|
The
Heart Sutra
"NO EYE, EAR, NOSE, TONGUE, BODY OR MIND; NO FORM,
SOUND, SMELL, TASTE, TOUCH OR MIND OBJECT; NO REALM OF THE EYE, UNTIL
WE COME TO NO REALM OF CONSCIOUSNESS."
This
portion of the Sutra is the Teaching on Emptiness in connection with
the eighteen worldly dharmas, or the eighteen realms; the uninstructed
lack understanding of the Dharma, of Emptiness and repeatedly yield to
the play of delusion as permanence and as independent existence.
Ultimate Emptiness is not the obstinate void of the worldlings nor the
annihilation view of those on the heterodox path; it is not the
analysis of the Void as practiced by Theravadins, nor the Void of the
present moment as perceived by the bodhisattva.
The
supramundane Emptiness of True Existence is not possessed by buddhas
alone: All of us are endowed with the same truth and would come to know
it, if only we relinquished our discriminating mind; that is the
supramundane Void of True Existence. In order to have correct practice
it is not necessary to apply the method of Theravada, the Middle
Vehicle or the Mahayana. Anyone can become buddha spontaneously by
deeply comprehending that "all existence is Void." The Arhat of
Theravada is equal to a worldly person of great potential.
A
worldling of superior potential can sharpen his/her wisdom and receive
the radiant Dharma at any time. People of mundane concerns wear
themselves out in the realm of the eighteen mundane dharmas that lead
to confusion and craving; for them there can be no salvation. The six
organs, i.e., eye, car, nose, tongue, body and mind, and the
corresponding six sense- data or dust, i.e., form, sound, smell, taste,
touch and mental formations generate the six kinds of consciousness,
i.e., eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue
consciousness, body consciousness and mind consciousness. The group is
referred to as the eighteen realms or the eighteen mundane dharmas. To
be conscious means to be conscious of something, to distinguish or to
discriminate.
The
average person works to make a living, eats and drinks every day always
bound by the eighteen realms. He/she always sees with his/her eyes,
hears with his/her ears, smells with his/her nose, tastes with his/her
tongue, touches with his/her body and knows mental objects with his/her
mind. The cognitive objects are discerned, produce sense data and from
the six kinds of consciousness arise all the other functions.
People
assume the reality of subject and object behind the process, unaware as
they are of it being a mere assumption unverifiable by experience. To
understand this doctrine means liberation, but getting confused about
it means falling into the ocean of suffering. Six kinds of
consciousness arise from the six organs and the six data. The six
organs are useless to a dead body. How could the six kinds of
consciousness receive the six data and act upon receiving them? Since
Emptiness is the substance of the six organs and, consequently, of the
six kinds of data, what do the six kinds of consciousness depend on for
their existence? The sutra says: "No realm of the eye all the way up to
no realm of consciousness," meaning no realm of eye consciousness, no
realm of ear consciousness, no realm of nose consciousness, no realm of
tongue consciousness, no realm of body consciousness and no realm of
mind consciousness.
The
mundane Dharma of eighteen realms and their range is clear: Each of
them has a character of its own. As a matter of fact, just as one
hundred rivers merge into one ocean, all dharmas are contained in one
teaching, the teaching of Emptiness. To attain enlightenment instantly,
all one needs is to comprehensively understand the Dharma of Emptiness
as the essence of reality. The uninformed majority submerge their True
Nature in confusion resulting from misconception regarding the eighteen
realms, a concept that has no counterpart in reality. Whenever mind
touches a point, there is feeling; it may itch, hurt, feel numb, burn,
or produce any of the countless sensations, and the knowing
consciousness is alerted. When the taste buds are stimulated, there is
the knowing of tasting. There is sweet, bitter, sour, etc. and the
tasting nature becomes confused by the variety and the complexity.
Similarly, the moment the eye makes contact, the eye consciousness
engages in making distinctions in terms of light/dark, and the pristine
seeing nature gets covered over by them. When the ear catches a sound,
the hearing nature gets lost in judgments regarding it. These cognitive
patterns are so deep it is difficult to trace and abandon them. And
yet, it manifests complete misunderstanding of the original nature of
consciousness. Looking at the city at night, we see the brilliant
lights of ten-thousand households: Such is the form of light. During
blackout we are able to observe the form of darkness. Light and
darkness both have birth and death, yet the nature of seeing is free of
cyclic existence. It is in the nature of seeing to perceive darkness in
the absence of light and light in the absence of darkness. This should
help us to understand the timeless nature of seeing. Our tendency to
crave and grasp the object of seeing is a major obstacle to an
understanding of the true nature of reality.
