Mon, 19 Apr 2010
All Buddhas Agree
We're over the hump in the Heart Sutra and it's all downhill from here. The next line goes:
All Buddhas of the three periods of time attain Anuttara samyak sambodhi through reliance on Prajna Paramita
Some Sankrit words are left untranslated here. This is from a tradition started by the Chines translator Hsuan Tsang, who did not translate Sanskrit words that he regarded as especially holy. "Anuttara samyak sambodhi" is translated as highest, complete, and perfect enlightenment. It signifies the enlightenment of a fully enlightened buddha. "Samyak" is the same word used in each of the steps of the eightfold path. And "prajna paramita" is the perfection of wisdom. One only achieves the ful enlightenment of a buddha through the wisdom that realizes emptiness. So the study and practice of emptiness is the key point in Mahayana Buddhism. So the Heart Sutra has now described the ground (the emptiness of all dharmas) the path (meditation which rests in the positive experience of emptiness) and now fruition (perfect buddhahood.)
