Teaching on the Heart Sutra, Part 7

From the Buddha's time to Xuanzang's westward journey, many Heart Sutra obstacle-clearing methods were used.In the scriptures and in Tibetan scriptures, encountering any demons or spirits, Heart Sutra obstacle-clearing was used to purify.Practice-version Heart Sutra and chant-version Heart Sutra differ greatly in realm.Chanting has great merit, but just chanting the Heart Sutra won't open enlightenment.The Heart Sutra's content — its purpose and effect — are very different.The Heart Sutra is for practice, cultivating inner potential development and clearing the inner heart-demon.This is the practical-use Heart Sutra.If only chanting without understanding its content, inner obstacles — even past-life obstacles — can't be removed.

"Heart Sutra" — why is it the sutra of the heart?Because it's a sutra placed in the heart for enlightenment, placed in the heart for contemplation, placed in the heart for self-examination, placed in the heart for self-awakening — not an external sutra.Being an internal sutra, it is for contemplation, meditation, quiet thinking — accessible to ordinary people.Calmly sit down to think.Normally many unresolved matters surface only in such moments.Normally we care too much about external things; we need to leave time for inner reflection and inner awakening.Every day, the moment eyes open, outside affairs are too many.Real happiness is few, suffering is many; negative messages too many, warm messages very few — 70–80% negative.If negative messages pile up, you become the fuse — the moment a bottom-line is touched, you explode.All outside things equate to our accumulated negatives, so the Heart Sutra clears obstacles for us.The external heart-demon must be handled with positive wisdom-speech.Learn to self-rescue.The soul is yours; life is yours; everything in your life is yours.Nobody can understand you; only through the Purple Star chart can you really understand yourself.

Chart-reading methods mostly only reveal personality and luck.How is the real self created?Many factors create the current self.Perhaps the hasty temperament, habit, becomes inertia, becomes natural, so you keep doing wrong.Where does this personality come from?50% is memories from past and present lives.Things you did in past lives — the brain carries this information.The other 50% is after-birth: education, family background.50% innate, 50% acquired.If innate can't be changed, change the acquired; if acquired can't be changed, change the innate — at least half a chance.If both fail, how do you live?Because you don't know your meaning of existence.

Everyone lives mediocre lives.The biggest question: why am I here?Comparison, discrimination, loss-and-gain begin.If you compare with others, you gradually become aggressive, lose yourself.Comparing produces copying others' behavior and speech.In this life, I never found myself.Finding not-the-real-self is most people's state.So we can't have copying behavior.If every day we worship others and don't become our true self, we can't become Buddha.To become Avalokiteśvara, your behavior, speech, bearing, compassion must all be universal like Avalokiteśvara — then you are the Avalokiteśvara of the human world; in the Dharma realm there's Avalokiteśvara saving beings compassionately — equal behavior.Looking at behavior and cultivation, not just chanting."Reading the sutra is not as good as understanding the sutra; understanding is not as good as no-sutra" — because you've already seen through this sutra's meaning.You start to think: oh, the sutra is a process; no need to keep this sutra, because you've understood inner cultivation, clearing inner fears, scares, gains-and-losses.Seeing all the inner discriminations about matters.Understanding this sutra — the substantial meaning is no longer needed, because you've enlightened the heart.No need for external appearance.Like a child learning mental math — finally using an invisible abacus to compute.

Learning Buddhism has beginner, intermediate, high levels — analogous.At high level is enlightenment, not chanting.What is enlightenment?Opening the body's potential and wisdom — that's becoming Buddha.Buddha has no form; don't deliberately shape Buddha's image.If you cling to that Buddha image, you can't really enlighten.Enlightenment can't happen.The real Heart Sutra lets us leap past material things, leap past things we care about, leap past the pain of ordinary-mind and comparison-mind — teaching how to leap past the eight sufferings.

