Những Đóa Hoa Thiền Trong Bát Nhã Tâm Kinh

(C) Thông Điệp của Đức Phật Gửi Cho Hành Giả Qua Bài Bát Nhã Tâm Kinh

Trong đạo Phật, chúng ta thường nghe nói về buông xả và không bám víu vào thứ gì. Như vậy Đức Phật muốn dạy gì về buông xả? Ngài muốn nói trong cuộc sống hằng ngày không cách chi mà chúng ta buông mọi vật mọi việc. Chúng ta phải nắm giữ sự việc, tuy nhiên đừng cố bám víu vào chúng. Thí dụ như chúng ta phải làm ra tiền cho chi tiêu trong đời sống, nhưng không bám víu vào việc làm ra thật nhiều tiền mà bất chấp đến việc làm ra tiền bằng cách nào. Hành giả làm bất cứ việc gì cũng nên làm với cái tâm xả bỏ. Đừng nên kỳ vọng sự đền đáp hay tán dương. Hành giả tu thiền nên luôn nhớ rằng tâm xả là tâm không luyến ái, bao gồm xả bỏ vật chất như những của cải, thân, sắc, âm thanh, vị và tiếp xúc, vân vân; và xả bỏ tinh thần như tâm thiên vị, tà kiến hay ngã chấp, vân vân. Nếu chúng ta xả bỏ một ít, chúng ta sẽ có một ít bình an. Nếu chúng ta xả bỏ được nhiều, chúng ta sẽ có nhiều bình an. Nếu chúng ta xả bỏ hoàn toàn, chúng ta sẽ được bình an hoàn toàn. Qua bài Bát Nhã Tâm Kinh ngắn ngủi, chúng ta thấy giáo pháp căn bản của nhà Phật là buông xả tất cả những điên đảo mộng tưởng để đến được cứu cánh Niết Bàn của Tam Thế chư Phật vậy. Tuy nhiên, trong đời sống thực tế hằng ngày, nói thì dễ mà làm thì khó vô cùng. Điều quan trọng nhất trong lời nhắn nhũ của Đức Phật qua bài Bát Nhã Tâm Kinh là những ai chịu tu tập đúng theo lời Phật dạy, dù chỉ là một phần rất nhỏ, cũng sẽ có được một đời sống xa rời những cuồng si mộng tưởng, một đời sống tự tại giữa muôn ngàn khổ đau phiền não và cuối cùng là một đời sống an lạc, tỉnh thức và hạnh phúc thật sự. Tuy nhiên, để có thể xả bỏ đúng nghĩa lời Phật dạy, chúng ta nên chấp nhận cả cái tốt lẫn cái xấu. Muốn làm được điều nầy, hành giả tu thiền nên nắm vững lời Phật dạy về cái tâm “không phân biệt” mà đức Phật đã dạy trong Bát Nhã Tâm Kinh. Dĩ nhiên phàm phu chúng ta khó có thể hình dung được rằng “sắc tức thị không và không tức thị sắc”, vì đối với chúng ta hai trạng thái hạnh phúc và khổ đau là hai trạng thái hoàn toàn khác và trái ngược nhau. Nhưng nếu muốn thật sự xả bỏ tất cả, chúng ta sẽ không có sự lựa chọn nào khác! Nói tóm lại, hương thiền trong Bát Nhã Tâm Kinh chỉ tỏa ra một khi chúng ta thật sự quyết tâm tu tập và thể nghiệm cho bằng được trí tuệ Bát Nhã, vì lã trí tuệ Bát Nhã là một thứ ánh sáng vượt lên trên tất cả mọi giới hạn của trí tuệ phàm phu. Thật vậy, chính nhờ trí tuệ Bát Nhã nầy mà một chúng sanh khổ đau phiền não có thể được giải thoát thật sự và một đời sống giác ngộ và hạnh phúc chân thật có thể được tái lập lại, không phải ở một kiếp nào, mà là ngay bây giờ và ở đây.

Zen Flowers In The Heart Sutra

Thiện Phúc

Prajna is a Sanskrit term which means wisdom. There are three kinds of prajna: real mark prajna, contemplative prajna, and literary prajna. Prajna also means the real power to discern things and their underlying principles and to decide the doubtful. Prajna means a transcendental knowledge. The Prajna-paramita-sutra describes “prajna” as supreme, highest, incomparable, unequalled, unsurpassed. There are three prajnas or perfect enlightements: The first part of the prajnaparamita. The wisdom achieved once crossed the shore. The second part of the prajnaparamita. The necessary wisdom for actual crossing the shore of births and deaths. The wisdom of knowing things in their temporary and changing condition. The necessary wisdom for vowing to cross the shore of births and deaths. While transcendental wisdom means observing all things as they truly are. The wisdom which enables one to reach the other shore, i.e. wisdom for salvation; the highest of the six paramitas, the virtue of wisdom as the principal means of attaining nirvana. It connotes a knowledge of the illusory character of everything earthly, and destroys error, ignorance, prejudice, and heresy. According to Buddhism, the prajna-paramita is a gate of Dharma-illumination; for with it, we eradicate the darkness of ignorance. Among the basic desires and passions, ignorance has the deepest roots. When these roots are loosened, all other desires and passions, greed, anger, attachment, arrogance, doubt, and wrong views are also uprooted. The prajna wisdom which enables one to reach the other shore, i.e. wisdom for salvation. According to the Heart Sutra, if practitioners would turn inwards to the recesses of our own minds and note with just bare attention (sati), not objectively without projecting an ego into the process, then cultivate this practice for a sufficient length of time, then we will see these five aggregates not as an entity but as a series of physical and mental processes. At that time, the most wonderful Zen flowers will be blooming. Also at that time, we will no longer mistake the superficial for the real. We will then see that these aggregates arise and disappear in rapid succession, never being the same for two consecutive moments, never static but always in a state of flux, never being but always becoming.’ The Buddha taught in the Lankavatara Sutra: ‘The Tathatagata is neither different nor not-different from the Skandhas.’ (Skandhebhyo-nanyo-nanayas-tathagata). In fact, in the very Heart Sutra, the Buddha told Sariputra: “Sariputra! This phenomenal world or form is emptiness, and emptiness is truly the phenomenal world. Emptiness is not different from the phenomenal world, the phenomenal world is not different from emptiness. What is the phenomenal world that is emptiness, what is emptiness that is the phenomenal world.” Any practitioner who realizes “form does not differ form emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form; form itself is emptiness, emptiness itself is form; so too are feeling, cognition, formation and consciousness”, he crosses beyond birth, old age, sicknesses and death. Any practitioner who can illuminate the five skandhas and see that they are all empty, and he crosses beyond all sufferings and difficulties. As for any practitioner who cultivates emptiness with the mind of no attaining and no impediment, he is not afraid and he leaves distorted dream-thinking far behind, he is acheiving the Ultimate Nirvana of all

Buddhas of the three periods!!!

