CHAPTER 6<\/h5>\n

THE MANTRA<\/h1>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cTherefore, the mantra of the Profound Perfection of Wisdom is the mantra of great knowledge, the unsurpassed mantra. \u00a0 The incomparable mantra, the mantra which thoroughly allays all suffering without fail.\u201d<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0The original text of the Heart Sutra reads: mahamantro, maha-vidya mantro, \u2018nuttara mantro samasamamantrah . . . .<\/em>\u00a0 The meaning of the Sanskrit term mantra<\/em> is \u201cmind guardian\u201d. \u00a0 The inference is that the mind needs to be guarded or protected because somehow it is off the true course, or is susceptible to corruption or invasion. \u00a0The meditative use of the Heart Sutra mantra will be detailed later.<\/h4>\n

\u201c. . .the great mantra . . . .\u201d<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The Sanskrit word for great mantra in the Heart Sutra text is mahamantro<\/em>. \u00a0Here great indicates something exalted, majestic, regal, or royal.<\/h4>\n

\u201c. . .the mantra of great knowledge . . . .\u201d<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 What kind of knowledge is great knowledge?<\/em> The Sanskrit words are maha-vidya mantro<\/em>. Great Knowledge<\/em> exceeds both mundane knowledge and supramundane knowledge and refers to unsurpassed knowledge, the knowledge of a Buddha.<\/h4>\n

\u201c. . .the unsurpassed mantra . . . .\u201d<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 The word unsurpassed<\/em> was used just previously in the Sutra text, \u201c. . .fully awakened into unsurpassed, complete enlightenment . . . .\u201d<\/em> and here it has the same connotation. This is the mantra that can lead to bodhi; it is unexcelled, unequaled, and it is matchless. There is no other mantra that can be better for the task.<\/h4>\n

\u201c. . .the incomparable mantra . . . .\u201d<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 Exceptional, superior, and perfect is this mantra.<\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0\u201c. . .the mantra which thoroughly allays all suffering . . .\u201d<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Completely, painstakingly, absolutely, and totally is the meaning of thoroughly<\/em> in this line. \u00a0\u00a0Allay<\/em> means to relieve and alleviate, so when suffering is understood, it can go the way of all mental creations; it is gone, really gone, it is allayed. \u00a0The condition causing the suffering is modified in mind\u2019s response, and the negative reactive response is eliminated accordingly.<\/h4>\n

\u201c. . .without fail\u201d.<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0These two words are an assurance, a complete guarantee that this mantra will not be found lacking.<\/h4>\n

\u201cBecause it is not false it is known as true.\u201d<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Here is the sum total and final statement of all that has been previously given in the Heart Sutra text and represented by the mantra. \u00a0 This line hints once again at apoha<\/em>, the knowing of something as it is by understanding what it is not. \u00a0The mantra is true because it is certain, definite, and genuine. \u00a0It is known as true, not merely believed in, by those who learn to use it. \u00a0Belief is a theory; knowing is experiential and direct.<\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Exploring the mantra itself, and its meditative aspects, the mantra of the Profound Perfection of Wisdom is stated:<\/h4>\n

\u201cTadyatha Om Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha!\u201d<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u201cTadyatha . . . .\u201d<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 The meaning of Tadyatha<\/em> is \u201cit is thus\u201d.<\/h4>\n

\u201c. . .om . . . .\u201d<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 In Buddhism om is called the \u201cbejeweled mantra\u201d; it is ornamented with the infinite jewels of Buddhadharma and thus bestows blessings of wisdom. \u00a0 Characteristically it is used as an addition to some Buddhist mantras, becoming a symbol of spiritual knowledge, most specifically knowledge of emptiness.<\/h4>\n

\u201c. . .gate . . . .\u201d (pronounced guh-tay.)<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 Gate<\/em> means \u201cmove\u201d, \u201cgoes\u201d, \u201cproceeds forward\u201d; \u201cga\u201d means \u201cmovement\u201d; \u201cte<\/em>\u201d is the feminine vocative ending mentioned previously. Some translators render gate<\/em> as \u201cgone\u201d but \u201cgone\u201d is past tense and grammatically written with a final \u201ca\u201d, gata.<\/em>\u00a0 A common title for a buddha is tathagata<\/em>, \u201cone thus gone\u201d.<\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0So what is it that moves? \u00a0 The clue is in the title of the Heart Sutra, the word Bhagavati.<\/em> \u00a0So we know that it is Mother Prajnaparamita who moves or goes, and as she iconographically represents prajna-wisdom, it becomes obvious that it is prajna that moves or goes, gate<\/em>.<\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 The second repeat of the word gate<\/em> is a progressive extension of the first gate<\/em>, giving the meaning of prajna moving further, but in the same manner.<\/h4>\n

\u201c. . .paragate . . . .\u201d<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0The prefix para<\/em> has the meaning \u201cbeyond\u201d. \u00a0\u00a0Paragate<\/em> means \u201cprajna moves beyond\u201d.<\/h4>\n

\u201c. . .parasamgate . . . .\u201d<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 The Sanskrit preposition sam<\/em> has the meaning of \u201ctogether\u201d, \u201csimultaneous\u201d, \u201cjoined\u201d, something holistically integrated. \u00a0 Parasamgate<\/em> then indicates that \u201cprajna moves beyond integrally\u201d. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 This describes accurately the integration of the arising of srutamayiprajna, cintamayiprajna, bhavanamayiprajna, and niscayamayiprajna, which joined simultaneously together are called adhiprajna (higher understanding), which is the engenderment of bodhi.<\/h4>\n

