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A New Translation from the Chinese by Hanh Ni\u00eam with Commentary<\/strong> Prajna Paramita Hridaya \u2013 Heart of Perfected Wisdom<\/p>\n The Bodhisattva Avelokiteshvara, Shariputra, the appearance of form is not separate from emptiness, Shariputra, all dharmas \u2013 all appearance of phenomena \u2013 are mutually empty: Therefore, within emptiness there is no appearance of form No ignorance or end of ignorance, Bodhisattvas, abiding always in perfected wisdom, All Buddhas of past, present, and future time, Therefore let all know that perfected wisdom Therefore, say the mantra of perfected wisdom: Commentary: There are several sections of the sutra that are especially edifying and became more so for me through my translation work.\u00a0 The first verse states in just a few scant words the essence of Buddhist teaching \u2026 that all our perceptions are illusory, without inherent existence, and that when we realize this we are able to be one with all things (having surrendered our ego to our true Buddha nature). All barriers are gone, and we experience and observe things without the intervention of thought.\u00a0It is this freedom from thought that ends our doubt and suffering.<\/p>\n As a later verse reiterates, when you reach this state \u201cyour mind has no fears or obstructions, therefore you have no fears or obstructions. Free of confused illusions, you reach nirvana.\u201d You have freed yourself from the known.<\/p>\n The point is that our lives are ruled by the labels our learned experience places on everything we encounter in life and that when one reaches the stage of ones practice that is the perfection of wisdom, one is free of these labels and their resulting obstructions.<\/p>\n The verses that list examples of this truth are powerful indeed. \u201cThere is neither birth nor death.\u201d This seemingly clear statement gives many people pause at first. But the sutra here does not contradict this central fact of life or the Buddha\u2019s teaching \u2026 that all things that arise eventually fall \u2026 rather it means that our thoughts about birth and death, our perception of those two states, are illusory. And when we realize that the five skandhas are empty of intrinsic existence, those perceptions fall away. The labels, the way we think of birth and death are no more. And so the fear we have of death based on those labels is no more.<\/p>\n The same is true of \u201cneither defilement or purity.\u201d Many people reading the sutra for the first time again just shake their heads in bewilderment. \u201cHow can there be no such thing as defilement?\u201d<\/p>\n But here too, the sutra is not saying that the acts that we label as defilement don\u2019t happen \u2026 bad things happen to many innocent people \u2026 but that the interpretation of these acts as a defilement of the person have no intrinsic nature. One feels defiled only because our culture or learned experience says you are defiled. Whereas if you know that your true Buddha nature is totally unaffected by what has happened, then you are not defiled and the experience of the act does not cause mental suffering.<\/p>\n \u201cOk,\u201d you may say, \u201cbut what about the line that says, \u2018No creation of suffering or noble path to end suffering.\u2019 That\u2019s what the Four Noble Truths, the most central of the Buddha\u2019s teachings, is all about. It makes no sense.\u201d<\/p>\n Again, you have to consider the context. The sutra is talking about one who perceives the emptiness of all five skandhas and thus is free of doubt and suffering. Well, if you are at that stage of your practice, then there is no creation of suffering or noble path to end suffering. Suffering for such individuals does not exist.<\/p>\n This is the promise of the Buddhist path, and it is not just available to the enlightened. For most of us the experience of the Buddhist path is incremental. We do not become enlightened in a flash. Indeed, we may never reach full enlightenment, always remaining at some stage just short of it. But as we progress on the path, we experience more and more the freedom from thought that is described in the sutra and the peace that comes with it.<\/p>\n As to how I came to undertake this translation: But after years of chanting the sutra in various translations, I had the feeling as my practice deepened that the translations were inadequate. Some suffered from a use of English that lacked clarity or just seemed wrong. And all seemed to me to be missing something important in the first verse.<\/p>\n In that verse, these versions uniformly stated that when the Bodhisattva Avelokiteshvara perceived that all five skandhas were empty of intrinsic existence his suffering ceased. The causal connection is direct. So, for example, in the lovely translation by Roshi Philip Kapleau:<\/p>\n \u201csaw the emptiness of all five skandhas and<\/em> It seemed to me that as a teaching tool, which the sutras are, the concept of the oneness of all things, of experiencing things without the intervention of thought, was missing as a bridge from realizing the emptiness of the skandhas to being free of suffering. I know how presumptuous this must sound, but I felt it in my gut.<\/p>\n Having been a onetime student of language, I knew the problems and misunderstandings that can result depending on how words are translated. After not being able to find a monk who was interested in working on this project with me, I decided to give it a go myself.<\/p>\n I chose to base my translation on the Chinese text and so gathered several Chinese editions of the sutra. In comparing them, I found that they all were identical and so felt safe proceeding with the project. Armed with several Chinese dictionaries I tackled the translation.<\/p>\n As I worked through the first verse, I found what I had thought had to be there. Between the phrase positing the perception of the emptiness of the skandhas and that regarding the cessation of suffering was the phrase \u201c\u5ea6\u4e00”, literally “passing through one.\u201d Taking the liberties in translation (and exposition) that are not uncommon in these texts to clarify meaning, I translated this phrase:<\/p>\n \u201cThus being at one with all things,<\/em> ________________<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This material was\u00a0excerpted from my book,\u00a0Scratching the Itch: Getting to the Root of our Suffering<\/em><\/a>. \u00a0It can also be found in\u00a0The Self in No Self: Buddhist Heresies and Other Lessons of a Buddhist Life<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A New Translation from the Chinese by Hanh Ni\u00eam with Commentary ______________________________ Prajna Paramita Hridaya \u2013 Heart of Perfected Wisdom The Bodhisattva Avelokiteshvara, Practicing the perfection of wisdom, going deep within, Was illuminated and perceived that All five skandhas are empty of intrinsic existence. Thus being at one with all things, Experiencing things directly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":153,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[162,163],"tags":[457,456],"class_list":["post-5831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-features","tag-roanald-hirsch","tag-the-heart-sutra-hanh-niem"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n<\/strong>______________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nPracticing the perfection of wisdom, going deep within,
\nWas illuminated and perceived that
\nAll five skandhas are empty of intrinsic existence.
