), but
is prajna(wisdom), we want to be there to save
beings, we have the great aspiration. The great aspiration gives us
the insight that we have to be there for the beings who are
suffering in the three realms. So we have something which is
equivalent to psyche-soma in order to be present but we don’t call
it psyche-soma, we call
it nirmanakaya (transformation body). We are
present as all other living beings, but living beings contain so
much hatred, so much darkness. Our presence is to bring freshness
and happiness like the flower, to be present like flowers. It is
called the nirmanakaya, and that is the form in
which bodhisattvas are present. There are the
six senses, but this wisdom lays at the basis, while in the first
cycle an ordinary person has the six senses, but the six senses are
the cause of bondage for that person. As for
the bodhisattva the six senses are there, but
they are the transformation body of the bodhisattva;
the six senses do not have ignorance in them, they have the great
vow in them. The transformation body of
the bodhisattva is also in contact with the
objects of the senses, and there is contact between the sense
organs and the object. So here we call the
Six Ayatanas the subject and object of sense.
And there is the contact between subject and object of sense as far
as the bodhisattva is concerned, because
the bodhisattva is there in the world in order
to be in touch. In that contact between the sense organs and the
six objects of sense, there is mindfulness, so there isn’t
ignorance. When the bodhisattva's six organs of
sense are in touch with the six objects of sense, there is
mindfulness. Mindfulness means there is clarity, there is great
aspiration, and wisdom. This contact leads to feeling which also
contains mindfulness. (If you have an interest in very concise
terminology, please read The Heart of the
Buddha.)
Of course,
where there is mindfulness, there will be pleasant, unpleasant, and
neutral feelings. But these feelings do not contain ignorance like
the feelings of ordinary beings, instead these feelings contain
great aspiration and wisdom. So when there is a painful feeling
the bodhisattva knows that it is a painful
feeling, and that it is really a painful feeling. And when there is
a pleasant feeling the bodhisattva knows that it is a pleasant
feeling, and that it is really a pleasant feeling. So there is no
wrong perception within feelings; they are recognised for what they
are. A bodhisattvacan share the suffering of living
beings. When they see someone in great pain, they feel compassion,
they suffer, and the bodhisattva is nourished by
that kind of suffering; it helps to increase their wisdom.
Therefore feeling here is feeling with mindfulness. The feelings
borne by the bodhisattvado not lead to craving. They
lead to compassion, and loving kindness. Seeing living things
suffer, the bodhisattva does not give rise to
anger; instead the suffering gives rise to love and the mind of
compassion. Living beings suffer and they spread their suffering
around them, because they suffer, they crave, and are attached.
When the bodhisattva feels this suffering he is
still free and has compassion and loving-kindness.
Loving
kindness and compassion contain clarity. They do not lead to
attachment, but to freedom. Because the bodhisattva has compassion
and love, he is always able to maintain his freedom, which goes
along with clarity and great aspiration. When we lose our clarity
and our great aspiration, we lose our freedom at the same time.
Therefore, in freedom there is loving-kindness, compassion, and
mindfulness. In the feelings of
the bodhisattva there is also wisdom and
freedom. That is why the freedom of the bodhisattva can be
maintained fully. If clarity and great aspiration are lost, freedom
is lost at the same time.
The
substance of the bodhisattva is freedom, but if
the bodhisattva goes into life, it's not because
of attachment or bondage. Rather, it is because of the great
aspiration. Because of compassion and loving-kindness,
the bodhisattva goes into the world of birth and
death, the world of indifference. Not abandoning the beings who are
drowning and drifting in the three worlds. While living beings are
drowning and drifting, thebodhisattva is going in
freedom in the dharmadhatu. So being or becoming is
the lokadhatu, and the equivalent is
the dharmadhatu. All living beings,
including bodhisattvas, are in the world, but their
way of living is what makes it the lokadhatu or
the dharmadhatu, the pure land or
thesaha-world. So when
the bodhisattva has established his freedom,
the bodhisattva goes into the world. We see
the bodhisattva is with us in the world of birth
and death, but the bodhisattva has gone beyond
that and is dwelling in the world of no birth and no-death in a
very natural and peaceful way. The world of no birth and no-death
is caused or conditioned by clarity. To see things being born and
dying, that is ignorance, but when we see things without birth and
death, that is clarity.
Here we have
the twelve causes and conditions in two aspects: the first is life
and death; the second is liberation and nirvana. The
cycle of birth and death is that in which ordinary living beings
drown and sink because of their ignorance. The other cycle is that
in which the bodhisattvas realise awakening. We
know through these twelve links, we do not need a subject called
"I", because if we can penetrate the world of
the dharmadhatu we do not need a subject, we do
not need a self. Therefore the question that is given in this sutra
is "Who is it who grows old, who is it who owns old-age?" The
answer is, if you still require a subject to go through birth, old
age, and death - if you retain the ideas that this is my life span,
my self - then you are not yet a real practitioner.
