“When I read the Heart Sutra for the first time, when I was about 18 years old, I was surprised and I felt so peaceful. It was a very short translation of the Heart Sutra in Japanese.
If I remember, if I look back at what part made me feel so at peace, it is where it says “the phenomenon has no actual existence”.
I think it is a translation of Shikisoku Zeku, which is usually translated as “phenomenon is emptiness”. The phenomenon has no actual existence.
Well, we have been educated that reality is concrete and that we cannot move or give any influence, that we are just passive and we have to follow. That has been the education and it was strongly tied up with the view of life and I was suffering so much about it, this reality that adults say you have to live with. Usually they say that the reality is to go to school, make money, get a job, go to work and get money.
But if the phenomenon is not reality, actual existence, then we don’t need to be tied up. If we don’t need to be tied up by the phenomenon, by what they say “the concrete reality“, then what can we do? It is to create the phenomenon, create the reality that we want to make.
So, what does the Heart Sutra teach us so that we are able to be enlightened and see that the phenomenon is not actual existence and that we are able to create?
How to be able to reach this state? There are six practices, six wisdom practices. This is what the Heart Sutra is teaching. The first one says that The Heart Sutra Is Dana in Japanese, which means to Give Merit to others, in order to let others receive The Great Love of the Great Spirit of the Universe. The purpose of Dana, which is altruism, is to let others realize the Great Love of the Great Spirit of the Universe.
Please, listen to the full Dharma talk below. Thank you
Music and text by Ryokyu Endo
Voice by Belén Rodilla Celestino
Hope Warriors Dharma Talk 