The Wisdom of Life Budha

8/20/2019 The Wisdom of Life Budha

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The Wisdom of Life

Within the Heart Sutra

By Master Ji Qun

(Translation from Chinese to English by Maria Lin Chen)


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About this translation

Master Ji Qun is a renowned contemporary Master in China who teaches Monks inthe Buddhist Academy, Xiyuan Temple, in Suzhou. He graduated from the ChineseBuddhist Academy in 1984. He is the author of many books.

Master Jin Qun gave this commentary as a talk in the summer of 1995 in Australia.By 31 December 1995 he completed the task of writing up this commentary atNanputuo Temple, in Fujian Province in China. It was then published as a text inChinese in October 1999.

This was the first Dhamma book that I had ever read. But I couldn’t understand it atfirst. I was asked by a friend to go to the Heart Sutra 3-day teaching in 1999 at atemple in Melbourne. I asked who was going to teach and found out it was Master JiQun. How lucky I was! I took my whole family to the Master’s teaching about thissutra. There were eighty people there for the three days of teaching. It was anexperience I will never forget.

I asked the Master for permission to translate this book. He was very pleased to giveme the task. Through all these years, he has patiently answered my questions to helpme understand the complex contents of the book. His help has been essential for thecompletion of the translation, as without his explanation and confirmation, I wouldhave not have had the confidence to proceed with this task. My sincere and deepthanks to Master Ji Qun for his kind help.

This translation was not a small undertaking. I started in 2001 before my daughterwas born. This translation was a joint effort. My sincere thanks goes to Master YuanChi for using his precious time in August 2003. He proof read the first few chapters

for me and offered his valuable advice regarding the translation. I first met PennieWhite at the beginning of the Millennium in the year 2000. In February 2004, I askedPennie White to edit this translation when we were both volunteering at TheAustralian Buddhist General Conference held 20 to 22 February 2004 at VictoriaUniversity, St Albans Campus, convened by The Buddhist Federation of Australia,Victoria University and Buddhist Council of Victoria. We have worked over the yearsto edit the text section by section, over and over again. It took 7 years to get to thepoint of being half way through the editing. By 8 January 2009, we had fully editedthe copy twice. Without the help of Ms Pennie White, I would never have made it.

When I read this book in 1997, it laid a good foundation for my future Buddhistlearning and cultivation. I hope those who are starting to learn Buddha Dharma will

benefit as much from this book as I did. Now that it is available in English I hope thattranslation will benefit many more people who wish to learn the teachings of thePrajňāpāramitā.

Any advice for the improvement of this translation will be regarded as helpful withmy sincere gratitude.


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The Great Wisdom of Life: Prajňāpāramitā Heart Sutra

The full name of the Heart Sutra is Prajňāpāramitā1 Heart Sutra. In the Buddhistscriptures, the title of a sutra usually indicates the key content of the scripture. So,

when we study a scripture, we must first pay attention to the title.

Prajňā is a translation by pronunciation from Sanskrit. The translation of BuddhistSutras and sastras follows two methods: translation by pronunciation and by meaning.Translation by pronunciation is only used in special circumstances; take the wordPrajňā for an example, as there is no corresponding concept in Chinese language,translation by pronunciation is adopted. That’s why in the process of translation,Tripitaka Master Xuanzhuang2 stipulated that there are five situations in which oneshould not translate some words or phrases from the original wording of the Sutras.One such situation is that Prajňā is not translated due to respect. Since Prajňā istranslated from pronunciation, obviously we can not understand its meaning from itscharacters. Then what is Prajňā? The ancient virtuous people sometimes translatedPrajňā into wisdom to facilitate people’s understandings. However, Prajňā is differentfrom the wisdom in this world. Wisdom in this world is limited and mingled withworries, and it is defective and unable to understand the ultimate truth of the universeand life. In the meantime, Prajňā wisdom is different. It is infinite, pure, fulfilling,being able to reasonably and sensibly understand the ultimate truth of the universeand life, and being able to free us from worries in life completely.

Prajňā is most important in the improvement of our lives. Without it, people will havethe following two types of afflictions:

1. Cognitive confusion

When living in this world, human beings are always living in a state of confusion, notunderstanding themselves and not being able to have a true understanding of theworld. May I ask you whether you know who is I? The question looks simple, somepeople would answer without a second thought, “I is me”. Then may I ask, do youhold your body as I or your thinking as I? If you hold your body as I, body is the falseaggregation of four elements, when the form elements disperse, where is I? If holdingthinking as I, then thinking is established upon the experience and concepts, and itcontinues as such. Thinking does not have any independent entity. Thus, we can seethis is not an easy question to answer and that is why a most famous remark inwestern philosophy is: knowing yourself .

Where do we come from? Where shall we go when we pass away? This is also a greatpuzzle in life. I remember that a western philosopher once made a vivid analogy aboutlife. He said life is like crossing a bridge. At the head of the bridge, under the bridgeand at the end of the bridge, it is full of mist. People walk from one cloud of mist to

1 The Pali/Sanskrit for The Perfection of Wisdom2 Also translated to “Hsuan-Tsang” (596-664 BC), famous Monk in Tang Dynasty,who travelled throughout India from 629-645 BC and returned with many Buddhisttexts and teachings.


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the other. It is quite true. Observing life from the perspective of Buddhist wisdom,when we were born from our mother’s womb, it was only the beginning of one periodof life. When one period comes to an end, it does not mean that life is completelyfinished. Life will still continue without a missing a beat. The present life is only partof the continuity of life. So, a person with a little bit thinking should not only focus onthe present living but should also think about “Where did we come from and where

shall we go when we pass away?” These are ancient but practical questions.

In real life, everyone is concerned about his or her own destiny. What is destiny?Does destiny exist in life? If there is such a thing as destiny, then it is decided by whatforces? People usually have different views towards such questions. Some people donot believe in the existence of destiny, believing that there is no fixed law in thedevelopment of life. Some people believe there is destiny in life, thinking thatsomewhere there is a kind of force that dominates us. And some believe the force thatdominates destiny comes from life itself. Some believe destiny cannot be changed andsome believe it can be changed. Then, what on earth is destiny?

Retribution of cause and effect is another topic that easily leads to argument among

the people. If you say that there is no such a thing, it seems that everything in thisworld has its cause and effect, for example, if you plant a fruit, you will get a fruit; ifyou plant a pea, you will harvest a pea. If you say there is cause and effect, however,in real life there are many phenomena that are hard to explain. For example, somepeople have done a lot of evil, but they lead a carefree life; some people haveaccumulated lots of merit, but their lives are very poor. So, the materialists promotethe theory of one life, not believing the retribution of cause and effect. Does cause andeffect really exist in the world? What are human beings living for? What is thesignificance of living? During my seminars, these are the questions often raised by theaudience.

In this world, a lot of people do not know what they are living for? They only followthe habits established by their predecessors, these are; going to school, finding a job,getting married, having children, getting promotions, making wealth to enjoy andentertain until death. Human beings repeat the same way of life from generation togeneration. When pondering why we are living, actually most people feel at loss,being unable to say why. However, if we want to make our life more valuable, weshould surely pay attention to what people are living for.

2. Suffering caused by attachment to desire

The Buddhist scriptures describe the world we are living in as the desire realm. Themost obvious characteristics in the desire realm are ‘desires’. We can put it this way;

people in this world are living in strong desire. What is desire? Desire is a need fromwithin the life. Some come from physical aspects, some from psychological aspects.So, desire has two aspects: the physical element and psychological element. Desire isvery complicated; its form of expression is of thousands of differences. In Buddhistscriptures, it is simply divided into five categories called five desires:

1. form desire, the eyes want to see something in good colours;2. sound desire, the ears like to hear melodious sounds;3. good smell desire, the nose likes to smell good smells;4. taste desire, tongue hopes to taste delicious things;


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5. touch desire, body likes to be in contact with pleasant things.

In Buddhist scriptures the five desires sometimes refer to:1. desire for wealth;2. desire for sex;3. desire for fame;

4. desire for food;5. desire for sleep.

The lives of sentient beings actually continue in the pursuit of the state of the fivedesires. The so-called ‘happiness’ of life is in fact no more than the satisfaction ofdesires. When people have their desires satisfied, they feel happy.

Desire is not a certain thing. Even though human desires have something to do withmaterial facilities, there are no criteria as to what conditions there have to be fordesire to be satiated. Usually, the criteria will go up with the improvement of thephysical environment. In ancient times, people’s living conditions were simple. Aslong as they had enough to eat, had shelter and clothes to cover themselves, they were

content; and now material conditions are rich, people’s desires have also expanded.People nowadays do not feel content even though the physical environment is rich,they are always involving themselves in the endless pursuit.