The eight sufferings are what we face every day.This life's sufferings aren't just eight — definitely more than eight; just summarized as eight.How to classify?Human eight sufferings — these eight produce birth, old age, sickness, death — not voluntary.Why is birth suffering?All causes-conditions are suffering.Before getting something, you must pay the price.All phenomena in heaven and earth require corresponding payment — nothing comes from nowhere.From the suffering of childbirth, suffering continues unceasingly.So it should be birth-sickness-old age-death; birth and old age are beginning and end; sickness and death are a pair: birth paired with old age, sickness paired with death.To produce two, called birth-old-sick-death.Look at the article — if paragraph breaks shift slightly, meaning changes.Because people dare not alter Heart Sutra content and don't enlighten.When Xuanzang translated, he used Pali, not Tibetan — the local language.The Śākya clan also used Pali.Like Chinese translating English versus foreigners translating English, there's a gap.Word usage and local cultural intent differ; the professional parts have errors easily, including punctuation.In the Four Books, slight punctuation shifts change meaning.When reading sutras, read the whole scripture; punctuation shifted up or down changes meaning.Place "Śāriputra" in the wrong spot — meaning differs.And what the three characters "Śāriputra" represent — if unknown, same as parrots only chanting Buddha-names.Great wisdom gained from the Heart Sutra — most hear little.If you cultivated in previous lives, understanding is different.Learning Buddhadharma accumulates — if you don't learn you forget.But if next life you have the affinity to encounter it, it touches those nerves; enlightenment comes faster.So learning right things this life — things to inherit next life come faster.If learning wrong things this life, things to inherit don't catch up.For example, hearing another's Heart Sutra talk, then hearing Master's Heart Sutra talk — there's a gap.The practice-version and theory-version Heart Sutra differ greatly.Also the practice-version and ordinary-version Diamond Sutra differ greatly.

The Diamond Sutra is all about emptiness.If you can break through emptiness, you naturally enlighten; you understand where the Diamond Sutra's enlightenment lies.If you don't put effort into correcting at the "empty" point, even after 20–30 years no enlightenment.That's the sutra's code.Many key words to understand.What is "empty"?Like in the Heart Sutra it's also empty.If everything is empty, what can you do?Everything ends in emptiness — so what hopes?What you face comes empty one by one; what appears in us is only by feeling.What have you really obtained?Think — truly nothing can be obtained.The ending is "nothing," including you yourself.

Life is like a machine; it can fast-forward and finish one life quickly.We only live in a slow-forward world, so everything tortures us.Especially sad things feel very long; happy days always pass quickly.What is suffering, what is happiness?If you feel satisfied and happy, that's happiness.Satisfaction alone produces happiness — satisfaction is getting what you want.This too is one of the eight sufferings: "suffering of not getting what you seek." Can't get, can't seek, can't love — produces suffering.If got but lost — "suffering of parting with the loved." Love produces hate; feeling produces resentment — "suffering of meeting the hated."

So everyone's life is like a sugar-coated pill — if you like, there's suffering.Everything has two sides.Look at positive and negative at once — one positive, one negative.A wise person must look at two sides.Positive opposite is negative.Behind love is hate.Behind feeling is enmity.Love, hate, feeling, worry circulate until awakening.Things don't awaken us until they hit us.Behind riches is poverty — "from luxury to simplicity is hard." When you have the world, you'll surely lose something.Rarely do rich people seem happy — they lose health, lose marriage affection, lose parent-child relations, even lose kindness.A circle cut in half — have one half, surely lose the other — balance.When thinking, don't always just want to gain.Think of losing, so when losing one day, no torture.Prepare in advance.

Where there's gain, there's loss.Knowing this is life's process — "gained is conditioned arising; lost is conditioned ceasing" — nothing happens, success.When this habit is established, the heart-demon doesn't arise; suffering feelings no longer arise.Treat as take-or-leave; discrimination in suffering gradually resolves.Thinking of having is happy; losing too — because it was going to leave anyway.You've thought it through, so you've won yourself.Inner suffering-demon gradually recedes.

So Heart Sutra means: when you establish that all things in the world are relational, when conditions end, you leave with the matter.Heaven and earth definitely have time limits; humans too — not for lifetime use.When time comes, body and soul end their condition.The soul feels tired of the smelly skin-bag.When soul wants to leave, he'll make us sick, get cancer, have accidents, because the soul wants to escape the body — he's decided to go.First, we didn't practice; second, didn't comfort our soul; third, in a hard-earned human body we trampled and ravaged.So reincarnate into another smelly skin-bag — see if there's a chance to practice.