(A) A Summary of the Prajnaparamitahrdaya-Sutra

I. An Overview of the Prajna-Paramita Heart Sutra

(Prajnaparamitahrdaya-Sutra):

The Heart of the Prajna-Paramita-Sutra or Heart Sutra, the shortest of the forty sutras that constitute the Prajanparamita-sutra. It is one of the most important sutras of Mahayana Buddhism. The sutra is especially emphasized on emptiness (Shunyata). It is recited so frequently in the temple that most Buddhists chant it from memory. One of the most famous sentences in the sutra is “Form is no other than emptiness; emptiness is no other than form,” an affirmation that is frequently referred to in Zen. The Prajna-Paramita Heart Sutra shows that all phenomenal appearances are not ultimate reality but rather illusions or projections of one’s mind (all mundane conditioned dharmas are like dreams, illusions, shadow and bubbles). Every cultivator should regard all phenomena and actions in this way, seeing them as empty, devoid of self, and tranquil. Prajna which we want to talk here is the light of wisdom on the other shore. This is an extraordinary wisdom that we can never achieve through reasoning or intellectualism, because there is no way we can reason the transcendent and flawless beauty of the “Prajna” with our normal wisdom with a limited dimension of mind that is always stirred by wealth, talent, beauty, fame, drink or eating, sleep and rest, gain and loss, win and fail, and so on. On the contrary, the only way that we can obtain this wisdom is our own personal practice and experience. The Prajna-Paramita Heart Sutra literally means “the wisdom that leads to the other shore.” The sutra was translated into Chinese by Hsuan-

Tsang.

II. The Text of the Heart Sutra:

Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara was practicing the profound Prajna Paramita, he illuminated the five skandhas and saw that they are all empty, and he crossed beyond all sufferings and difficulties. Shariputra ! form does not differ form emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form; form itself is emptiness, emptiness itself is form; so too are feeling, cognition, formation and consciousness. Shariputra ! All Dharmas are empty of characteristics. They are not produced, not destroyed, not defiled, not pure, and they neither increase nor diminish.

Therefore, in emptiness there is no form, feeling, cognition, or consciousness; no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind; no sights, sounds, smells, tastes, objects of touch, or Dharmas; no field of the eyes up to and including no field of mind consciousness and no ignorance or ending of ignorance, up to and ending no old age and death or ending of old age and death. There is no suffering, no accumulating, no extinction, and no way, and no understanding and no attaining. Because nothing is attained, the Bodhisattva through reliance on Prajna Paramita is unimpeded in his mind. Because there is no impediment, he is not afraid and he leaves distorted dream-thinking far behind. Ultimately Nirvana ! All Buddhas of three periods of time attain anuttarasamyak-sambodhi through reliance on the Prajna Paramita. Therefore, know that Prajan Paramita is a great spiritual mantra, a great bright mantra, a supreme mantra, an unequalled mantra. It can remove all suffering: It is genuine and not false. That is why the mantra of Prajna Paramita was spoken. Recite it like this: “Gate Gate Paragate Parasamagate Bodhi Svaha !”

(B) Zen Flowers In The Heart Sutra

I. Zen Flowers On the Emptiness In the Prajna Heart Sutra: Meanings of Emptiness In Buddhist Point of View: We can inpterpret “Sunyata” in Buddhism as a kind of space that has the nature of lightness and darkness. This space is the area that appears to our eyes. However, there is another space which is just like a mere negative; an absence of obstructive contact or emptiness. In this chapter, we will only discuss about “Sunyata” with the meaning of “Mere Negative” or “Emptiness”. Emptiness In negative meanings: Do not or not. Emptiness also means non, i.e., non-duality, non-empty, etc. In the Madhyamaka Sastra, Nagarjuna said: “One who is in harmony with emptiness is in harmony with all things.” According to relative truth all things exist, but in absolute truth nothing is; in absolute truth one sees that all things are devoid of self-nature; however, in relative truth, a perception where there is no self-nature. A table, for example, if you take the table as the object which you put your hand on but search to discover what is actuallyis among the parts, whether this is it or that is it, then there is not anything that can be found to be it because the table is something that cannot be analytically sought and it cannot be found. If we take the ultimate reality or emptiness of the table as the substratum and search to see if it can be found; then it becomes a conventional truth in terms of itself as the substratum. In relation to the table, its emptiness is an ultimate truth, but in relation to its own reality, i.e., the reality of the reality, it’s a conventional truth. If you continue to develop and maintain the thought of the non-existence of the table, you will gradually be able to ascertain its emptiness. Even if at the beginning the table keeps appearing in your mind, but with the concentration on emptiness, it will disappear. The owing to the observation of the emptiness of the object, when the object reappears, you can be able to maintain the thought that it does not exist in the way that it seems to.

Buddhist practitioners should always remember that the word “emptiness” is different from everyday term. It transcends the usual concepts of emptiness and form. To be empty is not to be non-existent. It is to be devoid of a permanent identity. To avoid confusion, Buddhists often use the term “true emptiness” to refer to things that devoid of a permanent identity. In fact, the meaning of “emptiness” in Buddhism is very profound and sublime and it is rather difficult to recognize because “emptiness” is not only neither something, nor figure, nor sound, nor taste, nor touch, nor dharma, but all sentient beings and phenomena come to existence by the rule of “Causation” or “dependent co-arising.” The Buddha emphasized on “emptiness” as an “elimination” of false thoughts and wrong beliefs. According to Buddhism, “emptiness” should also be known as “no-self” or “anatta.” However, in most of the Buddha’s teachings, He always expounds the doctrine of “no-self” rather than the theory of “emptiness” because the meaning of “emptiness” is very abstract and difficult to comprehend. According to Culla Sunnata and Mala Sunnata, the Buddha told Ananda that He often dwelt in the liberation of the void. When Ananda requested a clarification, the Buddha explained: “Liberation of the void means liberation through insight that discerns voidness of self.” Indeed, Buddhaghosa confirmed: “In meditation, ‘emptiness’ and ‘no-self’ are inseparable. Contemplation of ‘emptiness’ is nothing but contemplation of ‘no-self’.

