Maka-hannya-haramitsu

Maka is a phonetic rendering of the Sanskrit word mahā, which means “great.” Hannya is a phonetic rendering of the Sanskrit word prajñā which can be translated as “real wisdom” or “intuitive reflection.” Haramitsu is a phonetic rendering of the Sanskrit word pāramitā which literally means “to have arrived at the opposite shore,” that is, to have accomplished the truth. So maka-hannya-haramitsu means the accomplishment which is great real wisdom. In this chapter, Master Dogen wrote his interpretation of the Mahā-prajñā-pāramitā-hṛdaya-sūtra. Hṛdaya means heart. This short sutra, usually called “the Heart Sutra,” represents the heart of the six hundred volumes of the Mahā-prajñā-pāramitā-sūtra. Even though it is very short, the Heart Sutra contains the most fundamental principle of Buddhism. What is the most fundamental principle? Prajñā. What is prajñā? Prajñā, or real wisdom, is a kind of intuitive ability that occurs in our body and mind, when our body and mind are in the state of balance and harmony. We normally think that wisdom is something based on the intellect, but Buddhists believe that wisdom, on which our decisions are based, is not intellectual but intuitive. The right decision comes from the right state of body and mind, and the right state of body and mind comes when our body and mind are balanced and harmonized. So mahā-prajñā-pāramitā is wisdom that we have when our body and mind are balanced and harmonized. And Zazen is the practice by which our body and mind enter the state of balance and harmony. Mahā-prajñā-pāramitā, then, is the essence of Zazen.

[71] When Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara¹ practices the profound prajñā-pāramitā, the whole body² reflects that the five aggregates³ are totally empty.⁴ The five aggregates are matter, feeling, thinking, enaction, and consciousness. They are five instances of prajñā. Reflection is prajñā itself. When this principle is preached and realized, it is said that matter is just the immaterial⁵ and the immaterial is just matter. Matter is matter, the immaterial is the immaterial.⁶ They are hundreds of things,⁷ and myriad phenomena. Twelve instances of prajñā-pāramitā are the twelve entrances [of sense-perception].⁸ There are also eighteen instances of prajñā.⁹ They are eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind;¹⁰ sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations, and properties;¹¹ plus the consciousnesses of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. There are a further four instances of prajñā. They are suffering, accumulation, cessation, and the Way.¹² There are a further six instances of prajñā. They are giving, pure [observance of] precepts, patience, diligence, meditation, and prajñā [itself].¹³ One further instance of prajñā-pāramitā is realized as the present moment. It is the state of anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.¹⁴ There are three further instances of prajñā-pāramitā. They are past, present, and future.¹⁵ There are six further instances of prajñā. They are earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness.¹⁶ And there are a further four instances of prajñā that are constantly practiced in everyday life: they are walking, standing, sitting, and lying down.¹⁷

[74] In the order of Śākyamuni Tathāgata there is a bhikṣu¹⁸ who secretly thinks, “I shall bow in veneration of the profound prajñā-pāramitā. Although in this state there is no appearance and disappearance of real dharmas,¹⁹ there are still understandable explanations of all precepts, all balanced states, all kinds of wisdom, all kinds of liberation, and all views. There are also understandable explanations of the effect of one who has entered the stream, the effect of [being subject to] one return, the effect of [not being subject to] returning, and the effect of the arhat.²⁰ There are also understandable explanations of [people of] independent awakening,²¹ and [people of] bodhi.²² There are also understandable explanations of the supreme right and balanced state of bodhi. There are also understandable explanations of the treasures of Buddha, Dharma, and Saṃgha. There are also understandable explanations of turning the wonderful Dharma-wheel²³ to save sentient beings.” The Buddha, knowing the bhikṣu’s mind, tells him, “This is how it is. This is how it is. The profound prajñā-pāramitā is too subtle and fine to fathom.”²⁴

The bhikṣu’s secretly working concrete mind²⁵ at this moment is, in the state of bowing in veneration of real dharmas, prajñā itself—whether or not [real dharmas] are without appearance and disappearance—and this is a venerative bow itself. Just at this moment of bowing in veneration, prajñā is realized as explanations which can be understood: [explanations] from precepts, balance, and wisdom,²⁶ to saving sentient beings, and so on. This state is described as being without.²⁷ Explanations of the state of being without can thus be understood. Such is the profound, subtle, unfathomable prajñā-pāramitā.

