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.
And this is the Heart Sutra.

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

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 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...
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.

Usually when we talk about sensation,
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 vibration. It lands, 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 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 these and drop them

individually which is quite interesting.
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, 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 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 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 witness is still part of

the mind. So in the Heart Sutra, it says 
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 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 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 are 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 think that in physics we know that

if I go into this form with a super duper
electron microscope and keep going deeper

and deeper you know it's 99.99999 you
know, many nines percent empty.

It's empty space. And whatever that tiny
little bit that they haven't found out yet

it's just because they haven't found out.

Every time they go deeper it just opens up

into more and more emptiness, 
unraveling illusion. So to me that's

you know, even science confirms it.
Like literally, form IS emptiness.

Like on a on the most literal level.

- But there's something going on
between emptiness and form -

Yeah, well you know, it's the mind that
creates that split. It creates the concept

of the two, of that that duality. So when
that mind drops away, when we let go

of the conceptual mechanism... You know,
there's there's a mechanism that's running

in the mind, that Samjna is the creation
of perception and concepts, so that's

running it's filtering all of our language.
We're filtering through that mechanism.

So when when that literally drops away, 
in the Heart Sutra we realize it to be

empty of self. So if my sense of 'I' is
no longer wrapped up

in that, it can drop away. So then
there's a different interfacing

that happens. It's a direct experience
to life. So instead of seeing a tree...

We look at a tree and we go: 'that's a 
tree'. We have a concept, and

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

we have all these concepts, but when
all that drops away, the past drops away,

the filtering mechanism drops away.
Then there's this thing there.

It's not even a thing, it's just a revelation.
There's there's an aliveness that's there.

And there can be a
direct experience of that.

- which is that's what I'm trying to tease
out, like form arises out of emptiness and

you know something happened there, 
somewhere along the line, where like

form didn't decide to rise out of that,
so it's just that there's something really

Yeah, like within the dualistic world,
when you say form arose out of

emptiness, you're talking about
time. Something happened in time.

But what the Sutra is pointing to
is beyond time. It's the timeless.

- So Krishnamurti talks about choiceless 
awareness and that in choiceless awareness

there's right action. So if you don't
have all those filters,

you're aware, choicelessly aware
of the right action.. -

Yeah, exactly. Yeah and the way I like to
describe that, it's our energy.

If it's going into all those five skandhas,
the operation of the ego, its just choosing

based on preferences and egoic wants,
Its egoic activity. But when the energy

becomes free of that, that energy is alive
that energy is part of the Tao, you know.

The great mass of energy that is
ohming the universe into being.

So when we align with that,
that's right action.

So to me, that's the compass. We feel into
that energy. We align with that energy.

- Consciousness is experiencing everything

Yeah, It's the one taking in the show.
Yeah, it's just aware,

So there's this whole world of changing
form, different worlds can come and go,

but there's always a Consciousness
that remains experiencing all of it.

Even when you were when you were a little
kid, there was an I Amness, or an

awareness. As a little kid, and as a 
teenager, right in this moment there's

that same I Amness. It's just the sense
that I exist, a sense of being.

And at the end of life, on the deathbed
it'll be the same I Amness.

The body has gotten old. All this changes
have happened, but I Amness just is.

It's the same sense that I exist.
'I'm here.'

-'You said that Ramana Maharshi said he
didn't come out of that place.

Is this what it means, to always being
like that, without coming back to this

fifth Skandha, which is more like the
witness awareness?'

So, for Ramana Maharshi he was unique.
He really went all the way with this, so

when he says, the Self or the 'I' no
longer comes and goes, he was abiding

as the Self continuously. You know, if
you do a lot of meditation and

self- inquiry, you can start to experience
Turiya, which is the presence of that

true I Am, even in waking, dreaming, 
and deep sleep.

But then, for me on my path, I'm not at
anywhere near where Ramana Maharshi

is or was. He abides or was there
permanently.

whereas for me, I get little runs of it,
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 it sort of
comes and goes at times but it's usually

in deep practice that it'll come.

So the difference with Ramana Maharshi,
is like people people have Awakenings,

people at these Retreats or in
Self-Inquiry they'll have Awakenings

but then they go back into life and that
awareness gets dimmed again, whereas

Ramana Maharshi was relentless. When he
awakened, he would not give it up.

That's the difference between a great
master and everybody else.

He was relentless, he would sit there,
he would let maggots eat his body before

he would give up. The stories are
incredible, he took it right to the edge.