The term Emptiness in Buddhism means the unreality of things or all things (phenomena) lack inherent existence, having no essence or permanent aspect whatsoever. All phenomena are empty. All phenomena exist are conditioned and, relative to other factors.” First, Emptiness of persons: A person lacks of inherent existence. He or she is a combination of the five aggregates. Second, Emptiness of phenomena: Emptiness of phenomena means all phenomena lack of inherent existence, but a combinations of elements, causes and conditions. The term emptiness also means nis, nih, nir, ni, or im, i.e., cloudless, fearless, etc. Emptiness also means non-existent or void (absolute non-existence). Emptiness also means devoid of physical substance. The empty state (the state in which reality is as it is). The immaterial which is empty, or devoid of physical substance (opposed to matter). Emptiness, void. Mahayana Buddhism is popularly identified with Sunyata philosophy: that is right as far as it concerns the denial of substance theory as held by the realistic schools of Buddhism, but we must remember that the Mahayana has its positive side which always goes along with its doctrine of Emptiness. The positive side is known as the doctrine of Suchness or Thusness (Tathata). The Lankavatara Sutra is always careful to balance Sunyata and Tathata, or to insist that when the world is viewed as “sunya,” or empty, it is grasped in its suchness. Naturally, such a doctrine as this goes beyond the logical survey based on our discursive understanding as it belongs to the realm of intuition, which is, to use the Lanka terminology, the realization of supreme wisdom in the inmost consciousness.

According to Prof. Junjiro Takakusu in the Essentials of Buddhist Philosophy, ‘Sunya’ negatively means ‘Void,’ but positively means ‘Relative,’ i.e., ‘devoid of independent reality,’ or ‘devoid of specific character.’ Thus ‘Sunyata’ is non-entity and at the same time ‘relativity,’ i.e., the entity only as in causal relation. The idea of relativity seems to be strongly presented in the Indian Madhyamika School. In the Chinese Madhyamika School, too, they have the term 'causal union’ as a synonym of the Middle Path, absence of nature (svabhava-abhava), dharma nature (dharma-svabhava) and void. It is well known that the causal origination is called ‘Sunyata.’ The word ‘void’ is not entirely fitting and is often misleading, yet, if we look for another word, there will be none better. It is, after all, an idea dialectically established. It is nameless (akhyati) and characterless (alaksana). It is simply the negation of an independent reality or negation of specific character. Besides the negation there is nothing else. The Madhyamika system is on that account a negativism, the theory of negation. All things are devoid of independent reality, that is, they are only of relative existence, or relativity in the sense of what is ultimately unreal but phenomenally real.

According to the Sarvastivadins, the doctrine of Void does not disavow the theory of the Chain of Causation, for our worldly existence is of causal combination, nor does it reject the principle of the stream of life (samsara), for it is necessary to explain the state of dynamic becoming. We have seen already that the Realistic School assumes that the three worlds of time are real and so are all dharmas at any instant. The Satyasiddhi School is against this assertion, the nihilisctic Satyasiddhi School contends that the present only is real while the past and the future have no entity. The school asserts, as all the other Mahayanistic schools do, the Void of all elements (sarva-dharma-sunyata) as well as the Void of self (pudgala-sunyata). In addition, it recognizes the two-fold truth, the supreme truth and worldly truth. These are chiefly the reasons for which this school had long been treated as Mahayana in China. According to the Chinese, equivalent of ‘Sunyata’ is ‘K’ung,’ which connotes all the necessary phases of meaning. Void in the sense of antithesis of being. Svabhava-sunyata means void in the state of beign devoid of specific character. Paramartha-sunyata means void in the highest sense, or transcendental void, i.e., all oppositions synthesized. Atyanta-sunyata means the absolute void. A Sanskrit root for “Emptiness” is “sunyata”. The Sanskrit word “sunya” is derived from the root “svi,” to swell. Sunya literally means: “relating to the swollen.” According to Edward Conze in Buddhism: Its Essence and Development, in the remote past, our ancestors, with a fine instinct for the dialectical nature of reality, frequently used the same verbal root to denote the two opposite aspects of a situation. They were as distinctly aware of the unity of opposites, as of their opposition. Development of Sunyata in Prajna-Paramita Sutra: The Maha-prajna-paramita sutra is the fundamental philosophical work of the Mahayana school, the formulation of wisdom, which is the sixth paramita. It is said to have been delivered by Sakyamuni in four places at sixteen assemblies: Gridhrakuta near Rajagrha (Vulture Peak), Sravasti, Paranirmitavasavartin, and Veluvana near Rajagrha (Bamboo Garden). It consists of 600 books as translated by Hsuan-Tsang under the T’ang dynasty. One of the most famous phrases from the Sutra:

"Matter is just the immaterial, the immaterial is just matter (form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form)." In other words, there is no difference between the supreme truth and the conventional truth. If Sunyata is the total Sunyta, then it is meaningless. According to the Mahayana tradition, Sunyata is the Means of the Relative Truth and the Ultimate truth. That is to say, worldly truth, though not unconditional, is essential for the attainment of the ultimate Truth and

Nirvana. The Hrdaya Sutra, the central of the Prajna-paramita scriptures, has expanded this significance by the emphasis words that

‘Rupa does not differ from Sunya’ or Rupa is identical with Sunya.

Relative truth is not useless in achieving enlightenment, nor can it be said that there is no relation between worldly and ultimate truths. Thus, Prajna-paramita is of the nature of knowledge; it is a seeing of things, it arises from the combination of casual factors. From that, Bodhisattvas have no hindrance in their hearts, and since they have no hindrance, they have no fear, are free from contrary and delusive ideas in order that he can content himself with entering the world to spread the Truth of Sunyata to all walks of life without any obstacles. The concept of Sunyata in Maha-Prajna-paramita Sutra opens our knowledge that in Pali Nikaya, the concept of Sunnata is diplayed very simple with the idea of the reality and that sunnata in Panca Nikaya is also the form of real nature, i.e., Sunyata in Prajna-paramita texts. In other words, Sunnata in Pali scriptures attached special importance to non-self and until the appearance and development of Mahayana, specially Prajna-paramita literature, the the field of non-self is represented in two parts: the non-substantiality of the self and the non-substantiality of the dharmas, i.e., from subjective to objective, from six internal sense-bases to six external sense bases, from affirmation of either being or non-being to denial of either being or non-being, etc, are empty. The negation of all things gives us to insight into the reality. That is also to say, Sunnata in Pali Nikayas is the foundation for the development of

Prajna-paramita literature.

The Relationships Between Sunyata and Prajna: In Buddhism, emptiness implies the unreality of things or all things (phenomena) lack inherent existence, having no essence or permanent aspect whatsoever.