A cultivator's realm can reincarnate into another realm — because this body has some bad habits uneliminated, so I can't properly practice Buddhadharma this life.So try every way to leave quickly, no way to practice liberation dharma, unsuitable, better reincarnate.Should reincarnate into a Buddhist family or a parent who is Buddhist — very harmonious family.So rather choose this family, start over.Many virtuous practitioners pass early; many with insufficient wisdom create speech karma.

In the world, many see "clearly doing good deeds but passing early," then gossip arises.Only one-third or fewer practitioners congratulate him.Actually life is a sea of suffering; his merit is perfect, the Thunder God came to lead him.His own merit perfected, became immortal; put down the smelly skin-bag, led to the immortal realm — called perfect merit.Same event — two-thirds gossip, one-third praise.Same matter, different views.Joyful-mind arisers have cultivation; most arise resentment-mind, not only committing speech karma but also "anger-hate" mind.

"Doubt" is suspicion.So resentment in the heart, imbalance — this is karma's source.To eliminate karma, from now on use positive views, and no new karma gets created.Old karma — because heart-nature changed, concept turned — can also be eliminated.Because previous thoughts were too childish, repent to the old thought — shouldn't have thought the person so bad or the matter so terrible.Repent not thinking the person so poor, not slandering buddhas and bodhisattvas.When you turn thought, you won't create many new karmas.This is natural karma-elimination.When concept turns, old karma turns off one by one, auto-released.Even attending a dharma assembly isn't faster than self-repentance.Dharma assembly gathers all powers, more release energy.Self-release method — correct past concepts, turn thought — is karma elimination, releasing step by step.Future won't create new karma.Karma is in resentment, discrimination, comparison.Karma divides: white karma produces merit; black/evil karma comes to collect debt, producing force.

Now the Heart Sutra is a filter for facing things.After filtering, look at matters — evil won't turn to good, nor good to evil."Prosperity to Me" is a filter — meet anything bad, turn to "Prosperity to Me." Heart won't be hurt.This is energy conversion."Prosperity to Me" is also useful.Feng-shui masters use this way — hitting a corner, that corner is also "Prosperity to Me." A pole in front — paste "Prosperity to Me." Turn attack energy into prayer energy.When others criticize what you face daily or say ugly things, use "Prosperity to Me" to turn thought — very useful.As long as not stirred, the heart-demon won't come out; you won't care about what others say, won't become what others want.Thought is critical.Resentment is reduced; met with joy, naturally all is good.Treat your view as good or bad — all twelve awarenesses are good, because you have choice — only then are right-wrong, good-bad discrimination.

Magnetic love-dharma, embracing-dharma — use love to attract good luck, affinity, romance."Prosperity to Me / Love to Me" — a mustard seed, let everyone visualize sticking a label on the chest.When meeting anyone — "Prosperity to Love / Prosperity to Me," from form to formless, produce from thought-force.This is the way to change fate.When you stick the labels of "love" and "wealth" on things you dislike, your relationships and affinity will change.On customers — "Prosperity to Me." Customers really want to pull out money and buy.Practice long enough, attraction naturally emerges.

Change through feng-shui, yang-house, Buddhadharma.The first barrier: discard previously-formed uncertain concepts.Start from scratch — the only rule for changing fate.If already successful, don't abandon your thoughts; if not, I recommend starting from zero — still in time.If it's a wrong equation, no matter how long you compute, no correct answer.Better abandon and redo.Don't compute long and still wrong — surely wrong.When you first feel off, start from scratch; there's still a chance.Finding your life so far failing — marriage, career, family, or life — whatever around you off, must stop, otherwise burden grows.If method is wrong, your thought wrong, must stop, properly put in a correct equation.Everything can start over.If willing to put down and start over, will succeed, not keep going wrong.Life succeeded once — worthwhile.Same with all things, including past practice errors.Must abandon, find a right method, restart.Otherwise half a life spent is wrong; no gain wastes this life.Everything can be redone, as long as you do.Starting over is in time.Failure is because wrong method, wrong concept, wrong thought; cultivating Buddha the same — the more you cultivate the more chaotic, can't find yourself; if correct, whether learning Buddha, doing business, saving money, viewing matters — all succeed.All in yourself, unrelated to others.One who can't adapt to this world — his own issue, because society operates this way.If negative messages are too many, don't look, don't listen — why want to look and harm yourself?

