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Mythology and Personal Transformation:
The Heart Sutra
An Aural and Visual Interpretation of the Buddhist Heart Sutra
"Sutra" is the Hindi word for "thread" (Leighton 27), and the
Buddhist Heart Sutra is indeed a colorful and important thread woven into the tapestry of
Buddhism. Concise, yet full of meaning, this sutra reveals the core beliefs of the
ancient Buddhist religion: that all is emptiness, and that nirvana can be attained only
when one truly and deeply grasps this realization. Besides being a text of written
words, the Heart Sutra is also a mandala. The words of the Heart Sutra reveal a
mandala-like structure, from the quaternity of beings associated with the sutra to the
drawing ever inward of the listener. Embedded with the Heart Sutra is a short mantra,
and in the actual voicing of the mantra yet another layer of symmetry and meaning is
revealed. The mantra, in fact, seems to be a condensed recapitulation of the sutra.
This essay will explore the Heart Sutra from several different perspectives: as a text,
as a mandala, and as a voiced experience.
The text of the Heart Sutra is short enough to be included in its entirety. Following
is a translation by Donald S. Lopez, Jr., scholar of Buddhist and Tibetan studies, from
his book, Elaborations on Emptiness: Uses of the Heart Sutra:
The Bhagavati Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra
[1] Thus did I hear. [2] At one time the Bhagavan was abiding at Vulture Peak in
Rajagrha with a great assembly of monks and a great assembly of bodhisattvas. [3] At
that time, the Bhagavan entered into a samadhi on the categories of phenomena called
"perception of the profound." [4] Also at that time, the bodhisattva, the
mahasattva, the noble Avalokitesvara beheld the practice of the profound
perfection of wisdom and saw that those five aggregates also are empty of intrinsic
existence. [5] Then, by the power of the Buddha, the venerable Sariputra said this to
the bodhisattva, the mahasattva, the noble Avalokitesvara, "How should a son
of good lineage who wishes to practice the profound perfection of wisdom train?"
[6] He said that and the bodhisattva, the mahasattva, the noble Avalokitesvara
said this to the venerable Sariputra, "Sariputra, a son of good lineage or a
daughter of good lineage who wishes to practice the profound perfection of wisdom should
perceive things in this way: form is empty; emptiness is form. [7] Emptiness is not
other than form; form is not other than emptiness. [8] In the same way, feeling,
discrimination, conditioning factors, and consciousnesses are empty. [9] Therefore,
Sariputra, all phenomena are empty, without characteristic, unproduced, unceased,
stainless, not stainless, undiminished, unfilled, therefore, Sariputra, in emptiness
there is no form, no feeling, no discrimination, no conditioning factors, no
consciousness, no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, no form, no sound,
no odor, no taste, no object of touch, no phenomenon, no eye constituent up to and
including no mental consciousness constituent, no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance,
no aging and death up to and including no extinction of aging and death. [10] In the
same way, no suffering, origin, cessation, path, no wisdom, no attainment, no
nonattainment. [11] Therefore, Sariputra, because bodhisattvas have no attainment, they
rely on and abide in the perfection of wisdom; because their minds are without
obstruction, they have no fear. [12] They pass completely beyond error and go to the
fulfillment of nirvana. [13] All the buddhas who abide in the three times have fully
awakened into unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment in dependence on the
perfection of wisdom. [14] Therefore, the mantra of the perfection of wisdom is the
mantra of great knowledge, the unsurpassed mantra, the mantra equal to the unequaled, the
mantra that completely pacifies all suffering. [15] Because it is not false, it should
be known to be true. [16] The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is stated thus: [om]
gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha. [17] Sariputra, a bodhisattva
mahasattva should train in the profound perfection of wisdom in that way."
[18] Then the Bhagavan rose from samadhi and said, "Well done" to the
bodhisattva, the mahasattva, the noble Avalokitesvara. [19] "Well done, well
done, child of good lineage, it is like that. [20] It is like that; the practice of the
profound perfection of wisdom is just as you have taught it. [21] Even the tathagatas
admire it." [22] The Bhagavan having so spoken, the venerable Sariputra, the
bodhisattva, the mahasattva, the noble Avalokitesvara, and all those surrounding,
and the entire world, the gods, humans, demigods, and gandharvas, admired and
praised the speech of the Bhagavan. (vii-viii, sentence numbering added)
In a chapter entitled, "The Heart Sutra as Sadhana," Lopez paints a vivid
image of the mandala structure of this sutra. He places the goddess of wisdom,
Prajnaparamita, at the center of the mandala, facing east. Each of the other four beings
occupies a cardinal direction, and all four face the goddess. The Bhagavan, or Buddha,
is in the east; Sariputra is in the south; Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva of compassion,
is in the west; and Ananda (assumed to be the "I" in "Thus did I
hear" [line 1]) in the north. It is into this imaginary, three-dimensional schema
that the meditator enters. At first, the meditator sits behind the Buddha in the east.