All phenomena are empty. All phenomena exist are conditioned and, relative to other factors. In the Madhyamaka Sastra, Nagarjuna said:

“One who is in harmony with emptiness is in harmony with all things.”

The word “emptiness” is different from everyday term. It transcends the usual concepts of emptiness and form. To be empty is not to be non-existent. It is to be devoid of a permanent identity. To avoid confusion, Buddhists often use the term “true emptiness” to refer to things that devoid of a permanent identity. In fact, the meaning of “emptiness” in Buddhism is very profound and sublime and it is rather difficult to recognize because “emptiness” is not only neither something, nor figure, nor sound, nor taste, nor touch, nor dharma, but all sentient beings and phenomena come to existence by the rule of “Causation” or “dependent co-arising.” The Buddha emphasized on “emptiness” as an “elimination” of false thoughts and wrong beliefs.

As mentioned above, Prajna is a Sanskrit term which means wisdom.

Prajna also means the real power to discern things and their underlying principles and to decide the doubtful. Prajna means a transcendental knowledge. The Prajna-paramita-sutra describes “prajna” as supreme, highest, incomparable, unequalled, unsurpassed. There are three prajnas or perfect enlightements: The first part of the prajnaparamita. The wisdom achieved once crossed the shore. The second part of the prajnaparamita. The necessary wisdom for actual crossing the shore of births and deaths. The wisdom of knowing things in their temporary and changing condition. The necessary wisdom for vowing to cross the shore of births and deaths. It is Prajna which lays its hands on Emptiness, or Suchness, or self-nature. And this laying-hands-on is not what it seems. This is self-evident from what has already been said concerning things relative. Because the self-nature is beyond the realm of relativity, its being grasped by Prajna cannot mean a grasping in its ordinary sense. The grasping must be no-grasping, a paradoxical statement which is inevitable. To use Buddhist terminology, this grasping is accomplished by non-discrimination; that is, by discrete, an act of the conscious; not an unconscious act but an act rising from self-nature itself, which is the unconscious. Meanwhile, the Sanskrit root for “Emptiness” is “sunyata”. The Sanskrit word “sunya” is derived from the root “svi,” to swell. Sunya literally means: “relating to the swollen.” Unreality of things or all things (phenomena) lack inherent existence, having no essence or permanent aspect whatsoever, nothing has a nature of its own. All phenomena are empty. All phenomena exist are conditioned and, relative to other factors. According to the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch’s Dharma Treasure, the Sixth Patriarch, Hui-Neng, taught: “Good Knowing Advisor, when you contemplate and illuminate with the wisdom, which brightly penetrates within and without, you recognize your original mind. The recognition of your original mind is the original liberation. The attainment of liberation is the Prajna Samadhi, thus no-thought. What is meant by

‘no-thought?’ No-thought means to view all dharmas with a mind undefiled by attachment. The function of the mind pervades all places but is nowhere attached. Merely purify your original mind to cause the six consciousnesses to go out the six gates, to be undefiled and unmixed among the six objects, to come and go freely and to penetrate without obstruction. That is the Prajna Samadhi, freedom and liberation, and it is called the practice of no-thought. Not thinking of the hundred things and constantly causing your thought to be cut off is called Dharma-bondage and is an extremist view. According to the Records of the Transmission of the Lamp (Ch’uan-Teng-Lu), Volume IX: One day, Chao-chou came and asked Ta-Tzu, "What is the body of the Prajna?" Ta-Tzu repeated: "What is the body of the Prajna?" Thereupon, Chao-chou gave a hearty laugh and went off. On the day following Ta-tzu saw Chao-chou sweeping the ground. Ta-Tzu asked, "What is the body of the Prajna?" Chao-chou threw up his broom and with a hearty laugh went away. Ta-Tzu then returned to his quarters. Zen practitioners should always remember that Prajna is the ultimate truth which is to be experienced and not to be made a mere subject of intellectual analysis or from individual's extremist view.

The Emptiness of All Phenomena In the Heart Sutra: The Heart of the Prajna-Paramita-Sutra or Heart Sutra, the shortest of the forty sutras that constitute the Prajanparamita-sutra. It is one of the most important sutras of Mahayana Buddhism. The sutra is especially emphasized on emptiness (Shunyata). No-Dharma or the emptiness of all phenomena. A true understanding of the emptiness of all phenomena means true understanding that the five skandhas are empty, not only because they are aggregates, but by their very nature.

According to the Heart Sutra, “the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva illuminated the five skandhas and saw that they were empty. Thus he overcame all ills and sufferings.” In Theravada, the self is a composite, or an aggregate of many other elements, and is therefore empty or relative emptiness. In Mahayana Buddhism, al phenomena including the self are empty in their very nature or absolute emptiness. The Prajna-Paramita Heart Sutra shows that all phenomenal appearances are not ultimate reality but rather illusions or projections of one’s mind (all mundane conditioned dharmas are like dreams, illusions, shadow and bubbles). Every cultivator should regard all phenomena and actions in this way, seeing them as empty, devoid of self, and tranquil. Prajna which we want to talk here is the light of wisdom on the other shore.

This is an extraordinary wisdom that we can never achieve through reasoning or intellectualism, because there is no way we can reason the transcendent and flawless beauty of the “Prajna” with our normal wisdom with a limited dimension of mind that is always stirred by wealth, talent, beauty, fame, drink or eating, sleep and rest, gain and loss, win and fail, and so on. On the contrary, the only way that we can obtain this wisdom is our own personal practice and experience.

II. Zen Flowers of Form & Emptiness:

Aggregate of matter (four elements of our own body and other material objects such as solidity, fluidity, heat and motion comprise matter). The aggregate of form includes the five physical sense organs and the corresponding physical objects of the sense organs (the eyes and visible objects, the ears and sound, the nose and smell, the tongue and taste, the skin and tangible objects). There are several different categories of rupa. Inner rupa as the organs of sense (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body). Outer rupa as the objects of sense (colour, sound, smell, taste, touch). Visible objects (white, blue, yellow, red, etc.). Invisible objects (sound, smell, taste, touch). Invisible immaterial or abstract objects. Form is used more in the sense of “substance,” or “something occupying space which will resist replacement by another form.” So it has extension, it is limited and conditioned. It comes into existence when conditions are matured, as Buddhists would say, and staying as long as they continue, pass away. Form is impermanent, dependent, illusory, relative, antithetical, and distinctive. Things with shape and features are forms. Forms include all colors which can dim our eyes.

