In this post, we explore how a well-known Bodhisattva, Avalokiteśvara, liberated himself from his suffering by practicing Samathavipasyana so profoundly that he realized that the Emptiness of the Five Aggregates, thus satisfying Buddha’s soteriological goal by become a Tathagata.
First, let’s understand what Emptiness is in Buddhism.
Emptiness (Romanized Sanskrit=shunyata/sunyata; Chinese=空), according to The Dictionary Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen, 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.”
- The absolute in Buddhism refers to the quiescent mentality of Citta of the Ultimate Reality. Emptiness is another Buddhist term for the Ultimate Reality that indicates there is Nothing but Mentality in the Ultimate Reality.
- Buddha teaches that mentality is inconceivable, which, according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, means “beyond all conceptualization.”
- “Beyond all conceptualization” means that mentality cannot be conceptualized “in ways we do not govern,” one of the five sensing steps Dr. Fisch described in “How Do We Know What We Know.”
- Without conceptualization, mentality cannot manifest as a phenomenon that can be experienced, meaning it cannot be seen, heard, smelled, tasted, or touched. This is the meaning of “without empirical form” in the definition of Emptiness.
- “Void” is a word enlightened people, such as Adyashanti, often use to describe the situation they face upon their enlightenment, where there is Nothing but Mentality with nothing to see, hear, smell, taste, or touch. That is why Emptiness is also “void.”
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 highly influential Buddhist text in Mahayana Buddhism because it shows how one can satisfy Buddha’s soteriological mission and liberate oneself from existential suffering by understanding the Emptiness of the Five Aggregates, i.e., all the Five Aggregates are mental.
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.”
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.”
en combined, Prajnaparamita (Chinese=般若波羅蜜多/智度), meaning the Perfection of Wisdom, is the supreme or highest wisdom gained from “an understanding of reality that transcends ordinary comprehension,” achieved through the most profound practice of samathavipasyana.
Samathavipasyana (Chinese=止觀) is a meditative method of practicing direct perception, a unique method Buddha taught to understand the world of mentality by becoming part of it. When one becomes part of the world of mentality, it makes it possible for the enlightened to perceive it directly and have “an understanding of reality that transcends ordinary comprehension.”
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.
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.
The Heart Sutra refers Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara as Vasita.
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 all tenth-level Bodhisattvas. 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.”
With his understanding that all the Five Aggregates are Empty, i.e., mental, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara knew he had liberated himself from his sufferings. Being “a tenth-level bodhisattva associated with great compassion,” the first thing that came to Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara’s mind is that it “is the way to relieve all from sufferings.”
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.”
The Heart Sutra is so popular because, in part, some suggest these four lines below are compatible with Einstein’s famous formula, E=mc2. In fact, they are only compatible if mentality replaces energy in Einstein’s formula. Indeed, if mentality replaces energy in the formula, it is compatible with what Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara is about to express in four well-known lines: mentality and materiality are the same. In other words, there is no Mind-Body Problem. This is another example of why Buddhism and science are complementary.
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 in the last post, 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.” Rupa represents myriad phenomena in the world that are often deemed “physical.”
By unequivocally and repeatedly equating rupa and Emptiness through the understanding of the Five Aggregates, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara showed his understanding that there is no “body,” “form,” or “materiality” because it is mental. The statement “So are the four other Aggregates” means Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara understood all the Five Aggregates are mental.
Next, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara said, “It is the Emptiness of all dharma. There is no birth or death, no defilement or purity, no adding or subtracting (Chinese=是諸法空相。不生不滅, 不垢不淨, 不增不減.”). Dharma is a Romanized Sanskrit word meaning phenomena.
“Emptiness of all dharma” means that Emptiness is without all visible phenomena because it is “without empirical foms.” In the Ultimate Reality, there is Nothing but Mentality.
Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara went on to say, “Within Emptiness, there are no Five Aggregates, no Six Sense Organs, no Six Corresponding Sense Objects, no Six Corresponding Consciousness to the Six Sense Organs, no Unenlightenment, no End of Unenlightenment, no Aging and Death, no End of Aging and Death, no Four Truths for the Nobles, no Prajna, and Nothing to Possess(Chinese=空中無色，無受想行識，無眼耳鼻舌身意，無色聲香味觸法, 無眼界，乃至無意識界，無無明，亦無無明盡，乃至無老死，亦無老死盡，無苦集滅道，無智亦無得）。
The fact that Emptiness has no Five Aggregates, the Six Sense Organs, and their Corresponding Sense Objects and Consciousness confirms that there is nothing to see, hear, smell, taste, or touch, i.e., Emptiness is “without empirical forms.” There is no Unenlightenment because Emptiness is the realm of Enlightenment. There is no Aging or Death because Emptiness is the Ultimate Reality, where everything is permanent, and nothing is subject to change. There are no Four Truths for the Nobles because there is no suffering in Emptiness. There is no Prajna because wisdom is intrinsic to Enlightenment and part of the inherent nature of Emptiness. There is nothing to possess because Emptiness is Nothing but Mentality. How do you possess mentality since it is already part of you?
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).”
As discussed previously, Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi (Chinese=阿搙多羅三藐三菩提)” is “in Sanskrit, “unsurpassed (anuttara), complete (samyak) and perfect enlightenment (sambodhi).”
By practicing the perfection of wisdom and realizing anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara gained “supreme or highest wisdom,” the definition of the perfection of wisdom.”
So, what is the supreme or highest wisdom?
Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara’s statement, “No birth or death, no defilement or purity, no addition or subtraction,” sheds light because it reflects the second part of the definition that Emptiness is “without duality.” It is a concept known in Romanized Sanskrit as 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).”
Like Emptiness, Suchness (Romanized Sanskrit=Tathaga, Chinese=真如) 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 ultimate wisdom in Buddhism is identified with “the cessation of all dichotomizing tendencies of thought” and “free from the subject-object distinction.”
By stating that there was “No birth or death, no defilement or purity, no addition or subtraction,” Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara showed he had attained the ultimate wisdom because he had ceased his “dichotomizing tendencies of thought.”
Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara was very clear that by “relying on practicing the perfection of wisdom,” he “realizes anuttara-samyak-sambodhi,” which allows him to realize the “ultimate wisdom.” By realizing the “ultimate wisdom,” Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara realized that there is no “subject-object distinction,” which allowed him to declare there is “No birth or death, no defilement or purity, no addition or subtraction.”
With his existential sufferings gone and the ultimate wisdom achieved, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara could be “far from topsy-turvy reveries” and be ready to 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 vowed from the beginning. (Chinese=我本立誓愿）
To make all sentient beings my equal without a difference. （欲令一切眾, 如我等無異)
Now that I have fulfilled this vow that I made in the past. (如我昔所愿，今者已滿足)
Transform them so they all enter the path of Buddhahood.” (化一切眾生，皆令入佛道).”
In other words, Buddha aspired for everyone to be a Tathagata, which is “his equal without a difference.”
Indeed, by practicing the Perfection of Wisdom and realizing Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, the Emptiness of the Five Aggregates, and ceasing his “dichotomizing tendencies of thought,” Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara gained the ultimate wisdom and is ready to be a Tathagata.
However, the path from attaining the ultimate wisdom 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 that exists existing in the mind, the journey in Buddhism can only be 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 can be understood from what Buddha said in the Avantamsaka Sutra (Chinese=大方廣佛華嚴經): “Surprise! Surprise! All the conditioned beings of this land, while possessing the wisdom of a Tathagata, are foolish and confused and have neither knowledge nor insight. I must teach them the proper path, turn them permanently away from their delusion and attachments, and realize from within the immense wisdom of a Tathagata, without any difference from a Buddha. (Chinese=奇哉奇哉,此處眾生,雲何具有如來智慧,愚癡迷惑,不知不覺,我當教以聖道, 令其永離妄想執著,自於身中,得見如來廣大智慧,與佛無異.)”
In other words, Nirvana permanently extinct delusion and attachment confusion caused by foolishness and confusion. This is the meaning behind Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara’s statement, “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.” By realizing anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara “realized from within the immense wisdom of a Tathagata” and turned away “permanently away from their delusion and attachments.”
Indeed, only when one can turn away permanently from delusion and attachment can one truly be “carefree and without fear, far from topsy-turvy reveries and ultimately enter Nirvana.” This is the meaning of Nirvana.
Indeed, in a world that exists but in the mind, what is the meaning of possession? The fact is that everyone comes with nothing and leaves with nothing. How you live the journey in between is up to you. If you choose to be delusional and attach to possession, you are likely to live a life with “topsy-turvy reveries.” Or, you can be altruistic, enjoy life, be carefree, and be without fear, as Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara said?
We shall discuss the Observer Effect in the next post.
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