All causes come down to self.What you want you can't get, so eight sufferings return: "seeking not obtained," "parting with the loved." Finally obtained, then parting again — "parting with the loved" arises."Meeting the hated" — resentment, worry, hate — all because something was obtained then lost, comparison, "meeting the hated." Resenting, slighting, disdaining produces inner imbalance.Everyone has these.All is causes-conditions.Whose affinity is whose — not your own, forcing is useless.Everything in the world isn't accidental — arranged in advance.When what comes, what is lost — called affinity.The chart shows: when conditioned-arising, when conditioned-ceasing, when earning money, when hitting bottom.Old couples sometimes fight about divorce — actually because another has intervened, discrimination.Is a person good or bad?With desire in the world it's hard to classify good or bad, because wind-swayed, no wisdom to judge.Nothing comes from heaven.Everything requires paying the price.If you can pay, take; if can't, don't take.Taking it becomes debt, becomes burden, becomes karma.If legally obtained, no karma — because you've paid.Everything without discriminatory interest produces no karma.So no forcing and no not-cherishing.Conditioned-arising, cherish; conditioned-ceasing, send off.Pondering these two concepts well, facing all things: only usage right, no ownership right.Then clinging to matter and people, to feeling and money, gradually sees through.Not ruthless — in the realm between take-or-leave — no resentment left.As long as there's hate, resentment, un-letting-go — it becomes samsara's source.

So life's eight sufferings also become karma's source, dragging back to earth.Because heart holds suffering, bring suffering back to reincarnate, continue.If in this life you don't cut this source off, whether reincarnating or not, at least transmigration place will be better.People who like being active, battling, finally reincarnate to war-countries, fighting daily; combative becomes a love-fight person; fighting stays in memory.Like fighting roosters — hard-won human birth but fighting-rooster behavior unchanged.Look at past lives — really a Thai fighting-rooster reincarnated.How many times to reincarnate — a homework.Carrying eight sufferings, reincarnated meeting karma.

Homeless people in rags picking trash to eat — many are reincarnated stray dogs.Next life easily become stray dogs again.Same behavior, no wisdom growth — identical to stray dogs.Equal to a stray dog in human skin.Current dog skin is wearing a homeless person; roles played same, only clothes different.Also some ladies daily done up flashy — most beautiful animals: peacock and fox.Many reincarnate into these.Heart-nature determines reincarnated form, not just appearance.His heart creates his behavior pattern.Observing, you'll see his movements and behavior like some creature.Many since childhood steal — like rats, sneaking at night.His heart-nature's behavior is thief.Finally reincarnates to rat.If your behavior is like Avalokiteśvara saving suffering compassionately — pitying beings in all matters — human-realm bodhisattva.Actually you are the bodhisattva.Is Kṣitigarbha really in hell?Not necessarily.The spirit: "Hell not empty, I vow not to become Buddha." Just saying that line, Kṣitigarbha became Buddha, because behavioral mode's great vow makes Buddha.This position is Kṣitigarbha's.

Many "no-cultivation Buddhahood." In tantric dharma also "no-cultivation Buddhahood." What is no-cultivation Buddhahood?Like last time's water-liberation.Six no-cultivation Buddhahood methods.Not very hard chanting sutras — just giving, giving to beings.Water-liberation gives to beings; no-cultivation Buddhahood; let all beings in water be liberated — our lifelong cultivation.Souls drowned in water — we use water-liberation mantra to save them.This behavior is buddhas', Avalokiteśvara's — you surely become Avalokiteśvara.Beings call you bodhisattva; even spirits call you bodhisattva.Called no-cultivation Buddhahood.Because behavior is already buddhas' and bodhisattvas', what more to cultivate?No need to chant sutras — your very behavior is buddhas' and bodhisattvas', speech is same, lotus-flower-spitting, buddhas' and bodhisattvas' behavior, deeds buddhas' and bodhisattvas'.