\u201c. . .bodhi . . . .\u201d<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 The high wisdom of adhiprajna is holistic wisdom, awakened awareness. It creates the habitual knowing that leads meditatively to the un-thinking state of awareness, the reality state of knowing beyond dependently originated mind-creation, the state of awakened enlightenment, bodhi<\/em>.<\/h4>\n

\u201c. . .svaha!\u201d<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0This is the final exclamation of the Heart Sutra mantra and has the meaning \u201cit is just so.\u201d \u00a0 It leaves no doubt as to the validity of this \u201cprogression\u201d that takes place. \u00a0But what exactly is happening as described in this mantra?<\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0There is contained here something of deep meaning. \u00a0 When Prajna moves (gate<\/em>) there is no one who is moving, nobody with his own self-nature going from here to there. \u00a0 Wisdom itself is\u00a0moving to perfection; consciousness is being purified. The completion of wisdom\u2019s purification is personified by tathagatas who \u201c. . .having passed completely beyond all error . . . .<\/em>\u201d are \u201cthus gone\u201d. \u00a0 They have traversed the path, they have been there, they have seen it, they have done it, and they have winnowed the grain of its chaff and achieved the goal, moving beyond the realm of effort, having fully digested even the cleansed heads of grain, yet attaining nothing, \u201c. .with nothing to attain<\/em>.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Bodhi is the arrival, seeing reality. \u00a0 With this arrival one no longer experiences a movement of wisdom. \u00a0One IS wisdom. \u00a0Bodhi is not a place traveled to. \u00a0Bodhi has not a location. \u00a0Bodhi is a consciousness event. \u00a0Purified wisdom is an absence of error, an ultimate achievement of seeing, a state of awareness we call nirvana<\/em>.<\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0The first gate<\/em> indicates the movement engendered through study, through language and its influence on the creative consciousness. \u00a0 It might be said that gate is the portal through which one moves in the process of purification, the elimination of negative seeds permeating the storehouse consciousness. The second emphatic gate<\/em> empowers a continuation of the first influential movement, but to a heightened degree of the first movement in awareness. Thoughtful reflections and meditative absorption into the nature of this movement deepen knowledge and realizations first brought into view by study.<\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 Paragate<\/em> takes the movement of prajna beyond study and analytical reflection into the actual practice of meditation that will give direct experiential understanding, awareness beyond whatever can be known just through reasoning and analysis as enjoyed by the sensually conscious but essentially ignorant state of discrimination. Meditation produces a definitive experience of certainty regarding that previously studied and reflected upon. \u00a0The deeper the meditative state achieved, the more clear becomes the integration of wisdom. \u00a0The discriminating mind is relieved of its tasks, and seeing becomes as a mind-mirror experiencing phenomena with no thought beyond the purity of the reflection as reality being as it really is at that moment. \u00a0It is here that parasamgate<\/em> is. Everything integrates. \u00a0Aspects are moved beyond. Adhiprajna! \u00a0Bodhi! \u00a0It is just SO. \u00a0Svaha<\/em>! \u00a0The way it is IS the way it is, and the only way it could be. Therefore, away with dualistic language and its ever-creating confusion. \u00a0But alas, how can the Sutra or this commentary exist without those words? So, onward, because this too is \u201cjust so\u201d.<\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0The movement into bodhi is in fact a movement away from perceptive error and wrong understanding. \u00a0It is a movement without a mover; it is a going without a goer. \u00a0 It is a movement without any designation. \u00a0There is no place, no time, no goal, no achiever, no traveler; there is only the reality hidden beneath obscuring mental creation awaiting. The present apperceptive awareness is fact, as reality, as pure being, when the superimposed mental factors are left behind, gone beyond. \u00a0The absence of conceptive error can occur only in the present moment, just as delusion can occur only in the present. \u00a0So to plan for an awakening in some future is to deny the reality that underlies the present NOW moment, and is fuel for the continuation of rebirth and death in its manifold forms. \u00a0The importance of rightly understanding sunyata, emptiness, through this process of apoha, knowing what things are by knowing what they are not, is the very trigger mechanism allowing for the errant perceptive function\u2019s progressive dwindle culminating in this prajna movement that reaches its apex in the purified and non-discriminating NOW bodhi moment.<\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cSariputra, Bodhisattva Mahasattvas should train in the Profound Perfection of Wisdom in just this way.\u201d<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0This way is the way of apperceptive wisdom that is beyond the interference of all residual artifacts of tendencies and proclivities.<\/h4>\n

This completes the comments on The Mantra.<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

next chapter 7 click here<\/a><\/h5>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHAPTER 6 THE MANTRA \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cTherefore, the mantra of the Profound Perfection of Wisdom is the mantra of great knowledge, the unsurpassed mantra. \u00a0 The incomparable mantra, the mantra which thoroughly allays all suffering without fail.\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0The original text of the Heart Sutra reads: mahamantro, maha-vidya mantro, \u2018nuttara mantro samasamamantrah . . . … Continue reading the mantra ch.6<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1379,"parent":0,"menu_order":129,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1378","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gnostiko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gnostiko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gnostiko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gnostiko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gnostiko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1378"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/gnostiko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1385,"href":"http:\/\/gnostiko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1378\/revisions\/1385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gnostiko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gnostiko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}