Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Heart Sutra is the short and popular name of Prajñāpāramitā Hṛdaya Sūtra, translated into English as “The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom” or “The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra”. It is the apex of Mahayana Buddhism thought.

Buddhism developed from Theravada (Phật giáo Nguyên thủy) to Mahayana (Phật giáo Đại thừa). Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Laos are essentially Theravada. Vietnam, China, Japan, Korea, Hongkong, Singapore, Taiwan, Tibet and Mongolia are essentially Mahayana.

In this long development of Buddhism, the key concept of emptiness, void or không (Sũnya in Sanskrit) developed along. First, life is illusory, not real. In other words, life is emptiness, void, sũnya, không. This concept of emptiness may easily lead to the negative thought of nihilism – nothing, nothingness, nada. Then, Mahayana Buddhism takes us out of this nihilist concept of emptiness, to the middle way. This middle way still commits to the idea that “life is emptiness, life is không”; however, emptiness here is not different from existence — emptiness is existence, existence is emptiness. This middle way definitely takes away any inkling of nihilist negativism. It is realistic and positive about life.

The Heart Sutra presents this middle way while going swiftly through all teachings of the Buddhist tradition, from Theravada to Mahayana. This Sutra is so central to Mahayana Buddhism that it is recited daily by monks and nuns. Studying the Heart Sutra is really studying of the whole Buddhism.

In this article, we will examine the first two verses of the Heart Sutra. These two verses contain the gist of the teaching on Sũnya (emptiness, void, không), which is the most central teaching of Mahayana Buddhism. The rest of the Sutra expounds further, in details, this core teaching.

I. The name of the Sutra: The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra

The full name of the Heart Sutra is “The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra”.

Prajna is a Sanskrit term and means wisdom. However, this wisdom is more than the regular wisdom we encounter every day.

Our daily wisdom usually has “duality” in it—right wrong, black white, good bad, love hate, existence nothingness, etc. In deep analysis, this duality wisdom is the source of all troubles, because my right is your wrong and, therefore, conflict arises between us. Duality wisdom makes our heart discriminate between this and that (discriminating mind), makes our heart/mind jumpy, leads us into conflicts and, therefore, makes us ignorant. In short, our everyday wisdom is not true wisdom yet.

The true wisdom surpasses such duality, surpassing right and wrong, surpassing existence and nothingness, etc. It is the wisdom of a mother of two fighting children, each claiming that he is right and the other is wrong. The mother sees neither right nor wrong, but only that both children are ignorant in their fight. To indicate this ultimate wisdom, the Buddhists see fit to keep the original word “prajna” instead of translating it into the word “wisdom.”

Prajna is transliterated into Vietnamese as “Bát Nhã”.

Paramita is a Sanskrit term and means “crossing to the other shore” – crossing from ignorance to enlightenment. So, paramita also means “liberating” or “enlightening.”

Paramita is transliterated into Vietnamese as “ba la mật” or “ba la mật đa”.

Thus, Prajna paramita is the ultimate wisdom that carries us across, from ignorance to enlightenment.

Heart means the core, the gist, the essence.

Sutra means holy writing.

Thus The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra is the holy writing on the essence of the ultimate wisdom that carries us across, from ignorance to enlightenment.

Its short name is “The Heart Sutra” – Bát Nhã Tâm Kinh in Sino-Vietnamese. In Trần Nhân Tông time, 13th century, he called it “Kinh Lòng” – lòng for heart – as we can see in his Living in the world, Joyful in the Way Meditation.

II. First 2 verses

Hán Việt: Quán-tự-tại Bồ-tát, hành thâm Bát-nhã Ba-la-mật-đa thời, chiếu kiến ngũ-uẩn giai không, độ nhất thiết khổ ách. Xá-Lợi-Tử! Sắc bất dị không, không bất dị sắc; sắc tức thị không, không tức thị sắc; thọ, tưởng, hành, thức, diệc phục như thị.

Tiếng Việt: Khi Bồ tát Quán Tự Tại thực hành Bát-nhã ba-la-mật-đa sâu xa, soi thấy năm uẩn đều không, liền vượt qua mọi khổ ách. Xá Lợi Tử! Sắc chẳng khác không, không chẳng khác sắc; sắc tức là không, không tức là sắc; thọ, tưởng, hành, thức cũng lại như vậy.

English: When Avalokitasvara Bodhisattva was practicing the profound prajna paramita, he illuminated the five skandhas and saw that they are all empty, and he crossed beyond all suffering and difficulty. Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness; emptiness does not differ from form. Form  itself is emptiness; emptiness itself is form. So, too, are feeling, cognition, formation, and consciousness.

