In this post, we explore how a well-known Avalokiteśvara liberates himself from his existential suffering by realizing the Emptiness of the Five Aggregates.
Before discussing the content of Mahasattva Avalokiteśvara’s experience, let’s first clarify the meaning of some relevant terms that will be used in this discussion.
1) Heart_Sutra (Chinese=/心經) “is a popular sutra in Mahayana Buddhism.” “It has been called “the most frequently used and recited text in the entire Mahayana Buddhist tradition.” “In Sanskrit, the title Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya translates as “The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom (Chinese=般若波羅蜜多心經).“ It is a profoundly significant Buddhist text in Mahayana Buddhism because it shows how one can satisfy Buddha’s soteriological mission and liberate oneself from existential suffering through understanding the Five Aggregates.
2) Perfection of Wisdom is known in Romanized Sanskrit as Prajnaparamita, a combination of prajna and paramita.
Prajna (Chinese=般若), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit, typically translated “wisdom,“ “the term has the general sense of accurate and precise understanding but is used most often to refer to an understanding of reality that transcends ordinary comprehension.“
Therefore, prajna prajna refers to the wisdom gained from “an accurate and precise understanding“ of reality that can only be obtained through direct perception. By contrast, “ordinary comprehension“ refers to knowledge that does not lead to “an accurate and precise understanding“ of reality gained from “inferentially connected vocabulary.“
Paramita (Chinese=波羅蜜多), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit, “perfection,“ a virtue or quality developed and practiced by a Bodhisattva on the path to becoming a Buddha. The term is paranomastically glossed by some traditional commentators as “gone beyond“ or “gone to the other side“ although it seems, in fact, to derive from Skt. “parama,“ meaning “highest“ or supreme.“
When combined, Prajnaparamita (Chinese=般若波羅蜜多/智度), meaning the Perfection of Wisdom, is the supreme wisdom gained from a perfect understanding of reality through the most profound practice of Buddha’s method of direct perception known as samathavipasyana.
3) The Heart Sutra is considered the Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom sutras because this extremely short but influential Sutra summarizes the core teachings of the whole collection of Prajnaparamita sutras by using the experience of Mahabodhisattva Avalokiteśvara’s liberation from his existential suffering.
In this extremely short Sutra, Mahabodhisattva Avalokiteśvara talks about his realization that all the Five Aggregates are Empty. By understanding that all the Five Aggregates are Empty, Mahabodhisattva Avalokiteśvara liberates himself from his delusional misunderstanding of reality and, therefore, his existential suffering. It is critically important because Buddhism exists for no reason but because Buddha’s soteriological goal is to teach all sentient beings how to liberate themselves from their existential suffering.
4) Mahabodhisattva (Chinese=摩訶菩薩), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit, “great bodhisattva.“ These “great bodhisattvas“ are the bodhisattvas close to achieving the highest level of enlightenment, such as Avalokiteśvara.
5) Avalokiteśvara “is a tenth-level bodhisattva associated with great compassion (mahakaruṇā). He is often associated with Amitabha Buddha.“ A tenth-level bodhisattva is the highest level of Bodhisattva. After finishing the tenth level, a bodhisattva is ready to “attain full Buddhahood,“ known as a Tathagata. Avalokiteśvara is also known as Guanyin (Chinese=觀音菩薩) in East Asia.
Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, the protagonist in the discussion, is referred to as Vasita in the Heart Sutra.
Vasita (Chinese=自在), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit, “mastery,“ or “autonomy;“ a list of ten types of master or autonomy developed by a Bodhisattva, viz., of one’s life span (命自在), action (Karman) (業自在), necessities of life (財自在), determination (如意自在), aspiration (願自在), magical powers (信解自在), birth (生自在), dharma (法自在), mind (心自在) and wisdom (智自在).“
In Mahayana Buddhism, complete attainment of the ten masteries is reserved for a tenth-level Bodhisattva. Therefore, vasita should apply not only to Avalokiteśvara but to all ten-level Bodhisattvas, who, similar to Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, are close to liberating themselves and satisfying Buddha’s soteriological goal.
The Heart Sutra starts as follows:
“The Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, as he practices the Perfection of Wisdom profoundly, gained an illuminating insight into the Emptiness of all the Five Aggregates, thus realizing that this is the way to relieve all beings from sufferings.“ (Chinese=觀自在菩薩, 行深般若波羅蜜多時. 照見五蘊皆空, 度一切苦厄.“
Emptiness (Romanized Sanskrit = shunyata; Chinese=空), according to The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen, is “also known as “void,“ is a “central notion of Buddhism….Shunyata is often equated with the absolute in the Mahayana since it is without duality and empirical forms.“
As it is to be discussed, in Mayahana Buddhism, the absolute is Citta, a quiescent mentality and the Ultimate Reality.