Ordinarily speaking, we are confused with forms when we see them, hear sounds and be confused by them, smell scents and be confused by them, taste flavors and be confused by them, or feel sensations and be confused by them. In the Classic of the Way and Its Virtue, it is said:

“The five colors blind the eyes; the five musical notes deafen the ears; and the five flavors dull the palate.” Therefore, in the Heart Sutra, the Buddha taught: “If we can empty out the Aggregate of Form, then we can realize a state of there being ‘no mind inside, no body outside, and no things beyond.’” If we can follow what the Buddha taught, we are no longer attached to Forms, we are totally liberated. The Pali scripture declares six sense-organs, six sense-objects and six consciousnesses as well as five aggregates are Sunyata as “Eye is void of self and anything belonging to self; form is void from self and anything belonging to self; visual consciousness is void of self and anything belonging to self.” Matter is just the immaterial, the immaterial is just matter (form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form: Rupam eva sunyata, sunyataiva rupam). In the Heart Sutra, the Buddha told Sariputra: “Sariputra! This phenomenal world or form is emptiness, and emptiness is truly the phenomenal world. Emptiness is not different from the phenomenal world, the phenomenal world is not different from emptiness. What is the phenomenal world that is emptiness, what is emptiness that is the phenomenal world.” The Hrdaya Sutra expands this concept by emphasis that “Rupa does not differ from Sunya”, or “Sunya does not differ from rupa” and “Sunya of all things is not created, not annihilated, not impure, not pure, not increasing, and not decreasing.” It means that because rupa must have no nature of its own, it is produced by causes or depend on anything else, so rupa is sunyata or identical with void. Therefore, the perceived object, the perceiving subject and knowledge are mutually interdependent. The reality of one is dependent upon others; if one is false, the others must be false. The perceiving subject and knowledge of the external object must also be false. So what one perceives within or without is illusory. Therefore, there is nothing, creation and annihilation, pure and impure, increase and decrease and so on.

However, in reality, we cannot say a thing to be either real or unreal at the same time. Here, Sunyata must be defined as Pratityasamutpada.

There is the intimate connection that exists between causality and sunyata. The one presupposes the other; the two are inseparably connected. Sunyata is the logical consequence of the Buddha’s view of causality and effection. Sunyata is the central theme of the Mahayana philosophical system. This term has been used in the Prajna-paramita system to denote a stage where all viewpoints with regard to the real nature of mundane world are totally rejected. In other words, we may say that to have a viewpoint is to cling to a position and there can be various types of positions with regard to the real nature of things as

Saddharma-Pundaria expressed: “Knowing that phenomena have no constant fixed nature, that the seeds of Buddhahood sprout through causation.”

According to the Anattalakkhana Sutta, the Buddha taught: “O, Bhiksus, is the form not the self. If the form, o Bhiksus, were the self, the body would not be subject to disease and we should be able to say ‘Let my body be such and such a one, let my body not be such and such a one. But since this body, o Bhiksus, is not the self, therefore, the body is subject to disease, and we are not able to say ‘Let my body be such and such a one, let my body not be such and such a one.’” The Buddha further said: “Now what do you think, o Bhiksus, is the body permanent or perishable?” “It is perishable, Lord.” The Buddha added: “And that which is perishable, does that cause pain or joy?” “It causes pain, Lord.” “And that which is perishable, painful, subject to change, is it possible to regard that in this way: ‘This is mine, this am I, this is myself?’” “That is impossible, Lord.” By the method of analysis the Buddha pointed out to his disciples that attachment to things without a correct view as to their true nature is the cause of suffering. Impermanence and change are inherent in the nature of all things. This is their true nature and this is the correct view, and as long as we are at variance with it, we are bound to run into conflicts. We cannot alter or control the nature of things, and the result is disappointment or suffering. The only solution to this problem lies in correcting our own point of view.

According to the Suragama Sutra, the Buddha taught: “Ananda!

Consider this example: when a person who has pure clear eyes look at clear, bright emptiness, he sees nothing but clear emptiness, and he is quite certain that nothing exists within it. If for no apparent reason, the peson does not move his eyes, the staring will cause fatigue, and then of his own accord, he will see strange flowers in space and other unreal appearances that are wild and disordered. According to Zen Master Seng-Tsan in Faith in Mind, abiding no where, yet everywhere. Ten directions are right before you. The smallest is the same as the largest in the realm where delusion is cut off. The largest is the same as the smallest, no boundaries are visible. Existence is precisely emptiness and emptiness is precisely existence. If it is not like this, you should not preserve it. Speaking clearly, in the Heart Sutra, the Buddha told Sariputra: “Sariputra! This phenomenal world or form is emptiness, and emptiness is truly the phenomenal world. Emptiness is not different from the phenomenal world, the phenomenal world is not different from emptiness. What is the phenomenal world that is emptiness, what is emptiness that is the phenomenal world.” According to Zen Master Seng-Tsan in Faith in Mind, abiding no where, yet everywhere. Ten directions are right before you. The smallest is the same as the largest in the realm where delusion is cut off. The largest is the same as the smallest, no boundaries are visible. Existence is precisely emptiness and emptiness is precisely existence. If it is not like this, you should not preserve it. Any practitioner who realizes “form does not differ form emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form; form itself is emptiness, emptiness itself is form; so too are feeling, cognition, formation and consciousness”, he crosses beyond birth, old age, sicknesses and death.

III. The Five Skandhas Are Equally Empty:

According to the Heart Sutra, any practitioner who can illuminate the five skandhas and see that they are all empty, and he crosses beyond all sufferings and difficulties. The Pali scripture declares six sense-organs, six sense-objects and six consciousnesses as well as five aggregates are Sunyata as “Eye is void of self and anything belonging to self; form is void from self and anything belonging to self; visual consciousness is void of self and anything belonging to self.” Matter is just the immaterial, the immaterial is just matter (form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form). In the Heart Sutra, the Buddha told Sariputra: “Sariputra! This phenomenal world or form is emptiness, and emptiness is truly the phenomenal world. Emptiness is not different from the phenomenal world, the phenomenal world is not different from emptiness. What is the phenomenal world that is emptiness, what is emptiness that is the phenomenal world.” The Hrdaya Sutra expands this concept by emphasis that “Rupa does not differ from Sunya”, or “Sunya does not differ from rupa” and “Sunya of all things is not created, not annihilated, not impure, not pure, not increasing, and not decreasing.” It means that because rupa must have no nature of its own, it is produced by causes or depend on anything else, so rupa is sunyata or identical with void. Therefore, the perceived object, the perceiving subject and knowledge are mutually interdependent. The reality of one is dependent upon others; if one is false, the others must be false. The perceiving subject and knowledge of the external object must also be false. So what one perceives within or without is illusory.