The way desire is expressed has three characteristics;

1)

Possession

People are living in desire, thus they always want to possess everything in the society.Take those people who do not have food and clothes for example, as long as there issomething to eat, to wear, to shelter themselves, they would feel ok. But once basicliving needs are satisfied, they will hope to live an even more convenient andcomfortable life. For example, washing clothes is too much trouble, it is better toreplace manual work with a washing machine; walking is too tiring and publictransport is not convenient, it is even better to buy a car or a motorcycle. And afterwork, it is boring; to entertain oneself by watching TV is very good. And to buy allthese conveniences, one must have money; and to make money he or she has to workreally hard.

People who have wealth may want to gain fame and position in the society. Other richpeople might spend money to buy a position and enter into the political circle. Somepeople might operate a charity organization to gain fame in the society. In all,whatever others have, I must have, whatever others do not have I still must have.

Desires make us live in the state of constant pursuit and unceasingly possessing. Forthose people who are obsessed with desires, they always forget what they alreadyhave and are after what they do not have.

As the Chinese saying goes, “The valley of desire is hard to fill”. For someone who isinterested in making a fortune, when he has $10,000, he wants $100,000; and when hehas $100,000, he wants $1,000,000. As his target is always ahead of what he hasachieved, there is no time that he feels content. So even if he possesses a lot of money,he never feels that he has got enough.


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2) Comparison

People are living in the realities and naturally they must have interaction with society.When we have plenty of money and others do too, comparison arises. If you havemillions, I must have tens of millions and I must be richer than you are. If you drive

Toyota, I will drive a Benz, more impressive than yours. If you spend $1000 for ameal, I will spend $5000 and be more luxurious than you are. If you wear ordinaryclothes, I will dress up in clothes more fashionable than yours. If you watch black andwhite TV, I will watch the colour TV. If your computer is model 386, I will buy a 486,more advanced than yours. If you are section chief, I must be the bureau chief, ahigher position than yours.

Those people who live with a state mind of comparison will never be content, becausethe development of human society changes every month and is new everyday. Takethe computer for example, model 286 was advanced two years ago, but now 386 and486 seem to be out of date, as 586, 686 come onto the market. To live with acomparison mind, one will always want to stand out among one’s peers, hoping to

experience happiness in the admiring eyes of the others. Twenty years ago, if a familyhad a bike, one would feel happy for a long time. But when bikes became popular, thepossession of it would no longer produce a sense of happiness, at that time only thepossession of a car could make one feel happy. However, when many people couldafford to buy a car, the happiness produced from the possession of it will disappearaccordingly. At this time, only the possession of a limousine can make one feel happy.

As the society will always weed through the old to bring forth the new, those peopleliving in the comparison with others will never be satisfied.

3)

Competition

As a result of lives led in a mindset of comparison, competition arises. In the sameclass, students compete for results; in the business world, people in the same tradecompete to gain market share; in research, scholars compete for influence of theirwork in the academic circle; in families, brothers and sisters compete for the love ofthe parents; in love relationships, so many men compete to impress the girls; betweencountries, they compete for the land. Maybe it is due to the nature of competition thatDarwin put forward the theory of, ‘The survival of the fittest’. Competition itself iscruel, thus it makes human beings live in a state of utter exhaustion.

Desire makes people search externally, and human kind has lost itself in the pursuit ofdesires. There is a famous story in a Buddhist Sutra. One day the Buddha was walking

in a forest after meditation, at this time a group of young men came up in a hurry.They asked the Buddha, “Did you see some girls passing by?” The Buddha asked,“Why are you looking for them?” The young men said that last night they enjoyedthemselves with the girls, but this morning when they woke up they found the girlswere all gone and so were their treasures and money. The Buddha asked, “Lookingfor the girls and money or yourselves, which is more important?” When worldlypeople persist in the pursuit of external subjects, few would be able to recognisethemselves and realise the importance of knowing themselves.


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The young people in the story are quite similar to some people in the modern society.Nowadays almost all the society is crazy about making money. Some people say thatamong the 1 billion Chinese people, 90% are doing business. In today’s China, booksthat are on the topic of economy are especially popular. In the universities, thefaculties that have some relevance to economics or finance are having an overflow ofapplying students. The academic circle is likewise, not to mention the society, where

there are so many varieties of ways of making money; many people rack their brainsfor ways to make money, some will stoop to anything.

With the development of the economy, society has created extensive consumptionopportunities to stimulate the consumption awareness continuously. An obviousexample is that entertainment venues such as ball rooms, nightclubs, etc haveappeared. During the daytime, people are busy with making money; and during thenight, they spend their time in the beautiful sounds and sights, and as a result of thatthey lose themselves. The modern social economy is prosperous, but the ethics in thesociety have become faint and dim, some people even become morally decayed.

The other result led to by desire is that it brings about suffering to human beings.

Yiping3 says, those people who live in desires are constantly searching externally.Once they cannot get what they want, they will feel pain like being shot by an arrow.Unfulfilled wishes, which is one of the eight sufferings4 described in the Buddhistscriptures, is a kind of suffering caused by being unable to satisfy one’s desires.

Chapter twenty five of Madhyamāgama S ūtra also expounded deeply the errors andtroubles of desire. In the sutra it says, “What is called the disaster of desire? Kula–putra5 make their living by their skills. They either cultivate land, or practise otherways of livelihood, or rely on studying books, or become familiar with calculations,or know techniques, or be good at seals engraving, or write articles, or make pens, orthoroughly understand Sutras, or become a brave general, or attend to the king. Whenit is cold, they suffer from coldness; when it is hot, they suffer from the heat. Beingthirsty and tired, bitten by the mosquitoes, they carry on the above business and tradein the pursuit of money. Kula-putras make a living in the above ways in the pursuit ofmoney. If they are unable to make money, that will give rise to sorrows, worries andregret; if they can make money, they hold it dear, guard it and hide it in a secret place.If it is taken by force by the king, robbed by the thieves, burnt down by the fire andgetting lost, they will have worries, sorrows and regret.” This explains the sufferingbrought about by the pursuit and loss of money and treasures.

The sutra also says, “All the beings, due to their desires, hold desires as principal.Because of that, mothers argue and fight with the children, the children argue andfight with the mother, and so do the fathers and sons, brothers, sisters and relatives.

As they fight with each other without an end, mothers claim that the children are evil;and the children claim that the mothers are evil. Fathers and sons, bothers, sisters andrelatives all claim that the others are evil, not to mention the other people.” Many

3 Chinese word, which is a title of a Buddhist Commentary4 These sufferings are: birth, old age, disease, death, separation from the loved ones,meeting with the uncongenial, unfulfilled wishes and the sufferings associated withfive raging skandas.5 A householder who practised Buddhism at home without becoming a monk.


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families in the society have experienced the fighting between brothers, the falling outof husband and wife, the rivalry between father and son and the separation of relatives.What is the reason for all these? These are the fruits created by the desire to possess.

The sutra then says, “All the beings, due to their desire, hold desire as principal. Andbecause of that, kings fight with kings, brāhmin fight with brāhmin,kula-pura fight

against kula-putra, people fight with people, countries fight with countries. They hateeach other as a result of fighting, and hurt each other by all sorts of weapons andmethods. They hit with their fists and throw stones, or fight with sticks and hack withthe sword. When they are fighting with each other, they would either die or becomehorrified, suffering extreme pain.” From this we can infer, that due to desire, businesspeople would fight with business people; politicians would fight with politicians andcountries would fight with countries. Hilter’s sweeping across the Europe, theinvasion of Asia by Japan, World War I and II, had caused all sorts of sufferings tothe people in the world. And the cause of these is nothing but desire. In ancient times,science and technology were not advanced and the military arms were backward, so itwould have no impact when they were fighting. Nowadays, if the superpowers haveinsatiable desire for expansion, human kind and the earth may face the risk of

extinction. This is because desire produces wars, which brings about sufferings.

Only by relying on Prajňā, can human beings solve the problems of the cognitiveconfusion and the sufferings brought about by the attachment. When ‘Prajňāpāramitā’is translated, ‘pāramitā’ means to ‘cross over’ and means to reach the other shore,‘cross’ means to cross over the worries, and to cross over the current of painful lifeand death to the other shore. Here, the other shore does not refer to the Eastern Crystalworld, nor to the Western Sukhavati land, but our present world. If we live inignorance, lacking of Prajňā, we will have worries, sufferings, hesitation, agonies,meaningless life, unrest etc. This is this shore. If we have Prajňā, we can understandthe universe and act according to Buddha Dharma principles. In this way, we will beable to possess a life of peace, auspiciousness, happiness and tranquillity. This is theother shore. Pāramitā can ferry us over to the other shore.


