Day 3 - The Heart Sutra (realizing the skandhas to be empty of self)

Today I'm going to do a little talk based
on the heart Sutra. This is one that was

a really beautiful part of my own path.
When I went to a Zen Center, the Zen

Mountain Monastery in New York. They
would recite this every day, it's part of

their tradition, and when I first heard it
I had no idea what it meant. I had just

a feeling about it, there was something,
some mystery there. And I would listen

to it every day. We were doing a Sashin
like this, and they have a beautiful

phrase for this type of work that we're
doing here. They call it Gathering the

Heart Mind... Gathering the heart mind.
This is the Heart Sutra.

The heart in Buddhism is referring to that
mystery that part of us that awakens,

or not a part of us, but that which is
already here awake. Aware it's our true

nature. So the heart can be used
synonymously as you could say the Self.

Teachers like Ramana Maharshi talk about
the self with a capital S

So that's the same thing, you know.
Or a true nature, that which remains

continuously in waking, dreaming and deep
sleep. That which is ever present,

which is not born, not destroyed.

I'm going to talk a bit about the Heart
Sutra, well first I'm going to read it.

There's there's an important thing in it,
that's relevant for meditation, actually

it's all relevant for meditation but it
talks about the five Skandhas.

The word Skandha means something like
aggregate or like a heap.

So the five Skandhas are the aggregates of
mind, or you can say the processes of mind

Its sort of a functional model for the
mind. And out of any tradition I've

not come across anything like it. It's
very useful for meditation because

the Heart Sutra says that by realizing all
of these mechanisms of mind or these

Aggregates by realizing them to be empty
of self we become enlightened.

We detach our sense of self from them.
So most of these processes of Mind are

unconscious, so it's by recognizing them

seeing what's in play, and becoming
conscious of these aggregates we can

detach from them. So I'm going to read
the Heart Sutra, and then I'll talk

a little bit about these processes of mind.
We've already come in contact with,

or talked about some of them. So one
of the Skandhas is this part of the mind

that is judging and and has preferences. 
or the samskaras or sankaras in Pali,

you know, these are the egoic 
preferences. So that's just one of the

skandhas. Another Skandha is, when we
were doing that Vipassana body scan, the

root level of sensation is one of the
Skandhas. The awareness of this sensory

field, or whatever you want to call it
subtle sensation or or inner energy and

that's Vedanā, that's one of the skandhas
as well. So we're going to tie a lot of

the things we've talked together in this
teaching here. So there is a few Sanskrit

words here. I'll just say what they mean
as we go along, and I might interject

a few points just to for clarification
purposes as well.

So this is called the Maha Prajna Paramita
Heart Sutra, and that is the greatest

ultimate wisdom, Hart Sutra. So Prajna
Paramita is the ultimate wisdom, or the

wisdom of our true Self. so this is the
Heart Sutra, which is about the wisdom

of our true nature. So it starts out
Avaloketishvara Bodhidsattva, so this

is the Bodhisattva of compassion, or an
awakened being - an awakened being doing

Deep Prajna Paramita, clearly saw the
emptiness of all the five conditions, the

five skandhas, thus completely relieving
all misfortune and pain so the awaken

being practicing Prajna Paramita...
- so they're already awake they're aware

of their true nature. Aware of the Self 
So practicing Prajna Paramita, you

could say is just practicing being aware,
practicing just being, just being aware.

So he's speaking to one of the monks,
Sharaputra. He says, oh Sharaputra

form is no other than emptiness,
emptiness no other than form.

Form is exactly emptiness,
emptiness exactly form.

Sensation, conception, discrimination,
awareness, are likewise like this

so these are the processes of the Mind 
sensation, conception, discrimination, and

awareness. Oh Sharaputra, all dharmas are
forms of emptiness, not born, not destroyed

not stained, not pure, without loss,
without gain. So in emptiness there is no

form, no sensation, conception,
discrimination, awareness

no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind,
no color, sound, smell, taste, touch,

phenomena. No realm of sight, no Realm 
of consciousness, no ignorance, and no

end to ignorance. No old age and death,
and no end to old age and death.

