THREE WORLDS - AESTHETIC, SOCIAL, & SPIRITUAL

The Heart Sutra: Prajnaparamita-Hridaya-Sutra

oṃ namo bhagavatyai ārya prajñāpāramitāyai!

Avalokita, the Holy Lord and Bodhisattva, was moving in the deep course of the Wisdom which has gone beyond.

Verse 1

ārya-avalokiteśvaro bodhisattvo gambhīrāṃ prajñāpāramitā caryāṃ caramāṇo vyavalokayati sma:
panca-skandhās tāṃś ca svābhava śūnyān paśyati sma.

He looked down from on high, He beheld but five heaps, and He saw that in their own-being they were empty.

Verse 2

iha śāriputra: rūpaṃ śūnyatā śūnyataiva rūpaṃ; rūpān na pṛthak śūnyatā śunyatāyā na pṛthag rūpaṃ; yad rūpaṃ sā śūnyatā; ya śūnyatā tad rūpaṃ. evam eva vedanā saṃjñā saṃskāra vijñānaṃ.

Here, O Sariputra,

form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form ;

emptiness does not differ from form, form does not differ from emptiness, whatever is emptiness, that is form,

the same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses, and consciousness.

Verse 3

iha śāriputra: sarva-dharmāḥ śūnyatā-lakṣaṇā, anutpannā aniruddhā, amalā avimalā, anūnā aparipūrṇāḥ.

Here, O Sariputra,

all dharmas are marked with emptiness ;

they are not produced or stopped, not defiled or immaculate, not deficient or complete.

Verse 4

tasmāc chāriputra śūnyatayāṃ na rūpaṃ na vedanā na saṃjñā na saṃskārāḥ na vijñānam. na cakṣuḥ-śrotra-ghrāna-jihvā-kāya-manāṃsi. na rūpa-śabda-gandha-rasa-spraṣṭavaya-dharmāh. Na cakṣūr-dhātur. yāvan na manovijñāna-dhātuḥ. na-avidyā na-avidyā-kṣayo. yāvan na jarā-maraṇam na jarā-maraṇa-kṣayo. na duhkha-samudaya-nirodha-margā. Na jñānam, na prāptir na-aprāptiḥ.

Therefore, O Sariputra,

in emptiness there is no form nor feeling, nor perception, nor impulse, nor consciousness ;

No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind ; No forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touchables or objects of mind ; No sight-organ element, and so forth, until we come to :

No mind-consciousness element ; There is no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance, and so forth, until we come to : There is no decay and death, no extinction of decay and death. There is no suffering, no origination, no stopping, no path.

There is no cognition, no attainment and no non-attainment.

Verse 5

tasmāc chāriputra aprāptitvād bodhisattvasya prajñāpāramitām āśritya viharatyacittāvaraṇaḥ. cittāvaraṇa-nāstitvād atrastro viparyāsa-atikrānto niṣṭhā-nirvāṇa-prāptaḥ.

Therefore, O Sariputra,

it is because of his non-attainmentness that a Bodhisattva, through having relied on the Perfection of Wisdom, dwells without thought-coverings. In the absence of thought-coverings he has not been made to tremble,

he has overcome what can upset, and in the end he attains to Nirvana.

Verse 6

tryadhva-vyavasthitāḥ sarva-buddhāḥ prajñāpāramitām āśrityā-anuttarāṃ samyaksambodhim abhisambuddhāḥ.

All those who appear as Buddhas in the three periods of time fully awake to the utmost, right and perfect Enlightenment because they have relied on the Perfection of Wisdom.

Verse 7

tasmāj jñātavyam: prajñāpāramitā mahā-mantro mahā-vidyā mantro 'nuttara-mantro samasama-mantraḥ, sarva duḥkha praśamanaḥ, satyam amithyatāt. prajñāpāramitāyām ukto mantraḥ.

Therefore one should know the prajnaparamita as the great spell, the spell of great knowledge, the utmost spell, the unequalled spell, allayer of all suffering, in truth -- for what could go wrong ? By the prajnaparamita has this spell been delivered. It runs like this :

tadyathā: gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā.

gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha.

( Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond, O what an awakening, all-hail ! -- )

iti prajñāpāramitā-hṛdayam samāptam.

This completes the Heart of perfect Wisdom.

Translated by E. Conze

Sanskrit in diacritical  from: http://www.visiblemantra.org/heartsutra.html

The Mahayana is a bird that flies on 2 wings or it falls to the ground. (in my opinion)

The 1st wing is that of the emptiness school which points out the dependent origination of all phenomena and the non-self nature of all composite things deeply understood is that of what they call emptiness. All composite things, either virtuous or non-virtuous, have the same ultimate nature of emptiness openness.

This distinction is between relative reality which is a construction that arises as the flowering of a plant established in the seed of a self nature and of absolute wisdom which embodies the understanding of the non-self nature of all things.