Therefore, there is nothing, creation and annihilation, pure and impure, increase and decrease and so on. However, in reality, we cannot say a thing to be either real or unreal at the same time. Here, Sunyata must be defined as Pratityasamutpada. There is the intimate connection that exists between causality and sunyata. The one presupposes the other; the two are inseparably connected. Sunyata is the logical consequence of the Buddha’s view of causality and effection.

In the point of view of the Mahayana scriptures, sunyata is the central theme of the Mahayana philosophical system. This term has been used in the Prajna-paramita system to denote a stage where all viewpoints with regard to the real nature of mundane world are totally rejected. In other words, we may say that to have a viewpoint is to cling to a position and there can be various types of positions with regard to the real nature of things as Saddharma-Pundaria expressed: “Knowing that phenomena have no constant fixed nature, that the seeds of Buddhahood sprout through causation.” Matter is just the immaterial, the immaterial is just matter (form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form). In the Heart Sutra, the Buddha told Sariputra:

“Sariputra! This phenomenal world or form is emptiness, and emptiness is truly the phenomenal world. Emptiness is not different from the phenomenal world, the phenomenal world is not different from emptiness. What is the phenomenal world that is emptiness, what is emptiness that is the phenomenal world.” According to Zen Master Seng-Tsan in Faith in Mind, abiding no where, yet everywhere. Ten directions are right before you. The smallest is the same as the largest in the realm where delusion is cut off. The largest is the same as the smallest, no boundaries are visible. Existence is precisely emptiness and emptiness is precisely existence. If it is not like this, you should not preserve it.

Skandha in Sanskrit means “group, aggregate, or heap.” In Buddhism, Skandha means the trunk of a tree, or a body. Skandha also means the five aggregates or five aggregates of conditioned phenomena (constituents), or the five causally conditioned elements of existence forming a being or entity. According to Buddhist philosophy, each individual existence is composed of the five elements and because they are constantly chanching, so those who attempt to cling to the “self” are subject to suffering. Though these factors are often referred to as the “aggregates of attachment” because they are impermanent and changing, ordinary people always develop desires for them. According to the Sangiti Sutta in the Long Discourses of the Buddha, there are five aggregates. The aggregates which make up a human being. The five skandhas are the roots of all ignorance. They keep sentient beings from realizing their always-existing Buddha- Nature. The five aggregates are considered as maras or demons fighting against the Buddha-nature of men. In accordance with the Dharma, life is comprised of five aggregates (form, feeling, perception, mental formation, consciousness). Matter plus the four mental factors classified below as feeling, perception, mental formation and consciousness combined together from life. The real nature of these five aggregates is explained in the Teaching of the Buddha as follows: “Matter is equated to a heap of foam, feeling is like a bubble, perception is described as a mirage, mental formations are like a banana tree and consciousness is just an illusion. Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh wrote in 'The Heart of Understanding': "If I am holding a cup of water and I ask you, 'Is this cup empty?' You will say, 'No, it is full of water.' But if I pour the water and ask you again, you may say, 'Yes, it is empty.' But, empty of what? My cup is empty of water, but it is not empty of air. To be empty is to be empty of something... When Avalokitesvara (Kuan-yin or Kannon, the Bodhisattva who embodies Compassion) says (in the Heart Sutra) that the five skandhas are equally empty, to help him be precise we must ask, 'Mr.

Avalokitesvara, empty of what?' The five skandhas, which may by translated into English as five heaps, or five aggregates, are the five elements that comprise a human being... In fact, these are really five rivers flowing together in us: the river of form, which means our body, the river of feeling, the river of perceptions, the river of mental formations, and the river of consciousness. They are always flowing in us... Avalokitesvara looked deeply into the five skandhas..., and he discovered that none of them can be by itself alone... Form is empty of a separate self, but it is full of everything in the cosmos. The same is true with feelings, perceptions, mental formation, and consciousness."

According to Zen Master Seung Sahn in The Compass of Zen, the Heart Sutra teaches that "form is emptiness, and emptiness is form."

Many people don't know what this means, even some long-time students of meditation. But there is a very easy way to see this in our everyday lives. For example, here is a wooden chair. It is brown. It is solid and heavy. It looks like it could last a long time. You sit in the chair, and it holds up your weight. You can place things on it. But then you light the chair on fire, and leave. When you come back later, the chair is no longer there! This thing that seemed so solid and strong and real is now a pile of cinder and ash which the wind blows around. This example shows how the chair is empty; it is not a permanent abiding things. It is always changing. It has no independent existence. Over a long or short time, the chair will eventually change and become something other than what it appears. So this brown chair is complete emptiness. But though it always has the quality of emptiness, this emptiness is form: you can sit in the chair, and it will still hold you up. "Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form."

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh wrote in 'The Heart of Understanding': "If I am holding a cup of water and I ask you, 'Is this cup empty?' You will say, 'No, it is full of water.' But if I pour the water and ask you again, you may say, 'Yes, it is empty.' But, empty of what?

My cup is empty of water, but it is not empty of air. To be empty is to be empty of something... When Avalokitesvara (Kuan-yin or Kannon, the Bodhisattva who embodies Compassion) says (in the Heart Sutra)