In tantric dharma, making a great vow produces the greatest dynamic, the greatest intention-force."Hell not empty, I vow not to become Buddha" — the great vow arose.How did Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara come?Initially he was only first-stage bodhisattva.Ability only first stage.But beings are many — globally; one person is hard to save all.Avalokiteśvara once vowed: willing to divide his body, even pulverize, go everywhere to save beings — greater force to save beings.Thousand-Light King Still-Abiding Tathāgata appeared and empowered Avalokiteśvara; at that moment grew thousand hands and thousand eyes, all eyes on the palms.Seeing hands reminds of Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara's spirit — see immediately save; hand reaches eye reaches, eye reaches hand reaches.Not just 1,000 — innumerable.Infinite eyes contemplating, infinite hands saving beings.Wherever eyes see, go save."Pray in 1,000 places, respond in 1,000 places" — wherever prayer, there seen, then save.Making this great vow immediately became Thousand-Armed Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteśvara.

Making a great vow is very important.The great vow decides one life.Great-vow power can overturn heaven and earth, totally reverse a person.Great vow is same as great repentance.I don't want to be ordinary; I want to transcend ordinary into holiness.Not "hope" but "I vow." In religion, making a great vow is the greatest offering.All buddhas and bodhisattvas accomplish through great vows: "Medicine Buddha's Twelve Great Vows," "Thousand-Armed Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteśvara's great vow," "Amitābha's Ten Great Vows" — nearly all bodhisattvas accomplish through great vows.Greatest potential explodes instantly.

So a person stingy with self or others — stinginess emitted outward — never gets blessing.For example, learning qigong — if stingy to emit energy for others' healing or for release ability — then heaven and the universe won't give you blessing energy.The more you use, the more you have.Universe energy is like this.If not used on meaningful people or saving-others behavior, your abilities remain only this; you won't be very strong.If you save many and help many, from the void comes blessing — because you help many, more is given.Bodhisattvas' blessing is also like this.Willing to spread dharma, save beings — buddhas' and bodhisattvas' blessing to you will be more.If seeking only one's own good, not benefiting beings, you get less, because selfishness isn't benefiting beings.Buddhas' and bodhisattvas' spirit is this simple — "benefiting beings," four characters.First make this your prayer topic: "I want to benefit beings, but if there's any left over, let me live out my remaining years." This force magnifies.Buddhas' and bodhisattvas' blessing becomes very large.Put self at the end, not always at the front.The Dharma realm's view is often opposite to the human world's — called reverse-action force.In the Dharma realm, "I want" versus what buddhas and bodhisattvas hear is different; thinking modes differ."I want this, I want to give myself this" — buddhas and bodhisattvas hear a selfish person caring only about self, a stingy person not caring about others.Message gets stepped on.Think he's filthy, too selfish — why bless?On the contrary, don't give energy — completely different.

Like a very mature adult versus a child whining for something — fighting, crying, "I want this, that..." — just a small toy.When the father feels crying and making a fuss for just a worthless small toy, unsafe, poor quality — "how so uncultured" — he won't give the child, won't buy.Humans' response to children's demands resembles buddhas' and bodhisattvas' feeling about us.So prayer-power — in front of buddhas and bodhisattvas, don't use very selfish self-centered behavior to pray.

Senior buddhas-bodhisattvas and spirits — their prayer method differs from praying to sky-devas.Earth-god is still enjoying human offerings — must state clearly, "let me earn money, I'll repay you what in exchange." This can be negotiated, because in deity-status there's still human intent, so conditions can be discussed.But "give me earnings, let me get rich" — this is wrong; one must pay a price.There's no "given to you." From now on, praying to Buddha, bodhisattva, deity, earth-god — "no asking for wealth or asking for what" — in universe myriad things, price must be paid.Something without payment is very dangerous; later price will be taken back.