[76] The God Indra²⁸ asks the venerable monk Subhuti,²⁹ “Virtuous One! When bodhisattva-mahāsattvas³⁰ want to research³¹ the profound prajñā-pāramitā, how should they research it?”

Subhuti replies, “Kauśika!³² When bodhisattva-mahāsattvas want to research the profound prajñā-pāramitā, they should research it as space.”³³

So researching prajñā is space itself. Space is the research of prajñā.

[77] The God Indra subsequently addresses the Buddha, “World-Honored One! When good sons and good daughters receive and retain, read and recite, think reasonably about, and expound to others this profound prajñā-pāramitā that you have preached, how should I guard it? My only desire, World-Honored One, is that you will show me compassion and teach me.”

Then the venerable monk Subhuti says to the God Indra, “Kauśika! Do you see something which you must guard, or not?”

The God Indra says, “No, Virtuous One, I do not see anything here that I must guard.”

Subhuti says, “Kauśika! When good sons and good daughters abide in the profound prajñā-pāramitā as thus preached, they are just guarding it. When good sons and good daughters abide in the profound prajñā-pāramitā as thus preached, they never stray. Remember, even if all human and nonhuman beings were looking for an opportunity to harm them, in the end it would be impossible. Kauśika! If you want to guard the bodhisattvas who abide in the profound prajñā-pāramitā as thus preached, it is no different from wanting to guard space.”³⁴

Remember, to receive and retain, to read and recite, and to think reasonably about [prajñā], are just to guard prajñā. And to want to guard it is to receive and retain it, to read and recite it, and so on.

[78] My late Master, the eternal Buddha, says:

Whole body like a mouth, hanging in space;
Not asking if the wind is east, west, south, or north,
For all others equally, it chatters prajñā:
Chin Ten Ton Ryan Chin Ten Ton.³⁵

This is the chattering of prajñā [transmitted] by Buddhist patriarchs from rightful successor to rightful successor. It is prajñā as the whole body, it is prajñā as the whole of others,³⁶ it is prajñā as the whole self, and it is prajñā as the whole east, west, south, and north.

[79] Śākyamuni Buddha says, “Śāriputra!³⁷ These many sentient beings should abide in this prajñā-pāramitā as buddhas. When they serve offerings to, bow in veneration of, and consider, the prajñā-pāramitā, they should be as if serving offerings to and bowing in veneration of the buddha-bhagavats.³⁸ Why? [Because] the prajñā-pāramitā is no different from the buddha-bhagavats, and the buddha-bhagavats are no different from the prajñā-pāramitā. The prajñā-pāramitā is just the buddha-bhagavats themselves, and the buddha-bhagavats are just the prajñā-pāramitā itself. Wherefore? Because, Śāriputra, the apt, right, and balanced state of truth, which all the tathāgatas have, is always realized by virtue of the prajñā-pāramitā. Because, Śāriputra, all bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, the independently awakened, arhats, those beyond returning, those who will return once, those received into the stream, and so on, always attain realization by virtue of the prajñā-pāramitā. And because, Śāriputra, all of the ten virtuous paths of action³⁹ in the world, the four states of meditation,⁴⁰ the four immaterial balanced states,⁴¹ and the five mystical powers⁴² are always realized by virtue of the prajñā-pāramitā.”

[80] So buddha-bhagavats are the prajñā-pāramitā, and the prajñā-pāramitā is these real dharmas. These real dharmas are bare manifestations: they are neither appearing nor disappearing, neither dirty nor pure, neither increasing nor decreasing. The realization of this prajñā-pāramitā is the realization of buddha-bhagavats. We should inquire into it, and we should experience it. To serve offerings to it and to bow in veneration is just to serve and to attend buddha-bhagavats, and it is buddha-bhagavats in service and attendance.

