The Heart Sutra, The Buddhist Text Filled With Wisdom
The Heart Sutra contains the deepest, greatest truths within Buddhist philosophy. Along with the Diamond Sutra, it is considered to be among the wisest of the Buddhist scriptures and tells of the emptiness of awakening and the emptiness that this concept contains.
The Heart Sutra is a very popular text from the Buddhist teachings. More than any other Buddhist scripture, this one has been studied and examined. It attracts many followers to the philosophy because of its brevity and the way in which it beautifully sums up the Buddhist view.
It is interesting that such a short text has both been so thoroughly studied by Buddhists and at the same time considered a doctrine that it takes a lifetime to understand. The heart sutra consists of only 14 verses, originally written in Sanskrit. It ends with what is considered one of Buddhism’s most powerful mantras.
Emptiness and the Heart Sutra
Almost the entire Heart Sutra centers on the concept of emptiness. But it has a different meaning, a mere “nothingness,” as we understand it in the West.
Emptiness is not the same as an absence or deficiency, as the emptiness of what or who is not present is filled with this absence. The same is true of the concept of lack: it is not empty, but filled with the imaginary presence of what is missing.
When Buddhists talk about emptiness, they mean that nothing that exists contains an inherent reality. This means that everything changes and changes indefinitely. In other words, to be and not to be. What we perceive with our senses is simply the appearance of things. That is why we believe that reality is “full” even though it is not.
Emptiness is associated with the constant change of everything that exists. Nothing is completely different from everything else, nor is it pure or impure, complete or defective.
What actually exists are mental formations that bring us to the reality that we perceive. However, these mental formations are not the reality. Reality is independently constantly changing, even when we do not perceive it.
The enigmatic mantra
Unlike thoughts that indicate the opposite, mantras are not magic words to bring happiness or achieve certain goals. Within Buddhism, they are a path to attain levels of meditation. Their purpose is to contribute to an increased awareness.
The mantra at the end of the Heart Sutra is this:: Gate gate Pāragate Pārasaṃgate ‘Bodhi svāhā .
The language is Sanskrit, and it is translated as follows: “Departure, departure, departure ascending, departure to the highest vigilance. May it be ”. Others have translated it this way: “It is gone, it is gone, gone to the other side. Fully exposed, relinquished. I wake up. Save!
This leads us to the word gate in Sanskrit, which refers exactly to emptiness, but on a personal level and corresponds to the concept of a “non-I”. What disappears or goes away is the “I”.
Thus, this mantra speaks of departure from the “self,” which is considered the source of error and suffering. The “I” in this case is synonymous with the ego. The goal is for the self to disappear so that emptiness arises.
The teachings of the heart sutra
Although the Heart Sutra is very complex, it shows, in its essence, a path to enlightenment or salvation. This consists in giving up the ego in order to find emptiness and thus accept the deep perception and understanding of reality.
In other words; he who is controlled by his eyes, ears and hands, as well as his mind, will never know or understand reality. In the same way, he who manages to free himself from his senses and thoughts will become one with reality and understand it, not intellectually, but as a transcendental experience.
Awakening is even the stage where one stops perceiving the world through limitations such as senses or one’s own thoughts. Enlightenment corresponds to complete understanding, which brings with it two great Buddhist virtues; independence and compassion.