1. The first verse

When Avalokitasvara Bodhisattva was practicing the profound prajna paramita, he illuminated the five skandhas and saw that they are all empty, and he crossed beyond all suffering and difficulty.

Quán-tự-tại Bồ-tát, hành thâm Bát-nhã Ba-la-mật-đa thời, chiếu kiến ngũ-uẩn giai không, độ nhất thiết khổ ách.

Khi Bồ tát Quán Tự Tại thực hành Bát-nhã ba-la-mật-đa sâu xa, soi thấy năm uẩn đều không, liền vượt qua mọi khổ ách.

Bodhisattva (Bồ tát) is a Sanskrit term. It is a word in Mahayana Buddhism. Bodhi means enlightened. Sattva means a sentient being, a being with feelings (chúng sinh hữu tình, different from plants, trees…, called inanimate beings – chúng sinh vô tình).

In the Mahayana tradition, Bodhisattva is a person who has reached enlightenment but postpones final attainment of full Buddhahood, in order to help other people reach enlightenment. Bodhisattva is one step lower than a full Buddha, so to speak.

Avalokitasvara is the name of the Bodhisattva. In most Buddhist sutras, a Bodhisattva’s name is both a proper noun (his own name) and a common noun (a generic term standing for something). In Sanskrit, Avalokitasvara means “lord who looks down on sounds” or “lord who perceives sounds.”

In Vietnamese language, Avalokitasvara is Quán Thế Âm Bồ tát. Quán Thế Âm means looking at the sounds of the world – she hears the cries of suffering of the world. In India/Nepal and the Theravada countries, Avalokitasvara is a man; in China, Vietnam, Japan… and the Mahayana countries, Avalokitasvara is a woman.

In the Chinese version of the Heart Sutra, as translated from Sanskrit by Tang Dharma Master of the Tripitaka Hsüan-Tsang (Đuờng Tam Tạng Pháp sư Huyền Trang), Avalokitasvara has the name, transliterated into Sino-Vietnamese as, Quán Tự Tại, meaning “looking at existence as it is” or “looking at natural existence”. Obviously, Dharma Master Huyền Trang indicated that the suffering of the world is the same as the existence of the world as it is – so both names Quán Tự Tại and Quán Thế Âm are for one person – Bodhisattva Avalokitasvara.

Avalokitasvara, in addition to being a proper name, also indicates any of us who is enlightened enough to be able to look at existence (our self and the world around us) as it is, without distortion, confusion, or ignorance.

Five skandhas (or five aggregates, ngủ uẩn) are form, feeling, perception, mental formation, and consciousness. Together these five skandhas make up our being.

Form (sắc, hình thái) indicates the physical part of our being.

Feeling (thọ, cảm xúc), perception (tưởng, cảm nhận), mental formation (hành, hình thành tư duy) and consciousness (thức, ý thức) make up the mental part.

Thus, the term five skandas (ngủ uẩn) indicates human being, human existence.

The first verse of the Heart Sutra, therefore, means “When the enlightened person who observes existence as it is practices the profound prajna wisdom, he sees that his being is emptiness, then he crosses beyond all suffering.”

Here is the first important step into Buddhism. Non-Buddhists generally think that we exist, and our existence is solid, real, and permanent. This attitude is called “attaching to/grasping onto existence.”

Buddhism says our existence is not real–it is fleeting, impermanent. Everything comes and goes. Now you’re here, now you’re gone. Our being, our life, therefore, is illusory; it is void, it is emptiness, it is không, it is sũnya. This was the earliest meaning of emptiness in the long development of the Buddhist thought.

A characteristic of emptiness (sũnya, void, không) at that time was that emptiness was understood as the opposite of existence (form, sắc), so emptiness could easily be understood with the extreme meaning of nihilism. This nihilist extremist attitude is called “attaching to/grasping onto emptiness.” It is a negative look about life and is the basis for the life avoiding attitude.

As we will see in the next verses, prajna pulls emptiness back from the nihilist extreme to the middle way—empty but existing, existing but empty– and makes emptiness more realistic and more positive to living.

2. The second verse

Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness; emptiness does not differ from form. Form itself is emptiness; emptiness itself is form. So, too, are feeling, cognition, formation, and consciousness.

Xá-Lợi-Tử! Sắc bất dị không, không bất dị sắc; sắc tức thị không, không tức thị sắc; thọ, tưởng, hành, thức, diệc phục như thị.

Xá Lợi Tử! Sắc chẳng khác không, không chẳng khác sắc; sắc tức là không, không tức là sắc; thọ, tưởng, hành, thức cũng lại như vậy.

