Analysis of the heart sutra
Summary of the heart sutra
The Holy Lord, who was called Avalokita together with Bodhisattva, was looking for wisdom. In this process, while on high, he looked down and he could see five heaps. For him, he could perceive them as empty beings. He called upon Sariputra to express the emptiness of the beings and he said that, form can be regarded as empty and the vice versa is also true(Conze, par 1-10). Emptiness and form is the same thing. All the feelings, consciousness, impulses and perceptions are all characterized by emptiness including all dharmas. This is because the latter are never produced nor defied. They lack in deficiency and cannot be stopped. Hence, emptiness can be regarded to be with no form (eye, nose, body etc), perception, impulse, feeling (smells, tastes etc) and even consciousness (ignorance, cognition). Emptiness can also be characterized by lack of suffering with no death and decay of the body which at the same time cannot be done away with. Since emptiness has to do with non-attainments, this is why Bodhisattva has to do without thought coverings (Conze, par 1-10). This is because he chose to rely on wisdom perfection. Without these thought coverings he could never tremble. This has made him strong to overcome all the upsets, and be able to attain Nirvana in the end. So all Buddhists who have gone through periods, three times, achieve enlightenment. This is as a result of them choosing to rely on wisdom perfection. It is recommended that one should know the great spell Prajnaparamita which is associated with great knowledge and can never be equaled with another one. The heart Sutra ends with hailing the awakening that comes with it (Conze, par 1-10).
The meaning of emptiness in the heart sutra
One of the key concepts in Buddhism religion is the concept of emptiness. The expression, Form is emptiness emptiness is form can be regarded as one of the most important phrases in the religion (The Big View, par 1). While trying to understand his concept, it may be better to look at it from a philosophical point of view. This may require looking at a simple object like a cup. When a cup is said to be empty, it means that it does not contain any liquid or solid matter. This can be given as the real meaning of emptiness in regards to the cup. In actual sense, the cup may not be empty. When a cup does not contain any liquid matter or solid, is usually filled with air. When the cup is placed in a vacuum, it will still contain space even though the air will not be there. In a nut shell, the cup is always filled with something. This is from a physical point of view. However, for a Buddhist, the cup will always appear as empty. Buddhists view of emptiness does not coincide with the physical view of the same. When they say that, the cup is empty, they are saying that, it depends on other phenomena to exist and this applies to everything in the world. Nothing exists on its own (The Big View, par 3-14). Properties of the cup do not make it to be called a cup its shape, function among others and neither do these properties be called cups. In other words, all these properties must be combined together to form a cup. The same applies o everything in the world. Nothing exists by itself the existence depends on other phenomena. (The Big View, par 15).
According to the heart sutra, emptiness applies to five things the body, perceptions, mental formations, sensations and consciousness. These five elements make up a human being. These elements can also be separated like objects (The Big View, par 8). By regarding these five things as empty helps human beings by saving them from sufferings. Suffering characterizes the lives of human beings and the world at large. There is so much distress in the world, human beings running after love or struggle to get some material things. Man is always after things that, he thinks will make his life complete or even looking to be recognized by fellow men. Although sometimes we get what we want, at the end of the day, we lose them because we cannot keep them. This is what leads to sufferings. This means that suffering originates from our minds but the moment we realize this, that suffering does not exist independently, then human beings will not go through suffering again (Sahn, par 5).
The five elements that make up a person usually change from time to time but the problem is, human beings are attached to them so much and that is why they suffer a lot. However, the heart sutra teaches that, these five elements are empty and thus, there is no need of suffering. This is why the concept of emptiness is very important. When one uses this perspective to view suffering, then it will save him or her from suffering and distress (Sahn, par 6-7).