Who is born,
grows old, and dies? Life span is this body, or life span is not
this body? These questions give rise to so many other questions,
but these are philosophical questions. These questions have one
meaning although they arise in many different forms. It’s just an
idea, but when spoken it has many different forms. People who are
caught in questions like this, and are occupied by them, are not
worthy to be someone practising. If you hear someone say that
life-span is one with our body, then that person is not worthy to
be called a practitioner. If you say that your life-span is not
your body, it’s not right either, because all these things are
caught in ideas. When a bodhisattva is able to
penetrate the causes and conditions of the teachings of
interdependent arising then, in the twelfth line it says, "our mind
will not fall into either of these two extremes". We are not caught
in one of these two ideas, that our body is our life-span or our
life-span is not our body. We can go directly on the middle way,
and we know that the middle way is the way which goes beyond the
pairs of opposites. These pairs of opposites are; is/is not,
permanence/annihilation, same/different, one/many.
Here we must
remember that if you are still occupied with questions like the
ones we have examined, "Was I there in the past, what animal, what
thing was I in the past, and how was I in the past?" Or in the
future, "Will I be there or not, and if I am there what will I be,
and what will my form be? Or in the present, "Am I really here, am
I really existing, what am I, and where am I going, where have I
come from?" Then you have not yet penetrated the teachings of
interdependent arising. You are still caught in the four signs of
self, living being, life span, and divination. The idea that life
span is this body or life span is not this body are two ideas that
belong to extreme views. When you fall into such extreme views, you
have not been able to penetrate interdependent arising. When we are
able to penetrate interdependent arising, we are walking on the
Middle Way, and we are not caught in these two pairs of opposites;
birth and death, is and is not, permanent and annihilation, the
same and different. If our mind is not caught in these two
extremes, we go directly onto the Middle Way. When the noble ones
come into this life they are able to present reality as it is, not
upside down, but in accord with the truth. Here we have reference
to right view as we do in The Sutra on the Middle Way.
The Sutra On
Great Emptiness also talks about the dharma of no birth, when
ignorance has been transformed. When attachment is no longer there,
and when the light of wisdom has arisen, we no longer see the
subject of birth and death. You do not see birth, old age, and
death as belonging to someone. You simply see the ending of birth
and death, and you know that the basis of suffering has ended, just
like a palm tree from which the top has been cut, it will no longer
grow. When the practitioner sees the truth of this, he arrives at
the insight of no-birth and no-death. This is
9thline, "If this ignorance is ended and we can
leave behind attachment, then clarity is borne". The question,
"Who is the one who dies and grows old?" and, "who is the one who
owns old age and death?" is no longer a question. Because once old
age and death have come to an end, we know that we have uprooted
the root of ignorance and attachment. We know we have cut it off at
the root, like when we cut the top of the palm tree. In the future
we will arrive at the fruit of no-birth, no-death, or nirvana. If
ignorance is taken out of attachment, then clarity is born, and
these questions will no longer be questions because we have gone
beyond this point. Like the palm tree whose top has been removed,
it can no longer live. We will be liberated and will realise the
teaching of birthlessness and deathlessness. Here, conditioned
dependent co-arising is called by a very good name: it is
called mahasunyata—the great emptiness. Emptiness
here means the non-existence of a subject called self as a
necessary condition as part of the cycle of causes and
conditions.
In
conclusion, we may have learnt by heart, we may be able to describe
what is meant by dependent co-arising, we may be able to say what
is meant by ignorance; we may talk very fluently about the twelve
links; but if we are not able to overcome the idea of self, if we
are not able to overcome the idea of living being, if we have not
been able to overcome the idea of life span, if we continue to be
occupied with questions such as, "Who am I?", "Where do I come
from?", "Where will I go to?", "What was I like in the past?",
"What will I be like in the future?", it means we have not
understood the teachings of interdependence, however well we might
describe and teach them. Therefore interdependence is given to us
as a tool for looking deeply, and we look deeply in our daily
lives, living them deeply. So when we cook, wash clothes, or
practice walking meditation, we live in such a way that we look
deeply into the interdependent nature of all phenomena. We must
penetrate in order to become one with the functioning of
interdependence. We have to penetrate the flower and see the
functioning of the flower, we have to go into the cloud and see the
functioning of interdependence in the cloud, and we can realise the
great emptiness. Then we can go beyond the idea of self, the sign
of self, and at the same time we can go beyond the idea of living
being, of life span. We go beyond these ideas and we see we have
become one with the teachings of interdependence. At that point we
come to understand birthlessness, we can live in
the dharmadhatu without being carried away by
the lokadhatu. That is the conclusion. We know that
in the sutras of original Buddhism, like the Sutra on the Middle
Way, the Sutra on Interdependence, the Sutra on Great Emptiness, we
have seen that these sutras contain the essence of
the Mahayana. We see clearly that
theMahayana is the work of the ancestral teachers, to
help us see clearly the deeper levels of the original teachings of
the Buddha. Which because of a superficial study and practice, we
have not been able to discover. The opportunity to study the
original teachings of the Buddha through the eyes of
the Mahayana, is very wonderful.
Next time we
will study the sutra on Measuring and Reflecting.
Dear
Friends,
These dharma
talk transcriptions are of teachings given by the Venerable Thich
Nhat Hanh in Plum Village or in various retreats around the world.