Shobogenzo Maka-hannya-haramitsu

Preached to the assembly at Kannon-dori-in temple on a day of the summer retreat in the 1st year of Tenpuku.⁴³

Copied in the attendant monks’ quarters at Kippo temple in Etsu-u⁴⁴ on the 21st day of the 3rd lunar month in spring of the 2nd year of Kangen.⁴⁵

The Heart Sutra of Mahā-prajñā-pāramitā

Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, when practicing the profound prajñā-pāramitā, reflects that the five aggregates are totally empty, and overcomes all pain and wrongdoing. Śāriputra, matter is no different from the immaterial, and the immaterial is no different from matter. Matter is just the immaterial, and the immaterial is just matter. Feeling, thinking, enaction, and consciousness are also like this. Śāriputra, these real dharmas are bare manifestations. They are neither appearing nor disappearing, neither dirty nor pure, neither increasing nor decreasing. Therefore, in the state of emptiness, there is no matter, no feeling, thinking, enaction, or consciousness. There are no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind; no sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations, properties. There is no sphere of eyes, nor any other [elementary sphere]: there is no sphere of mind-consciousness. There is no ignorance, and no ending of ignorance, nor any other [causal process]: there is no aging and death, and no ending of aging and death. There is no suffering, accumulation, cessation, or Way. There is no wisdom, and no attaining—because [the state] is non-attainment. Bodhisattvas rely upon prajñā-pāramitā, and therefore their minds have no hindrance. They have no hindrance, and therefore they are without fear. They leave all confused dream-images far behind, and realize the ultimate state of nirvāṇa. The buddhas of the three times rely upon prajñā-pāramitā, and therefore they attain anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. So remember: prajñā-pāramitā is a great and mystical spell; it is a great and luminous spell; it is the supreme spell; it is a spell in the unequaled state of equilibrium. It can clear away all suffering. It is real, not empty. Therefore we invoke the spell of prajñā-pāramitā. We invoke the spell as follows:

Gate, gate, pāragate, pārasangate. Bodhi, svāhā.

The Heart Sutra of Prajñā

Notes

1. 観自在菩薩 (KANJIZAI-BOSATSU), lit. “Bodhisattva of Free Reflection,” is one of the Chinese renderings of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (see chap. 33, Kannon, and Lotus Sutra chap. 25). This paragraph begins with the same words as the Heart Sutra. ↩︎

2. Master Dogen added to the first line of the Heart Sutra the words 渾身 (KONSHIN), “whole body,” as the subject of 照見 (SHOKEN), “to reflect.” ↩︎

3. 五蘊 (GO-UN), from the Sanskrit pañca-skandha. See Glossary. ↩︎

4. “Empty” 空 (KU), which represents the Sanskrit śūnyatā (see Glossary). As an adjective, 空 (KU) means bare, bald, naked, empty, as it is. ↩︎

5. “The immaterial” is also 空 (KU), this time used as a noun. In this case, 空 (KU) means the immaterial, that which is empty, or devoid of physical substance; that is, the spiritual or mental face of reality as opposed to matter. In other cases, the noun 空 (KU) means the empty state, that is, the state in which reality is as it is. See chap. 22, Bussho. ↩︎

6. The sutra says 色即是空 (SHIKI-SOKU-ZE-KU), “matter is just the immaterial,” and 空即是色 (KU-SOKU-ZE-SHIKI), “the immaterial is just matter.” Master Dogen added 色是色 (SHIKI-ZE-SHIKI), matter is matter, and 空是空 (KU-ZE-KU), the immaterial is the immaterial. ↩︎

7. 百艸 (HYAKUSO), lit. “hundreds of weeds.” ↩︎

8. 十二入 (JUNI-NYU), “twelve entrances,” from the Sanskrit dvādaśayatanāni, are the six sense organs and their objects. ↩︎