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Getting Rid of Sufferings

"When Bodhisattva Avalokite śvara6

practised the profound

Prajňā pāramit ā , he investigated and perceived that the five aggregates

(Skandhas) were non-existent thus securing his deliverance from all

distress and suffering."

Generally, the meaning here is that when Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara entered into thestate of Prjňāpāramitā, he perceived that the five aggregates were empty, thus he wasable to free himself of all sufferings and disasters. According to Master Yinsun's

Lecture notes on the Prajňā pāramit ā Sutra, this paragraph of the Sutra is calledBiaozong7, namely it marks the purpose of the sutra. The understanding of thisparagraph is the critical point in the study of this sutra.

The aim of Buddha's coming to this world is to liberate the human beings from

suffering. The purpose of learning and cultivating Buddhism is to become free ofsuffering and attain happiness. But it is interesting to notice that the behaviour of thesentient beings sometimes give people an impression that they do not want to beliberated from the sea of suffering. An example of this is, when I talked about gettingrid of suffering and attaining happiness during my lectures, some people wouldexpress their oppositions. According to them, life should have both suffering andhappiness, in this way life would become more rich and colourful; and also sufferingand happiness are only relative to each other, if there is no suffering, there is nohappiness. Their theory sounds logical, but by careful reasoning, it can not hold water.Because if we say it is reasonable for life to comprise suffering and happiness, thenwhen suffering comes, we should welcome it with cheers, the same as we welcomehappiness. In reality, human being's behaviour is constantly chasing happiness and

avoiding suffering. Very few people are chasing suffering on purpose, exceptmasochists. In fact masochism is caused by too much suffering from mind and soul.In order to transfer suffering, people start to have physical masochistic behaviours toreduce pain of the mind and soul. The aim of masochism is still about seekinghappiness.

The view that life should have both pain and pleasure is only an idealists' view. In reallife, people do not hope to have suffering. Thus, we can see that the precondition offreeing from suffering is something both Buddha Dharma and worldly dharma have todeal with. Then how do we liberate ourselves from suffering? According to Buddha,firstly we should have a deep understanding of suffering. In this way we can find thecure for the disease. Suffering can be categorized as physical or spiritual. Physicalsuffering is identical for most of people, just like we all feel cold in winter and hot insummer. Actually, the physical suffering we experience are the same to most people.For example, in winter, we all feel cold and in summer, we all feel hot. When wehave the flu or stomach-ache, we all experience similar pain. When we are burned or

6 An embodiment of compassion, a great Bodhisattva who is known as Guanyin inChinese.7 A Chinese word in the form of pinyin, it refers to the principal purpose of the Sutra


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cut, we would all feel the painful. Mental suffering is caused by worries of mind; ithas many varieties, which differ according to different people. For example, when welook at the bright moon in the night, some people may be happy while others may feelsad. When we visit the same scenic spot, some feel a great joy while others mightbecome melancholic.

According to Buddhism, suffering is divided into three categories: Bitter suffering,suffering from change, and suffering from impermanence.

Bitter suffering: refers to the pain we experience in our daily lives. Even though it isnot mentioned in Buddhist Sutra, we still regard them as sufferings. This kind ofsuffering includes those caused by the physical pain, like the pain of birth, aging,sickness, and death. And it also includes sufferings from leaving the loved ones due tothe social environment, the inability to achieve what one desires, meeting with theuncongenial and the burning of the five skandhas8, namely the suffering of theimbalance of body and mind.

Suffering from change: It normally refers to those feelings that make us feel happy.

From the wisdom of Buddha Dharma, our so-called happiness is not true happiness.Its true nature is also of suffering. For instance, we want to eat when we are hungry,and we are happy when we have had sufficient. But, if we keep on eating withoutstopping, are we going to feel happy? We are happy to have a bath when our bodiesare dirty, but if we stay in the water for a long time, are we still happy? When we feelbored, watching TV might be a good choice to make us happy, but if we watch it dayand night, are we going to be happy? From the above examples, we can see that ourhappiness comes from the satisfaction of our desires through the stimulation ofexternal environment, which can temporally help us reach psychological balance. Thetrue nature of eating is by no means happiness. If it is so, then no matter how muchwe’ve eaten, we should still feel happy. In fact, when we have a strong desire to eatsteamed buns, we might feel happy to have the first, second and third, however, aftertaking the fourth, fifth, sixth and so on, we will find that the initial feeling ofhappiness has gradually changed into suffering. Not only eating is like this, all thehappiness achieved through the satisfaction of desires is the same. Because this kindof happiness or enjoyment can turn into the opposite, this is why we name it“Suffering from change”. Happy feelings, painful feelings, worried feelings and

joyful feelings are the same; they all belong to a kind of mood. We like happyfeelings, as well as joyful feelings, but happy feelings are surely followed by painfulfeelings, whilst joyful feelings are followed by worried feelings, with all thesefeelings belonging to the turbulent state of mind. In the cultivation of the Four statesof Dhyana, at preliminary, second and third stages, we still can not avoid the disastersof water, fire, wind due to the existence of happy and joyful feelings. It is only until

reaching the fourth stage of Dhyana, which is called the stage of ‘tranquility with arelinquished mind’ and is free from being happy or joyful, can one be secure withoutdanger.

Suffering from impermanence: It means that everything in the world changesconstantly, which is the law of the Universe and human life. However, people in this

8 It is also called the five aggregates. They represent body and mind. The fiveskandhas are form, feeling, conception, impulse and consciousness.


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world do not understand this law. Instead, they are always in pursuit of eternity. Theyhope that their health, family, marriage, career, friendship, love relationship and soforth can last forever. Actually, there is nothing in this world that can last forever.Everything is subject to impermanence, just like an epiphylum’s blossom, which diesaway quickly. Due to our understanding going against factual existence of the world,suffering from impermanence comes into existence.

The significance of understanding suffering is to liberate ourselves from them. But,how can we get liberated from suffering? The worldly way is to improve the existingenvironment, namely to develop science, technology and the economy. It is assumedthat once science and technology become advanced, the economy is prosperous, andthe physical environment for existence has been improved, human beings can livehappily. But in reality, the problems of present society, the sufferings faced byhumankind nowadays could be much more than any era in the past. What is the reasonfor that? That's because humankind has been unable to find the real root of theproblems. To liberate human beings from suffering through the improvement of theexternal environment can only be tantamount to applying a palliative, it brings about atemporary solution but not get at the root of the problem.

According to Buddha Dharma, the method of getting rid of suffering is to search forthe root of the suffering when we have understood the painful situation of the sentientbeings. Of course, human being’s suffering is related to the external environment;however, they mainly originate from the internal factors of sentient beings themselves.From the viewpoint of Pāramitā, human being’s suffering is generated through theirignorant attachment to ‘existence’. Thus, in order to be free from the suffering,naturally we should have a correct understanding of ‘existence’.

The Sutra says, “When Bodhisattva Avalokite śvara practiced the profoundPrajňāpāramitā , he investigated and perceived that the five aggregates (skandhas)were non-existent.” This is telling us that we are supposed to use Pāramitā wisdom toperceive that Five Aggregates are empty of inherent existence. Five Aggregates arenamely, form, feeling, conception, impulse and consciousness. Aggregate meansaccumulation and congregation. For example, form aggregate is the conglomerationof all the forms including past, present and future forms, rough and fine forms, etc.,they are collectively called form, and so form aggregate is the summation of form.Form here is almost equivalent to material facility or physical body, and we can onlyobserve them by shape and color, thus Buddhism name all of them as ‘form’. Feelingmeans receiving and acceptance. In favorable or adverse circumstances, thesentimental mood produced by our mind gives rise to the different feelings: suffering,happiness, worry, joy and renunciation. Conception refers to the image taken in.When we get in touch with different circumstances, we will naturally take in the

image of things, and then name them respectively. Impulse is the judgment of thingsand put it into action. Consciousness means to know and make judgement, which isthe overall understanding in the mental faculty. Feeling, conception, impulse andconsciousness can be categorized as mental phenomena as a whole.

