Some of you have spent many years knocking on the doors of many temples, reading many scriptures, practicing many sects, and then found that Buddhism is so vast, as if you could never learn it all. And then you just want to find a single English book to read, to ponder day after day, in order to grasp the essence of Buddhism to enter the door of liberation. If so, I suggest you read the work “Essence of the Heart Sutra” (abbreviated: EHS) by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. Of course, there are many similar books, but this book is especially suitable for the majority, regardless of which sect you come from, Southern or Northern, Zen or Pure Land, or Esoteric. Because, this book annotates the Heart Sutra, a daily chanting text of the Northern School and especially the Zen School, but also has its roots in the early daily chanting group, when the Buddha was still alive.
The full name of this book is “Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama’s Heart of Wisdom Teachings” – the author is Tenzin Gyatso The Fourteenth Dalai Lama. It is not clear if there is a Vietnamese translation; however, even if someone has translated it into Vietnamese, you should still use the English version as the main one to read every day.
There are many reasons to use the English version as the main one, no matter how excellent the translator is. The Dalai Lama went into exile at the age of 24 (born 1935, exiled 1959), gave global teachings directly in English, when meeting Buddhists from East Asia, he often invited the four groups to chant the Heart Sutra in the languages of each country. His teachings can be viewed on YouTube. This book is a compilation of his teachings on the Heart Sutra, edited and revised by many people, with the main translator being Dr. Thupten Jinpa, a former Tibetan monk who often accompanied him on major events. Jinpa writes in his 2002 Foreword (EHS, page xi) that it is traditional for Tibetan Buddhism to recite the Heart Sutra before all teachings. Therefore, this book is very concise, and every word in English has been carefully considered by many venerable masters.
Can reading books alone be enough to liberate? Enough to attain sainthood? Maybe. Because the act of reading books, or reciting scriptures, or contemplating scriptures, can also cut off the first three of the five lower fetters (self-view, doubt, attachment to precepts and precepts, greed, and anger) – that is, attaining Stream-entry, also known as opening the Dharma Eye, seeing the path clearly and without confusion, even though subtle defilements have not been completely cut off. That is the reason why reading and thinking about Buddhism has been a part of the monastic life since the time of the Buddha.
The 180-page EHS book, published by Wisdom Publications, first printed in 2002, consists of three main parts.
Part I consists of 5 chapters, giving an overview of Buddhism, briefly presenting the many sects in the three periods of turning the wheel of dharma, in which the core is still Dependent Origination and the separation from suffering, about Nagarjuna, about the Heart Sutra, a condensed teaching of Mahayana that appeared, according to the Dalai Lama's explanation, many centuries after the Buddha, but he also notes, "We can say that the Mahayana scriptures were not taught by the historical Buddha to the public in the conventional sense. Furthermore, it is possible that the Mahayana scriptures, such as the sutras in the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajnaparamita) system, were taught to a group of people whom the Buddha considered most suitable to learn this teaching." (page 47). Of course, some of you may think that the Heart Sutra is a later work. But if you read carefully, you will see that the idea of the Heart Sutra was already present very early in the Sutta Pitaka group of the Pali Canon, when the Buddha first preached.
On pages 52-55, His Holiness the Dalai Lama explains the three turnings of the wheel of dharma. The first period of the Buddha's teachings was the Four Noble Truths (suffering, origin, cessation, and path), of which the Noble Eightfold Path is included. The second period of the Buddha taught the Prajnaparamita system of sutras, which further explained the truth of cessation (the truth of cessation, included in the Four Noble Truths), especially to understand the ultimate nature of reality as emptiness. And then from the deeper experience of emptiness, came the third period of the turnings of the wheel of dharma, when the Buddha taught the sutras on Buddha Nature, also called Tathagatagarbha, and which is the foundation for understanding Vajrayana. His Holiness the Dalai Lama recommends studying all three teachings—Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana—to know that all three are the Buddha's teachings, to avoid the misconception that some people have that Mahayana has deviated from the Buddha's teachings, or, conversely, the misconception that Theravada is a "small vehicle" (page 54). He advises all Buddhists to incorporate all the essential teachings of the three vehicles into their own practice (page 55). If you do not agree with that historical interpretation, that is okay, because many commentators also disagree on things like dates, periods, etc. The important teaching is in the following section, which discusses the essence of the Heart Sutra.
Part II is the Heart Sutra, from Chapters 6 to 11, explaining the Heart Sutra. The Dalai Lama writes that the average Tibetan monk spends five to seven years studying the Prajnaparamita system, and some will have to study additional treatises – about 21 of which have been translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan, and then many more written directly in Tibetan by monks (pages 63-64). This shows that the Tibetan tradition regards Prajnaparamita thought (also known as the Madhyamaka system, of which the Heart Sutra is a condensed text) as the core of the Buddha's teachings.
The Sino-Vietnamese Heart Sutra is often recited shorter than the English version in the EHS, which was originally translated from Tibetan.