that the five skandhas are equally empty, to help him be precise we must ask, 'Mr. Avalokitesvara, empty of what?' The five skandhas, which may by translated into English as five heaps, or five aggregates, are the five elements that comprise a human being... In fact, these are really five rivers flowing together in us: the river of form, which means our body, the river of feeling, the river of perceptions, the river of mental formations, and the river of consciousness. They are always flowing in us... Avalokitesvara looked deeply into the five skandhas..., and he discovered that none of them can be by itself alone... Form is empty of a separate self, but it is full of everything in the cosmos. The same is true with feelings, perceptions, mental formation, and consciousness." Thong Thien was a Vietnamese Zen master from An La, North Vietnam. He was a disciple of Zen master Thường Chiếu at Lục Tổ Temple. After he became the dharma heir of the thirteenth generation of the Wu-Yun-T’ung Zen Sect, he returned to his home town to revive and expand Buddhism there. He passed away in 1228. He always reminded his disciples: “The ancient virtues always advise us to keep seeing that the five aggregates are emptiness, the four elements are non-self, the true mind has no form, neither going, nor coming. The self-nature did not come when you were born; and will not go when you die. The true mind is always serene and all-embracing; and your mind and all scenes are one. If you always see that, you will soon attain enlightenment, be free from the bondage of the three periods, and become those who transcend the secular world. So, it is important for you not to cling to anything. We, ordinary people, do not see the five aggregates as phenomena but as an entity because of our deluded minds, and our innate desire to treat these as a self in oder to pander to our self-importance. As a matter of fact, the real nature of these five aggregates is explained in the Teaching of the Buddha as follows: “Matter is equated to a heap of foam, feeling is like a bubble, perception is described as a mirage, mental formations are like a banana tree and consciousness is just an illusion. According to the Surangama Sutra, all the defiling objects that appear, all the illusory, ephemeral characteristics, spring up in the very spot where they also come to an end. They are what is called ‘illusory falseness.’ But their nature is in truth the bright substance of wonderful enlightenment. Thus it is throughout, up to the five skandhas and the six entrances, to the twelve places and the eighteen realms; the union and mixture of various causes and conditions account for their illusory and false existence, and the separation and dispersion of the causes and conditions result in their illusory and false extinction. Who would have thought that production, extinction, coming, and going are fundamentally the everlasting, wonderful light of the treasury of the Thus Come One, the unmoving, all-pervading perfection, the wonderful nature of true suchness! If within the true and permanent nature one seeks coming and going, confusion and enlightenment, or birth and death, there is nothing that can be obtained. Therefore, if you have patience and the will to see things as they truly are. If you would turn inwards to the recesses of your own minds and note with just bare attention (sati), not objectively without projecting an ego into the process, then cultivate this practice for a sufficient length of time, then you will see these five aggregates not as an entity but as a series of physical and mental processes. Then you wil not mistake the superficial for the real. You will then see that these aggregates arise and disappear in rapid succession, never being the same for two consecutive moments, never static but always in a state of flux, never being but always becoming.’ The Buddha taught in the Lankavatara Sutra: ‘The Tathatagata is neither different nor not-different from the Skandhas.’ (Skandhebhyo-nanyo-nanayas-tathagata).

IV. Zen Flowers of the Mind of No Attaining & No Impediment: Zen practitioners should always remember that all things (phenomena) lack inherent existence, having no essence or permanent aspect whatsoever. No matter what happens, no one of us can keep anything forever in this life. Thus, Zen practitioners should always have the mind without resting place. The mind without resting place means a mind that is detached from time and space, the past being past may be considered as a non-past or non-existent, so with present and future, thus realizing their unreality. The result is detachment, or the liberated mind, which is the Buddha-mind, the bodhi-mind, the mind free from ideas or creation and extinction, of beginning and end, recognizing that all forms and natures are of the Void, or Absolute. Whatever we say, mind is that which cannot be known, no matter how hard one seeks. According to Most Venerable Dhammananda in The Gems of Buddhist Wisdom, mind may be defined as simply the awareness of an object since there is no agent or a soul that directs all activities. It consists of fleeting mental states which constantly arise and perish with lightning rapidity. “With birth for its source and death for its mouth, it persistently flows on like a river receiving from the tributary streams of sense constant accretions to its flood.” Each momentary consciousness of this everchanging lifestream, on passing away, transmits its whole energy, all the indelibly recorded impressions, to its successor. Every fresh consciousness therefore consists of the potentialities of its predecessors and something more.

As all impressions are indelibly recorded in this everchanging palimpsest-like mind, and as all potentialities are transmitted from life to life, irrespective of temporary physical disintegrations, reminiscence of past births or past incidents become a possibility. Mind is like a double-edged weapon that can equally be used either for good or evil.

One single thought that arises in this invisible mind can even save or destroy the world. One such thought can either populate or depopulate a whole country. It is mind that creates one’s paradise and one’s hell.

According to Great Master Ying-Kuang: “The mind encompasses all the ten directions of dharma realms, including Buddha dharma realm, Bodhisatva dharma realm, Pratyeka-Buddha dharma realm, Sravaka dharma realm, Heaven dharma realm, Human dharma realm, Asura dharma realm, Animal dharma realm, Hungry Ghost dharma realm, and Hell dharma realm. One mind can give rise to everything. Buddhas arise from within the cultivator’s mind, Hells also arise from the cultivator’s mind.” In Buddhism, an unchanging self-entity cannot be found in all of existence. In fact, the mind is like a monkey, let it moves wherever it will; however, the Diamond Sutra suggests: “Cultivate the mind and the awareness so that your mind abides nowhere.” Let “bygone be bygone.” The mind of a cultivator must be pure. Do not long for foreknowledge of events. To have this kind of foreknowledge is, in fact, nothing but a lot of trouble, because it leads to discrimination in our thinking and prevents us from being able to concentrate. Being unable to concentrate or focus our energy on cultivation, our idle thoughts run wild, then afflictions come in droves (herds). If we do not crave this foreknowledge in the first place, then we also will not have afflictions, and we are free of impediments. Zen practitioners should always remember that if we cultivate emptiness with the mind of no attaining and no impediment, we are not afraid and he leaves distorted dream-thinking far behind, and we are acheiving the Ultimate Nirvana of all Buddhas of the three periods. Finally, Zen practitioners should always remember the Buddha’s teachings in the Heart Sutra: “Because there is no impediment, he leaves distorted dream-thinking far behind; ultimately Nirvana!” This, then, should be the mind of a cultivator. In short, any practitioner who cultivates emptiness with the mind of no attaining and no impediment, he is not afraid and he leaves distorted dream-thinking far behind, he is acheiving the Ultimate Nirvana of all Buddhas of the three periods.

V. Zen Flowers of the Spirit of Not to Have Any Dharma to Discourse About:

The whole emphasis of Zen discipline is placed on the intuitive grasping of the inner truth deeply hidden in our consciousness. And this truth thus revealed or awakened within oneself defies intellectual manipulation, or at least cannot be imparted to others through any dialectical formulas. It must come out of oneself, grow within oneself, and become one with one's own being. What others, that is, ideas or images, can do is to indicate the way where lies the truth. This is what Zen master have been doing and continue to do so in the future. One day, Zen master Tieh-Tsui-Chiao (a disciple of the great Zen master Chao-chou) visited Zen master Fa-yen, another great Zen master, the latter asked him,what was the last place he came from. Tieh-Tsui- Chiao replied that he came from Chao-chou. Fa-yen said, "I understand that a cypress tree once became the subject of Chao-chou's talk, was that really so?" Tieh-Tsui-Chiao was positive in his denial, saying, "He had no such talk." Fa-yen protested, "All the monks coming from Chao-chou lately speak of his reference to a cypress tree in answer to a monk's question, 'What was the real object of the coming East of Bodhidharma?' How do you say that Chao-chou made no such reference to a cypress tree?" Whereupon Tieh-Tsui-Chiao roared, "My late master never made such a talk; no slighting allusion to him, if you please!" Fa-yen greatly admired this attitude on the part of the disciple of the famous Chao-chou, and said, "Truly, you are a lion's child!"