No suffering, no cause of suffering, no
extinguishing no path, no wisdom and no

gain. No gain and thus the Bodhisattva
lives Prajna Paramita with no hindrance

in the mind. No hindrance therefore no
fear, far beyond diluted thoughts.

this is Nirvana. All past present and
future Buddhas live Prajna Paramita and

therefore attain anuttara-samyak-sambodhi
which means the embodiment of that perfect

wisdom. Therefore, know Prajna Paramita
is the great Mantra, the vivid mantra the

best mantra, the unsurpassable mantra 
it completely clears all pain.

This is the truth and not a lie.
So set forth the Prajna Paramita mantra

set forth this Mantra and say: "Gate Gate
Pāragate Pārasamgate Bodhi Svāhā"

Which means: Gone, gone, completely gone,
absolutely gone, the awakened heart is

So, when we read this, it's landing in a
place beyond the mind or it's intended

to land beyond the conditioned mind.
It's pointing to this nonduality,

where form is seen as emptiness,
emptiness is exactly form.

These paradoxes for the mind... There's no
suffering and yet there's no end to

suffering. So this realization is 
realized when there's a cessation

of identification with this false self
which is made up of the five Skandhas.

So I'm going to talk a little bit about
the five Skandhas. The first one is Ruppa

which they don't usually talk much about.
It's just form. There's this body or form.

there's a sense that we are in this Avatar
and on this body arises raw sensation

So this is sensation prior to any concept
or prior to any judgment. So it's not

the way we usually talk about sensation,
feeling good, feeling certain feelings are

good or bad, but this is raw sensation.

I often use the mosquito example. So the
the mosquito is buzzing around, but if I

have no concept of it yet, I have no
experience of it yet, it's the first time

I've experienced a mosquito, then it's
just a vibration. There's just raw

sensation there. There's no concept that
this is a mosquito, there's no reaction.

So this is Vadana, that raw vibration.
This is this is the root level of sensation

that arises on the body, and this is a
level that we can tune into. Quite often

we're not tuned in on this level, so we
can through meditation train ourselves

to be attentive to this this layer of
our being. Usually we're in the thoughts

already. We're reacting and living life
through the thoughts. So this is something

that we can learn to inhabit. This direct
connection to the vibratory field.

So the next Skandha is Samjna which is
the formation of perception or things come

into being at this point. So this is
where I tie this vibration this sensation

into memory. So I have a previous memory
that this is a mosquito and at this point

I haven't labeled it as good or bad. This
is where concepts come into being.

So instead of just this field of vibration
happening all around, at Samjna there's

this discrete process of the mind, that
is distinguishing things, it's separating.

The mind is an incredible tool at
separating things, that's really one of

its main function. It's always dividing,
so this is where those divisions come in

and the creation of things, and language
and memory. Each one of these Skandhas

we can observe the functions of them
directly. These are actual processes that

can be made completely conscious and we
can tune into each of them and drop them

individually which is which is quite
interesting. Each each kind of dropping

of a particular Skandha will create a
certain state or a certain experience

So continuing with the mosquito example,
the mosquito lands, we've identified it,

the mind labels it as mosquito, and then
finally the Samskaras are my preferences

about that mosquito. So from past
experiences, I know that there's some

discomfort there, so there's a reactivity
there, there's a judgment there,

that this is bad... maybe some people like
them and they're good, but probably not...

So these are essentially the main processes
of the conditioned mind.

We get these sensations, then the
perception of things, and then the judgment

of good or bad. And we can apply this to
all phenomena that is arising in

the sensory field. The entire external
world is created by these five Skandhas.

And they're even applicable when we are
dreaming or in higher worlds.

It's still presenting as some phenomena
that could be related to these 5 skandhas.

So as we evolve on the path, as we grow,
the inner spiritual mechanism evolves,

as Rudolph Steiner said, we grow the
organs of higher perception.

But yet, it all comes down to these 
aggregates of mind. So I've mentioned

the first four, and then the fifth skandha
is Vijnana, which is sometimes translated

as Consciousness, but it's sort of
self-awareness or awareness of the

other four skandhas. We talked about the
mind being like a camera, the conditioned

mind is like a camera. Concentration is
moving that camera, to look at things.