The teachings traverse all areas of concern to practitioners, from
dealing with difficult emotions, to realizing the interbeing nature
of ourselves and all things, and many more.
This project
operates from 'Dana',
generosity, so these talks are available for everyone. You may
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would like to receive them as possible. The only thing we ask is
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Dharma Talks, please visit our web site http://www.plumvillage.org/
Emptiness
Notes on the Heart Sutra http://buddhistsangha.tripod.com/notesonheart.htm#top
The Heart Sutra expresses the Buddha's most profound teaching, the
not
two-ness of all things. Because we habitually cut our selves off
from the rest of existence, we resist any idea that we lack a
separate self. In the Heart Sutra the Buddha tells us that all is
shunyata, generally translated as emptiness. This emptiness is in
fact fullness with all things. Thich Nhat Hanh explains emptiness
through a piece of paper. Where is the
paper if we take away the rain, the earth, the sun, the logger who
cut down the tree? Without these and many, many other conditions,
the paper would not exist. It is empty of a separate self but full
of all of the other things that make it up. How does this knowledge
give us comfort? While the emptiness of a piece of paper is
interesting, its not particularly helpful in our daily lives. The
answer is that emptiness applies to more than the material world of
form.
Our mental processes are just as empty as the piece of paper.
Thoughts, feelings, likes, dislikes and all other mental phenomena
are likewise the result of many external conditions which are quite
beyond our control or even our knowledge. The knowledge of
emptiness liberates us from guilt and sorrow. We must understand ,
however, that emptiness does not absolve us from responsibility for
our actions.
The knowledge of emptiness allows us to practice mindfulness and
see how mental phenomena arise and pass away. When we see this
process we become free and we see how others are overwhelmed by
life because of ignorance. Our responsibility is to practice loving
kindness and help others see the path to liberation .
Go to The Heart Sutra - text in link.
http://groups.msn.com/AryaTaraTibetanBuddhismUK/heartsutra.msnw
Terms and Characters
Its helpful to know some of the terms and characters in the Heart
Sutra. The following is a summary of some important
references:
Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva A Bodhisattva is a being who has
achieved enlightenment but chooses to remain in the world helping
others.
Avalokiteshvara, know for compassion, is a Bodhisattva from the
Mahayana tradition. In China, Avalokiteshvara is known as Kuan-yin
and in Japan as Kannon or Kanzeon. In these countries
Avalokiteshvara is feminine. Prajna Paramita Transcendent wisdom.
Five conditions The five conditions or skandas of form, sensation,
conception, discrimination and awareness are the aggregates that
make up each person.
Shariputra One of the Buddha's disciples, famous for
his
wisdom. Dharmas The term dharma has many meanings in Buddhism. It
sometimes refers to the Buddha's teaching or to the underlying laws
which the teaching expresses. In the context of the Heart Sutra it
means any compound thing or phenomenon.
No eye, ear, nose, tongue … Words, ideas and concepts tie us up
in
knots. When we see ourselves and all things just as they are,
without labels or the preconceptions that ride with labels, we are
liberated. Yet in the world where we live, concepts and ideas have
value. The trick is to see the practical value of ideas while
realizing that they are ultimately inadequate for true
understanding.
Ignorance, old age and death This is a reference to the
Buddha's
teaching on dependent arising. Birth leads to bodily sensations of
pleasure or pain which, when we are ignorant, leads to desire which
causes rebirth which leads to a new life in which we grow old and
die. We break the chain of dependent origination by giving up
desire and thus achieve nirvana and are not reborn. No suffering,
no cause of suffering, no extinguishing, no path Here we see a
reference to the Noble Eightfold Path.
Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi A Sanskrit phrase meaning supreme
perfect
enlightenment. Mantra Mantras are powerful words or phrases used to
concentrate the mind. To chant a mantra is a form of
meditation.
Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate This has been translated as,
"Go,
go, hurry quickly, go to the other shore", or " O Wisdom, gone,
gone, gone to the other shore, landed at the other shore." Some
feel that the mantra can't be translated but should just be chanted
with the whole body and mind. Bodhi Wisdom based on the insight
that all things are one.
Svaha An exclamation much like amen or hallelujah .
Resources
There are several books available which help in understanding the
Heart
Sutra:
The Encyclopedia of Eastern Religion and Philosophy
Shambhala, several hardback and paperback editions.
This encyclopedia discusses the terms used in the Sutra and
references
other related ideas.
The Heart of Understanding by Thich Nhat Hanh
Parallax Press, 1988
The book and a companion audio tape make the Heart Sutra very
relevant and easy to understand. Mountain Record of Zen Talks by
John Daido Loori Dharma Communications, various
editions.
Daido discusses the Heart Sutra from a Zen point of
view.
Zen Words For The Heart: Hakuin's Commentary on the
Heart
Sutra
Translated by Norman Waddell, Shambhala, 1996
An incisive view of the Sutra by the great Japanese
master.
Buddhist Wisdom Books: The Diamond Sutra and the Heart
Sutra
Translated and explained by Edward Conze London, George Allen
&
Unwin, 1975 & other editions.
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