Immediately after his proclamation that all the Five Aggregates are Empty, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara told Sariputra (Chinese=舍利子) the following lines that make the Heart Sutra “the single most commonly recited, copied, and studied scripture in East Asian Buddhism.“
Sariputra (Chinese=舍利子) is “one of the top disciples of the Buddha. He is considered the first of the Buddha’s two chief male disciples, together with Maudgalyāyana (Chinese=目犍連).“
Rupa is no different than Emptiness (Chinese=色不異空).
Emptiness is no different than rupa. (Chinese=空不異色).
Rupa is just Emptiness (Chinese=色即是空).
Emptiness is just rupa. (Chinese=空即是色)
So are the four other Aggregates (Chinese=sho受想行識亦復如是).”
As discussed earlier, rupa (Chinese=色), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit and Pali, “body,” “form,“ or “materiality,“ viz., that which has shape and is composed of matter. More generally, rupa refers to materiality, which serves as the object of the five sensory consciousness (vijnana): visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile.“ In other words, rupa represents the material world that humans experience through seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching.
By unequivocally and repeatedly equating rupa and Empty and that all the remaining four Aggregates are also Empty, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara confirms his knowledge that all the Five Aggregates are mental. Furthermore, by associating his understanding with the Five Aggregates, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara shows his understanding that rupa and Emptiness are equal because rupas are “mere projections of consciousness.“ This is the meaning of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara’s next saying, “All phenomena are the manifestations of Emptiness (Chinese=是諸法空相).“
In other words, the phenomenal world is illusional because, without the projections of consciousness, the phenomena world does not exist.
Indeed, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara’s realization that all phenomena are illusional is compatible with Buddha’s teaching in the Diamond Sutra.
In the Diamond Sutra, Buddha says:
“All conditioned dharmas are like the illusions of dreams, shadows of bubbles (Chinese=一切有為法，如夢幻泡影)
Like dews and lightning, they should be understood this way (Chinese=如露亦如電，應作如是觀).”
With his understanding that all the Five Aggregates are Empty, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara is aware that he has liberated himself from his existential sufferings. Being “a tenth-level bodhisattva associated with great compassion,“ the first thing that comes to Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara’s mind is that it “is the way to relieve all from sufferings.”
After summarizing his findings, the Bodhisattva continues: “There is no birth or death, no defilement or purity, no adding or subtracting (Chinese=不生不滅, 不垢不淨, 不增不減.”).
Furthermore, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara goes on to mention a list of Buddha’s doctrines, such as the Five Aggregates (Chinese=色受想行識), the Six Sensory Bases (Chinese=眼耳鼻舌身意), Their Six Corresponding Sense Objects (Chinese=色聲香味觸法), Unenlightenment (Chinese=無明), End of Enlightenment (Chinese=無明盡), Aging and Death (Chinese=老死), End of Aging or Death (Chinese=無老死), Four Truths for the Nobles (苦集滅道), etc., and deem them all “nil within Emptiness.“ (Chinese=空中無).“ In other words, they do not exist in nature.
Let’s start by discussing why Buddha’s doctrines are nil.
As discussed in a previous post, in Diamond Sutra, Buddha instructs Buddhist monks, “You bhiksus should understand my teachings as the Parable of Raft: even Buddha Dharma must be relinquished, let alone the non-Buddha dharmas.“ So, what Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara realized is compatible with what Buddha instructed.
Buddha’s verbal teachings are “nil“ and “must be relinquished“ because they are ordinary comprehension that leads only to a mere conceptual understanding of Buddha’s teachings through studying Buddhist sutras.“
However, by negating Buddha’s teachings because they are mere conceptual understanding of Buddha’s teachings through understanding the Emptiness of the Five Aggegages, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara shows that he understands that concepts are created in our minds “in ways we do not govern.“ Since concepts do not exist in nature, learning them cannot lead to “an accurate and precise understanding“ of the nature of reality. To gain “an accurate and precise understanding“ of the nature of reality, one must use direct perception to gain prajna.
Now, let’s talk about Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara’s statement, “No birth or death, no turbidity or purity, no addition or subtraction.“ The statement is significant because it is about discriminating inferentially connected dualities, which Buddha calls grahyagrahakavikalpa.
Grahyagrahakavikalpa (Chinese=所取能取分別), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit, “discrimination between the grasped and the grasper,“ or “false conception of apprehended and the apprehender,“ a special kind of discrimination (Vikalpa) used in the Yogacara school to refer to the misconception that there is an inherent bifurcation between a perceiving subject (grahaka) and its perceived object (grahya).”
As discussed earlier, Suchness (Romanized Sanskrit=Tathaga, Chinese=真如), like Emptiness, is “a term for ultimate reality,” but from a different perspective. The definition of Suchess contains the following, “In Yogacara/Vijnanavada, the term refers to the ultimate wisdom that is free from the subject-object distinction (grahyagrahakavikalpa)” “In the Madhyamaka school, any attempt to substantiate the nature of reality is rejected, and tathata is instead identified with Emptiness and the cessation of all dichotomizing tendencies of thought.”
