GREAT TRANSCENDING WISDOM HEART SUTRA

Thus have I heard. The noble Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, flowing in the course of profound Transcending Wisdom, saw the world encompassing view, saw the essential emptiness of the five branches of being, and allayed every passion.

Here Sariputra! Form is emptiness; emptiness itself is form; form is not other than emptiness; emptiness is not other than form; what is form, that is emptiness; what is emptiness, that is form; thus also for feelings, perceptions, complexes, and consciousness.

Here Sariputra! Everything has these aspects of emptiness: not arising, not ceasing, not stained, not immaculate, not deficient, not excessive.

Therefore Sariputra, within emptiness there is no form, no feelings, no perceptions, no complexes, no consciousness; no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; no forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, things; no eye-field coming to no mind-consciousness-field; no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance, coming to no ageing and dying, no extinction of ageing and dying; no passion-cause-cessation-path; no higher-knowledge; no attainment, no non-attainment.

Therefore Sariputra, because there is no state of attainment, Bodhisattvas rely on Transcending Wisdom to dwell serenely without resistances to attention; absent resistances to attention, they are fearless, overcoming topsy-turvy views, finally attaining Nirvana.

Manifesting in the three cycles of time, all Buddhas rely on Transcending Wisdom to dwell fully awakened in unsurpassed complete perfect enlightenment.

Thus know Transcending Wisdom, this great mantra, this great knowledge mantra, this unsurpassed mantra, this unparalleled mantra, allays every passion, truly without going astray.

So he delivered this Transcending Wisdom mantra, thus proclaiming:

“Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone completely beyond, enlightened, amen.”

“Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi, svaha.”

– Wisdom Heart Sutra.

AN AGREEMENT FOR PARTICIPATING TOGETHER

– CAN TONG QI (TS’AN-T’UNG-CH’I) (J. SANDOKAI)

By Shitou Xiqian (Shih-t’ou Hsi-ch’ien, J. Sekito Kisen)

(b.700 - d.790)

The mind of the great sage of the land of India

has been intimately and mutually handed down from west to east.

A person's roots are sharp or dull;

the Way has no Northern or Southern ancestors.

The mysterious source is shining and clean in the light;

the branching streams are flowing and pouring in the dark.

Grasping at primary phenomena is bewilderment;

agreeing with Principle is still not enlightenment.

Each and every gate corresponds to circumstances,

revolving with each other and not revolving with each other.

Revolving and alternating are mutually entangled,

they do not rely on remaining in place.

The root of form is distinguished by substance and appearance;

the primal sound is differentiated as joyful or painful.

High and middle words unite in the dark,

clean and dirty sentences, in the brightness.

The four great elements return to their natures

like a child to its mother.

The heat of the fire; the waving of the wind;

the wet of the water; the solidity of the earth.

The colors of the eye; the sounds of the ear;

the fragrances of the nose; the salt and sour of the tongue.

This is the way with each and every thing;

according to the roots the leaves separate and spread out.

Roots and branches necessarily return to the ancestral origin;

venerated and vulgar, these are used in speech.

Right in the middle of the light there is dark;

don’t use the mutuality of darkness to meet it.

Right in the middle of the dark there is light;

don’t use the mutuality of the light to see it.

Light and dark are mutual polarities,

for example, like front and back steps.

The ten thousand things naturally have their function,

and are regarded in the use and placement of words.

Phenomena exist like the joining of a box and lid.

Principle responds like the support of the sharp point of an arrow.

In receiving words you should meet the ancestors,

and not establish rules by yourself.

If your contacting eye does not meet the Way,

how do you know the path by using your feet?

Progress is not near or far;

bewilderment causes the distance from mountains and rivers.

Sincerely, I say to people who participate in the profound depths,

from brightness and shadow, there are none who have ferried across in vain.

ZAZEN WASAN – "ODE TO SITTING-MEDITATION"

By Hakuin Ekaku Zenji

(b. 12/25/1685 - d. 1/18/1769)

Living beings originally are Buddha.

It is the same with water and ice.

There is no ice separate from water;

Outside of living beings, no Buddha.

Because living beings are unconscious of the intimate,

They seek it far away. Alas how pitiful!

It is like the examples of someone sitting in the middle of water

But crying out in thirst; and,

While still being the son of a millionaire's family,

As a strange good-for-nothing he loses his way in the countryside living in poverty.

The causes and conditions of the revolving wheel of the six appearances

Are but one's own road through the darkness of ignorance;

Walking down dark roads to dark roads,

Someday you should abandon birth and death.

As to the zen meditation (dhyana-samadhi) of the Mahayana,

There is just too much to praise.

The several perfections such as charity, morality, and such;

Chanting Buddha's name, confession and repentance, austerities, and the like;

The many good deeds and various virtuous pilgrimages;

All these are coming from within it.

Also, a person succeeds by the merit of a single sitting

To destroy one's immeasurably accumulated crimes.

Where then should the evil appearances exist?

The Pure Land is then not far away.

One, who by this Dharma graciously

Has the occasion to hear it announced even one time,

Who is a person extolling it with deep gratitude,

Receives supreme blessings without limits.

Much more, to personally turn around to face inward and,

In that case, directly confirm by one's own nature,

That here, one's own nature is neither more nor less than no-nature.

And afterwards leave off from silly debate;

Then opens the gate of the oneness of cause and effect;

The Way of not-two and not-three is straightened.

When form is the form of non-form,

One's going and one's returning are not someplace else.

When thought is the thought of no-thought,

One's singing and one's dancing are the voice of Dharma.

The sky of boundless Samadhi is wide!

The moon of the Four Wisdoms' round brilliance is transparent!

At this time what more should you want?

Consequently, Nirvana appears before you.

This place is neither more nor less than the Lotus Country.

As it is, this body is neither more nor less than the Buddha.

Notes on Translations of Verse Works:

Great Transcending Wisdom Heart Sutra

For translation notes on the Heart Sutra see Heart Sutra Page

An Agreement for Participating Together

For translation notes and variations see An Agreement for Participating Together Page

Ode to Sitting Meditation

For my (work in progress) commentary on Hakuin’s “Ode to Sitting Meditation” and various translations see Zazen Wasen Page

Prose Translations:

Bodhidharma's "Outline of Four Practices and Contemplation"

Koan Collection Translations:

For my translation of the Wumen Guan see “The Gateless Checkpoint” page.

For my translation (work in progress) of the Bìyán Lù see The Blue Cliff Record page.

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This page last edited March 17, 2008.