Five Aggregates is a brief summary and explanation of the entire life and deathphenomenon in the world. It represents everything of ‘existence’. Mundane people areunable to correctly understand the nature of ‘existence’. For example, in relation tothe sentient beings' form body and thinking, people hold the notion of a self as of true


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existence; in the realm of six dusts, they hold the Dharma image as true existence, atthe same time they give rise to all sorts of attachment, discrimination and confusion inregards to self and Dharma. The consequence of these incorrect understandings arethe afflictions of the human beings. The quotation from the Heart Sutra “perceivedthat the five aggregates were non-existent” actually targets our wrong understandingof ‘existence’. When we firmly hold ‘existence’ as reality, and thus ‘existence’

becomes the reality of existence. However, all the phenomena of rising and ceasing inthis mundane world do not really exist, but are empty. Of course, emptiness does notmean that nothing exists; it means ‘existence’ of the Five Aggregates is empty ofinherent existence that we are clinging to. Thus, emptiness is the true perspective of‘existence’. Emptiness can break up our wrong attachment to ‘existence’. If we canperceive that Five Aggregates are empty, then we can naturally transcend all theafflictions and sufferings.


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Existence and Emptiness are One

" Śāriputra! Form (r ū pa) is not different from emptiness (sunya) and

emptiness is not different to form. Form is identical with emptiness,

(and) emptiness is identical with form. So also are feeling (vedana),

conception (sanjna) mental function (samskara) and consciousness

(vijnana) in relation to the emptiness."

Existence and emptiness are a couple of important categories in the field ofphilosophy, they are also one of the most important discussion topics in BuddhaDhamma. Form, feeling, conception, mental function and consciousness are the fiveaggregates mentioned in Heart Sutra that represent the presence of ‘existence’. In theexperience of ordinary people, existence and emptiness are opposite to each other.They regard existence as not empty and that it is outside emptiness. Heart Sutra hasexpounded the relationship between existence and emptiness; it has explained that

existence and emptiness are one, not two.

To understand that existence and emptiness are one, firstly it is necessary to explainwhat is existence. Existence, in ordinary people's mind is connected to ‘the reality ofexistence.’ When we mention existence, we think it exists independently and is ofsubstantiality. Human being's feeling of reality of existence is deep rooted, it iswidespread and interlinked. For example, the primitive men did not know that dreamswere not real. Once they had a bad dream, they would be scared thinking thatdisasters were near, so they would pray for three days. Babies do not know that theimage in the mirror is not real; they try to grasp it and laugh wildly. Even thoughadults know that dreams are not real, they still delusively hold the state they have gotto know in the daily lives as of substantiality. Though scientists, philosophers have

gone beyond ordinary people's wrong impressions, they still believe that behind theelements that constitute the materials or the physical phenomena, there is a thing-in-itself (noumenon), which is substantial.

Human beings’ feeling of the substantiality of ‘existence’ is an expression of the viewof independent origination. ‘Self-nature’ can be translated into self-entity thatincludes the meaning of self-possessing, self-making, self-deciding, being what itshould be, real and permanent. From the viewpoint of self-entity, naturally we havedeveloped a sense of substantiality toward everything of ‘existence.’ But from theviewpoint of Pāramitā wisdom, ‘existence’ is dependently originated. All the worldlyphenomena arise from a multitude of conditions. That is to say, the existence of anyphenomenon with action is the congregation of lots of conditions, and is determinedby those conditions.

Dependent origination and independent origination are irreconcilable (do not co-exist)with each other. As worldly beings are ignorant and don't understand that ‘existence’is of dependent origination, they give rise to the idea of independent origination and afeeling of substantiality. If one understands that existence is of dependent origination,surely he/she will know the nature of non existence. This is because self natureregards all the phenomena of ‘existence’ as self-possessing, self-established, self-


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determined, while at the same time, the view of dependent origination regardseverything of existence as relied on, established and determined by conditions. So,‘existence’ of dependent origination is not what it originally is, nor is it permanentand of substantiality. From the above, we can tell that the sense of substantiality of‘existence’ is erroneous.

Chapter 12 of The Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom9

classifies ‘existence’ intothree categories, which include relative existence, presumed existence andphenomenal existence.

Relative existence exists relative to something else, without the relative object, it ishard to explain. For example, we say this vase is very big, that is relative to a smallervase; we say this person is fat, and that is relative to a person who is thin. High isrelative to low, long is relative to short, beautiful is relative to ugly, good is relative toevil. Let's ask, without large, what is small? Without fat, what is thin? Without high,what is low? As large and small, fat and thin, high and low, long and short are allrelative false establishments, they are relative existence.

Presumed existence defines that the existence of things is no more than labelling themwith a kind of false name; different names are given according to different causes andconditions. Take the platform before us for an example, people call it a table. Table ismade of a big bunch of timbre, what is a table? The ancient people called thecombination of this pile of timbre as a table, it then becomes a table; if the ancientpeople called it a chair; it is called a chair now. Thus, we can see, table or chair is nomore than a presumed name. The same is true with what we call human beings. If theancient people happened to name us sentient beings as pig and called the pig ashuman beings, then if now someone does not call you a pig, you would be very angry.You would think that person looks down upon you and doesn't regard you as a pig,which seems ridiculous. So, we can see that human beings or pigs and everything inthis world are labelled with presumed names which come into existence bypresumptions.

Phenomenal existence: even though the name of everything in this world is presumed,it does not mean there is nothing at all. This is because beyond the name of things,still there are all sorts of causes and conditions, which bring about the phenomena.Although these causes and conditions are not of independent origination, their falseappearances look very real. Such kind of existence which is dependent on causes andconditions is phenomenal existence.

Diamond Sutra10 has made a substantial explanation of existence. It regards existenceas no more than false existence. The sutra says, All phenomena (Dharma by action)

are like a dream, an illusion, bubble and a shadow, like dew and lightning. Thusshould you meditate upon them?” Dharma by conscious action refers to allphenomena that are artificial, and of arising and ceasing in nature. Take a dream foran example, it is unreal, everyone knows. But the man in it holds it as real, only whenhe wakes up would he start to feel it is laughable. Dharma by conscious action isdream-like, invented and unreal. But the worldly sentient beings cling to it as real due

9 Mahāprajnāpāramitā Śāstra10 Vajracchedika-prajňāpāramitā Sūtra


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to ignorance and delusions. People with wisdom wake up from the dreams ofignorance, and get to understand that all the dharma is unreal. ‘Like illusions’ refers tothe illusive images such as horse, car, house, people, etc., which are presented by themagicians by using magic. Even though these things don't exist, they appear beforeour eyes as of true existence, which produce colour to see and sound to hear. Thesame is to the existence, although it is empty without self-nature, the false appearance

looks very real. All dharma by conscious action are like bubbles, which come intobeing from gas of the water. They are flashy without substance, and disappearinstantly. All dharma are like bubbles, arising and ceasing within seconds. They arealso like shadows, which are casted by the sun, when the sunsets, shadows disappearwith it. All dharma are like shadows, only appear when conditions are present anddissipate when the conditions disperse. ‘Like dew or electricity,’ is a metaphor used toexplain the transience of all dharma existence. "One should perceive as thus…" is arequirement for us to use the above method to observe all those that could beclassified as ‘existence’.

The Diamond Sutra and Vimalakirti Nedersa Sutra11 have the same conceptualsystem and similar expressions. In the Sutra, Vimalakirti manifested himself as a

patient and talked about impermanence and voidness,This body is like an aggregate of foam, it can not be rubbed. This bodyis like a bubble, it cannot stand up long. This body is like a flame, it isborn from love desire. This body is like a banana, there is nothing firminside. This body is like an illusion, produced from confusion. Thisbody is like a dream, it is an illusive cognition. This body is like ashadow, it is the appearance of karma. The body is like sound, it is theproduct of various conditions. This body is like a floating cloud; it willchange and vanish within a split second. This body is like electricity, itnever stops arising and ceasing.

This explains the impermanence and emptiness of Dharma by action from theperspective of body form and thus reveals that the existence is unreal in nature.

As ‘existence’ is being understood, we can progress to explain emptiness. Usually,we regard existence as existing, existence as not empty, and emptiness as notexistence, thus existence is outside emptiness; existence and emptiness are opposite toeach other. From the viewpoint of Pāramitā wisdom, emptiness and existence are notthe opposite, but one. The so-called emptiness does not have to be outside existence,and we don't have to talk about emptiness until things are annihilated. As existence isof dependent origination, at the very present of existence, existence itself is by natureempty. So, Buddha Dharma relies on existence to clarify emptiness, existence andemptiness is one.

