heart sutra. What is the meaning of the heart sutra and what is it expressing and how do we understand it? So I do this periodically, maybe once every 10 years or so. to catch everybody up and remind those who have some understanding. We chant the Heart Sutra every day, twice a day, and we may understand it or we may not. When I was At Sokoji, our original temple in San Francisco on Bush Street, we used to chant the Heart Sutra in Japanese only three times.

[01:15]

That was our service. And the chanting card had the characters and then had the translation of the characters so we could follow the meaning of the Chinese characters And in 1970, when Tatsugami Roshi came to Tassajara, we made a translation which was kind of culled from various translations, and that's pretty much what we have today with some minor changes. So this translation is sufficient. There are a number of translations and there are a number of commentaries. Edward Kanze, who was a German scholar, I remember he got his PhD in 1929, my birthday,

[02:23]

really made the Prajnaparamita texts available in English. He was a great translator, really good translator. I can't believe what a good translator he is because he didn't have anybody else around him who was doing this. And his translations still hold up today. And I studied his translation of the Heart Sutra many times and usually talk from that. and he breaks it down into its various components. The Heart Sutra is a very short version of the Prajnaparamita Sutras. Prajnaparamita Sutras were introduced into the world The Prajnaparamita Sutras, and especially the Heart Sutra, which is kind of a condensation of the 600 so-called volumes of the Prajnaparamita Sutras, contains everything we need to know about it in a little bundle.

[03:56]

So that's why it's so difficult to understand, because it's talking about all of the practices understanding of Mahayana Buddhism. So when we read it, what's it talking about? It's not explaining anything, it's simply presenting. So in order to understand, you have to study what it's talking about. So Kansei does that very well. and wisdom, and what compassion really is. But they're very short, and there are even shorter ones. When you get down to looking at all the short versions of the Prajnaparamita Sutra, the last one is the letter A.

[05:04]

The Sanskrit letter A is the shortest version of the Prajnaparamita Sutras, and the longest version is the one in 100,000 lines. And we have a copy of Kansa's translation of the one in 18,000 lines. I would go ahead and bring it, but it's too heavy. We have a copy in the library. And when you open it up, you cannot believe who wrote this. It always boggles my mind. Nobody knows who wrote all this. But who wrote the sutras? It's unbelievable when you start reading them. They're so detailed and so systematically put together. It just boggles The understanding used to be that there was the long sutra in a hundred thousand lines and then it was divided into smaller pieces so it would be less cumbersome.

[06:16]

But actually it seems to work the other way. There's the small sutra and then it keeps being expanded. That's the way sutras come to be actually. There's a treatise So, it's not like one person may have written it, but Prajnaparamita Sutra is so consistent in what it's talking about that probably it was supposed to have been discovered by Nagarjuna. of Maharana, of the middle way, Majamika.

[07:18]

Majamika means middle way. Basically the understanding of the non-duality of form and emptiness. form is emptiness, emptiness is form. That which is form is emptiness, that which is emptiness is form. The same is true of feelings. The same is true of perceptions. The same is true of mental, mind, thought conceptions. And the same is true of consciousness. They're all empty in their own being. So that's the center of the Prajnaparamita Sutras. And it's expressed in the Heart Sutra in a very condensed way.

[08:21]

And of course, the larger sutras are much more expanded and incredible, actually. Just like the Avatamsaka Sutra. Who could have written such a thing? Nobody knows. So they were unnamed authors. But how they could have had such conceptions is pretty incredible. So there must have been some Anyway, so the commentary that I have chosen is the commentary which you have by Abbot Oborah, who was around the

[09:38]

first part of the 20th century. I don't know when he died. I can't remember when he died, but probably in the 50s or 40s, 50s. And he was interviewed by Trevor Leggett, who was a kind of scholar and also lived in Japan a long time. And I think he was a black belt in karate and various other accomplishments, and he very sensitively translated or put this book together as interviews from Abbot O'Borah. And Abbot O'Borah's attitude or his presentation is based on realizing the emptiness of our daily life activities without getting rid of anything.