The 2nd wing is that of the school of Buddhist yogis who point out that the rigorous distinction of relative and absolute truth, while the fact of the matter, is a formulation both rigorous and austere that, to put it simply, leaves people on a precipice or a crisis in which a world full of life and living is placed on one side of an abyss that is razor blade thin yet razor blade sharp placing the immediacy of transcendent Buddha wisdom on the other side of the rainbow.

The yogis of Buddhist meditation distinguished a middle ground between the barrage created by bewildered ego centric personality and the ultimate pristine clarity of Buddhist transcendent wisdom. Between these 2 extremes sits the Buddhist meditator who can discern the 4 Noble truths and the 12 links in the chain of dependent origination and the difference between relative and absolute truth. While nothing within our relative cognition or imagination can lift us out of bewilderment and place us in untainted Buddha mind looking with in our experience we can discern an arrow of direction pointing towards deeper bewilderment or lesser bewilderment when we use the 4 Noble truths and the 12 links of the chain of dependent origination and knowledge of the difference between relative and absolute truth as a compost to lay down on the map of our mindfulness. Therefore we are able to choose behaviors that are conduct that leads away from deeper bewilderment.

Each of these natures are empty in their own way. Each of these 3 express the principle of emptiness in their own fashion. The illusory nature is patently empty. The constructed nature in the middle has no self nature but is dependent on recognitions within the mirage of empty nature. And the ultimate nature, Buddha nature, possesses the emptiness of being all extremes or any shared point with relative reality.

Human nature being what it is these 2 wings of the Mahayana have found self-appointed champions who would tear one wing away from the Mahayana or weaken it in respect or privilege.

In real life no one would consider me a particularly good person much less a Buddhist meditator, but I have had some taste of all of this and know what I have tasted.

The truth is like walking with 2 feet in our actual meditational life, at least my experience is that you need to move forward 1 foot at a time consecutively constantly shifting your center of gravity back and forth. That is a pretty image but let me explain how it works out.

Meditating on the emptiness of phenomenon is a training that has a response in your personal character that operates by steeping down into your deep very slowly changing response to phenomena, your own thoughts and the events of your life. A line of logic leads you from a to B to C and eventually to Z. but a meditation on emptiness is like a leaf gradually sinking to the bottom of the pond. That leaf dissolves and becomes part of the silt at the bottom of the pond. The minerals within that leaf form part of the color of the silt. That silt has a slowly changing effect as the backing of a mirror made by the surface of the water of the pond. That in turn changes the character of the reflection on the water. That is the way emptiness meditation works, in my opinion, in my very small experience.

Using the tools of the Buddhist yogis and the 3 empty natures constantly being aware of the seeds of karma we are planting, and how these factors are imputations of our own mind and therefore our own bewilderment, and combining this with our compassion for all beings who must live in the environments created by the planting of the seeds, this is a day-to-day moment to moment wrestling of mindfulness that itself tames the mind and transforms the personality structure to one that is constantly returned to mindfulness and reminded of both consequences and kindness and rehearses in moment to moment life a tap on the shoulder that points out the emptiness of the doer, of what is done, and the consequences to come.

Only in an academic context could you point to the pristine formulation of emptiness in the 2nd turning of the wheel of Dharma and say that it is the reason for considering the 2nd wheel turning of the wheel of Dharma a superior thing of some kind to the 3rd turning of the wheel of Dharma which intentionally uses provisional formulations of the application of emptiness understanding to engage and transform an actual human being into someone less obstructed to awakening.

If one were to be churlish, one could say that a kind of practice that had more chance of doing more good for more people was the superior path.

But that's stupid.

In a way the emptiness understanding of the 2nd turning of the wheel of Dharma works to create a background “conscience” in a sense that emerges as a support for one as the yoga practitioners meditations that create an ongoing bond between practice and mindfulness outside of practice.

I find that getting lost in identifying the factors of our mental confusion is naturally clarified and refreshed by meditation on emptiness. I find that when emptiness meditation becomes an internal psychic game of academic distinctions pretending to be awareness insights, looking at the mind as a liar and popping the bubbles of lies for a while makes for a good self honesty.

There is not a meditation text that I've read by either Tibetan authors or Chinese authors that haven't provided wisdom that is by far obviously more informed and enlightened than this attempt to share my thoughts with you. But these have the advantage of being me not quoting some book but actually speaking for myself.

In passing I would like to say that the late Chögyam Trungpa’s book Glimpses of the Abhidharma will surprisingly engage you in a way that will make you an actual meditator. I have got the sense it is a horribly overlooked book. You could begin with this and go good places and find out later how far you have gone.

Going from this to Living Yogācāra by Tagawa Shun’ei naturally would follow this, basically giving you a “attitude about applying a yogacara perspective to your life” that, even if left at that, would leave you a more grounded person when you go back to or move on to other famous and special practices.

These are 2 books that make the kind of bridge that I am finding in pursuing both the teachings and the meditations of the emptiness school and the Buddhist yoga school together. There is so much talk about Buddhism it is useful to read some talk that leads you back to mindfulness.