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has put forward threemethods of understanding emptiness. The first one is analytical emptiness, the secondone is visualising emptiness and the third one is emptiness of self nature. Analyticalemptiness is by way of analysing emptiness from the coarse to the fine, from the fineto the finer. Some Buddhist scholars used this method to make analysis of fiveaggregates; they found that I (self) within the existence of five aggregates is

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unattainable, so they put forward ‘emptiness of self’. When analysing the phenomenaof form mind, they analysed the physical and mental aspects up to the unanalyticalstage, and put forward the doctrine (theory) of extreme tiny particle. Thus theyregarded this extreme tiny method as of real existence, which gave rise to the thinkingof ‘emptiness of self, existence of dharma’. In fact the significance of analyticalemptiness lies in breaking off the ego attachment. If applying analysis on the physical

phenomena, theory of the extreme tiny particle can not hold water either.Vijňā ptimātrat ā in 20 verses

13 once criticised this doctrine. If you say there is anextreme tiny particle that is indivisible, then does this extreme tiny particle have avolume. If it has a volume, there must be six directions-East, West, North, South,above and below. If it has six directions, still it can be analysed. Therefore, we can seethat extreme tiny particle theory cannot be established.

The method of visualising emptiness is to understand emptiness through thesignificance of visualisation. For example, those who practise samatha14, whenentering into the state of samatha, all sorts of images and circumstances will appearwith this visualisation. Those who practise fire visualisation, when they successfullyachieved visualisation, will be able to see fire everywhere; those who practise water

visualisation, will be able see water everywhere upon successful visualisation. In reallife, we have some classic stories. An ancient Chinese General, Li Guan, once took arock for a tiger; as a result, he could shoot the arrow into the rock. Someone wasdrinking a glass of water, it happened that the bottom of the glass reflected a bow andthis person mistakenly took the bow for a snake, and his stomach ached for three days.Fire and water by visualisation, the tiger and snake in the stories are all in fact non-existent, but people who visualised them believed that they did exist. As images andcircumstances appear through people's visualisation, people who hold the doctrine ofVijňāptimātratā 15confirmed that the external circumstances are unreal, they appearalong with mind. Thus, these people put forward that all Dharma are butVijňāptimātratā. Those perceiving emptiness had broken the clinging to the realexistence of external circumstances, but couldn't help holding circumstances as emptyand mind as existing. Then, this kind of understanding of emptiness is still notultimate.

Emptiness of self-nature: self-nature means self-possessing, self-made and originallywhat it is. Common people do not understand that all Dharma are of dependentorigination, so they cannot avoid the view of self-nature when they get in touch withthings. Although the Sarvastvadins are aware of dependent origination, at the sametime, they feel all Dharma are of self-nature. From the perspective of Madhyamaka16

13 a Buddhist commentary14 samatha is a Sanskrit, it means concentration and wisdom, Zhi is to stop

discriminating and to distance oneself from wrong views, resting one's mind in thestate of oneness. Guan-yin refers to initiate right wisdom, illuminating all the dharmaclearly.15 vijnapti-matrata in Sanskrit, it is an important concept in WESHI Sect. It regardseverything in the world as unreal, they are but phenomena reflected from the mind.16 It is a kind of viewpoint that compliments the definition of emptiness. It has twoindications. The first is to distance oneself from the extreme sides of form emptinessand everything, The second is the positive attitude which is reflected in the form of‘the negation of negation’ of ‘emptiness is not emptiness’.


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scholars, self-nature and dependent origination cannot coexist. According to them,dependent origination is a course of action, it is produced by many conditions, whileself-nature is of no action, it is self-possessing, self-made which does not needconditions. Madhyamaka scholars regard dependent origination as naturally of noself-entity, and this is emptiness of self-nature.

"Form (rupa) is not different from emptiness (sunya), and emptiness is not differentfrom form" is an explanation from the position of emptiness of self-nature. Here,‘form’ is not the form of self-nature, which common people are clinging to; it arisesas a result of many conditions. Voidness (emptiness) is neither an obstinate emptinessthat has nothing at all. And some people think that when a person passes away, it is

just like lights going out, a life is completely finished, which is a wrong view.Emptiness is itself of self-entity. The fourth section of Madhyamika Śāstra 17 says thatnot one Dharma arises without causes and conditions, thus, every Dharma, none ofthem is not empty. Dvāda śamukha Śāstra18 says,"Dharma produced by causes andconditions are namely of no self-entity (self-nature)". Form is of dependentorigination; it surely has no self-nature and is empty. So, it is said, ‘form is notdifferent from emptiness, form is emptiness’.

Some people say that ‘form is empty’ is easier to understand, ‘emptiness is form’seems incoherent. The reason for this sort of thinking is that people still takeemptiness as obstinate. Madhyamika Śāstra regards emptiness as emptiness of self-nature; it does not deny the false image of dependent origination. MadhyamikaŚāstra

19, says, "I say that Dharma which arises from causes and conditions are butempty, I also say it is a false name, and also name it as the meaning of Middle Path.When we say that Dharma of dependent origination has no self-nature and is empty, itdoes not deny the false images produced by dependent origination. It means existenceby dependent origination is empty by self-nature (entity), it is empty by nature but isas if of existence. Thus, form is not different from emptiness, emptiness is of coursenot different from form; form is emptiness, emptiness is of course form. Theoriginally opposite couple of dharma in the eyes of common people become unitedunder the illumination of Madhyamika wisdom.

The thought of existence and emptiness are one is used to dispel the worldly view ofemptiness and existence. Due to the lack of understanding of existence, worldlypeople have wrong understandings and attachment to it, which leads to all sorts ofafflictions and sufferings. The Sutra says ‘form is empty’, it makes us see through thesubstance of ‘existence’. ‘Existence’ is illusory, impermanent, of no self-nature andempty. Once someone understands the substance of ‘existence’ will he or she haveafflictions due to the problems caused by ‘existence’? Will he or she be enslaved bymaterial benefits? In this world, there is a group of people who are more intelligent,

they are able to see through the illusory substance, but they do not understand causeand effect of dependent origination. As a result, they start to think that as everythingin this world is illusory, the course of life will end up in extinction, what value andsignificance does life have? So, they ignore the social ethics and indulge themselvesphysically and mentally, acting wilfully, which result in nihilism. The Sutra says

17 a commentary18 a commentary19 a commentary


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‘emptiness is form’ which is a cure to such kind of evil view. It explains that althougheverything is empty, cause and effect of dependent origination is still continuing,good and evil behaviours by human beings will all have their retributions.


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The Ultimate Truth20

of all Dharma

" Śāriputra, the emptiness21

of all things is not created, nor annihilated,

not impure, not pure, not increasing and decreasing"

‘All things’ here refers to all Dharma. ‘the Emptiness’ here does not refer to theemptiness, nor existence; it refers to the ultimate truth that is revealed by emptiness.‘Emptiness’ here can also be called the appearance of materiality, which is manifestedby existence. Ultimate truth can be manifested by emptiness or by existence. But initself, it is neither of emptiness nor of existence.

‘Not created, nor annihilated’ is an investigation in the perspective of existence andnon-existence. ‘Not created, nor annihilated’ is relative to arising and ceasing. Inorder to understand the meaning of not created nor annihilated, we must start bymaking an explanation of creation (birth, arising) and annihilation (death, ceasing).

Birth and death are the characteristics of dharma of action. One of The Three DharmaSeals is ‘impermanence’, which says that all the dharma of action experienceimpermanent change. According to Sutras and Sastras, there is a theory of fourcharacteristics: creation, preservation, changing, and dissolution. From nil toexistence is called creation, from creation to its continuation is called preservation,metabolism is called changing, dissipation and annihilation is called dissolution.There is also a theory of three characteristics: creation, change and dissolution. Itcombines preservation and change. Indeed, the stage of preservation of everything inthis world is also a stage of change. So, preservation can surely be classified as thecharacteristic of change. Four or Three Characteristics can be classified simply intotwo characteristics of creation and annihilation.

Regarding to the contents of creation and annihilation, Sutras and Sastras havegrouped them into three categories: the first one is called one period (stage), thesecond is called a split second and the third one is called the whole period. One stagecreation and annihilation is easier to understand. It refers to the sentient being's onestage of life, which is the period from birth to death. One stage creation andannihilation is the birth and death of all sentient beings, no one can escape from it. Soit is fairly realistic.

A split second creation and annihilation is rather subtle. A split second is the smallestunit used by the Indians to measure time, namely it is the shortest time. A split secondcreation and annihilation refers to the change of arising and ceasing produced bythings within the shortest period of time. For us ordinary people, we cannot feel it, butactually all things indeed arise and cease within a split second. Take the table in frontof us for an example, from being brand new to becoming corrupted, it progresseswithout our awareness. Which one of you could say that this table is not in the processof ruin in every second? If for one second it doesn't corrupt, then for two, three oreven forever it won't. That's why Confucius said when two arms touched, within this

20 We may also use the English word "reality" here.21 Sunya in sanskrit


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short period; they were no longer the same as before. Western philosopher Heraclitussaid, "One cannot tread into the same river twice". All these explains the doctrine ofarising and ceasing and change within a split second.