[10:56]

Seeing how all of our mistakes, all of our striving, all of whatever we have that we call ourself and our ambitions in daily life Without eliminating anything, anything can be the vehicle for our salvation in light of emptiness, the world of emptiness. And so this is a commentary on the Heart Sutra and it's just all about daily life. our feelings, emotions, our ambitions, our mistakes, whatever it is. How to find our self, our freedom, moment after moment, within the difficulties of our life.

[12:01]

That's the message of the Heart Sutra, according to him. And this is basically Soto Zen teaching. I've been reading this book since 1964, when it came out, and it's my favorite commentary on the Heart Sutra. There are many commentaries, really good commentaries. Thich Nhat Hanh has a very nice commentary. It's short. I mean, if you like, Kanze says, you know, the Heart Sutra understanding, you have to have an intellect in order to approach it. You have to have some intellect. It's not for the person who doesn't want to use his intellect. But attack carries you beyond your intellect. Your intellect takes you so far, but you should use it and then jump off.

[13:09]

So I'm assuming that you all have your translation, I mean your copy of Avatara Bora. And I also gave you a copy of Kanze's translation and commentary. Not only that, but you should read them. It always helps to read them. So I'm going to jump in. If you have a question, it's OK to bring up a question. But if we get into too many questions, we never get past the first one. will be an opportunity, if I'm reminded, as I tend to kind of go off, to stop and have questions.

[14:26]

So you may have a burning question, but just hold it. That's good practice. That's practice of Prajnaparamita. You have a burning question, just hold it until appropriate moment. Adam and Ross? We'll have a break. for maybe a minute or two to stretch out a particular time. Yes. Halfway. The timekeeper will know what time. 40 minutes. Yeah. So it's like 8 o'clock, maybe? 7, 15? Yeah. Is that 8 o'clock? I can't remember the time exactly, what we used to have. There's a colleague that's going to read the script. Remember? Yeah, that's in only 20 minutes, though. Huh? 8 o'clock is in only 20 minutes, though. Yeah, so. At some point, when it feels right. So, I'm trying to just... There are many things that I want to say, but... This is the study of form and emptiness.

[15:41]

So, we think we know what form is. But we're not sure that we know what emptiness is. We have the glass that's full of water. And we say the glass is full of water. So it's a glass full of water. I drink a little bit, there's still water. But the glass is actually empty as well as full. It's always empty because everything is empty of its own nature. Emptiness is the nature of everything. So this is the message of the Heart Sutra. So I'm going to talk about emptiness. There is a list of 18 emptinesses, 18 meanings of the word emptiness in the Dharma. So these are the 18 names of emptinesses.

[17:05]

Inside is empty. You don't have to write this down. You can actually zero-x it for me. You can write it down if you want. Did you say inside or? Inside. Inside. As opposed to outside. Inside is empty, but outside is also empty. Inside and outside are empty. Emptiness is empty. The great elements are empty. Reality is empty. Creative purpose is empty. Purposelessness is empty. The conclusion is empty. The beginningless is empty. is empty. One's own appearance is empty. The ungraspable is empty.

[18:07]

Nonexistence is empty. Existence is empty. And nonexistence, nonexisting existence, is empty. That sounds like a Kantobian. So this is a great book. Zen Pivots by Soke An Sasaki. So Kean Sasaki was, back in the 30s, 40s, 30s, was the teacher at the First Zen Institute in New York. And his talks, he was, in the 30s, he was like all over this country, the only Zen priest, he was the Rinzai Zen priest in this country. He had a remarkable life, and he gave a lot of talks and so forth, and his lectures were printed in this book and another book.

