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everyone throughout the universe, and for the long life of His
Holiness the Dalai Lama and all the other great masters from any
spiritual tradition. May they live long and be successful in fulfilling
their visions and dreams for sentient beings.
May spiritual communities throughout the world and spiritual
practitioners of all kinds remain healthy, happy and harmonious and
be successful in fulfilling their spiritual aspirations. May this and other
world systems be free from all kinds of unwanted pains and problems,
such as sickness, famine and violence, and may beings experience
peace, happiness, harmony and prosperity.
Last, but not least, let us dedicate our collective spiritual merit for
all sentient beings to be free from the fears and dangers of the two
types of mental obscuration and from all kinds of pains and problems
and may we all quickly reach the state of highest enlightenment.
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PART TWO
A COMMENTARY
ON
The Heart Sutra
ONE
INTRODUCTION
MOTIVATION
I personally feel extremely fortunate to have this opportunity to teach
the Heart Sutra, otherwise known as the Perfection of Wisdomor the
Wisdom Gone Beyond. I also feel that you, too, as participants in this
teaching, are very fortunate.
Why should we feel fortunate to be able to participate in this
teaching? Firstly, this human life is extremely precious and very hard
to achieve. Secondly, it is very rare that a buddha, an enlightened
being, manifests as an emanation body in our world. Lastly, it is very
difficult to come into contact with the Mahayana, or Greater Vehicle,
teaching of Buddhism. Even though it is only under exceptional cir-
cumstances that all these factors come together, somehow we have
been able to achieve it. We have this wonderful life with all its free-
doms and potential for liberation and we also have the opportunity to
follow the Greater Vehicle teaching of the historical Buddha,
Shakyamuni.
The Heart Sutra is special because by putting its teaching into
practice it is possible for us to attain liberation from samsara, the
cycle of existence, and to become enlightened within our own life-
time. Even though this is a short sutra, its meaning is extremely pro-
found and we find a wealth of information within just a couple of
pages. Take the time to reflect upon and contemplate the meaning.
When we recite the Heart Sutra, we shouldn t rush our recitation as if
skating on ice. Instead, we should try to understand what each word
means and should not be afraid to ask those who know more than we
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MIRROR OF WISDOM
do when our understanding fails us.
We will not gain much from the teachings if we listen with the
sense of being coerced by some external force or authority. Only if we
listen with our own inner spiritual enthusiasm can we listen fully.
This enthusiasm flows from our understanding of the true value of
the Dharma. When we ask, from the depths of our minds and hearts,
what it is that we are truly seeking, then we can begin to realize the
enormous value of spiritual practice in our present and future lives.
Remember that meditation practice is far more important than
simply reading Dharma texts. We shouldn t spend too much time
reading books, but should try to meditate as much as possible so that
we can internalize and actualize the meaning of the teaching within
our mind-stream. It is primarily through meditation that deep experi-
ences and realizations come. A poor person doesn t gain much simply
by knowing how much a rich person owns. In the same way, an intel-
lectual understanding of emptiness does not benefit us much if we
don t put it into practice and meditate on it.
Let us cultivate our altruistic intention, seeking enlightenment for the
sake of liberating all sentient beings, who pervade limitless space. It is
with this kind of motivation, the motivation of bodhicitta, that we
should participate in this teaching.
OUR BUDDHA NATURE
We have within us two types of buddha nature, or buddha lineage
our naturally abiding buddha nature and our developable buddha
nature. The naturally abiding buddha nature refers to the emptiness
of our mind. As we engage in Dharma practice, we purify our nega-
tivities and accumulate wisdom and positive energy. It is through this
practice that each of us can become a buddha. It is the emptiness of
our infinite, all-knowing, or omniscient, mind that becomes the nat-
ural truth body of a buddha. This occurs when our mind is complete-
ly pure, free from defilements such as anger and pride and even of the
imprints, or seeds, of those defilements.
Our developable buddha nature is the infinite potential of our
96
INTRODUCTION
mind to grow and develop spiritually through listening to, contem-
plating and meditating on the teachings. When our mind is com-
pletely free of the two obscurations the obscurations to liberation
(deluded emotions, such as anger and desire) and the obscurations to
knowledge (ignorance born from dualistic perceptions) it trans-
forms into the all-knowing mind of a buddha.
BACKGROUND TO THE HEART SUTRA
Shakyamuni Buddha was born in India over two thousand five hun-
dred years ago. After generating bodhicitta the altruistic mind of
enlightenment for three countless aeons, he then thoroughly per-
fected the two types of accumulation that constitute the fruition of
the entire Mahayana path, the accumulations of merit, or positive
energy, and wisdom, or insight. Eventually, he became an enlightened
being a fully awakened person.
Buddha performed twelve great deeds, but the most important
deed of them all was turning the wheel of Dharma. Buddha gave the
three great discourses that are known as the three turnings of the
wheel of Dharma. The first wheel was turned in Sarnath and con-
cerned the Four Noble Truths (aryasatyas). This teaching was primar-
ily aimed at those who have the mental dispositions of the Hinayana,
or Lesser Vehicle, practitioner. The third turning of the wheel was at
Shravasti and concerned the characteristics of buddha nature.
It was on Vulture s Peak, a mountain near Rajgir in the present day
state of Bihar, where Buddha turned the second wheel of Dharma. His
discourse concerned the Wisdom Gone Beyond (Prajnaparamita) sutras,
which include the Heart Sutra. Sutras and treatises deal with two types
of subject matter emptiness and the various levels of realization. The
Heart Sutra explicitly presents emptiness as its subject matter and
implicitly presents the hidden levels of realization. The Heart Sutra
is one of the most important of the Mahayana Prajnaparamita sutras.
It is in the form of a dialogue between Shariputra, one of the Buddha s
two closest disciples, and the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. The most
extensive version of the Prajnaparamita sutras contains one hundred
thousand verses; another contains twenty-five thousand verses, and
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MIRROR OF WISDOM
there s also an abbreviated version eight thousand verses long. But the
most concise version of the Wisdom Gone Beyond sutras is the Heart
Sutra, which contains the innermost essence of them all.
RECORDING THE SUTRAS
The sutras of Shakyamuni Buddha were not written down during his
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