That camera looks at objects, examines
concepts. So Vijnana is is still part of

the mind. It's not it's not Consciousness
in the big sense, or it's not awareness

in the big sense. It's still a process of
the mind. So one of the one the examples

I use for that sometimes, in Psychology
is called figure ground reversal and it's

a useful thing to point out what's
happening. So this figure ground

reversal represents duality. Represents
the dualistic mind. So you've probably

all seen this. This is a vase, you look 
at it one way and it's a vase. You look at

it the other way and it's two faces. So
there's there's a flip. When you look at

this a certain way, you see the foreground
and then you flip it to see the background

and that's kind of like what happens with 
Vijnana. Imagine that it is these two

faces, this vase is the entire sensory
field and all forms all perceptions.

The entire manifested world is 
the vase. And then there's the witness,

these two faces are witnessing the vase 
and this this witness is still part of

the mind. So in the Heart Sutra, it says 
the the Boddhisatva recognized all five

skandhas to be empty of self. So even this
witnessing part of the mind we recognize

that it is still part of the mind. It's
still part of this duality. There's this

split between all this stuff that's being
observed and this observer.

This is duality. This is
the yin and yang of the world.

So sometimes in our meditation practice,
we have this figure ground reversal,

we become aware of the witness, but
yet there's still the split.

So that's it's still not the Awakening,
it's still not the becoming free of this

duality. There's a collapse of this duality
that happens, so it's important in our

practice not to get stuck in that witness.
We can sort of detach from all this

changing phenomena, and the witness is
very peaceful compared to that. So we can

hang out as the witness. There's less
suffering if we're not getting caught

in that, but still the witness is part of
the mind, and it's all subject to change.

Ken Wilbur had a great phrase, he said:

"The witness is the last
hold out of the ego."

So WHO is aware of all of this, who is
aware of all of the five Skandhas.

So if you can directly experience
that one, the one that is aware of the

whole mass of the mind, all changing
phenomena, even the witness.

if we can observe without using the mind,
without evaluating, without analyzing...

That awareness that we are
has has zero qualities.

There's no job for that awareness,
it doesn't do anything,

it's just purely aware.

The analogy I sometimes use, I was just 
talking about it earlier today, is the

analogy of a VR game. I think most people
have experienced or have some idea

what what VR is about, so you put on the
headset, and you appear in this game,

you have a different Avatar. and in that
game you know that you're just playing,

you're playing this character in the VR
World. So who are you in that VR game?

Who are you when you put on that headset?
There's a Consciousness that is in there.

Even though the characters can be
interchangeable. The games, the script,

is interchangeable, but that Consciousness
that is playing the game is always you.

So when you when you take off that headset
you come into this world, this reality.

It's the same thing, we were walking
around in these avatars,

but these avatars are interchangeable,
they're exactly the same.

So who are you that's aware of all this
changing phenomena in this Avatar?

It's that same Consciousness that was
there, taking in the game.

Is taking in the Big Show here.

So I think I'll leave it there, yeah...
- " I just going to say is, so there's a

relationship between emptiness and form"
Not a relationship, so in the Heart Sutra,

form is exactly emptiness, emptiness is
exactly form so in nonduality,

it's not two. So it's not one thing
relating to another.

The way I think of it, with the mind, it's
pointing to direct experience of this

non-dual state, which really has to be
directly experienced.

But to conceptualize it with the mind I I think

of you know in physics like we know that 
this form if I if I go into this form with

a super duper electron microscope and and 
keep going deeper and deeper you know it's

99.99999 you know many nines percent empty 
it's empty space you know and whatever that

that tiny little bit is that that they 
haven't found out yet you know it's just

because they haven't found out that you 
know every time they go deeper it just

opens up into more and more emptiness 
unraveling illusion so so to me that's

the you know even science confirms it like 
literally form is emptiness like on a on

the most literal level yeah but there's 
something going on between emptiness and

form yeah well you know like know there it's the 
mind the mind creates that split it creates that

the concept of the two of of that that Duality 
so when that mind drops away you know when we

when we let go of the conceptual mechanism you 
know there's there's a mechanism that's running

in the mind you know that SAA is is the you know 
the creation of perception and Concepts you know

so that's that's running it's filtering you know 
all of our language we're filtering through that

mechanism so when when that literally drops away 
you know which is you know in in the heart Sutra

like we we realize it to be empty of self you know 
so so if my sense of eye is no longer wrapped up