[19:12]

I don't want to say insightful. They're more than insightful. They're profound. the various meanings, or non-meanings, meanings and meaningless meanings of emptiness. And if you like, we can make some Xerox copy for you with the explanations, whether it's meaningful or not. So, tonight I'm just kind of, this is like an overview and a basic look at what we're talking about.

[20:16]

divides the Heart Sutra into eight sections. The first section is the invocation. First is the invocation before the title. But we don't have the invocation, so this is called The Heart Sutra with the invocation is called the Longer Version. So I will read you the Longer Version introduction. For chanting purposes, they took this part out. So, in this introductory part, it gives the saying for the sutra, for the Heart Sutra.

[21:45]

Thus have I heard, the Lord dwelled at Rajagriha on the vulture peak, together with a large gathering of both monks and bodhisattvas. At that time, the Lord, after he had taught the discourse on Dharma, called Deep Splendor, had entered into concentration. At that time, also, the Holy Lord, Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva, the Great Being, coursed in the course of the deep perfection of wisdom. He looked down from on high, and he surveyed them as empty in their own being. Thereupon, the venerable Shariputra, through the Buddha's might, said to the holy Lord Avalokita, the Bodhisattva, the Great Being, how should a son or daughter of good family train themselves if they want to course in the course of his deep perfection of wisdom?

[23:02]

So that's the setting. Buddha sitting there with the arhats and bodhisattvas and so forth and Avalokiteshvara is there. Avalokiteshvara of course is the personification of compassion. Manjushri is the bodhisattva. But it's also about compassion. So here is the Lord, Buddha, in his samadhi called deep splendor. Suzuki Roshi used to talk about nothing special because he didn't want people to get

[24:07]

excited about enlightenment and stuff like that. It's nothing special. And this was in the 60s. There was a matchbook cover that came out that said, deep splendor is nothing special. Nobody knew where that matchbook came from. for the sutra. It says, Thus have I heard at one time, the Lord dwelt at Rajagriha in the Vulture Peak, together with a large gathering of both monks and bodhisattvas. At that time the Lord, after he had taught discourse in Dharma called Deep Splendor, had entered into concentration. At that time also the holy Lord Avalokita, the bodhisattva, the great being, coursing, meaning practice.

[25:13]

Sometimes it's translated as practice, sometimes it's translated as coursing. Kansa translates it as coursing, but others translate it as practicing. It is practice. It's not just an idea. He was practicing. So that's very important. He looked down from on high and he saw the five skandhas and he surveyed them as empty in their own being. Thereupon, the venerable Shariputra, through the Buddha's might, said to the lower holy lord Avalokita, the Bodhisattva, the great being, how should a son or daughter of good family train themselves if they want to course in the course of this deep perfection of wisdom? Now, good family is always a... What do you mean good family? You just a leader? What? Don't ask me. I think it means Buddha family.

[26:23]

How should a person who is part of the Buddha family, someone who follows the Dharma, of course, in Prajnaparamita, the perfection of wisdom. The other thing is that it's important here that Shariputra So, Shakyamuni had 16 major followers, monks who were his followers, and each one had a, he also had 500, but 16 were like the core of his Sangha, and these were the closest to him, and each one had a certain power, certain ability. Shariputra is the one who was proficient in wisdom. His main characteristic was that he was really very wise.

[27:33]

But he's asking Avalokitesvara, of course in Prajnaparamita he didn't know anything about Prajnaparamita. So this Heart Sutra or the Prajnaparamita Sutras but it's characterized in the Heart Sutra, is a kind of criticism, I don't like to say criticism, but correction. A departure from the Hinayana, so to speak, way of understanding. It's a criticism of the Hinayana. Hinayana means small vehicle, as you know. Mahayana means vehicle. Hinayana is not at any special school. Sometimes people say Theravada is here at Hinayana, but it's not necessary to assign Hinayana or small vehicle to any specific school. It's merely those practitioners, those philosophers who are stuck in the duality of the Dharma.