From there, however, the view is obstructed, so the meditator enters into the body of
Sariputra and views the scene from the south through Sariputra’s eyes. When the Buddha
enters into samadhi [line 3], Lopez interprets this graphically as the Buddha moving from
the eastern edge of the circle to the center and joining in incestuous union with
Prajnaparamita, his own mother.
Lopez points out the anomalous nature of this event: more typically, all the observers
(all the beings at the edge of the circle) would move into the center at the same time.
Buddha’s singular move leaves the mandala out of balance, and because of this Sariputra
is prompted to ask how he, too, can move into the center [line 5]. After receiving
Avalokitesvara’s answer, Sariputra, along with his double, the meditator, then move into
the east, replacing the seat left vacant by the Buddha. From this new arrangement all
the beings may move simultaneously into the center of the mandala. And it is from this
center, it is from this heart of the mandala, while in union with the goddess of wisdom
and the mother of all Buddhas, that enlightenment can be attained (131-140).
Another way to visualize the Heart Sutra is as two concentric rings within a square,
with a dot in the center-most point. The sutra starts with the words, "Thus did I
hear" [line 1]. These words define the outer square, the ground of the diagram, by
establishing an absent, anonymous witness. The remainder of the sutra fits within this
ground as a report made by this witness. It is generally agreed that Ananda is the
speaker. But because he is not actually named, this outermost square essentially becomes
the world at large. At the central point of the mandala lies the heart of the goddess
Prajnaparamita, into which the Buddha enters [lines 2-3]. Beholding Prajnaparamita and
the Buddha is Avalokitesvara who sits outside the center. He understands what has
happened, though he himself is not participating. Thus, his perspective defines the
first, smaller ring [line 4]. The larger ring defines Sariputra’s perspective. He is
one step further removed from the action at the center than is Avalokitesvara. Rather
than contemplating the center, he engages Avalokitesvara with a question: essentially,
"How can I do what the Buddha just did?" [line 5]. Avalokitesvara’s answer
constitutes the majority of the sutra [lines 6-17], and these lines draw the listener
from the outer edge of the mandala into its center. Repetition of the mantra set forth
by Avalokitesvara [line 16] enables the listener to enter the center of the mandala. In
the next lines [18-21], the Buddha rises from samadhi and congratulates Avalokitesvara on
his words. The Buddha, though no longer in samadhi, has, however, not withdrawn to an
outer ring on the mandala. He remains centered. In fact, his union with Prajnaparamita
seems to have opened an axis mundi to the spiritual realm. This is evidenced by
the final line of the Heart Sutra [22] in which everyone present, along with "the
entire world, the gods, humans, demigods, and gandharvas," admire and praise
the speech of the Buddha.
Though this sutra lends itself to visual interpretations, it may be that an aural
interpretation of the embedded mantra will reveal the meaning behind the sutra even more
clearly. Scholars of Eastern philosophy Madhu Khanna and Ajit Mokerjee, in their book
The Tantric Way, explain the vital importance of mantric sound:
Mantra is primarily a concentrated "thought form" composed of nuclear
syllables based on the esoteric properties believed to be inherent in sound vibrations.
Tantra has developed a system of sound equations which may vary from simple to complex,
exerting its power not so much through expressing meaning as we normally understand it
but more deeply, through its emphasis on a "phonic element". (132)
Khanna, in his book Yantra, explains this concept further when he says,
"The mantric energy condensed in the letters is seen as vested with a spiritual
power beyond human comprehension.
Speech as it is expressed in vocables is looked upon not only as being generated by
physical organs and breath but as being supremely conscious in itself" (34-36).
Thus, the sound of the spoken mantra may be seen as a phonic structure that generates a
conscious, spiritual power.
The mantra near the end of the Heart Sutra, gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi
svaha, [16] is no exception. Most translators leave this line in transliterated
Sanskrit because, among other reasons, the literal meaning of the words is not as crucial
as their sound (Lopez 15). What is it about the sound of these utterances, then, that
would propel a meditator to union with the goddess Prajnaparamita? Is there a universal
meaning underlying the actual vowels and consonants of this mantra? A close examination
of the sounds of this mantra may provide a modicum of understanding.