Previously a breakfast store — originally a warehouse storing and wholesaling liquor and drinks.Later invited a Martial Wealth God; really won 30-some million.Then stopped drinks and liquor; kept playing with 30 million — lost 60 million.Warehouse auctioned.The Wealth God was displaced.A disciple wanted to deposit the Wealth God at the maṇḍala — I didn't agree.That wasn't a real deity — a possessed one, possessed by a ghost.Negotiated conditions, let you win, but you didn't repay — so principal and interest reclaimed.Luckily paid 60 million; if hadn't, wife and child could be taken to pay debt.Must pay price; otherwise what to repay with?So praying to unclear deities for wealth is very dangerous.Also don't assume that deity is the one you think — because you haven't opened the heavenly eye.Later found: inside was a ghost.Ghost gives you conditions, but you don't understand.Everything looks good, because you accept whatever conditions.Even if you really got rich, no one informed through a medium of the ghost's conditions, so the ghost treats as "no matter"; just like Four-Faced Buddha also requires return.If no return, same taking back — same paying price.Four-Faced Buddha is Brahmā — great, but why return?There's no free lunch under heaven; price must be paid.

Universe energy — no massing a chunk and giving you.This energy seeks balance; take here, pay there, otherwise losing balance, unfair.So when a person — unknown things — will lose equivalent things; can't complain.Like Purple Star — auspicious stars and malefic stars; not all good.Of 108 stars, some malefic some auspicious.Every chart same, same positions placed differently; karma amount is the distribution of auspicious and malefic.If chart shows will be rich, but a malefic star beside — hides a Blade star, or Yin-malefic star.There is one — scoops a chunk away.Earning money requires paying interest.Everything in the world requires paying a price.How to pay — think in advance, so later events don't become unmanageable scenes.Interpersonal — pay a price or not?If you feel you paid but didn't get repay, resentment arises; grievance isn't good affinity.So when getting, dedicate — grasp balance, pay price.If a person willing to pay a price for what gained, many karmic forces won't arise.Maybe someone complains, dislikes, curses, envies — just didn't say out loud, grievance behind back.Why these things arise?Imbalance; can't make everyone satisfied.Old saying: "Who isn't talked behind their back; who doesn't talk behind others' backs?" Everyone has criticism behind.Everyone also criticizes others.Relative balance.So no perfect person — unless on a mountain, in seclusion.That's why many cultivators go to mountains for seclusion.Not seeing people, you won't talk about them.Not seeing beauty, no beauty-ugliness distinction.Not seeing people, no gossip; no gossip, mood doesn't fluctuate.All matters start because of people.Leaving human contact, don't disturb your mood.Heart can calm.All inner potential gradually opens.Even a cricket jumping by can be heard — only then can you find yourself.Seclusion is to re-find yourself, re-find my feeling.Normally heart is outside, not inside, so you can't find self.Occasionally seclude two days a week — gradually find life's value, your potential surfaces.

Every day, eyes open, dealing with surroundings — always coping outward, never letting the heart quiet to look at self.The heart gets lost; thoughts lost.Finally can't find self.Personality is others' personality; what I said is what others said; thoughts are others' thoughts.How much of my real thought is left?We've been hypnotized by society.Real own thoughts — very few.What I've said has been said by others — all learned.Young people today learn speech from TV; characters written are Martian characters unreadable; speech is slangy and incomprehensible.Gradually disconnected, imitating others, fully copying, lost self, can't find what self is.Not to mention young — we too, with age, gradually can't find self.

Begin finding self.Ask self: what can I do?Can I lead everything?Can I arrange my own life?Seems impossible — all kidnapped.Kidnapped by kids, by reality, by career, by husband or wife, by friends.As kids kidnapped by family, by parents.At school kidnapped by teachers and classmates.Entering society and marriage, kidnapped by husband, by family.Till now still kidnapped.Can you seclude for three months?Impossible — once back home, kidnapped by kids.I need to earn money and pay interest — kidnapped by the house.Can't move.If you drop everything to vacation three weeks?Impossible!

One: not free.Two: no liberty.Three: can't leap past this environment's binding.Can't leave the frame, can't turn out.How long can you be kidnapped?Tragic — bound till death.Never willful life.No self; even without recognizing what this life is doing.All living in house, car, kids, husband — kidnapped.Always tied to death.Can you do what?Women called housewives.Men or women — from childhood tied in this.The heart is bound."Born in Chu, heart in Han" — same meaning.