[28:47]

Basically, for example, the arhats for the followers of Buddha, so were the bodhisattvas, but the 16 arhats, his followers, are considered arhats. attained enlightenment and nirvana. Nirvana is very important part of this understanding. So to make a long story short, the Arhat tried to separate nirvana from samsara. Samsara means the illusory world of form, to separate the illusory world of form from the pure world of emptiness.

[29:59]

And so their whole practice, their whole understanding, as monks mostly, was to find nirvana by totally rejecting samsara. our life of form. But the Mahayana, and of course the Prajnaparamita, is the expression of the Mahayana which says you can't separate nirvana from samsara. You can't separate nirvana from your daily life. we exist in this world. So instead of separating to find nirvana, to find nirvana within the dust of the world. That's Mahayana stance.

[31:07]

So that's what the Heart Sutra is expressing, how to realize the purity within the impure instead of separating the impure from the pure. A fish can't live in pure water. A lotus only grows in the mud. A nice mucky field in order to grow. So we find out, and Avraham is expressing that throughout his commentary. That's his major expression throughout the commentary. He gives many, many examples of daily life. He's Japanese, and he has a Japanese view of life, cultural view, which you may or may not agree with or align yourself with.

[32:21]

But I think everything he's saying is quite illustrative of our life. You don't have to be Japanese. I'm sure some of you have read this, some of it. So I'm not spruing something on you. So Kansei, you know, was here for a long time. And he taught at Cal, and Suzuki Roshi sent us up there to listen to him. And he was quite a character. He wrote his own biography, which has never been printed, but it's very interesting. He talks about everybody he knew. Anyway. That's the invocation that I've just read to you.

[33:27]

And then the prologue is, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, when practicing deeply the Prajnaparamita, perceive that all five skandhas in their own being are empty and are safe from all suffering. I didn't give you this translation, but nevertheless, if you look, the translation is there. It's right there. And you're looking at the Kansai.

[34:35]

No, I'm looking at the other one. Because Kansai is spread out. It's the beginning of the Tiger State. So the prologue is, Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, when practicing deeply the Prajnaparamita, perceived that all five skandhas in their own being are empty, and was saved from all suffering. And then, the dialectics, the dialectics of emptiness, is what he calls this concept. But I'm used to these three differences. But you can follow this. O Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness. Emptiness does not differ from form.

[35:35]

That which is form is emptiness. That which is emptiness is form. The same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses, or mental formations, and consciousness. Thus, the dialectics of emptiness in the first stage, the dialectics of emptiness in the second stage, This is an overview. Dialectics of Emptiness, third stage. Therefore, in emptiness, or given emptiness, no form, no feelings, no perceptions, no impulses, no consciousness, no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, no body, no mind, no color, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no touch, no object of mind, no realm of eyes until no realm of mind consciousness, no ignorance, and also no extinction of it until no outage. This is the Dialectics of Emptiness of No.

[36:38]

no, [...] Sattva depends on Prajnaparamita and his mind is no hindrance. Without any hindrance, no fears exist. Far apart from every perverted view or upside-down view, he dwells in nirvana. And then the next section is the full emptiness is the basis of Buddhahood. In the three worlds, all Buddhas depend on Prajnaparamita and attain unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment. The teaching brought within the reach of the comparatively unenlightened.

[37:49]

Therefore, now, the Prajnaparamita is the great transcendent mantra, the great right mantra, the utmost mantra, the supreme mantra, which is able to relieve all suffering and is true, not false. So proclaim the Prajnaparamita mantra. Proclaim the mantra that says, gapte, gapte, pada, gapte, pada, samgapte, So this is line by line, and the sections, as outlined by Kansei. So this is the overview, and we will try to illuminate everything as we go along. And we'll go slow, for the benefit of the comparatively unenlightened. It's five after eight, and I just take a one-minute stretch. Are you feeling uncomfortable? Yes, I heard a yes. Maybe one minute, two minutes?

