The Dharma of Realizing Wisdom Beyond Wisdom, Part 1 Roshi Joan Halifax

The Heart of the Teaching on the Perfection of Wisdom Beyond Wisdom marks a vital shift from early Indian Buddhism to the Mahayana vision that began to take root in China near the beginning of the first millennium of our Common Era. Until the arising of the Heart Sutra, Buddhist practitioners typically relied on the presence of an external teacher, a particular buddha, to show them the way. The Heart Sutra, however, points to an approach that is revolutionary, which directs us toward the mind as the teacher, a mind embedded in the boundlessness of the present, the sutra of all sutras.

The Heart Sutra affirms that this boundless mind is Buddha, none other than Buddha, a mind that is everywhere and nowhere, a mind that is both timeless and in the embrace of this moment, a mind that has realized life as eternal. It belongs to no one and to everyone and is a bond of vastness that brings all beings into a unity. From this perspective, then, how could a historical personage be our ultimate teacher. Our ultimate teacher is this boundless mind itself embedded in all beings and things.

The Heart Sutra is a victory chant that celebrates this boundlessness and the mind’s potential to realize wisdom beyond wisdom. It is a paean to fearlessness and affirms that this mind is your mind and my mind. It is the very source of our freedom, the root of our wisdom; the place where we suffer and are liberated from suffering. Including in suffering and freedom from suffering, this mind is wisdom beyond wisdom itself, the great Prajna, the Mother of All Buddhas, the mother of awakening.

Chanted by Mahayana Buddhist practitioners for two thousand years, the Heart Sutra articulates the profound insight that there is no inherent and abiding self. Without an inherent self, something to rely on, an identity that is abiding, the body and mind are experienced as everything and nothing, an all-at-onceness that is fundamentally inclusive and free. When one has realized this “all-at-onceness”, this experience of boundarilessness and boundlessness, we become the Mother of All Buddhas, the great prajna, herself. Another way of saying this is that this boundless mind gives birth to our experience of awakening.

The title of the sutra is Maha Prajna Paramita Hridaya Sutra. The Sanskrit word Prajna, sometimes translated as wisdom, or wisdom beyond wisdom, or mother wisdom, reflects the light of the realization of boundlessness. Prajna Paramita is often referred to as the Mother of All Buddhas. A Buddha is an awakened being. So prajna is the experience of the awakened mind that is characterized by inclusiveness and boundarilessness.

The two words Maha Prajna take prajna even further. From the Sanskrit, pra gives emphasis to the jna, or wisdom, but maha leads us to sense that this wisdom is really beyond wisdom. Thus we say that Maha Prajna means wisdom beyond wisdom.

Also in the title is the Sanskrit word paramita, often meaning “other shore” or perfection. “Other shore” refers to the shore of liberation, as distinct from the shore of suffering. We know from the teachings of the Buddha, however, that the “other shore” is nowhere but here in this very moment. It includes our suffering and our liberation. Our awakening is here in this very moment, this boundless moment, where all the sutras are born. Going further with this notion, most Mahayana Schools view samsara and nirvana as two sides of the same coin. That is to say that this ordinary, everyday life, the life of delusion and happiness, and the life of freedom are not separate but an undivided reality. The second translation of paramita, perfection, implies that this very moment is complete as it is, or is as it is.

The second to the last word in the title, hridaya, means heart, as in pith or core. This means that the realization of wisdom beyond wisdom is the very core of awakening, ground, essence, or heart of our liberation.

The last word in the title is sutra, which means teaching, or thread, that which sews the edges together. When the word sutra is used in Buddhism, it usually means that this is a direct teaching of the historical Buddha. The word sutra then implies that the teachings of the Buddha unify the world. The title of this sutra then can be said to mean: The Heart of the Teaching on the Perfection of Wisdom Beyond Wisdom.