9. 十八界 (JUHACHI-KAI), lit. “eighteen spheres,” from the Sanskrit aṣṭādaśa dhātavaḥ, are the senses, their objects, and the six corresponding kinds of consciousness. See Glossary under dhātu-loka. ↩︎

10. 身 (SHIN), “body,” from the Sanskrit kāya, means the body, or the skin, as the organ of touch. 意 (I), “mind,” from the Sanskrit manas, means the mind as the center of thought, which is placed on the same level as the senses, below prajñā. ↩︎

11. 触 法 (SHOKU, HO) “sensations and properties” from the Sanskrit sparśa and dharma, represent the objects of body and mind as sense organs. ↩︎

12. 四諦 (SHITAI), the four philosophies, or The Four [Noble] Truths, are 苦 集 滅 道 (KU, SHU, METSU, DO). These words derive from the Sanskrit duḥkha-satya (truth of suffering), saṃdhaya-satya (truth of accumulation), nirodha-satya (truth of dissolution), and mārga-satya (truth of the right way). ↩︎

13. 六度 (ROKUDO), the six pāramitās. In Sanskrit they are as follows: Giving is dāna, explained in detail in chap. 45, Bodaisatta-shishobo. Pure [observance of] precepts is śīla. Patience is kṣānti. Diligence is vīrya. Meditation is dhyāna. (Dhyāna is sometimes represented phonetically in Shobogenzo by the Chinese characters 禅那 (ZEN-NA), but in this case dhyāna is expressed as 静慮 (JO-RYO), lit. “quiet thought.”) The sixth pāramitā, real wisdom, is prajñā. ↩︎

14. The Sanskrit anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi (see chap. 1, note 2) is rendered into Chinese in the second paragraph of this chapter as 無上正等菩提 (MUJO-SHOTO-BODAI), “the supreme right and balanced state of bodhi.” Alternative renderings into Chinese are 無上正等覚 (MUJO-SHOTO-KAKU), “the supreme right and balanced state of truth,” and 無上等正覚 (MUJO-TOSHO-KAKU), “the supreme balanced and right state of truth.” ↩︎

15. 三世 (SANZE), the three times. ↩︎

16. 六大 (ROKUDAI), the six elements. In Sanskrit, saḍ dhātavaḥ. See Glossary under dhātu. ↩︎

17. 四儀 (SHIGI), the four forms of behavior. ↩︎

18. The Sanskrit word bhikṣu (originally “mendicant”), means a Buddhist monk. ↩︎

19. 無諸法生滅 (MU-SHOHO-SHOMETSU, or SHOHO no SHOMETSU nashi). The Heart Sutra says 是諸法空相。不生不滅。(ZE-SHOHO-KUSO. FUSHO-FUMETSU.)—“These real dharmas are bare manifestations. They neither appear nor disappear.” ↩︎

20. The śrāvaka, or intellectual Buddhist, passes through these four stages. In Sanskrit, the first is srotāpanna, the second is sakṛdāgāmin, the third is anāgāmin, and the fourth is arhat. ↩︎

21. 独覚 (DOKU-KAKU), lit. “independently awakened,” means a pratyekabuddha, a naturalistic Buddhist. The distinction between śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, and buddhas, which the Buddha explains in the Lotus Sutra, is described in chap. 24, Bukkyo. ↩︎

22. 菩提 (BODAI), in this case seems to suggest a person who has the state of bodhi, that is, a bodhisattva. ↩︎

23. 転妙法輪 (TENMYOHORIN), “turning the wonderful Dharma-wheel” means Buddhist preaching. See chap. 74, Tenborin. ↩︎

24. This passage is quoted from the Dai-hannya-kyo, chap. 291, Attachment and Non-attachment to Form. ↩︎

25. 竊作是念 (SETSU-SA-ZE-NEN). In the sutra, these characters lit. mean “secretly made this thought.” But 作 (SA), “make,” also means “to act,” or “to function;” 是 (ZE), “this,” also means “concrete;” and 念 (NEN), “thought,” or “image in the mind,” also means “mindfulness,” or “state of mind.” Master Dogen interpreted 念 (NEN) not as a thought but as the monk’s state of mind, which is prajñā itself, which is the state of action itself. ↩︎