\nThus being at one with all things,
\nExperiencing things directly without the intervention of thought,
\nAll suffering and doubt ceased.<\/p>\n
\nEmptiness is not separate from the appearance of form,
\nThe appearance of form is one with emptiness,
\nEmptiness is one with appearance of form.
\nThe same is true for feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness-ego.<\/p>\n
\nThere is neither birth nor death,
\nNeither defilement nor purity,
\nNeither gain nor loss.<\/p>\n
\nNo feelings, perceptions, mental formations, or consciousness-ego,
\nNo eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, thought,
\nNo color, sound, smell, taste, touch, or the appearance of phenomena,
\nNot even the domain of sight
\nNor the domain of consciousness-ego.<\/p>\n
\nNor aging and death or end of them,
\nNo creation of suffering or noble path to end suffering.
\nNo wisdom nor its attainment,
\nThere is nothing to attain.<\/p>\n
\nTheir minds have no fears or obstructions,
\nTherefore they have no fears or obstructions;
\nFree of confused illusions,
\nThey reach nirvana.<\/p>\n
\nAbiding always in perfected wisdom
\nCome to full enlightenment.<\/p>\n
\nIs the most spiritual mantra,
\nThe most radiant mantra.
\nNone is higher than it
\nNor equal to it,
\nIt is able to relieve all suffering,
\nIt is the essence of truth, not false.<\/p>\n
\nGate gate,
\nParagate,
\nParasamgate,
\nBodhi svaha<\/p>\n
\nFor me, the power of this sutra is that it does not describe what it is like to be enlightened, but rather it shows the path, or markers on the path, to enlightenment. Boddhisatvas after all are not yet enlightened beings \u2026 the Buddha himself referred to his pre-enlightened state as a Boddhisatva.<\/p>\n
\nOver the years, one of the most compelling chants I recited at temple was the Heart Sutra \u2026 The Heart of Perfected Wisdom. If you are not yet familiar with it, it is, with its contemplation on emptiness and the process of spiritual development that leads to enlightenment, a central sutra of the Buddhist Mahayana tradition. It is the essence of the sixth Paramita. Its core truths are the key to freeing ourselves and it is typically chanted on a regular basis.<\/p>\n
\nsundered the bonds that create suffering.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\nExperiencing things directly without the intervention of thought\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/d2wipdjmobk1g8.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/09\/14132401\/Ronald-300x226.jpg\")
<\/h5>\nRonald Hirsch<\/em><\/span><\/h5>\n
BIO:<\/em><\/span>
\nRonald Hirsch\u00a0\u00a0has had a varied career as a teacher, legal aid lawyer, survey researcher, nonprofit executive, composer, writer, and volunteer.\u00a0 Having found Buddhism at age 49,\u00a0<\/span>he has walked the path of Buddhism 25\u00a0years now.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Along the way, he has had the good fortune to have had some powerful teachers who opened many gates for him. His Zen practice follows no particular lineage but reflects the teachings of his Vietnamese and Korean Zen mentors.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/h5>\n\n\u00a0He is the writer of the award-winning blog,\u00a0www.ThePracticalBuddhist.com<\/span><\/a>, and the author of three books on Buddhist practice and one ecumenically spiritual work,\u00a0Raising a Happy\u00a0Child<\/a>.\u00a0 He is also the author of\u00a0We Still Hold These Truths<\/a>,\u00a0acclaimed by James Fallows, National Correspondent,\u00a0The Atlantic, as \u201ca systematic and serious effort to make the [presidential] debate as clear and valuable as it can be. Agree or disagree with his specific conclusions, the questions he is asking are the right ones for the public this year.\u201d\u00a0 He grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania and resides in New York.<\/em><\/span><\/h5>\n<\/div>\n