in that you know it can it can drop away so 
so then there there's a different interfacing

that happens so it's a it's a direct experience to 
life you know so you know instead of seeing a tree

you know we we look at a tree and we go that's a 
tree you know and and we have a concept and and

a knowing in the mind you know we've seen many 
trees we know it's a it's a pine or an oak you

know we have all these these Concepts but when 
when all that drops away you know the past drops

away the filtering mechanism drops away then 
there's there's this thing there it's it's not

even a thing it's just a revelation there's 
there's there's an aliveness that's you know

that's there and there there can be a direct 
experience of that which is that's what I'm

trying to tease out is that the so the senior 
is emptiness the what like form arises out of

emptiness and and you know something happened 
there somewhere along the line where where like

form didn't decide to rise out of that genus 
right so some it's just that there's something

really yeah yeah like like within the dualistic 
world you know there there's like like when you

say form arose out of emptiness you know you're 
talking about time you know something happened

in time but but what we're what the Sutra is 
pointing to is beyond time it's the timeless

yeah so chrisan mty talks about choiceless 
awareness MH and that in choiceless Awareness

there's right action so whatever so if you 
don't have all those filters yeah you're

aware choicelessly aware yeah the right action 
mhm comes for yeah exactly yeah and the way I

like to describe that is you know it's our energy 
is you know if it's going into all all those five

scandasia the energy is part of the da you 
know the the the great mass of energy that

that is you know oming the universe 
into being so so when we align with

that you know that's right action yeah 
yeah so so to me that's the compass you

know we we we feel into that energy 
we align with that that energy yeah

Consciousness is experiencing everything it's 
the one taking in the show yeah it's it's yeah

yeah it's just aware yeah yeah so so there's this 
whole world of changing form you know different

worlds can come and go but there's always a 
Consciousness that remains experiencing all

of it you know even when you were when you 
were a little kid there was an i amness or

an awareness as a little kid you know and as a 
teenager you know right in this moment there's

this that same I amness it's just the sense that 
I exist a sense of being you know and at the end

of life at on the deathbed that it'll be the same 
I amness you know the body has gotten old all this

all these changes have happened but I amness is 
it just is it's the same sense that I exist I'm

here yeah you said that she said he didn't come 
out of that place of that uh is that is that

is that what it means to to to be in the in this 
always always having this uh uh always being like

that without coming back to this fifth Scandal 
which is more like the witness awareness M so so

for Roman Mahari he was he was unique in his like 
he he really went all the way with this so so he

you know the the self like when he says you know 
the self or the eye no longer comes and goes you

know he he was abiding as the self continuously so 
you know so sometimes we you know if you do a lot

of meditation and self- inquiry you can start to 
experience Tia which is the presence of that that

the true I am you know even in waking dreaming 
and deep sleep but then you know for me on my path

I'm I'm not at anywhere near where ran Mahari is 
like or was he he abides or was there permanently

whereas for me I get I get little runs of it you 
know I get a taste of it sometimes if I'm doing

a lot of practice but then I go back into life 
and I'm still doing stuff and creating movies

and and and it sort of comes and goes at times 
but it's usually in in deep practice that it'll

come so the difference with ran Mahari was he you 
know like people people have Awakenings you know

people at these Retreats or in self- inquiry 
they'll they'll have Awakenings but then they

go back into life and and that awareness gets 
dimmed again whereas ran Mahari was relent less

he was you know when he awakened he would not 
give it up he that's the difference between a

great master and and everybody else you know he 
he was relentless he just you know he would sit

there he would let maggots eat his body you know 
before he would he would give up so you know the

stories are incredible he he took it right to the 
edge so you know so that's it so that's that's the

level you know if you want to be a Buddha you know 
the Buddha went through similar stuff as well you

know just incredible determination so it means 
that you have a taste of it and you come back to

this but you know and you're nourished by this 
taste by this profound understanding yeah yeah

yeah exactly so you know so you'll you know once 
you once you get a taste of like once you once

you know once that flip has happened you know 
absolutely that you're not this character you

know it it's a GameChanger you know it's you know 
the nervala samati is considered to be the highest

samati because it's you know when when you're it's 
it's identical like the state is identical to Deep

deep sleep so the mind and body are are dropped 
off but yet that primordial awareness is is aware