In other words, the Emptiness is identified with “the cessation of all dichotomizing tendencies of thought,” “free from the subject-object distinction,“ and the ultimate wisdom.
By stating that there is “No birth or death, no turbidity or purity, no addition or subtraction,“ Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara shows he understands that “subject-object distinction“ is not part of nature. That knowledge, of course, can only be realized through realizing the ultimate wisdom of Emptiness.
As Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara continues, he talks about what it takes to realize the ultimate wisdom of Emptiness.
With everything “nil,“ Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara concludes that “there is nothing to possess (Chinese=無所得).“ However, having nothing to possess is not bad, as Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara continued, “Because there is nothing to possess, the Bodhisattvas, relying on the practice of the perfection of wisdom, become carefree. Being carefree and without fear (the Bodhisattvas) are far from topsy-turvy reveries and ultimately enter Nirvana. Buddhas of past, present, and future(Romanized Sanskrit=tirkala; Chinese=三世), relying on practicing the perfection of wisdom, realize anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. (Chinese=以無所得故，菩提薩埵, 依般若波羅蜜多故, 心無罣礙, 無罣礙故, 無有恐怖, 遠離顛倒夢想, 究竟涅槃. 三世諸佛, 依般若波羅蜜多故, 得阿搙多羅三藐三菩提).”
Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi (Chinese=阿搙多羅三藐三菩提),“ as discussed previously, is “in Sanskrit, “unsurpassed (anuttara), complete (samyak) and perfect enlightenment (sambodhi).“
Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara is very clear that by “relying on practicing the perfection of wisdom,“ he “realizes anuttara-samyak-sambodhi,“ which allows him to realize the “ultimate wisdom“ of Emptiness. By realizing the “ultimate wisdom“ of Emptiness, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara realizes that there is no “subject-object distinction,“ which allows him to declare there is “No birth or death, no turbidity or purity, no addition or subtraction.“
Being “free from the subject-object distinction“ is why Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara can be “far from topsy-turvy reveries.“ Indeed, through the understanding that all the Five Aggregates are Empty, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara realizes all dualities are but inferentially connected concepts created in our minds “in ways we do not govern.“ In other words, like the world we experience, dualities are created in minds and, therefore, as illusional. Indeed, considering them real is delusional.
With his delusions (Chinese=忘想) gone, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara can be “far from topsy-turvy reveries,” and be ready to enter “enter Nirvana.”
Nirvana (Chinese=涅槃), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit, “extinction,“ the earliest and most common term describing the soteriological goal of Buddhism.“
So, what is Buddha’s soteriological goal?
In the Lotus Sutra, Buddha stated his soteriological goal clearly as below:
“I initially vowed.
To make all sentient beings my equal without a difference.
Now that I have fulfilled this vow
That I made in the past.
I can transform them.
So they all enter the path of Buddhahood.”
In other words, Buddha aspired for everyone to become a Tathagata and be “his equal without a difference.“
Indeed, by practicing the Perfection of Wisdom and realizing the Emptiness of the Five Aggregates, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara gains the ultimate wisdom and has liberated himself from his existential suffering. However, the path from being freed from suffering to becoming a Tathagata may still take some time.
Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara still had to eliminate latent tendencies (Romanized Sanskrit =vasana; Chinese=習氣); habituations accumulated over innumerable previous cycles of samsara. However, getting rid of habituation does not require work (Chinese=無功用道). As long as no additional habituations are incurred, getting rid of habituations is like getting rid of the smell from an open wine barrel; it happens naturally with time.
Given that Nirvana describes “the soteriological goal of Buddhism,“ it is critical to understand Nirvana accurately. As Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara’s example shows, entering the final Nirvana represents an elevation in enlightenment and wisdom. It is certainly not to be confused with “achieved at death,“ as some like to believe.
With everything Empty in the cosmos, the journey in Buddhism is mental, not physical. Buddha’s aspiration for all to enter Nirvana is, without a doubt, not an aspiration for anyone who has achieved the highest level of Buddhahood with extreme effort and time only to be met by the death of an illusional physical body that is but a “mere projects of consciousness.“
What Nirvana extinct is the existential suffering resulting from a delusional misunderstanding of reality. When one attains the ultimate wisdom of a Tathagata, one realizes that not only is there no Mind-Body problem in nature, but everything “is free from the subject-object distinction“ also. Only then can one be liberated from existential suffering, satisfy Buddha’s soteriological goal, live a “carefree and without fear“ life, and be “far from topsy-turvy reveries,“ as Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara testified.
In a future post on Emptiness, we will discuss why the dichotomy of thought is so damaging.
(If you like this post, please consider liking it and subscribing on Facebook so you will be notified when a new post comes out. Please also share to promote Buddha’s education.)
