Sun, 28 Mar 2010
Know Nothing
The next section of the Heart Sutra is very shory, but filled with meaning.
no understanding and no attaining.
The Sanskrit (without diacrits) is "no jnanam na praptir na apraptih." I would translate this as "no cognition, no attainment and no non-attainment." The quoted translation leaves out "no non-attanment" for some reason.
The Heart Sutra has explained that all dharmas, both the impure dharmas of samsara and the pure dharmas of nirvana are empty. Because they are all empty, the practitioner who surveys all of phenomena sees nothing is real. As nothing is seen as real, the mind is not attracted or repelled by anything and rests in equanimity. Because nothing is apprehended as real, the mind rests without cognition. This meditative equipoise that rests free of cognition, apprehending the emptiness of all things is nothing but the practice of mahamudra. So we see that madhyaimka is the theory, mahamudra is the practice, the two are a unity and are the essence of the dharma.
So, when one understands emptiness, one rests in the meditation of mahamudra. One sees all phenomena are empty and could not be anything but empty. So there is nothing to attain. Because all phenomena are empty, they are self-liberated, so there is nothing not to attain. Transcending the notion od a path, practitioner, or a result, one rests in the emptiness of the three spheres.