[38:53]

Yeah, stand up for one minute. Don't go to the bathroom unless you have to. Can I ask you a question? a. So the title, you know, is Maha Prajna Paramita Hridaya Sutra.

[40:46]

So Maha means great, and Prajna is wisdom. Paramita means beyond, and Hridaya is the heart, and Sutra means The etymology of sutra is sometimes beads are like strung on a string. So like words that are strung together. So prajna, our greatest grade in prajna direct knowing without having to go through the process of analysis, of mental analysis.

[41:59]

And paramita means beyond or gone. We say wisdom gone beyond wisdom. And her Daya is heart, meaning like the center or the living center. So great wisdom beyond a heart sutra. But a paramita has several meanings. In that mantra, at the end, the other shore, I'm looking up, there's this shore, this is samsara, and this is nirvana, and there's something in between.

[43:10]

But the wisdom of Pragya takes out the thing that's in between. while leaving the sickness in between there. This non-duality is very difficult to grasp intellectually. It's like even though the cup is full, it's empty. So we have to go beyond our ordinary logic. of duality. It's learned. When you're a baby, babies don't have it. They just pick up everything. I got a wonderful picture in my office of this baby looking at hogs in the water. But we learn. how to operate in the world of duality.

[44:15]

So duality is where we live. We live in the world of comparative values. The world of comparative values is called samsara. And the world without comparative values, or beyond comparative values, is called nirvana. But nirvana includes the world of samsara. And that samsara includes the world of nirvana. So to cross over is gives the impression that you're going from one place to another. But as my old teacher used to say, when you understand how to live on this side, you're already on the other side. So there really is no other side. It's just the figure of speech. So, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva Bodhisattva is When practicing deeply, coursing deeply, the Prajnaparamita perceived that all five skandhas in their own being are empty and was saved from all suffering.

[45:32]

So the purpose of Buddhism, according to Shakyamuni, is to save us from suffering. That's the point. All the rest is commentary on that. So what are the five skandhas? The skandha of form, which is the body. When we're talking about the skandhas, we're talking about the person, which of course is phenomena around us, but strictly speaking, this form body, feelings, whether bodily feelings or emotional feelings, or mental feelings. You say, I have a feeling about da-da-da, that's a feeling. Or, oh, my body hurts, that's a feeling. So any kind of feeling is a feeling.

[46:36]

These are called five streams. The five streams that come together but they're separate, but they form one body. So, form, feeling, perceptions, that which our senses take in, our perceptions, seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, those are the five senses. impulses, mental impulses, but it really means thought constructions, thinking, our thinking mind. And then there's the fifth one, which is consciousness, which is awareness.

[47:39]

So we talk about our mind a lot, you know, something's on my mind, and we use this word If you really look at the mind or analyze the mind, you find that the mind is consciousness, various levels of consciousness, all working together with the brain. And it's a kind of receiver and transmitter. And consciousness works through the brain, and the brain is the organizer of consciousness. But the brain is the brain, and the mind is.

[48:45]

And my understanding is of the various levels of consciousness. So the various levels of consciousness are all working together in there. I talk about this from time to time, and it's my favorite subject, which is how consciousness works and how the ego is formed as a level of consciousness. The self is a level of consciousness. The various levels of consciousness are there working together, but there's no self in but we feel a self because one of the levels of consciousness is making a mistake and is calling itself me and mine and so forth. It has a job but it takes the information that it's supposed to be relaying and centers itself around

[49:52]

that information and thinks that it's the boss. So, we can't get rid of the ego, but we don't let the ego... We say to get rid of ego means to put it in it, to let it do its job, rather than its false job. It's true job, to convey information. It's called manas. Manas is the level of consciousness which conveys messages. But sometimes the messenger thinks it's the boss. And that's the problem we have. We take all this information, this level of consciousness takes the information that's conveyed and thinks that it's the owner of it. wants, likes, dislikes, this level of consciousness discriminates.

