Heart Sutra: Pages 52-57

Engaging in the Path of Meditation

When Avalokiteshvara tells Shariputra that there is no attainment for bodhisattvas, he is speaking from the absolute point of view. From the dualistic point of view there is samsara and there is nirvana, there are sentient beings and buddhas, there is the law of karma, and there are all the other things existing here in samsara. As long as we see with dualistic mind, everything will continue existing just like this. But, once one actualizes emptiness without elaboration, emptiness that is gone beyond the four extremes, and when one has established transcendent wisdom, then there is nothing to attain. Therefore, bodhisattvas rely instead on abiding in the perfection of sublime knowing. This describes the final stage of meditation that began with the first bhumi and has now progressed to the end of the tenth bhumi, which is vajra-like meditative equipoise. That is the final and most powerful antidote that purifies even the subtlest aspects of dualistic mind. So, from the first to the tenth bhumi, bodhisattvas go through the process of purification by abiding in meditative equipoise concentrated on the emptiness nature in which they directly experience emptiness.

That direct experience is not like our ordinary perception in which "my" mind experiences something. Here, purified, empty mind is nondual with purified, empty phenomena. What have been purified are the afflictive emotional obscurations and the cognitive obscurations. There are two categories of afflictive emotional obscurations: coarse and subtle. In the first bhumi, when one realizes the emptiness nature through the path of insight, all the coarse levels of afflictive emotions are purified. After that, from the second bhumi to the seventh bhumi, the subtle afflictive emotions are purified. At the same time, from the second to the tenth bhumi, the cognitive obscurations, or three spheres of conceptual thought, are purified. These can also be divided into coarse, medium, and subtle categories, so altogether there are nine levels of cognitive obscuration. The coarse obscuration is also categorized into three in terms of greater, lesser, and least, as are the medium and subtle obscurations. In all these bhumis, the obscurations are purified from the greater aspect, and wisdom increases from the lesser aspect. This is like the early morning when the sun begins to rise and there is more darkness than light. But, as the sun continues to rise, gradually there is more light, and the darkness disappears. Similarly, in the early bhumis, there is much less wisdom than ignorance, but with practice it constantly increases until ignorance totally disappears. Another example compares the wisdom aspect to the waxing moon. At first, the moon is there but it is very small—just a sliver. But every day it grows bigger and bigger until it is full. So when, with insight, we have the first realization of emptiness, it is the absolute truth and absolute reality, but it is not the complete truth or reality. That is why we need to continually maintain our practice in the later bhumis by meditating in equipoise, concentrating on and maintaining emptiness realization.

"Śāriputra, therefore, since bodhisattvas have nothing to attain,

They abide in reliance upon prajñāpāramitā.

Without obscurations of mind, they have no fear.

Completely transcending false views, they attain complete nirvāṇa.

While you are on the path, whether or not you have realization of emptiness, from the first bhumi all the way to the tenth bhumi, there is still mind, and at the same time there is transcendent wisdom. That is why Avalokiteshvara describes the minds of bodhisattvas as unobscured. While in meditative equipoise, such a mind has no obscuration as it experiences the unobscured, perfected wisdom of the total nature of emptiness. When one wakes up from that meditative equipoise, the rest of the habitual tendencies of the afflictive emotions and cognitive obscurations—including the concept and thought of an "I"—all reappear. Even bodhisattvas from the first to the seventh bhumi who realize the emptiness nature of self and phenomena still, once in a while, experience the habitual tendency of thinking of an "I." But, in an instant there is recognition and abandonment of this thought.

Furthermore, since there is no obscuration for bodhisattvas on the path of meditation in the second, third, and fourth bhumis, they develop fearlessness. With no obscurations and with realization of the true nature in transcendent wisdom, they no longer have misconceptions that see the wrong side of samsaric phenomena. The nature of phenomena is emptiness, but ordinary people do not realize or know or experience emptiness, so their samsaric minds perceive phenomena as truly existing and therefore develop clinging, attachment, and so forth. With transcendent wisdom, however, one is "far beyond" such misconceptions and can reach the purified, ultimate state of nirvana.