From ordinary point of view a saying from Zen masters is altogether unreliable, yet they seem to think that the truth of Zen requires such contradictions and denials; for these contradictions, negations, or paradoxical statements are the inevitable result of the Zen way of looking at life. And Zen has a standard of its own, which, to our common-sense minds, consists just in negating everything we properly hold true and real. In spite of these apparent confusions, the philosophy of Zen is guided by a thorough-going principle which, when once grasped, its topsy-turviness becomes the plainest truth. All indicators given by Zen masters are naturally unconventionally free and refreshingly original. As their eyes are always fixed on the ultimate truth itself, anything and everything they can command is utilized to accomplish the end, regardless of its logical conditions and consequences. This indifference to logic is sometimes asserted purposely, just to let us know the truth of Zen is independent of the intellect. This is exactly in accordance with the teaching in the Prajna-paramita-Sutra: "Not to have any Dharma to discourse about, this is discoursing about the Dharma." VI. Flowers of Emptiness: Zen Mind Has No-Abiding: The complete sentence which the Buddha taught Subhuti as follows: “Do not act on sight. Do not act on sound, smell, taste, touch or Dharma. One should act without attachments.” According to the Diamond Sutra, a Bodhisattva should produce a thought which is nowhere supported, or a thought awakened without abiding in anything whatever. Zen master Hsueh-fêng was one of the most earnest truth seekers in the history of Zen during the T'ang dynasty. He is said to have carried a ladle throughout the long years of his disciplinary Zen peregrinations. His idea was to serve in one of the most despised and most difficult positions in the monastery life, that is, as cook, and the ladle was his symbol. When he finally succeeded Tê-shan-Hsuan-chien as Zen master, a monk approached him and asked, "What is that you have attained under Tê-shan? How serene and self-contained you are!" Hsueh-fêng said, "Empty-handed I went away from home, and empty-handed I returned." According to Zen master Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki in "An Introduction To Zen Buddhism," is not this a practical explanation of the doctrine of "no abiding place"? For Zen practitioners, where is the abiding place for the mind? Zen practitioners' minds should abide where there is no abiding. What is meant by "there is no abiding"?

When the mind is not abiding in any particular object, we say that it abides where there is no abiding. But what is meant by not abiding in any particular object? It means not to be abiding in the dualism of good and evil, being and non-being, thought and matter; it means not to be abiding in emptiness or in non-emptiness, neither in tranquility nor in non-tranquility. Where there is no abiding place, this is truly the abiding place for the mind, and the non-abiding mind is the Buddha-mind. In fact, the mind without resting place, detached from time and space, the past being past may be considered as a non-past or non-existent, so with present and future, thus realizing their unreality. The result is detachment, or the liberated mind, which is the Buddha-mind, the bodhi-mind, the mind free from ideas or creation and extinction, of beginning and end, recognizing that all forms and natures are of the

Void, or Absolute. When a thing has its fixed abode, it is fettered, it is no more absolute. In "No-abiding" Zen, the mind is without a resting place, detached from time and space, the past being past may be considered as a non-past or non-existent, so with present and future, thus realizing their unreality. The result is detachment, or the liberated mind, which is the Buddha-mind, the bodhi-mind, the mind free from ideas or creation and extinction, of beginning and end, recognizing that all forms and natures are of the Void, or Absolute. In fact, where is the abiding place for the mind? According to the Prajnaparamita Sutra, the mind abides where there is no abiding. But what is meant by "there is no abiding place?" Also according to the Maha-Prajna-paramita Sutra, when the mind is not abiding in any particular object, we say that it abides where there is no abiding. But again, what is meant by not abiding in any particular object? And again, according to the Prajnaparamita Sutra, "not abiding in any particular object" means not to be abiding in the dualism of good and evil, being anf non-being, thought and matter; it means not to be abiding in emptiness or in non-emptiness, neither in tranquility nor in non-tranquility. Zen practitioners should always remember that where there is no abiding place, this is truly the abiding place for the mind, for that mind is Buddha's mind.

(C) The Message for Zen Practitioners

From the Buddha Via the Heart Sutra

In Buddhism, we have always been hearing about letting go and not clinging to anything. What does the Buddha mean on letting go? He means in daily activities, no way we can let go everything. We have to hold on things; however, try not to cling to them. For example, we try to make money for our living expenses, but not try to cling on making a lot of money to accumulate regardless of the means of making the money. Practioners do everything with a mind that lets go. Do not expect any praise or reward. Zen practitioners should always remember that mind of detachment or renunciation includes physical (wealth, body, form, sound, smell, taste, touch, etc) and mental (biased minds, wrong views, self-grasping, ego-grasping, etc). If we let go a little, we will have a little peace. If we let go a lot, we will have a lot of peace. If we let go completely, we will know complete peace and freedom. Through the short sutra of the Heart Sutra, we can see the basic teaching of the Buddha on how to let go distorted dream-thinking far behind in order to immediately acheive the Ultimate Nirvana of all Buddhas of the three periods. However, in practical daily life, speaking is easy but doing is extremely difficult. The most important thing that the Buddha advised in the Heart Sutra is that those who are able to cultivate in accordance with the Buddha’s teachings, even just a part of it, will have a life that is far beyond all perverted views, confusions, and imaginations; a life that is free from all kinds of sufferings and afflictions; and a real life of peace, mindfulness and happiness. In order to be able to let go in the exact meaning of the Buddha’s teaching, we should have the ability to accept both good and bad together. To be able to do this, Zen practitioners should hold firmly in mind the principle of “non-discrimination” that the Buddha taught in the Heart Sutra. Of course, it is difficult for normal people like us to imagine that “form is not different from emptiness; emptiness is not different from form” because, for us the two states of happiness and suffering are totally different and contrary to each other. But if we really want to let go, we will not have any other choice! In short, the fragrance of the Heart Sutra can only spread out once we determine to cultivate and experience the Prajna Wisdom, for this wisdom is a special kind of light that goes beyond all limits of any mundane wisdom. As a matter of fact, it is because of the Prajna Wisdom that a suffered and afflicted being can be truly liberated and a real life of enlightenment and happiness can be re-established, not in another life, but right here and right now.