[51:09]

So discrimination means to divide, to compartmentalize, which is important for our life, to discriminate. But the problem is this level of consciousness creates a self out of its discriminations of like, dislike, want, not want, and so forth, and creates a lot of trouble. Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, when practicing deep in the Prajnaparamita, perceived that all five skandhas in their own being are empty. Form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness are all empty and were safe from all suffering.

[52:12]

Now, the next dialectic He talks about that. Oh, Shariputra. So Avalokiteshvara is talking to Shariputra. He says, how do you coerce from the Prasna Paramita, Avalokiteshvara? How do you do that? And Avalokiteshvara says, oh, Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness. Emptiness does not differ from form. That which is form is emptiness. That which is emptiness is form. The same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses, and consciousness. Impulses being mental formations. This is an old translation.

[53:17]

So emptiness is what is not produced. As you read the 20 meanings of emptiness. Emptiness is that which is not produced. We call it various things. We call it the dharmakaya sometimes. Sometimes we call it buddha nature. Sometimes we call it essence. Essence of mind. Suzuki Roshi calls it big mind, but it's beyond description. There's no way to describe emptiness. But all the forms are the forms of emptiness. So we call it, say, essence and function. So essence is

[54:41]

not graspable, not seeable, hearable, tasteable, but all of the forms, whatever is created moment by moment, are the forms of emptiness. So emptiness in form is one thing. Sometimes in the koans there's a phrase, the king goose can extract the milk from the water. The water and milk are mixed. The Genghis can extract the milk from the water. That's very subtle. Nobody can do that. Once you mix it, Dogen says, all of the real practitioners should practice peacefully, like milk and water. like milk mixed with water.

[55:44]

It should be that harmonious, because there's no separation. So form does not differ from emptiness, even though form is form, and emptiness is emptiness. So that's what's missing. Warm is emptiness. That which is warm is emptiness. That which is emptiness is warm. The same with truth. Feelings? They're all empty. Perceptions? All empty. Mental formations? All empty. Consciousness? All empty. But empty also means present. Emptiness doesn't mean, it's a word, shunya.

[56:49]

Shunya means without characteristics. Something like without characteristics. So emptiness is, it's called emptiness because it doesn't have any characteristics that you can identify. Yet, all of the, everything that is formed, without exception, is an expression of emptiness. So you can say, it's kind of like clay or gold, which is molten, and then you pour it into various molds and it comes out as tin soldiers. You and me, all of the things, changing, continuously transforming a realm called the world of the universe. So emptiness is the basis of everything.

[57:54]

So each one of us is a form of emptiness. And that's our true nature, is emptiness. Because we don't last more than a moment. We think that we get to be a certain age. You start at a certain age and then you grow up and you have middle age and you die and you get old and you die. But it's all empty. Even though it's full. So emptiness also is fullness. Emptiness is the space in which everything can move. This is on one level. If there was no such thing as emptiness, I mean, if it wasn't for emptiness, we would all be in the same place forever. But everything is continually moving more than we are aware of. If we were really aware, we would see how everything is changing so fast and so continuously, but we have a certain momentum in this moment.

[59:20]

It's very interesting. If we have a certain sense of time, right? But if you are on Mars, you'd have a different sense of time. so someone grows old here would not grow so old in a different traveling through space and the further out you go you have a different sense of time and you wouldn't be so come back and or maybe you'll be older but usually see the way around because we have we think that time is something you know that we have but um it's all So we draw according to our environment. We're just pieces of this environment, like trees and plants.

[60:23]

We're part of this environment. But we think that the universe revolves around us. Our universe revolves around us. This is my universe right here. It also revolves around you. It revolves around each one of us. And each one of us is in the center. We're all in the center. And these universes are going around us. But actually, because we It was very hard in the Christian days, in the Christian world, to realize that the earth is not the center of the universe.