There are two kinds of nirvana: the Hinayana nirvana and the Mahayana nirvana. The first is liberation from samsara as attained by arhats. Although they are never again born in samsara, they haven't attained the full enlightenment resulting from the abandonment of cognitive obscurations. That is why Mahayana liberation is known as "ultimate" liberation. The difference is very big. Here, the Heart Sutra is talking about Mahayana liberation, but we have to know that words like "liberation" and "enlightenment" also include different stages. When we hear or talk about the first bhumi and second bhumi and so on, it is not about the fulfilled state of enlightenment. Perfection of enlightenment and nirvana comes only at the end of the tenth bhumi when you become an enlightened buddha. Until that point, you have a sense of wisdom, realization, nirvana, and enlightenment, but still it is not the same as the enlightenment of the Buddha.

"All buddhas of the three times, by relying upon the prajñāpāramitā,

Fully awaken to unsurpassable, true, complete enlightenment.

All the past buddhas have attained enlightenment by realizing emptiness and perfecting sublime knowing, transcendent wisdom, prajnaparamita, or intrinsic awareness—these all mean the same thing. Future buddhas like Maitreya and all of us—we don't know how long it will take, but we are all future buddhas—will also gain enlightenment through transcendent wisdom. That is why Prajnaparamita is called the "mother of all buddhas." Since prajnaparamita is the feminine aspect, the Prajnaparamita deity has a feminine appearance. Only by realizing emptiness and gaining understanding of transcendent wisdom can buddhas of the past, present, and future gain enlightenment. In fact, Hinayana arhats and the pratyekabuddhas also have to gain the same transcendent wisdom in order to be liberated from samsara. Gaining transcendent wisdom means realizing emptiness. For the Hinayana arhat this means realizing the emptiness of the self, and for the Mahayana practitioner it means gaining realization of the emptiness of both self and phenomena. That is why the concept of selflessness is explained in two ways, as the selflessness of self and the selflessness of phenomena.

This is also why Prajnaparamita is called the great mother of all the buddhas. Prajnaparamita is like a freeway that takes one all the way to enlightenment. The profound aspects of the true nature, such as emptiness, are a teaching unique to Buddhism, and by realizing that we gain transcendent wisdom. And, through this transcendent wisdom, anyone can gain enlightenment. If you don't have transcendent wisdom, it means that you don't have the experience of emptiness. Not having this experience means that you are not going to be liberated. For that reason, we have to know how things work in reality, whether something is in accordance with a real spiritual path or not. Without a clear understanding of emptiness, we don't know what to think. But, if we analyze in a logical way and gain an understanding of emptiness, it becomes an antidote that purifies ignorance, the afflictive emotions, and the cognitive obscurations. Then we continue to investigate and study in order to gain a deeper and more complete understanding of the Buddha's teachings rather than following what we want to believe.

At the end of the tenth bhumi we engage in the powerful vajra-like meditation that purifies the subtlest aspects of dualistic mind. As a result, the post-meditation experience is the same as the experience in meditation itself. Mind has become completely perfected and enlightened just as it is according to its primordial pure nature. While we are active in daily life, the mind remains within that meditative state, but it is not like sitting in equipoise. It never gets deluded no matter what happens. This is the stage of omniscient and omnipresent mind. It knows everything because at that point it is one with everything, one with the entire existence of the relative and absolute world. Everything becomes direct perception because there are no more obscurations. It is like removing a wall that obscures one's view of the people, houses, streets, and whatever else is behind it.

Once the wall is gone, one sees everything clearly. Similarly, once obscurations are gone, the enlightened mind constantly maintains direct perception of the whole universe. That is how enlightened mind or the enlightened buddha knows the beginning and end of the world. In this way buddhas gain clairvoyance.