Whole period creation and annihilation is classified in terms of our endless lives. Lifeis like a mighty current, which has been going on from endless past to the infinite

future. In the process of the continuation of life's current, a human being's life is nomore than a wave thus raised. Though the waves arise and cease from time to time,the mighty current of life is still going on. This endless current of life is the wholestage of life.

Usually in the people's eyes, creation and annihilation is real. When mentioningcreation (arising), people regard it as self-creation, namely oneself derives self, andoneself decides self. Some people think that everything in this world happens withoutcause, which means things appear by accident. For example, why human beingsappear in this world? It's by accident. Why am I my mother's son? It's also by accident.Why there was an earthquake in Japan? It was by accident. The view of self-creationor creation without causes regards life as independent and real. In their eyes, creation

is creation, there is a real thing to be created, and it is not non-creation. Thus, creationand non-creation become the opposite, creation is not non-creation, non -creation isnot creation, which is also the result of the view of self-nature.

From the viewpoint of Buddha Dharma, in this world there is no such a thing that isof self-nature and arises without cause. Buddha Dharma regards that "All Dharmasarise and dissipate due to conditions." The so-called creation (arising) is the result ofthe gathering together (aggregation) of conditions. Take a table, for example, due tothe conditions of timber, paint, nails and carpenter etc., it starts to appear. In the sameway, this winter camp can be held thanks to the sponsorship of Moonlight Temple, theparticipation of many students, the presence of the invited masters, and the venue forthe activities. Then the creation of the winter camp depends on the gathering of manyconditions; as it is decided by many conditions, naturally it is neither self-created, norcreated without conditions.

Creation is like this, then how about annihilation? It also depends on conditions. Justnow we mentioned the table. Once the paint becomes decayed, the nail is loose, thetimber is old, the conditions that constitute the table are ruined, it will then disappear.Never the less, we cannot say the table arise and dissipate by itself. Its dissipationdepends on many causes and conditions. So the dissipation of the table is the ceasingof the existence of the conditions. It's the same with the Winter Camp. After sevendays, the activities will be over, everyone will go back to work, the masters will leave,and thus the winter camp will no longer exist. The ceasing of the existence of the

camp does not mean nothing exists. It is all about dissipation of conditions. SoBuddha Dharma discusses ceasing in terms of the dissipation of conditions.

Once one has realised the truth of the gathering and dissipation of conditions, one willfind the so-called creation and annihilation is actually non-arising and non-ceasing.Because if we look at creation from the perspective of conditions gathering, we willfind that without conditions, no dharma can be created; in the perspective ofconditions dissipation, we will find that without conditions, no dharma can cease.Take a table for an example, without nails, timber, paint and carpenter, please tell me


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what is a table? In fact, without conditions, there is no table. So, the creation of thetable is actually non-creation, its annihilation is only the dissipation of conditions,which is not absolutely annihilated with nothing left. And without conditions of thetable, it is impossible to talk about annihilation (ceasing). Thus, we can see that theceasing of existence of the table is non-ceasing. It is the same to the Winter Camp, ahouse even to all things in this world.

Here we need to explain a bit about existence and non-existence which are related tocreation and annihilation. Generally people think that existence and non-existence isof substantiality. Or, existence must have something; non existence must not haveanything. Buddha Dharma discusses existence and non-existence in light of creationand annihilation. It regards all the existence and non-existence as no more than thegathering and dissipation of causes and conditions, and existence and non-existenceare no more than the phenomena of all Dharma that are of dependent origination anddependent annihilation. By observing existence and non existence in the perspectiveof arising and ceasing, we are able to realise they are but phenomena (false image).As to existence, there is no absolute and eternal existence; as to non-existence, it isnot substantial nil. And thus, we do not have to be happy about existence and sad

about non-existence.

‘Not impure, not pure’ is explained in terms of the nature of things. Not impure andnot pure is relative to impure and pure. Impure and pure are a couple of concepts setup by people's likes and dislikes. Usually, we name what we like as pure and namewhat we do not like as impure. Based on the premise of impure and pure, ineveryone's world, there comes into existence of things which are good, bad, beautiful,ugly, valuable, worthless, meaningful, and meaningless and etc. And people think thatthese things exist substantially, are in fact so, and are fixed and permanent.

In fact, impure and pure are not of real existence. They are granted by human beings,and they are different to each individual. We can have a look at the examples inrespect of food, clothes and shelter in our daily lives. Some people like onions andgarlic, regarding them as good things, but some people do not like them, regardingthem as no good. Some people think black and grey dresses are beautiful while othersthink they are ugly. For living environments, some people think cities are good placeto live while others prefer the countryside. There is a story in The Treatise on thePerfection of Wisdom. The story goes like this. There is a lady, her enemies feel angrywhen meeting her, when her lover sees her, he is filled with love; when her son seesher, he can't help respecting her and birds and beasts escape at the sight of her. For thesame lady, why is everyone is feeling so different? This shows us that impure andpure is not a certain thing.

As to the value of things, it is attributec by human beings. For example, a bowl can beworth nothing or it can be worth 50 cents or $5 or even $500. If a beggar used thebowl, we might throw it away thinking it is worthless. If it is an ordinary bowl on theshelf in a shop, it may be worth 50 cents or $5. If Confucius used this bowl twothousand and five hundred years ago, we might regard it as precious historical relic,and then it might be worth more than $5,000,000. The bowl itself may not have manydifferences; it may however, have difference in value due to the likes and dislikes ofpeople.


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Again, take steamed bread and gold for an example, which is of more value? To thosepeople who have no problems with food and clothing, of course gold is of more value.But in special circumstances, it is not the case. Here is a story, a ship sank and on itthere was a poor man and a rich man. When they all jumped into the sea, the poortook steamed bread with him, and the rich man took gold with him. They drifted onthe water for a long time, at this time the rich wanted to use the gold to exchange for

the steamed bread with the poor, but the poor disagreed. So the rich man starved todeath, while the poor guy ate his bread and survived. May I please ask at this moment,what is of more value, the gold or the steamed bread?

Impure and pure in this world usually vary with individuals. Due to people’s differentideas, some take one thing for impure, the others regard it as pure. It's the same withbeauty and ugliness, good and bad, worthless and invaluable. In the real world, thereis neither absolute impure, nor absolute pure. So, impure equals not impure and pureis not pure. ‘Not increasing and not decreasing’ is in terms of quantity of things. It isrelative to increasing and decreasing. Usually, we think increasing is an actualaccumulation, decreasing an actual reduction. For example, someone made a lot ofmoney by doing business and his deposit in the bank had increased greatly. So, he

was overwhelmed with joy. Several days later, his business made a loss and hisdeposit dropped. Then he became extremely sad. However, increasing and decreasingare originally not fixed.

Let us have a look at the sea, in different areas of the world we can see tide rising andfalling everyday. When the tide is rising, we feel the water has increased; when thetide is falling, we feel the water has decreased. In terms of some part of the area, thewater has increased or decreased. But in terms of the overall, has the seawater everincreased or decreased? And also, Moonlight Temple is holding this winter camp;people come from all directions to congregate, so the number of people has increasedin the temple. After several days, when the winter camp is over, everyone will leave,and thus the number of people in the temple will be reduced. For the temple, thenumber of people will be decreased, but for the whole world, there is no increase ordecrease.

When we hold Dharma lectures, there will always be someone asking such a question,"Buddhism talks about transmigration. In the past, the population on the earth wasless than several hundred millions, but now it has increased to several thousandmillions. Where did these people come from?" This question is raised due to theisolated standpoint of view towards the relationship of increasing and decreasing.Transmigration taught by Buddhism is not limited to mankind and earth; it is in termsof the world of ten directions, and all sentient beings. Today, the population on earthhas increased, that is because the living environment on earth for human being's

existence is getting better. While population on earth is increasing, other types of lifein other worlds are decreasing. Haven't you heard about wild lives are decreasing?Haven't you seen the morality in human society is getting worse? So, in terms of earth,there is an increase and decrease in human population, but in terms of ten directionsand all the worlds, there is still no increase and decrease.

From the examples above, we can see that Buddha Dharma discusses increase anddecrease in light of causes and conditions. Increase is the increasing of conditions,decreasing is the decreasing of conditions, without conditions, it is hard to talk about


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increase and decrease. Since things arise depending on conditions, in reality there isno isolated and unchanged increase and decrease, then increase and decrease aremerely a kind of phenomenon (false image). Virtually, increase and decrease areactually non-increasing and non-decreasing.