Sariputra is the son of the Sari family. This is one of Buddha Sakyamuni’s disciples. Please note, in the Heart Sutra, Sariputra was addressed by name twice. Each time signifies a major development in the meaning of emptiness in the history of Buddhism. This first time is to take emptiness from the nihilist extreme, back to the middle way, as the following sentence shows.

Form does not differ from emptiness; emptiness does not differ from form – Sắc bất dị không; không bất dị sắc

Form is one of five skandhas (ngủ uẩn) — form, feeling, thought, cognition, and consciousness (sắc, thọ, tưởng, hành, thức) — that make up our being. Form (sắc) indicates the physical part of human.

Form is also one of six dusts (lục trần) – form, sound, fragrance, taste, objects of touch, dharmas (sắc, thanh, hương, vị, xúc, pháp) – that make up the universe.

Thus the term “form” in the above verse serves two major functions. First, it talks about us human (via Bodhisattva Avalokitasvara). Second, it also talks about the entire universe in the same way, in the same sentence.

Emptiness is also pulling its meaning back from the nihilist extreme to the middle way (trung đạo).

Recall that, in the first verse, our being is emptiness (five skandas – ngủ uẩn – are emptiness).

However, this second verse shows that emptiness doesn’t mean “nothing” or “non-existence.”

The sentence “Form does not differ from emptiness; emptiness does not differ from form” (sắc bất dị không, không bất dị sắc), confirms, in a negation mode of speaking, that form and emptiness are the same.

Then the next sentence, “Form itself is emptiness; emptiness itself is form”, (sắc tức thị không, không tức thị sắc), confirms again, now in the affirmation mode of speaking, that form and emptiness are the same.

Both the affirmation and negation modes of speaking aim to emphasize one central truth: Form and emptiness, the two seemingly opposite concepts, are the same. Existence and emptiness are one and the same.

“So, too, are feeling, cognition, formation, and consciousness.” (thọ, tưởng, hành, thức, diệc phục như thị). Not only form, which stands for our physical body, but the mental elements of our being also operate the same way—they and emptiness are the same; they are emptiness and emptiness is them.

In sum, at this point in the development of the Buddhist thought we have: Our being is emptiness, but emptiness doesn’t mean nihilism; emptiness is the same as form or whatever makes up our being.

The same thing is true with the universe: universe is emptiness, but emptiness is the same as form (sắc) or whatever make up the universe.

But why form and emptiness – the two opposite concepts – are one and the same?

At first, in the nihilistic thinking – form is the opposite of emptiness, sắc is the opposite of không – sũnya is an adjective and means “nothing, non-existing.” If you have a form (sắc), you exist; if you don’t have a form anymore, you are non-existent.

But when sũnya (emptiness, không) pulls back to the middle way, sũnya is a noun (and no longer an adjective). Sũnya now means “the absolute” – the absolute foundation on which stands everything relative – both tangible as a bird and intangible as thoughts and mental processes. The absolute gives birth to all the relative and contains all the relative; the relative – in whatever form – are always inside, and a part of, the absolute. This premise is a very familiar philosophical postulate in many philosophical schools and cultures throughout the world. In many cultures, the absolute takes a personalized form and is called “God” (Trời, Allah…)

Philosophers usually use the image of ocean to describe the absolute and the relative. The ocean is the absolute. All the waves in the ocean are the relative. Waves come and go every minute, but the ocean is always there. The ocean is the waves, and the waves are the ocean. The ocean is constant, the waves are ephemeral. But the ocean and the waves are one and the same.

Brothers and sisters, everything in life is both real and unreal. Say, the Heart Sutra and its teachings are real, so read them and practice them seriously. But they also unreal, so don’t grasp onto them to the degree that you lose your flexibility in daily living activities or that you criticize people who don’t learn the Heart Sutra.

You can have everything, but don’t grasp onto anything. That is the central teaching of the Heart Sutra. And that is also the central teaching of the Diamond Sutra (Kinh Kim Cang): Dwell on no place, you will have enlightened heart (Ưng vô sở trụ, nhi sanh kỳ tâm) (Chapter 10).

Both the Heart Sutra and the Diamon Sutra teach non-attachment, non-grasping, vô chấp.

You can have everything, but do not attach to anything. That is the essence of Buddhist teaching. Vô chấp, Non-attachment.

The bird stands everywhere, but doesn’t glue herself to anywhere, hence she has the entire sky to live freely. That is the essence of non-attachment, vô chấp.

Wish everyone practice the Heart Sutra well.

With compassion,

Hoành

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Trần Đình Hoành
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