Many human beings are closely connected to form and even name which also leads to a lot of suffering. So, if we aim to rid the world of these sufferings, then we must present names and forms as non existent they are temporary and not real. This means that, they change from time to time. If one gets rich, then he must perceive that richness as empty. If one is famous or recognized in the world, he should not hold that with high esteem but he should regard all that fame as empty things (Sahn, par. 9-10). Some people spend so much on their bodies, to make themselves beautiful and strong but one day, they end up dying. This is because no one keeps this empty body that is treasured most. The minds of human beings usually go through a lot of abuse because human beings are thinking so much on how they are going to keep these empty things. This teaching on emptiness is very crucial since it teaches that, the most important thing in life is what one wants in his or her life time. Whatever one wants, make up ones mind and this will determine ones lifetime. By viewing everything as empty, it will help one to put all things down and concentrate on how one wants to live devoid of any suffering (Sahn, par. 9-10).
The concept of emptiness in the heart sutra is said to be a reality in the world. Everything in the world is regarded as empty. This ranges from all objects, people, all feelings and thoughts including even the outer space. When it is said that something is empty, it is not out rightly saying that it is out of existence. Of course, things exist but not according to how people think about their existence. However, nothing can exist by itself, it must depend on others. This includes even the human beings (Fischer, par 2-3). They are all empty and this should make every human being happy. This means that, one is not responsible for his or her own life. Therefore all human beings should not feel pressurized by life or feel lonely because at the end of the day, the weight of bearing responsibilities has been lifted off their shoulders. Most of the time, human beings bear the burden of trying to prove who they are which is sometimes, a cumbersome task but the good news is that, one should not worry at all about it. Why should one try to prove that he or she is a particular kind of a person when actually he is not that kind of a person Furthermore, it is not the responsibility of human beings to prove that (Fischer, par 2-3).
Buddhism and Christianity on the idea of God
There is an area that Buddhism and Christianity differ in regard to their teachings and one of them is on the idea of God. Many are the times when Buddhists have been called atheists since their religion denies that, there is God or the head of gods who is the creator of the world. For them, the idea of God is treated like other ideas that man has come up with in his attempts to explain the origin of man and the world and thus it does not hold water in Buddhism (Thera, par 6- 8). According to them, these ideas are destructive. In other words, people are trying to create an external phenomenon, given a form of permanence and this out rightly goes against the belief of Karma. However, Buddhism agrees with other religions on the fact that true happiness is elusive in this world but in contrast with other religions, it believes that, it can never be found anywhere, even in the so called heaven or hell. This is because for Buddhism, the so called heaven and hell are empty and thus they cannot be permanent (Thera, par 6- 8).
However, Christians believe in the existence of a supernatural being called God and He is the one who created the world and everything in it. Christians also believe that, the same God has a son called Jesus Christ (Konig, par. 1-7). The son came into the world to bring salvation. Jesus was conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit and the mother was called Mary who was a virgin at the time Jesus was being born. Jesus was crucified and died because of the sins of man. He was later buried and after three days he resurrected. This was followed by His ascending to heaven where He resides at the right hand of the father. This means that all those who believe in Jesus will join the father and the son one day thus Christians believe in the existence of heaven. These are the differences between Buddhism religion and Christian one in regards to the idea of God (Konig, par. 1-7).
Religious belief according to me may refer to the idea expressed in a religion and it is accepted by a group of people as true. For example, an idea expressed in Buddhism religion that the purpose of human beings on this earth is to end suffering is a religious belief because it is accepted by Buddhists as true. Another idea is that complete happiness can never be found in the world. This idea is expressed in almost all religions and is accepted as true by some people hence it is a religious belief
Buddhism is a very interesting religion since it is very different from other religions right from its teachings to the practices. Meditation is one of the practices and it is ingrained in the Buddhas teachings and that is where the heart sutra comes in. The heart sutra is a very fundamental religious practice among Buddhists as it has been seen. The religions teaching on the idea of God also contradicts so many other religions especially Christianity. Even though there are so many contradictions, it all comes down to what one believes in.
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