Now talking about heart — tie to the heart, tie to body, or tie to mind?Different endings.We can't separate body, heart, soul.Helping the body means binding the heart — all bound together.If you separate body-heart-soul — binding the body isn't binding your heart; binding your heart doesn't bind your soul.Three — at least one can escape.Body bound, heart escapes; heart bound, soul escapes.The heart that binds us is the flesh-lump heart, not the real heart.The real heart is the thinking-contemplating heart, not the feeling heart — different.The heart that feels matters is perception.My heart wanting to leave for a happier place is consciousness, called "renunciation mind." Heart is a consciousness, a feeling — different.So soul-leaving-body — while alive, consciousness-action's renunciative action.My consciousness can move out of body, can leave the soul — called consciousness-action.When dead, truly soul-leaving — soul leaves body.Alive, don't say soul-leaving — called consciousness-action, heart-renunciation.So currently body is bound but heart can't be.So we learn Heart Sutra's meaning — train my heart to float out, showing I've seen through body — doesn't matter, just a lump of flesh — but my heart is a bodhisattva.Body is a lump of pork.Then soul and flesh gradually separate.Heart easily does transference.Transfer to where?When dead, heart and soul separate; soul doesn't die, doesn't experience body-rot or crematory burning pain.In soul reincarnation — while alive, practice heart-to-heart, soul-to-soul separation.How to learn?From the Heart Sutra you learn.Flesh is flesh — layer by layer look inward: large intestine, small intestine, heart-liver-lungs all separate.Our body's heart is the new soul — it's the soul.Who looks separately?The fourth consciousness, Ālayavijñāna, Manas — this is awareness beyond the body, from the sixth, seventh, eighth to ninth consciousness — beyond the body's internal awareness, looking at flesh-heart-soul.What I'm now looking with is Ālaya and Manas — called subconscious behavior.So the Heart Sutra creates a fourth self.Besides seeing flesh-heart-soul, there's also one who can see the soul — Ālaya, the heart that thinks beyond the body.Views and thoughts outside the body — this is what we're currently practicing.Having wisdom or not — practicing this wisdom-body, i.e., dharmakāya, wisdom-body can see fleshly behavior, see heart's mental state, see soul's transformation — called the fourth, not the third.Jumping past you-me-him three roles, seeing through their relations — you are the fourth, so you see clearly, because you see what self is doing.Soul-leaving — I see myself doing, see others doing, see affinities doing — three situations very clear, producing wisdom to know what can and can't be done, is there evil affinity, is my behavior correct — begin repair action.If with you-me-him perspective, won't repair self; placing self inside own body won't repair self, because people mostly don't introspect or repent — because self-existence is too serious, unwilling to admit flaws.If an outsider looks, sees your good and bad; the outsider won't say or judge, won't change you, because unrelated — so no self-grasping.You-me is self-grasping; he is others.Then jump out one referee — the fourth.Heart Sutra creates a fourth to look at myself and others."Bystanders see clearly" — looking at self will be wrong, no "player referees self." Looking at self is player referees self; many matters unclear, many done wrong, many don't understand conditioned-arising-ceasing process, don't know future gain — totally unclear.You also can't see if your decisions are right or wrong; inside and outside both unclear.When you jump out as another, you see behavior clearly, final outcome.