The first sound, "g," of the first word, gate,
(gä´ta)
is produced by a voiced velar stop, that is, by completely closing
off the throat by connecting the base of the tongue to the soft palette. The second
sound, "ä," is created by
expelling air from the lungs, through a fully open throat, mouth, and lips, and out of
the body. In this mantra, then, the initial syllable begins with emphatic drama the
passage of air from the lungs into the throat and could signal a "spiritual
opening" of the previously "closed" meditator. The meditator moves air
unformed by the lips, unshaped by the throat out of the body. The "t" is
produced by a voiceless alveolar stop, that is, by sealing the tongue firmly against the
ridge of front teeth and expelling air forcefully enough to break the seal. This
"t" seems to add a final push, as though to expurgate the body of the air
brought up by the "g," and thus, could serve to purify the meditator. And the
final vowel sound, "a," is produced by continuing
with the "ä" sound, but with the middle of the tongue closing off some of the air passing through the back of the mouth.
This "a" sound is not the usual English diphthong
"ay," in which an "e" is voiced just after the "a." Rather, it is simply the first part of the diphthong: "a" without the trailing "e." Possibly, this tighter, more closed sound is to ensure that the just-expelled air will not return into the meditator. Gate is voiced twice, and its function seems to be the opening and purification of the meditator.
Paragate and parasamgate seem to serve a different function than
gate. Whereas gate starts with a closed throat, these next two words start
with the throat already opened implying, perhaps, that the meditator has already been
opened by the previous utterance of gate gate. The first syllable of these two
words is the breathy "p." "P" is the only voiceless bilabial stop,
the only sound produced solely by expelling unvoiced air past sealed lips. According the
scholar Peter Gold, the "pah" sound that starts both paragate and
parasamgate is "an energetic combination of the universal phoneme meaning
‘jettisoning outward’ [and conveys] the energy of dispelling, of breathing away any
ambient evil" (257). The "r" in these words is not the hard, vowel-like,
throaty, voiced "r" so commonly spoken in the English language. It is more of
a soft, voiceless "d" created at the front of the mouth. Since both the
"p" and the "s" are also created at the front of the mouth and are
also voiceless, it would seem that the intention of the voicing of paragate and
parasamgate is to create a flow of the unformed sound of "ä" interspersed with voiceless consonants, followed by
the purgative sound of gate.
These first four words may be thought of as directions on the mandala of the Heart
Sutra. But rather than representing the static cardinal directions, these dynamic words
may be seen as representing the imaginary movement of the meditator around the mandala.
Beginning at the traditional first direction, east, and moving in the traditional
direction, clockwise, the first gate would represent movement from the east to the
south. The second gate would start in the south where the first gate left
off, and would move the meditator to the west. The third word, paragate, would
also move the meditator clockwise, from west to north. Following the same pattern,
parasamgate would move the meditator from the north to the east, and would
complete the meditator’s circumambulation of the mandala.
Boddhi (bod´he) is the fifth word of the mantra, and if the words represent
movement on a mandala, then boddhi represents the leap to the center. How does it
do this phonetically? The first sound of boddhi is "b." "B"
is a voiced bilabial stop. The sound of "b" starts inside the throat and ends
with the forceful expelling of voiced air through sealed lips. It is the only phoneme
that does this, and as such it is the most involved and complete, the most
"whole," phoneme a human can make. And where does that "whole" sound go? In the word boddhi, the sound is forced through lips shaped into a rounded
"o," a circular "o" that reflects the form of the mandala itself. Again, this
"o" is not the familiar diphthong of the English
language that ends with an "oo." It is the pure "o" sound alone. The sound of "bo" thus could be seen as creating a complete, "whole"
mandala in the very mouth of the meditator. The third sound of boddhi is
"d." Like "b," "d" is a voiced stop, but "d" is
alveolar rather than bilabial: the air is stopped by the tongue pressed against the ridge
of teeth rather than by the lips. In this way, "d" is more interior than
"b," and as such it cuts off the mandala just formed from the sound
"bo,"
in much the same way that a skilled cigarette smoker can cut off a
ring of smoke. The mandala, however, does not float off into the
air. Instead, it rests just inside the mouth, between the lips and
the teeth.