So that's it, so that's the level if you
want to be a Buddha.

The Buddha went through similar stuff
as well, just incredible determination.

-'So it means that you have a taste of it
and you come back to this but you're

nourished by this taste, by this profound
understanding..' Yeah, yeah, exactly!

So, once you get a taste, once you know,
once that flip has happened,

you know absolutely that you're not
this character. It's a game changer.

The Nirvikalpa Samadhi is considered
to be the highest Samadhi, because

the state is identical to Deep sleep, so
the mind and body are are dropped off,

but yet that primordial awareness
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. 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.
It's like in the Heart Sutra, it's gone

completely beyond. It's beyond this
entire world of the five Skandhas.

- 'It's this the death of that ego?"

Yeah, it's the dropping off of that ego.
Different people mean different things

by ego death. There's a letting go that
happens in these retreats, a gradual kind

of loosening, and letting go, and
purification of the Samskaras that's

all kind of a part of that ego death. But
when we go to sleep every night, the mind

and body drop off in deep sleep as well.
There's no ego, no self structure there.

The only difference is when that
primordial awareness is awake, then

there's a continuity, there's a a sense
that you haven't gone

anywhere during that deep sleep.

yeah so is there a a difference between 
Satori or Kensho, and Nirvikalpa Samadhi?

Yeah, I would say like
a Full Kensho is that.

it's possible to have Kensho, to awaken
to the true self in this waking State

so there's the flip of identification.
We know who we are, but yet if it's

not a Full Kensho then you can go to sleep
at night and you basically disappear.

Dissapear in deep Sleep. Whereas if 
it's a Full Kensho, then there's that

continuity through waking, dreaming, and 
deep sleep.

-'For a period of time, or would it be
like you go out into the world again?'

Yeah, so for my own experience,
it's been temporary.

In Ramana Maharshi's experience, they
call it Turiyatita. So there's Turiya,

you get a taste of that for a period of
time, but Turatita is a permanent state.

Or Sahaja Samadhi, is another
name for it as well,

-'So in that permanent state, they can't 
function in the regular physical world,

isn't it so?' So in Nirvikalpa Samadhi,
where the mind is dropped off, yeah.

there's no world, there's no phenomena,
there's no senses, there's no body,

it's like when you when you go to sleep 
at night, just everything is gone.

but in Sahaja Samadhi, the I am is present
continuously through all the states.

Waking, dreaming, and deep sleep, so you 
can totally live a life in that state.

But when you're awake as that awareness,
then there's a sense of you're watching

the character. You're watching the
character go about its life, and doing

things. So yeah, in that sense everything
is available you don't lose anything.

-'Could I ask a question about Kundalini 
Awakening, when you have a full lightning,

like the cosmic egg breaks, and the Crown
Chakra opens. What is that experience and

how does that relate to what Awakening is
A lot of the Indian texts will talk about

that as if is Enlightenment, but I've
always been confused about

what the relationship is.'

To me, when we have a Kensho or an
Awakening, there's also to some degree,

an awakening of Kundalini as well. So that
energy is released, and usually at that

point on the path there's an acceleration
of everything. So an acceleration of the

purification of Samskaras, everything
really becomes more active, so when

we purify the Samskaras, then the energy,
the Kundalini, will start to grow and

evolve. And the chakras are activated,
and all of that. So in Classical Yoga

the enlightenment is when that energy
flows freely from the root to the crown

continuously and effortlessly, basically.
- 'So those tend to coincide, like

couldn't have any adaptation in
like a Kensho experience?'

So the Kensho is... anybody could
have Kensho. Anybody can awaken,

You don't have to have fully developed
Kundalini. Your Kundalini could be in a

dormant state, or at first chakra, or you
could be at Crown chakra level

and be awake. So this is the way I would
describe it: The Awakening always

happens in the now, there's nothing that
needs to be developed through time

whereas with the Kundalini and the chakras
there's a development process, there's

an evolution that happens within the
self structure, and it's evolving

in a way that makes this vessel able
to house that awareness better.

- 'More like coming into alignment with
what the Kensho is.'

Yeah, like if your energy is flowing from
the root of the crown, then you're in a

very permeable state, you're basically
in a Samadhi state, and that awareness

is just shining through permanently. So,
whereas if that energy is not developed

then the self structure is just less
permeable,l it's more dense,

it's not as light or enlightened, yeah.

Okay so I think we'll take a little break,
and then we'll dive into meditation.