Besides, if we look at them from their true essence, non-arising and non-ceasing, non-

impure and non-pure, non-increasing and non-decreasing are different from the abovecomments. The above mentioned non-arising and non-ceasing, not impure and notpure, non-increasing and non-decreasing, are as if arising and ceasing; as if impureand pure, and as if increasing and decreasing. This is from the view of the worldlygolden mean. In true essence, the difference between arising (creation) and ceasing(annihilation), impure and pure, increasing and decreasing are all but unattainable.They are actually not arising and not ceasing, not impure and not pure, not increasingand not decreasing, up to where words are unable to express.


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Not Dwelling on this World

“Therefore, with the emptiness (Sunyo), there is no form (rupa), and no

reception(vedana), conception (sanjna), mental function (samskara),

and no consciousness (vijnana). There is no eye, ear, nose, tongue,

body and mind; there is no form, sound, smell, taste, touch and idea.

There are (no such things as the eighteen realms of sense (dhatas) the

realm of sight up to that of the faculty of mind (vijnana).”

As said before, form, reception, mental function, consciousness, are Five Aggregates(Skandas). Eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind are named as six roots, whilst theform, sound, smell, taste, touch22 and ideas are respectively named as six dusts; theyare called Twelve Places collectively. Thus, six roots, six dusts, together with sixconsciousnesses are called eighteen fields of senses. In Buddhism, aggregate, placeand field are called three branches; they are the conclusions of all the phenomena in

the universe and human lives in three different forms. That is to say, we can see theworld from the perspective of Five Aggregates, and also from that of Twelve Placesand Eighteen Fields of Senses.

Five aggregates have been explained previously. ‘Place’ in the Twelve Places refersto the gate of creation. Through this gate, six roots together with six dusts create thepath for spiritual activities. Eye root contacts the eye dust to create eye consciousness.Nose root feels the smell to generate nose consciousness. Tongue contacts the taste togive rise to tongue consciousness. Body feels touch to produce the bodyconsciousness. And mind root relies on the idea to bring about mind consciousness. Itis that six roots produce six consciousnesses by contacting with six dusts respectively.Furthermore, all of these three work together to give rise to physical touch.

Consequently, physical touch again generates a series of mental belongings such asreception, conception, and other mental functions. Actually, the spiritual andpsychological activities of human beings are all created from the contact betweenroots and dusts.

Fields in Eighteen Fields of Senses means sorts and types. Eighteen fields classifyeverything in the world into eighteen categories. Six roots are in terms of the world ofphysiology, six consciousnesses are in terms of the world of psychology, and six dustsare in terms of the world of physics.

All the Dharma of the three branches has mainly revealed the different phenomena inthe world. As a Buddhist cultivator, how should we perceive and illuminate the world?In this Sutra, it says: “There is no eye, ear, the realm of sight up to that of the facultyof mind”. This indicates that we should perceive the phenomena manifested in thisworld as nil and empty. Do not consider nil mentioned here as having nothing bymistake. If one comprehends like this, then wouldn’t the Sutra contradict the reality?For the ‘no’ mentioned in the Sutra, we must still use the previous function to deduct,take no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind for example, if we make a deduction it

22 Tactile sensations


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becomes eye is no different from emptiness, emptiness is no different to eyes, eye isemptiness, emptiness is eye. The same is true to the ear, nose, tongue, body and mind,taste, sound, smell, taste, touch and idea. Namely, all the dharma can be explainedlike this.

Therefore, what is the significance of stating in Sutra that all the Dharma of the three

branches is emptiness of no action? These three branches have included both thesentient world and the material world. The sentient world includes, for example FiveAggregates, Six Roots in Twelve Places, and Six Roots and Six Consciousnesses inEighteen Realms of Senses. Worldly beings are unable to have the rightunderstanding of it and from it generate the mark of self-ego, with every thoughtbeing attached to self, and giving rise to self-ignorance, self-prejudice, self-affection,and self-pride. Thus, a typical form of life of sentient beings, which is constructed bystrong self-centeredness takes shape.

Due to the self-centredness, and taking the Five Aggregates as so-called ‘Self’, itbrings sentient beings all sorts of afflictions in their lives. What is affliction? It is afactor that disrupts the inner peace of the mind. With the existence of the afflictions,

life has no security and peace, and neither can it be carefree. Most of the sentientbeings’ afflictions arise due to attachment to ‘self’. Take the example of regardingbody as self, some girls feel worried about their plain looks, and some girls worryabout their weight; some young boys are upset about their height, while some elderlyworry about their weak and sick bodies.

In daily lives, people are always worried about food for their body. The poor does notknow where and what to eat for the next meal, while the rich is fed up with everythingand do not know what to eat next to serve their fussy taste. And also, people areworried about clothing for their body: what should we wear in the midst of so manystyles and fashions? And of course, some people are worried about having no warmclothes for the coming winter as well. Shelter also worries people, as the land pricesare soaring, one has to pay more money to buy, or even rent a property. For those whoonly earn a salary, it is a big headache. When we’ve got the shelter, we start to worryabout its space and surroundings, etc. Some people desire for the spacious luxury villa,but have no money. For the happiness, food, clothing and shelter of ‘self’, it is enoughfor one to be worried for the whole of his/her life.

Money is the corresponding element for the basic living. In order to make ‘self’ livingbetter, one has to go all out to work and start an undertaking. If he has no skill, he hasto sell his labour; some people have their career, nonetheless, it is just like a heavyburden that they have to worry about it all day long. Working ought to be forenjoyment, but to work one has to give up leisure. It is hard to set up a business;

however, it is much harder to maintain a business. When people have no money, forthe survival of their ‘self’, they engage themselves in the constant fight for the pursuitof wealth; but once they become rich, there is nothing to pursue in their lives; theyfeel tired of their lives, which is all the more scary.

Furthermore, in order to let ‘self’ become more impressive, the problem of reputationis produced. In five desires, reputation is also one of the most important desires thatpeople are after.To live in the society, one does not only need food, clothes andshelter, but also social position. The position in society comes from one's reputation.


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If one does not have good fame and position in the society, he will feel that he is goodfor nothing. However, if one's reputation is good and is respected everywhere, the‘self’ will feel impressive. Therefore, in order to make ‘self’ live even better, peopleregard reputation as extremely important. Among the people, some would fight if theyare humiliated; among the distinguished, some go to court for the damage ofreputation.

There are thoughts and views, which come with the existence of ‘self’. Due to theattachment to ‘self’, we especially take the thought of our ‘self’ and the view of the‘self’ very seriously. Normally, people have the habit of expressing their opinions andexpect others to understand and accept. If not, they would feel sad. Within thegovernment, the colleagues could be in conflict for different viewpoints; philosopherscould argue due to different opinions; Western religions experienced wars because ofdifferent views. The view of ‘self’ has brought about disputes to the world, it haslimited people’s understanding of the world to its original level without anyimprovements; it has impeded the harmony among the people, prevented people fromknowing the truth and it is the root from which all the afflictions arise.

There are some other afflictions of human being, which is the result of attaching to themark of self ego. We are not going to explain them all here. In all, attaching to self isthe root of all the afflictions of human kind. In Tsong-Kha-Pa’s23 “Lam Rim Chen

Mo24

” Volume 4, it says:“By the force of clinging to a self, this holding myself as dear hasgenerated in beginning-less cyclical flow up to the present, themultiform undesired objects. Although desiring to create self-perfection, holding chiefly one’s own aim, one winds up without themeans. So even after the passage of eons, neither one’s own nor theother’s aim is accomplished. And not just not accomplished, for alsoone reaps unceasing suffering” 25

Sentient beings are attached to self for the sake of happiness in the first place,but instead have brought about all sorts of afflictions to themselves due thevery attachment.

‘Emptiness’ mentioned in the Heart Sutra, is a thorough perspective of sentient beings.Sentient beings are no more than the gathering of Five Aggregates. In terms ofTwelve Places, they are only the combination of physical (Six Roots) andpsychological (Six Consciousness) elements. Ordinary people regard Five Aggregatesas ‘self’, however, by observing them from the perspective of Buddhist wisdom, if weseek self among the Five Aggregates we will find it unattainable. So, we should nothold to Five Aggregates as self, as the form body of Five Aggregates is impermanent.

If the aggregate is self, then self is impermanent. Of course, we should neither regardthat there is a self in the absence of Five Aggregates, self exists outside of FiveAggregates.