The Sino-Vietnamese version begins: “When Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara practiced the profound Prajna Paramita, he saw that the five aggregates were empty…”
But in the English version in the EHS book, pages 68-70, it begins: “Thus have I once heard: The Blessed One was staying in…” The beginning is the image of the Buddha among the monks and bodhisattvas, “The Blessed One entered the meditative absorption on the varieties of phenomena called the appearance of the profound.” His Holiness the Dalai Lama explained that “profoundness” refers to Emptiness, to Suchness, also known as “things are just like that.”
Therefore, if we do not rely on His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s commentary, but rely on the dictionary, we may mistake the meaning.
And also because of that, if we just rely on the words, purely Depending on the text, we may either stray from the scriptures or mistake one meaning for another. The Dalai Lama cites a specific example, the word Buddha Nature.
On page 82, he writes, translated as: “In Mahayana, the word Buddha Nature has many meanings. In the Yogacara School, Buddha Nature refers to our fundamentally uncontaminated mind, which, when not realized, is our “naturally abiding” Buddha Nature, and when awakened, is our “transformed” Buddha Nature. This naturally abiding Buddha Nature is also the natural nirvana, or natural liberation, already present in all of us. It is also because of the natural nirvana that the obscuring dust can be separated from the nature of the mind, and enlightenment can be realized. In the Madhyamaka School, Buddha Nature (i.e. Buddha Nature) is defined differently: it is defined as Emptiness, specifically, as the emptiness of the mind without self-nature. This is also called the nature of light The purity of the mind.”
The Heart Sutra is wonderful, whether we read one sentence or a few sentences, we will see the power:
…Therefore, in the form of Emptiness
There is no form, no Feeling, Perception, Formation, Consciousness;
There is no Eye, Ear, Nose, Tongue, Body, Mind;
There is no Form, Sound, Smell, Taste, Touch, Dharma…
One advantage of reading the Heart Sutra through the EHS book is that when encountering some complicated points, His Holiness the Dalai Lama presents many different perspectives from many treatises. As in Chapter 9, Interpreting Emptiness, He presents the perspective on selflessness through the views of the Vaibhasika, Sautrantika, Mind Only School, and Middle Way School.
One point to note is that His Holiness the Dalai Lama follows the Madhyamaka position. As on page 107, He analyzes the difference between the Vijñāptimātratā and Madhyamaka. Vijñāptimātrat ... existence).
On page 122, His Holiness the Dalai Lama quotes Nagarjuna's verse on the eight no's: nothing is born, nothing dies; nothing is permanent, nothing is annihilated; nothing comes, nothing goes; nothing is different, nor is it the same (no birth, no death; no permanence, no cessation; no coming, no going; no difference, no one).
To understand the meaning of the eight no's, let us imagine that, according to the Samyutta Nikaya SN 35.246 -- Vīṇopama Sutta (1), when a king first heard the sound of a lute, he called his soldiers to capture those wonderful sounds. The musician said that the sound (that is, what was heard) came from the lute, the body, the strings, the musician, and the correct way of playing it. Then the king split the lute into a hundred pieces, but still could not find any sound... The Buddha told this metaphor and continued, saying that finding form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness will not be found anywhere, and that is non-self.
Similarly, we say that it is dependent origination, the nature of the sound of the zither is empty, is void – and the sound of the zither does not come from anywhere, not from the zither, not from the strings, not from the wood… therefore, the dharmas are not born, not destroyed, not permanent, not interrupted, not coming, not going, not different, not one.
When we see like that, immediately, before the eyes and ears, the dharmas are extinguished, that is, Nirvana.
On page 123, His Holiness the Dalai Lama explains that whoever relies on the group of “eight non-doings” will enter the Three Gates of Liberation (Emptiness, Signlessness, and Wishlessness). That is, looking at the nature, looking at the cause, looking at the result.
He writes, translating as follows: “These eight characteristics can be grouped into three categories, each category examining Emptiness from a different point of view. These three points of view are called the Three Gates of Liberation. If we If we look at Emptiness from the point of view of phenomena themselves, we see that all phenomena are empty of self-nature, and are empty of any self-nature. Seeing like this is the first door to liberation, the Door of Emptiness. If we look at Emptiness from the point of view of its cause, we see that it is neither born nor destroyed, neither conditioned nor pure. That is the second door to liberation, the Door of No-Sign. If we look at Emptiness from its effects, we see that phenomena are without deficiency (deficiency), without excess (perfection). That is the third door to liberation, the Door of No-Wish.” (page 123)
In general, for Buddhists reading English, the work “Essence of the Heart Sutra” needs to be pondered, pondering every word of the Dalai Lama’s explanation. Here, the Heart Sutra, the essence of Buddhism, is clearly explained. Whoever maintains such an empty view is certainly liberated.
NOTES:
(1) Sutta SN 35.246 -- https://suttacentral.net/sn35.246/en/sujato
Cho dù không ai có thể quay lại quá khứ để khởi sự khác hơn, nhưng bất cứ ai cũng có thể bắt đầu từ hôm nay để tạo ra một kết cuộc hoàn toàn mới. (Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. )Carl Bard
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