The Insight That Brings Us to the Other Shore
This week we began learning the Heart Sutra chant in anticipation of our upcoming 5 Mindfulness Trainings transmission ceremony. The Heart Sutra is central to both this ceremony and to our Plum Village Zen practice.
Thich Nhat Hanh retranslated the Heart Sutra in 2014 to correct an error that has led many students to misunderstand the sutra’s central message. He renamed the sutra ’The Insight That Brings Us To The Other Shore’ to emphasize that the sutra invites us to have such an insight for ourselves rather than get caught in intellectual dissection of its ungraspable language.
This sutra is practiced rather than understood. While it helps to be aware of its terms and context, it’s more important to allow the sutra to sink in through frequent listening and chanting. Chanting it repeatedly is like looking in a mirror: The sutra reflects and clarifies our growing understanding.
We’ve posted a MP3 copy of the chant on our website the link is on the "Resources" page under "Chanting Resources." I suggest we each download it and begin listening frequently, allowing the chant to seep through our skin and into our hearts. We’ll begin integrating this chant into the life of The Anacortes Mindfulness Community so that this sutra’s wisdom can transform us collectively.
The Insight That Brings Us To The Other Shore
Avalokiteshvara
while practicing deeply with
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore,
suddenly discovered that
all of the five Skandhas are equally empty,
and with this realisation
he overcame all Ill-being.
“Listen Sariputra,
this Body itself is Emptiness
and Emptiness itself is this Body.
This Body is not other than Emptiness
and Emptiness is not other than this Body.
The same is true of Feelings,
Perceptions, Mental Formations,
and Consciousness.
“Listen Sariputra,
all phenomena bear the mark of Emptiness;
their true nature is the nature of
no Birth no Death,
no Being no Non-being,
no Defilement no Purity,
no Increasing no Decreasing.
“That is why in Emptiness,
Body, Feelings, Perceptions,
Mental Formations and Consciousness
are not separate self entities.
The Eighteen Realms of Phenomena
which are the six Sense Organs,
the six Sense Objects,
and the six Consciousnesses
are also not separate self entities.
The Twelve Links of Interdependent Arising
and their Extinction
are also not separate self entities.
Ill-being, the Causes of Ill-being,
the End of Ill-being, the Path,
insight and attainment,
are also not separate self entities.
Whoever can see this
no longer needs anything to attain.
Bodhisattvas who practice
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore
see no more obstacles in their mind,
and because there
are no more obstacles in their mind,
they can overcome all fear,
destroy all wrong perceptions
and realize Perfect Nirvana.
“All Buddhas in the past, present and future
by practicing
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore
are all capable of attaining
Authentic and Perfect Enlightenment.
“Therefore Sariputra,
it should be known that
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore
is a Great Mantra,
the most illuminating mantra,
the highest mantra,
a mantra beyond compare,
the True Wisdom that has the power
to put an end to all kinds of suffering.
Therefore let us proclaim
a mantra to praise
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore.
Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha!
Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha!
Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha!”