"Renunciation mind" isn't "going forth." Going forth is renunciation — leaving house, soul leaves the house of body, called consciousness-action.House isn't family house; going forth's house is the body.Who goes forth?My heart goes forth, leaving my body — see what I'm doing.This is the meaning of going forth.Practice-version going forth versus worldly going forth differ.Some say leaving house = forgetting house.But current monks and nuns — how many truly leave the house of family?Unless truly no family.If still have family or parents or wife-kids, body left home, heart still thinks of wife, kids, parents — then not truly left home.If parents alive and going forth, but body or heart still with them, no distinction.The heart can leave; putting down is true going forth.If wearing kaṣāya but heart at home, that's superficial going forth.Heart still worldly, speech worldly, movements worldly, eating worldly, behavior worldly — the whole day's affairs worldly.Then going forth has no meaning.True going forth is heart leaving this world, this environment, these people — called perfect going forth.Heart-leaving going forth is called perfect going forth.Not abandoning all to leave home — that's not perfect; creates eight sufferings.Meeting-the-hated also comes.Wife leaves for husband going forth — parting with the loved; hard to cut, very painful.I can heart-go-forth without body-going-forth, like worldly — then no severance with children, no severance with spouse.Only heart cultivates Buddhadharma without disturbing current family life — that's perfect, no complaint, no hatred, no regret.Most beautiful.If heart can go forth, don't mind external behavior.Outer appearance and inner different — "when in Rome do as Romans." Family also well-tended, perfect, but heart isn't doing worldly things — cultivating Buddhadharma, no influence.This is the loveliest cultivation, loveliest going forth, not swayed.Tantra says heart must be firm like the Vajra.Firm — I haven't changed my thought — but worldly I let it be perfect, let family be warm, not abandon.To this degree needs practice, but can be done.Master's one heart can serve many — won't forget turning dharma wheel while making tea, won't forget visualization while watching TV, won't forget looking at books while visualizing.This is heart's ease, fully using every moment.

Everything in the world — no stirring thought, no auspicious or ominous.Not stirring heart, no auspicious-ominous.Once stirring, auspicious-ominous arises.Joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, good, evil distinction.Stirring brings auspicious-ominous; not stirring, none.Like feng-shui — not open door, not open window, no action, no breaking ground — no auspicious-ominous.Not moving, no matter.Once moving, good-bad distinction.Eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind.Eye seeing — good-bad distinction.Ears listening — good/bad speech distinction.Nose smelling — fragrant/stinky distinction.Mouth distinguishes tasty/untasty.All "discrimination-mind" comes.Because having eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind — called five thieves.Five little thieves harm you, make you sin.Daily make self sin — eye-ear-nose-tongue-body-mind.So eyes, nose, mouth sometimes need rest, not endlessly pursue.Eyes endless looking, ears endless listening to gossip, "all-eating," one-heart only wanting to try fresh — deluded in eating.Five senses lead to endless pursuit, endless confusion, consume five energies.Must control, teach, train.Heart Sutra used like this, not just casually chanted.

In meditation, start visualizing.I'm looking at myself, not outside.See myself now very relaxed, at ease, managing myself well.Bodhisattva means self — all sentient beings called bodhisattva — beings with awareness; not that bodhisattva is a very high deity.Avalokiteśvara is saying: be at ease, don't be kidnapped, relax and sit, think things."Coursing deep in Prajñāpāramitā" — "coursing deep" is deep deep thinking; "Prajñāpāramitā" is wisdom-potential development, positive thinking about deep Buddhadharma meanings.Thought much, "illuminated the five aggregates as all empty" — find past mind unobtainable, present mind unobtainable, future mind unobtainable, because tomorrow who knows; yesterday is dead, can't retrieve."Illuminate" is lighting up.So this world "originally has nothing — where does dust arise?" Teaching the sutra should go this way, no bother to me.Inner answer."Five aggregates all empty" — only then "illuminate heart see nature." What is five-aggregates-all-empty — five desires.Set heart aside first, heart's wisdom emerges.As the Diamond Sutra says: "Mind arises without abiding anywhere." So one Heart Sutra talk can speak Sixth Patriarch Zen Sutra, Diamond Sutra.The Diamond Sutra talks of Heart Sutra.Removing the five desires, self sobers: oh, so it is.Heart Sutra obstacle-clearing removes five desires; wisdom emerges.Pursuing truth is "so that's it." See things' real face — that's obstacle-clearing.All obstacles are human-imagined.See obstacles clearly — gone."So that's it" can be in Heart Sutra and Diamond Sutra.When "mind nowhere abiding," you see this matter's original face.Tantra enters meditation, actual cultivation, meditation.

Excerpted from a teaching by the Venerable Master Urgyen Topden Rinpoche, 2020.11.3.