23 Tsong-Kha-Pa, 1357AD – 1419AD, founder of the Gelupa sect.24 Also known as The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment 25 Ethics of Tibet: Bodhisattva section of Tsong-Kha-Pa’s Lam Rim Chen Mo,translated by Alex Wayman from the Tibetan original, Page, 61, published by StateUniversity of New York Press, Albany, 1991.


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Then how should we build up the relationship between ‘self’ and ‘Five Aggregates’?The Diamond Sutra is a Sutra that focus on the discussion of emptiness. It mainlyexpounds on ‘no-self’. When we open the Sutra, we can see the wording of ‘no-self’everywhere.

The Sutra says:“If a Bodhisattva clings to the false notion

26 of an ego, a personality, a being and a

life, he is not (a true) Bodhisattva.”

And also;“In a past life when my body was mutilated by Kalir ā ja

27 , I had at that time no notion

of an ego, a personality, a being and a life. Why? Because, in the past, when my body

was dismembered, if I still held the conception of an ego, a personality, a being and a

life, I would have been stirred by feelings of anger and hatred.”

In addition, the Sutra says:“The practice of all good virtues (Dharmas), free from attachment to an ego, a

personality, a being and a life, will result in the attainment of Supreme Enlightenment

(Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi).”

Furthermore: “...another man comprehended that all dharmas were egoless andthereby achieved perfection of patience (ksanti), the latter’s merit would surpass that

of the former.” All these have emphasised the importance of ‘no-self’ (egoless) incultivating the Bodhisattva’s path.

‘No-self’ can enable us to surpass ‘self’. Many people in this world are not satisfiedwith themselves. They have tried all means to surpass ‘self’, but no matter how, they

just couldn’t, and so they feel anguish and worry. What is the reason for that? It isbecause of attachment to ‘self’. Our present personality is formed by self-centeredness,if self-attachment is not shaken; it is very hard to change our personality. So, if onewants to surpass oneself, firstly he must stop holding to the concept of the ego28, onlythrough reaching no self can he surpass himself.

The physical world corresponds to the world of sentient beings. The physical world ofthe sentient beings depends on sentient beings' ability of understanding. Namely, thereis a form world that the eye consciousness sees; there is a sound world that earconsciousness can hear, there is fragrance world that nose consciousness can smell,there is a taste world that tongue consciousness can taste, there is a tactile sensationworld that body consciousness can feel, and there is a Dharma dust world29 uponwhich mind consciousness relies. One can have all these six worlds only if he canhave Six Roots and consciousness. If he does not have eye root, he will lose the formworld and if he lacks ear root, he will lose the sound world.

The physical world is mainly about Six Places

30

; Six Places are also called Six Dusts.Dust has the meaning of contamination, which implies that these six places have the

26 Laksana in Sanskrit27 A king in the past, he became Buddha’s disciple Kondañña in his later life.28 ātmagrāha in Sanskrit29 Dharma dust means Dharma being taken as an object to understand. Dharma dust isone of the Six Dusts, which include form, sound, scent, taste, touch and dharma.


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function of contaminating the Six Consciousnesses. For instance, when our SixConsciousnesses are not in touch with Six Places, our mind is quiet and peaceful. Inother words, what the eyes does not see the heart does not grieve for. However, whenthe contact takes place, for example, when our eyes see our enemies or lovers, ourheart or mind will experience great turbulence. We hate the enemy and have affectionwith the ones we love. Then, will our mind be peceful?

The worldly people do not understand Six Dusts, and become attached to them, beingat the mercy of the so-called ‘eight winds’. The eight winds31 include gain, loss,disgrace, fame, praise, blame, suffering, and happiness. Gain is benefit; it could be thesituation when we are making money, for example winning the lottery. Loss is asituation when we lose money, for example the stock market is in a downturn and welose money in our business. Disgrace is a situation when we are slandered. Fame is asituation when we have a good fame. Praise is when we hear good words from others.Blame is when we are said to be at fault by others. Suffering is when we are in badtimes. Happiness is when we are in good times. The ‘eight winds’ describes eightdifferent situations in which we live. Our hearts are moved and shaken by these winds,thus we become happy at one time and upset at another.

Attachment to Six Dusts makes us take disgrace and fame seriously. The worldlyconcepts were established by popular usage and are endorsed by people living in aspecific cultural background. For instance, somebody says, “You are a great man”.For some one who has achieved something, he may feel he is being recognised andhappy to accept this, however, for someone else who has nothing to be proud of, hemay feel this comment is sarcastic. Thus, the same word ‘great’ might mean positive,or negative, so what on earth is the meaning of the word ‘great’?

In addition, ‘great’ itself is only a symbolic word, which has nothing to do with thefact. If today somebody says, ‘you are a great man’. You might be a great man, andmight not be one. This is because if you are capable of being a great man, even ifnobody praises you; you are still a great man. On the other hand, if you are far frombeing a great man, you cannot become one just because people say, “You are great”.Nonetheless, as people are attached to Sound Dust, they take others’ comments veryseriously. They are buoyant when hearing praises, and dejected when hearingcriticism. They cannot control their mind, which is under the mercy of others’ tongues.

Dwelling on the Six Dusts, also makes us attach importance to gain or loss. Theworldly people always live in the state of gain and loss. For example, when doingbusiness, one will either make money or lose money. When buying lottery, one willeither win or lose. When sitting for the university entrance exam, one will either beselected or not. Regarding affection, one will either get married or separate. In a

family, one will either get along well or not well. People always love gain and hateloss. However, gain and loss are just like a twin, which always come together. Forinstance, somebody opens up a business, he/she might make a fortune, but he couldlose his leisure time now. Someone has a beautiful girlfriend, and he is obsessed withher, he might be satisfied with the relationship at the expense of losing time for otherfriends. Sometimes it is gain first and loss next, just like earning a fortune and thengoing bankrupt. Sometimes loss happens before gain. For example, in ancient China,

31 Asta lokadharmāh in Sanskrit.


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King Yue lost his country in the beginning. Since then he slept on brushwood andtasted galls every day. Finally, he defeated the country Wu and overtook it.Sometimes loss is also gain, as a Chinese saying goes, “The old frontiersman lost hishorse, who knows but that this may be a blessing in disguise?

As the two always go together, it is not worth it for us to be joyful or sad just because

of gain and loss. Nonetheless, worldly people are emotionally biased. When we dobusiness, we regard money as the whole of our life and when we fall in love, we getthe illusion that love is unparalleled. When we study, we feel that ‘there is gold in thebook, and there is beauty in the book’. Therefore, we can only see one facet of our life,and ignore the others. No matter you have realised it or not, even if we have attainedhappiness in one area, we might have lost happiness in all other areas.

In my Dharma seminars, there is a topic that I always like to mention. It is that peoplein the modern time only know the importance of making money, and they believe thatby having lots of money, they can live a happy life. In fact, a happy life is not onlycomprised of money, something else is more important than it, i.e., our mind and heartand health. Having lots of money, but not good health, we cannot enjoy life; even

though we are rich and healthy, without a healthy mind and heart, we can not behappy either. If someone is upset, he can escape from the surroundings, but he can notescape from his mind and heart. It's just like when someone is in a bad mood, nomatter where he/she goes, he/she will still feel upset.

In terms of a happy life, a healthy mind or soul should be ranked first place, physicalhealth the second, and money the last. Nevertheless, people always put it upside downand they do not recognize how significant a healthy mind is for a happy life. Theyrack their brains to chase money, and indulge themselves to the extreme after theyhave made money, which leaves their mind and soul in a very unstable and brokenstate. Nowadays, there are many rich people, however, not many of them feel happy,as they are lacking a healthy mind, they do not have the state of mind to enjoyhappiness.

This reminds me of an instance in real life. There was a CEO from Shen Zhen City32 who came to visit me, and she told me a story about attending the birthday party ofanother CEO in a lavish restaurant. Many high rank officials, famous people and

journalists came to celebrate, and the party was very extravagant. After that, myfriend asked him how he felt about the party. He said that compared with his birthdayfifteen years ago, when his mother only boiled five eggs for him; he felt that he was ina far better mood at that time. Then, is happiness materialistic or idealistic?

Thus, residing on Six Dusts has brought about many afflictions to us. If we want to

get rid of them, we should contemplate six dusts in light of Prajňā

pāramitt

ā andperceive the Five Aggregate as empty and apply the wisdom of Prajňāpāramittā at all

the times into our daily lives. For example, when your money has brought you trouble,you might remind yourself of the formula mentioned in the Heart Sutra, that is moneyis not different from emptiness, and emptiness is not different from money; money isemptiness, and emptiness is money. The wisdom behind this is that money is itself ofdependent origination, it comes and goes under certain conditions and it is not fixed

32 Shen Zhen Cit

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