[61:36]

I don't think they had that problem in the Buddhist world. causes and conditions which keep rolling along and create what we think is a momentum. So we're self-created beings. We have form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. And we think that is myself. And yeah, that is myself, but it's not a real self. It's a momentary manifestation, and we identify with it moment by moment. And we have a past, and we have a present, and we think we have a future.

[62:44]

But future is an idea, even though we believe that tomorrow we'll get up and do something. But it's not guaranteed. It's just an idea. world without any real foundation. All of our plans, all of our works, all of our community is built on shifting sands. And we think it's going to be great. We think things are going a certain way, and then boom, they go another way. And then we all go boom, they go another way. That's the way it is. way, it's not going to fall apart.

[63:54]

And then something else starts, and then it falls apart. So, if we stick to a self, then we get caught in the tectonic plates of our life. When we have a reduced or accurate understanding of self, we realize that it's always shifting, and that we have to continue to shift with everything, and not get caught in good and bad, or right and wrong. And so we invent good and bad, and right and wrong, in order to give ourselves simplification. But there is no real stabilization. Some people can live their lives in a very nice way, but it's an anomaly.

[64:56]

We always have problems. We always have problems. And the more we stick to something, the harder the problems are to deal with. This is the understanding. Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. Emptiness is not different from form. You can't separate them. That which is form is emptiness. You can't separate them. That which is emptiness is form. And the same is true of what you feel is yourself. These five skandhas are like the building blocks of self, the categories.

[66:00]

The dharmas are the particulars. So the skandhas are the particulars, and the dharmas, the skandhas are the building blocks, and the dharmas are the ingredients, so to speak. So the dharmas have categories. forms Skanda as all of the elements that constitute the body. And each one of those is a kind of dharma. Each of the particulars of dharma. And feelings has its own, you have good feelings, bad feelings, and neutral feelings. We have feelings I'll read you the list of the dharmas, just cursorily to give us some idea.

[67:13]

So this is the hundred dharmas. I'm not going to read all of them. of the Yogachara school, a hundred dharmas that they study. So, there are eight levels of consciousness. Those are all dharmas. Then there are general dharmas, which are touch, sensation, thought, idea, volition. Then there are special dharmas, which are desire, resolve, remembrance, concentration, and wisdom. And then the good dharmas, the kushila dharmas, are belief, faith, shame, bashfulness. Language is old. absence of covetous generosity, absence of hatred, absence of ignorance, energy, repose of mind, vigilance, equanimity, and non-injury.

[68:37]

And the wholesome dharmas are unwholesome dharmas are covetousness, hatred, ignorance, arrogance, doubt, meaning skepticism, and false view. And the minor evil dharmas are anger, enmity, concealment, affliction, envy, parsimony, deception, fraudulence, injury, pride, shamelessness, non-bashfulness, being too forward, restlessness, low spiritedness, disbelief, lack of faith, sloth, negligence, forgetfulness, distraction, and non-discernment. And then there are some intermediate dharmas like repentance, drowsiness. They're indeterminate.

[69:39]

They're neither good nor bad. Reflection and investigation. Then there's the body elements, the form elements. Eye, Ear, Nose, Tongue, Body, Form, Sound, Smell, Taste, Touch. Forms included in Dharma. We'll talk about these later a little bit. I don't want to get too much into the Dharmas because I get carried away. So you have some feeling of what Dharmas with a small d mean these. So the dharma is the study of the dharmas. The dharma is the study of the dharmas.

[70:41]

And so, the dharma, Abhidharma was the study of the dharmas as practice for the Abhidharmas in early Buddhism. And it's very boring. Because it's all about analysis. But it's also interesting. And it gives us a foundation. It's a wonderful foundation. But the problem, one of the problems with it is that in Sanskrit or Pali or whatever, it was used as a demonic device. you know, in a mnemonic way, device. You chant this over and over and over again, but to read it is really boring, because it's so repetitive.