"He" is the sound that would
"transport" the meditator, via his or her own breath, into the center of the
mandala. After the preparatory circumambulation of the mandala via the words gate
gate paragate parasamgate, and after the creation of the mandala with the syllable
"bod," the syllable "he" provides the appropriate combination of sounds needed for
the leap to the center. "H," the first sound of "he," is pronounced by forcing unvoiced air through a narrowed
glottis. Of all the consonants, "h" creates the smallest glottal air passage
without actually bringing the breath to a complete stop. And "e" is pronounced by pressing the back of the tongue very near
the roof of the mouth and expelling air through the narrow opening. Of all the vowels,
"e" creates the smallest passage at the back of the
mouth. Thus, "h" and "e" together create the narrowest possible airflow at the back of the mouth. And this tight, narrow sound
would pierce the "mandala" at the front of the mouth like a beam, drawing the
meditator to the center of the mandala and into union with goddess of wisdom,
Prajnaparamita.
The final word, svaha (svä hä), is the only word in the mantra that
contains no glottal, alveolar, or labial stops. The breath moves forward unencumbered
through the mouth and out of the body. By the time the meditator utters this word, he or
she has already reached the middle of the mandala and achieved union with the goddess.
Thus, the sound of svaha could be interpreted as reflecting the state of purity
and limitlessness achieved by the meditator.
It is interesting to place the Hindi words with their "sound-meaning," as
demonstrated above, next to their English translations. The first and second gate
both mean "gone," and they would refer to the movement of the meditator from
the east to the south, and thus to the fact that he or she is "gone" from the
starting point. Paragate, translated as "gone beyond," would refer to
the meditator’s movement from the west to the north. The meditator is now more than
halfway through with the journey; he or she is more than just "gone," but is
"gone beyond" the mid-point of the west, "gone beyond" the decisive
point. Parasamgate, meaning "gone completely beyond," would refer to
the completed circumambulation of the mandala. At this point, the meditator is actually
not gone anymore, but is back in the east. However, by virtue of having completed a
circumambulation of the mandala, the meditator is changed and can never truly return to
the previous state. Boddhi, "enlightenment," would refer to the leap to
the center of the mandala and subsequent union with the goddess. And svaha,
"joy," to the unencumbered state achieved by the meditator. In this way, the
six words of the mantra itself may be interpreted as encapsulating the overall meaning
and efficacy of the entire sutra.
Lopez agrees that some would view the Heart Sutra’s mantra as an encapsulated version
of the sutra itself. He tells us that the mantra within the Heart Sutra is sometimes:
imagined as a supplement to the sutra, augmenting it by adding a path to the
proclamation of emptiness, by fulfilling emptiness, while at the same time displacing the
sutra by offering a superior substitute for the wise bodhisattvas, those who need only
hear the mantra to understand the entire path in all its fullness and complexity.
(185)
Yet, he warns against this "fantasy," telling us that repetition of the
mantra is "other than that which it repeats" (186). And he is right. The
aural mantra, the visualized mandala, and the ingested words of the Heart Sutra itself
point to the moon of enlightenment, but they themselves are not the moon. Maybe
by reading or hearing or visualizing the Heart Sutra, one can imagine the moon,
but the moon itself is many thousands of kilometers from here. Likewise, it is a long
way from the words of enlightenment to enlightenment itself. Thus, these methods of
interpreting the Heart Sutra and its imbedded mantra may be fascinating, synchronistic,
or even astounding, but they appeal mainly to the intellectual aspects of the psyche. As
Buddhist monk Mu Soeng so astutely tells us, "There are many tools of transformation
but the only place where transformation really takes place is in the human heart"
(i). In other words, despite translation and depiction, despite interpretation and
analysis, a true and deep understanding of the Buddhist Heart Sutra remains beyond image
and beyond words, for its essential message must be understood not with the mind, but
with the heart.
Works Cited
Gold, Peter. Navajo & Tibetan Sacred Wisdom; The Circle of the Spirit.
Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions International, 1994.
Khanna, Madhu. Yantra: The Tantric Symbol of Cosmic Unity. London: Thames and Hudson, 1979.
Leighton, Taigen Daniel. Bodhisattva Archetypes: Classic Buddhist Guides to
Awakening and their Modern Expression. New York: Penguin, 1998.
Lopez, Donald S., Jr. Elaborations on Emptiness: Uses of the Heart Sutra.
Princeton: Princeton U P, 1996.
Mookerjee, Ajit and Madhu Khanna. The Tantric Way: Art, Science, Ritual.
Boston: Thames and Hudson, 1977.
Soeng, Mu. Heart Sutra: Ancient Buddhist Wisdom in the Light of Quantum Reality. Cumberland, Rhode Island: Primary Point P, 1991.
Author contact information:
Beverly Black Grossman
bevbgrossman@hotmail.com
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