it's awake so if there's no mind and body there's 
nothing there's no world there's absolutely no

phenomena just like in deep sleep but yet there's 
this unfathomable presence or continuity then then

at that point you know absolutely that there's 
no death you know life and death are happening

within this realm of form but this Consciousness 
is beyond that you know it's like like in the

heart suture it's gone completely Beyond you 
know it's beyond this entire world of the five

scandasia different you know different people 
mean different things by ego death you know

there's a there's a a a letting go that happens 
in these Retreats a gradual kind of loosening

and letting go and purification of the uh Sam 
scaras that's all kind of a part of that ego

death you know but but you know when when we 
go to sleep every night you know the mind and

body drop off in in deep Sleep as well there's 
there's no ego there's no self structure there

you know the only difference is when you know 
when that primordial awareness is awake then

there's there's a continuity there's a a sense 
that that you haven't gone anywhere during that

deep sleep yeah so is there a a difference between 
[Music] and yeah so I I would say like a like a

full Keno is is that so you know so it's possible 
to have Keno you know to awaken to the true self

in in this waking State you know so there's the 
flip of identification we we know who we are but

yet if it's not a full Ken show then you you you 
can go to sleep at night and and there's you dis

basically disappear in deep Sleep whereas if 
it's a if it's a full Keno then there's that

continuity through through waking dreaming and 
deep sleep for for for a period of time or would

it like you go out into the world again yeah so 
yeah so for for my my own experience it's it's

been temporary so you know in Rano maharshi's 
experience it's they they call it turati so so

there's Tria it's you you get a taste of of 
that for a period of time for whatever but

you know turati is is a permanent state or or 
sahaja samadi is another name for it as well

yeah so in that permanent state of they can't 
function in in in regular World physical world

isn't it so in in nervala where the mind is 
dropped off yeah there's no there's no world

there's no there's no phenomena there's no 
there's no senses there's no body there you

know it's like when you when you go to sleep 
at night there's just everything is gone you

know but in in sahaja samadi that the I am is 
present continuously through all the states so

waking dreaming and deep sleep so you you 
can totally live a life in that state you

know but you're but when you're awake as that 
awareness then there's a sense of you know

you're watching the character you're watching 
the character go about its its life and doing

things so yeah in that sense like it you know 
everything is available you don't lose anything

yeah could I ask a question about like Kundalini 
Awakening when you have like a full lightning and

like the cosmic egg breaks and the crown chakra 
opens like what is that experience and how does

that relate to like what Awakening is a lot 
of the Indian texts will talk about that as

if like that is Enlightenment but I've always been 
confused about what the relationship is yeah so to

me so when we have a Keno or an Awakening there's 
also to some degree an Awakening of Kundalini as

well so that energy is is released and usually 
at that point on the path there's there's a an

acceleration of everything so an acceleration 
of the purification of Sams scaras everything

really becomes more active so so you know when we 
purify the Sams scaras then the energy the galini

will start to grow and evolve and you know the 
chakras are activated and all of that so so in

In classical yoga you know the enlightenment is 
when that energy flows freely from the root to

the crown continuously and and effortlessly 
basically yeah those tend to coincide like I

couldn't have any acation and like a k show 
experience so yeah yeah so the keno is you

know anybody could have Keno anybody can awaken 
you don't have to have fully developed Kundalini

your Kundalini could be you know in a dormant 
state or or at first chakra or or you could be

at Crown chakra level and be awake so usually 
you know to me so this is this is the way I

would describe it you know the Awakening always 
happens in the now there's no there's nothing

that needs to be developed through time whereas 
with the Kundalini and the chakras it there's a

development process there's a there's an evolution 
that happens within the self structure and it and

it's it's evolving in a way that makes this 
vessel able to house that awareness better

more like coming into alignment with what the kjo 
is yeah yeah like if you're if you're if if your

energy is Flowing from the root of the crown 
then you're you're in a very permeable State

you're you're in a you're basically in a samat 
state and that awareness is just shining through

permanently so whereas if it if that that energy 
is not developed then yeah the self structure is

just less permeable ex yeah it's more dense 
it's not as light or enlightened yeah yeah

yeah yeah okay so I think we'll we'll take a 
little break and then we'll dive into meditation