[71:49]

Anyway, but the dharmas are important, because when we talk, you should understand what dharmas are. Dharmas can apply to anything. But strictly speaking, in the dharmic study, applies to the form Dharma and the rest are mental. Feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness, those four are mental. And the first one is form, which is not mental, even though body and mind are not separate. As we read or study through the Heart Sutra, it's important to have some understanding of the dharmas, because that's what's talking about. The mark, because when you read the next line, it says, O Shariputra, here he's teaching him again, all dharmas are marked with emptiness, as well as skandhas.

[73:04]

all the dharmas are marked with emptiness. So marked means that the true characteristic. So the characteristic, the mark of fire is heat. The mark of water is wet. So these are the major characteristics. You say, what is the major characteristic of water? What is the major characteristic of vital heat? But here it says the main characteristic, or mark, is emptiness. Even though wet is the main characteristic of water, the real main characteristic of water is emptiness, because all dharmas mark emptiness. They do not appear nor disappear.

[74:16]

Meaning, they're not born and they don't die. Appear and disappear. Dharma is manifest. Manifest is a good word, I think. Manifestation. Something manifests for a moment. We use the terms born and die, because they're convenient for us. When something appears, we say it's born, and when it fails to appear, we say it dies. But actually, there's only transformation, continuous transformation, because causes and conditions are continually So this is called the world of transformation. Samsara is called the world of transformation.

[75:19]

Basically that's what it means. It means various things, but I like transformation because Samsara is the place where we live, where nothing lasts for more than a second, I mean a moment. Everything is momentary. And so it's just continuation of So without death, there's no birth. Without birth, there's no death. So everything has to. But it's not... So the sutra says they do not appear or disappear. It's just endless appearance and disappearance. Endless appearance, but it's not really a true birth. Because there's no foundation. And they're not tainted or pure.

[76:26]

So the dharmas are not tainted or pure. We just give them that appellation. We divide pure from impure. So this is the kind of criticism of the Hinayana. because the Hinayana is structured on the separation of the pure from the impure. The pure practice, for Hinayana, pure practice is separating the truth from the pure. Mahayana practice is Within the impure is the pure. Form is emptiness. Emptiness is form. But form is form, and emptiness is emptiness.

[77:32]

We have to understand that as well. Emptiness is emptiness, and form is form. Otherwise, you couldn't have form as emptiness, and emptiness as form. So it's not so easy to understand. Next time, I hope we can get to a little bit more, maybe more interesting. You said that emptiness has no characteristics. If I say the characteristic of emptiness is no own being, where's the problem?

[78:41]

It has no characteristics and no non-characteristics. What is wrong with the characteristics part of it? I'm saying that having no own being is a characteristic. Isn't it? No, it's a characteristic. We give it. Right. But it's not its characteristic. Why not? Because it has no characteristics. That's what I just said though. Are you saying exactly what I said? No own being. No own being. All dharmas have no own being.

[79:46]

Didn't say emptiness has no own being. All dharmas in their own being are empty. All dharmas in their own being. That own being is important. And what it means is that everything is dependent. Nothing exists by itself. Everything exists dependent. on everything else. That's the general term we use when we talk about emptiness. In order to get a hold of it, we say emptiness means interdependent. And so all being means nothing has inherent existence. So everything is dependent on everything else. So it's just one whole being with many different forms. But nothing is... Everything is independent and at the same time dependent.

[80:52]

All the independent entities are dependent. There are no truly independent entities. So Suzuki Roshi said, the tendency to be independent. Right now you're dependent on me, and I'm dependent on you. So you say that emptiness is not dependent? Yeah, I think one of the uncharacteristic characteristics Because every time you try to pin something on it, it's not right. It can't hold up. You can't pin anything on it.

[81:54]

If you could, it wouldn't be emptiness. But it can do whatever it wants.

[82:06]

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