Attachment
resulting from pleasurable eye contact, once established, is
exceedingly difficult to relinquish. Most people do not have any
understanding of the subject of seeing. The organ of the eye does not
have the ability to see - only the nature of seeing does. The one who
can enlighten himself/herself as to the subject of the nature of seeing
can understand his/her own mind and see his/her own nature immediately.
Whether a person is holy or worldly depends entirely on his/her ability
(or the lack of it) to see his own Original Nature. This holds true for
the nature of hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and for the nature
of knowing. The Surangama Sutra says: "When one organ has returned to
its source all six of them are liberated." Our study and practice
should begin by looking inward in order to free ourselves from the
effect of light and dark. It is truly important to turn our attention
completely onto our nature of seeing. When it is accomplished it means
a true awakening to the supreme Tao. At first we should learn the
BuddhaDharma and try to understand the doctrine. When we start to
practice we should apply what we have learned: Without practice there
is no learning.
The
World Honored One is said to have attained Buddhahood in the previous
asamkhiya kalpa; nevertheless, he appeared in the world in order to
save all sentient beings, manifesting himself as a worldling and a
prince. The son of king Suddhodana of the Sakya clan, he renounced his
regal status at the age of twenty-nine so he could dedicate himself
wholeheartedly to the quest for liberation from suffering. He practiced
ascetic meditation in the Himalayas, and at the age of thirty-five the
former prince attained perfect and complete enlightenment while
meditating beneath a Bodhi tree. Noticing a bright star in the eastern
sky, the Buddha observed that the nature of seeing is boundless. He
commented that all sentient beings have the same wisdom and virtue as
the Tathagata, but since it is covered over with delusion, attachment
and aversion, sentient beings do not attain enlightenment. All evidence
affirms that the Buddha attained the Original Nature, but most people
are confused regarding their own, mistaking the four elements for their
bodies and the reflections of their six conditioned sense data for
their minds. That is delusion and grasping, and these are major
hindrances to attaining the Tao.
The
preceding explanation dealt with the eighteen realms consisting of six
sense organs, six sense data and six kinds of consciousness. Now I
would like to sum up, using the eye organ for illustration:
There
are two aspects to the eye: There is the organ of sensation and the
faculty of sensation; the eye is the organ; the faculty of sensation
has two parts - seeing and form. The capacity of the eye to see, or the
subject of seeing, is called the nature of seeing. The form of seeing
is related to the object of seeing: It is always connected to an
object, and therefore the eye is always seeing something, whether a
thing, a shape, a color or a size. The object of seeing is most
confusing, and the uninstructed can easily fall into self-deception as
to the independent existence of whatever they are looking at. The
process of experience gets twisted so it suits the volition to grasp
and to possess, thus changing into a source of suffering. The Buddha's
teaching is the path to liberation and whoever understands this,
understands all the Mahayana sutras as well.
We
return once more to the example of the mirror and the reflection. The
mirror was made to reflect whatever it faces, including mountains,
rivers, even the great earth; the problem arises when the reflection is
mistaken for the object and when it is no longer realized that it may
vanish at any time, it being part of the birth/death cycle. The
susceptibility to reflect is the real self, the timeless characteristic
of the mirror we are talking about, yet it is very seldom realized.
There was a Ch'an master who said: "Always facing it, yet not knowing
what it is!", meaning that worldlings do not recognize the nature of
seeing for what it is: Ignoring the clarity of the mirror they hold on
to the reflection.
Time
passes very quickly; even if we live for one-hundred years, it still is
a very brief period of time. Those who inhabit heavens still worry
about death although their lives last much longer. Things seen during
one's life are completely useless after one has died. The nature of
seeing, however, is not amenable to birth or death, it is not dependent
on the organ of the eye. To have eyes does not necessarily mean having
seeing awareness. The nature of seeing is like the capacity of the
mirror to reflect images, shapes or actions; after the images, shapes
or actions vanish, the nature of seeing remains, unmovable and
unchangeable. The same applies to the nature of hearing, smelling,
tasting, touching and knowing.
Simply
stated, people should not hold reflections as permanent, clinging to
them and grasping them. To perceive the reflectivity of the mirror as
the True Self means quick release from defilement and an expeditious
liberation. The remaining five sense doors can be inferred from the
example of the eye organ; the six sense-organs with their corresponding
six data and six kinds of consciousness collectively generate the
eighteen realms or the eighteen worldly Dharmas: All of these are
reflections, impermanent, subject to birth and death. Only the nature
of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and knowing, like the
nature of the mirror, remains unchanged. Furthermore, that which
reflects is the also reflection, and the reflection becomes that which
reflects it: They complement one another.
|
|