26. Precepts, balance, and wisdom are 三学 (SANGAKU), the three kinds of training. See Glossary under tisraḥ śiksāḥ. ↩︎

27. 無 (MU, nashi) expresses absence. In this paragraph, 無生滅 (MU-SHOMETSU) is translated as “there is no appearance and disappearance” (see note 19), and “without appearance and disappearance.” As a noun 無 (MU) means “the state of being without,” i.e., the state that is free. This usage is explained in detail in chap. 22, Bussho. The character 無 (MU) appears over twenty times in the Heart Sutra. ↩︎

28. 天帝釈 (TENTAI-SHAKU). 天帝 (TENTAI) is lit. “God-Emperor” and 釈 (SHAKU) stands for Śakra-devānām-indra, which is the Sanskrit name of the god in question. He (sometimes she) was incorporated into Buddhism as a guardian of Buddhist teachings. See Glossary. ↩︎

29. 具寿善現 (GUJU-ZENGEN). 具寿 (GUJU), or “venerable monk,” is derived from the Sanskrit āyuṣmat, a term of reverence. 善現 (ZENGEN), lit. “Good Manifestation,” is the Chinese rendering of Subhuti, one of the Buddha’s disciples. ↩︎

30. Mahāsattva literally means “great being.” Both bodhisattva and mahāsattva describe a Buddhist practitioner. ↩︎

31. 学 (GAKU) includes both the meaning of “learn” and of “practice.” Research of prajñā as space suggests the concrete practice of Zazen. ↩︎

32. Kauśika is another name of Indra. See Glossary. ↩︎

33. 虚空 (KOKU), “empty space,” or “space,” from the Sanskrit ākāśa, is the title of chap. 77, Koku. ↩︎

34. This story is also from the Dai-hannya-kyo, chap. 291. ↩︎

35. This poem about a windbell is from Nyojo-osho-go-roku (Record of the Words of Master [Tendo] Nyojo). The last line of the poem represents the sound of the windbell. The original characters can be read in several other ways in Japanese; for example, teki cho to ryo teki cho to. The original Chinese pronunciation is not known. ↩︎

36. “Others” is 陀 (TA), which sometimes means “others” and sometimes means “the external world.” In Master Dogen’s commentary it suggests the latter meaning. ↩︎

37. Śāriputra was one of the Buddha’s ten great disciples, and said to be foremost in wisdom. He died while the Buddha was still alive. Much of the Mahā-prajñā-pāramitā-sūtra is addressed to Śāriputra. ↩︎

38. Bhagavat is a Sanskrit term of veneration. See Glossary. ↩︎

39. 十善業道 (JU-ZENGODO), or the ten paths of good action, are followed by refraining from doing the ten kinds of bad conduct, namely: killing, stealing, committing adultery, telling lies, two-faced speech, abusive slander, useless gossip, greed, anger, and devotion to wrong views. ↩︎

40. 四静慮 (SHI-JORYO), or the “four dhyānas.” See chap. 90, Shizen-biku. ↩︎

41. 四無色定 (SHI-MUSHIKI-JO) or “the four balanced states which transcend the world of matter” are as follows: 1) 空無辺処定 (KU-MUHEN-SHO-JO), “balance in infinite space;” 2) 識無辺処定 (SHIKI-MUHEN-SHO-JO), “balance in infinite consciousness;” 3) 無所有処定 (MU-SHO-U-SHO-JO), “balance in not having anything;” and 4) 非想非非想処定 (HISO-HIHISO-SHO-JO), “balance in transcendence of thinking and not-thinking.” Such enumeration of concepts is characteristic of Theravada Buddhism. ↩︎

42. 五神通 (GO-JINZU). The five mystical powers are discussed in chap. 25, Jinzu. ↩︎

43. ↩︎

44. Corresponds to present-day Fukui prefecture. ↩︎

45. ↩︎