The Zen school of Japan, especially in its more austere forms of sitting, as well as the “Great Perfection” teachings of Tibet, are without a doubt presentations of great unobstructed clarity. But even they have become encrusted with the ornaments of legends and mysteries and being so “without a path” that it is easy to lose the path for many.

I quite frankly have no difficulty with practicing both a path-based system of Mahayana Buddhism with what could be called immediacy-imminency pathless-awareness meditation. That is because of my training in Tibetan Buddhism in which deity yoga has a stage of experiencing the illusory nature of phenomena by creating a illusory phenomena of a deity and then dissolving it into open awareness. I understand that this is teaching me the point that my ego created impure illusory nature phenomena of a personality is equally an empty phenomenon of my empty constructed nature.

Deity yoga naturally embraces shifting from a view in which one rehearses the 3 empty natures point of view to a view in which one embodies the seamless unity of samsara and nirvana, luminous clarity and no self nature. These 2 points of view walk hand-in-hand in both the generation in completion stage yogas.

It is like the flickering of a candle. Between the snaps of the candle flame like a flag from one side to the other is a window.

The hermit on the top of the iron mountain every so often wets the end of his brush and returns to sweeping back and forth. Someday that mountain will be eroded to the root. Or someday an Eagle will pluck her from the peak and she will disappear into the sky. No hurry. Just do.

That's the way it seems to me to be the truth.

Living Yogacara: An Introduction to Consciousness-Only Buddhism [Paperback]

Glimpses of Abhidharma

1586 words by By Leo Rivers, Garage House, Cottage Grove, Oregon, Friday, January 6, 2012 9:04:21 PM

The first priority of the Social Face of all Buddhists is a recognition that Hatred is the greatest of the Mara because anger sets afire all virtues on contact and even burns the heart so it is turned against the thought of self-taming and benevolence. One torch waved in anger and thoughtlessness - one torch that sets one tree ablaze - can then spread that fire through all that tree’s limbs, and from there through the canopy of all the forest!

A Bodhisattva of any Tradition of Buddhism must make a wish to end the anger that is pandemic in the World and resolve to end War, as War is the great sower of the seeds of heritable anger in the World. A buddhist must call on the strength and example of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of all times and places for the guidance and the strength of courage and endurance and patience of peace in their own hearts to engage whatever social activities call a witness to their bodies, speech and mind as an opposition to the Words of War, the Economic Profit of War, the Mental Taste for War and to, (with peaceful but aggressive resistance), impede the Deeds of War.

The Social Face of the Bodhisattva has to combine the provision of protection, nutrition and welcome of all beings and the shelter of Peace for all to enjoy them.

This is a commitment of a Bodhisattva.

Leo Rivers, 

the Garage House, Cottage Grove, OR, Monday, November 21, 2011 12:35:39 PM

P.S.: the term “Bodhisattva” is used by both the Theravāda and Mahāyāna traditions of Buddhism for someone who is on the Path.

This was unanimously voted on by all members of Occupy Wall Street last night, around 8pm, Sept 29. It is our first official document for release. We have three more underway, that will likely be released in the upcoming days: 1) A declaration of demands. 2) Principles of Solidarity 3) Documentation on how to form your own Direct Democracy Occupation Group. This is a living document. you can receive an official press copy of the latest version by emailing c2anycga@gmail.com.

Declaration of the Occupation of New York City

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.

They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.

They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.

They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices.

They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.

They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.

They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.

They have sold our privacy as a commodity.

They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.

They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.

They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.

They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.

They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.

They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.

They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.

They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.

They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*

To the people of the world,

We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!

*These grievances are not all-inclusive.

The Truth about 'Class War' in America

While I agree with so much of what has been said about management of public money by critics of our Tax system, I am afraid we live in a world in which our “freedom of choice” to determine how money is spent is seen as being properly a choice of foods, clothing and other manufactured goods channeled through corporate distribution channels.

While a largely symbolic tax the wealthy surcharge may be levied against the super duper rich - it will only be a way to maintain the appearance of our Beauty Contest System of choosing between Mean Face and Happy Face Corporate Population Managers (Presidents).

No serious person believes the USA or any significant nation will cease weapons manufacturing, stop vying for the remaining Natural Resources, or in any serious way consider a National Economic re-structuring based on crating a economic structure configured to a self-sufficient society built on internal national resources. The last hurrah in viable across the board Social Change was the failure of the Equal Rights Amendment in 1983. It was no accident of History that the Air Traffic Controllers Union was broken by President Reagan in 1981. The whole idea of “mass change” is a pipe-dream - look at the results of the Arab Spring. Even now “Here comes the New Boss, same as the old boss” is playing as the elevator goes down.

Permitted Social Discourse in all significant nations is limited to Population Management. Try a General Strike in the United States and see just why we now have US Troops stationed conveniently on US Soil. By the way, did you see how Kim Kardashian’s new husband is dissing her all over town? That fool!