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The Heart Sutra
THE GREAT PRAJNA PARAMITA HEART SUTRA Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva doing deep Prajna Paramita Perceived the emptiness of all five conditions, and was freed of pain.O Sariputra, form is no other than emptiness, emptiness no other than form;Form is precisely emptiness, emptiness precisely form;Sensation, perception, reaction and consciousness are also like this.O Sariputra, all things are expressions of emptiness, not born, not destroyed,Not stained, not pure; neither waxing nor waning.Thus emptiness is not form; not sensation nor perception, reaction nor consciousness;No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind;No color, sound, smell, taste, touch, thingNo realm of sight, no realm of consciousnessNo ignorance, no end to ignoranceNo old age and death, no cessation of old age and death More » -
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The Dharma Door of Nonduality
THEN, THE LICCHAVI VIMALAKlRTI asked those bodhisattvas, "Good sirs, please explain how the bodhisattvas enter the Dhanna-door of nonduality!" The bodhisattva Dharmavikurvana declared, "Noble sir, 'production' and 'destruction' are two, but what is not produced and does not occur cannot be destroyed. Thus the attainment of the tolerance of the birthlessness of things is the entrance into nonduality." The bodhisattva Srigandha declared, "'I' and 'mine' are two. If there is no presumption of a self, there will be no possessiveness. Thus, the absence of the presumption is the entrance into nonduality." More » -
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Dissolving the Confusion
The true, real view is the indivisible unity of emptiness and compassion. Confusion arises when something seemingly is, but actually isn’t, like mistaking a rope for a snake. That is a clear mistake, because in reality the rope is not a snake, no way. How do we actualize this view? We have a lot of thoughts, one after the other, involving the duality of subject and object. When the subject latches onto or grasps the object, that is what is normally called mind, the thinking mind. When there is this subject-object clinging, that creates karma. When karma is created, there is confusion. More » -
Cutting Ties: The Fruits of Solitude
The Great sage Shantideva composed The Way of the Bodhisattva in India over twelve centuries ago, yet it remains remarkably relevant for our times. This classic text gives surprisingly up-to-date instructions for people like you and me to live sanely and openheartedly, even in a very troubled world. It is the essential guidebook for fledging bodhisattvas, those spiritual warriors who long to alleviate suffering, their own and that of others. More » -
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Death of the Dharma
As far back as our sources can take us, Buddhism has taught that all things that emerge in time and consist of separate components (in technical terms, all “conditioned” phenomena) are subject to eventual destruction. And with remarkable consistency, Buddhists have applied this general theory not only to mundane things but even to the duration of their own religion. Within a century or two after the death of the Buddha, detailed accounts began to emerge predicting not only the eventual “death of the dharma” but also the cause and the approximate time of its destruction. More » -
The "Helper" Syndrome
In the movie Groundhog Day, the main character wakes up every morning in the same exact place, at the same exact time, always having to repeat the same day—Groundhog Day. No matter what he experiences, he still wakes up having to repeat the day. No matter what he does, he can’t get what he wants, which in this case is the sexual conquest of his female colleague. Although he tries all of the other classic strategies of escape, nothing works; he still wakes up the next day to the same mess. More »
