To Love

For one human being to love another:
that is the most difficult of all our tasks,
the ultimate, the last test of proof,
the work for which all other work,
is but preparation.

-Rainer Maria Rilke

My Head is Going To Explode: Reflections on the Avataṃsaka Sutra II

Continued from Part I.

...After resolving to delve into the Sutra, I began to plow through the Cleary translation. While I've been told it's not perfect (what translation is?) it is still a remarkable (1700 pages long!) and momentous achievement nonetheless. It just so happened that I started reading it as the summer break approached. Try as I might, I couldn't find a summer job but did manage to get a part-time volunteer position in a food pantry run by Saint Raymond's church up in The Bronx. Because I only worked a few hours a week, I had lots of time to read the sutra.

It is said of the great Indian epic, the Mahabharata "what can be found here may be found else where but what cannot be found here, cannot be found anywhere else"; in other words, it's supposed to cover EVERYTHING. In many ways, the Avataṃsaka is like that too. There are some parts of the text which are very straightforward and practical. The Pure Conduct chapter, for example, consists of replies in verse by the Bodhisattva Manjusri about a person who takes the Bodhisattva Vow. It's a "day in the life" type of narration as this person (he or she, the text is purposely ambiguous), wakes up and sees various things while traveling, and relates it all to Dharma practice. For example:

...When sitting in the full-lotus posture,
I vow that living beings
Will develop solid good roots,
and achieve the state of calm unmoving...

...While walking on a road,
I vow that livings beings
Will tread the Pure Dharma Realm,
With minds free and unobstructed...

...If I obtain delicious food,
I vow that livings beings
Will fulfill their aspirations,
And have no envy in their hearts...

...When I bathe my body,
I vow that livings beings
Will be unsullied in body and mind,
Radiant and clean, inside and out...

Other parts of the sutra just plain inspired me. There's one passage in particular from the Ten Grounds Chapter made me feel really...happy! Here, a bodhisattva named Vajra Treasury (or Diamond Matrx as rendered by Cleary) is talking about how happy and joyous bodhisattvas dwelling on the First Ground (called Joy/Happiness) are. This particular joy derives from fearlessness. As Vajra Treasury explains

It is so because once Bodhisattvas attain the Ground of Happiness, they
leave behind all fears; fears such as not staying alive,
fear of a bad reputation,
fear of death, fear of evil destinies,
fear of the virtue of the great assembly
They abandon all such fears forever. And why?

It is because these Bodhisattvas are free from the thought of a self. They do not cherish even their own bodies, how much less the wealth and possessions; therefore they have no fear of not staying alive.

They do not seek offerings from others but only give to other living beings; therefore, they have no fear of a bad reputation.

They have left the view of self far behind, and have no thought of self; therefore, they have no fear of death.

They themselves know that after death, they will certainly not be apart from the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, therefore they have no fear of the evil destinies.

Their intent and and inclinations in all worlds are unequaled, how much the less surpassed; therefore they have no fear of the virtue of the great assembly.

Bodhisattvas, in that way, leave all alarming, hair raising, and terrifying experiences far behind.

What the sutra is most well known for and what caught my initial interest were the really far out out descriptions of reality; the interdependence and interpenetration of all phenomena are common themes of the Avataṃsaka. A good example can be found in Chapter 36, called "The Practice of Universal Good". Here, the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra describes some the penetrating insights of Awakening beings:

...In every single atom
Are all things of all places and times;
The states and lands, innumerable,
The enlightening discern and know...

...They know the length and brevity of all ages,
And that past, present, and future are one moment:
The sameness and differences of myriad practices
They all distinctly know...

...All worlds
Enter one land:
The worlds do not become one,
Yet there is no mixup...

...They penetrate all worlds,
Vast and small,
One body countless lands,
One land, countless bodies...

...Innumerable lands
They cross over in an instant,
Yet through measureless eons
They don't move from their original place.

Untold eons
Are the space of a moment;
Not seeing long or short,
They find ultimate instantaneousness...

...The future is the past,
The present is the future,
The three times look to each other;
The enlightening understand each...

Thus in infinite ways;
They awaken the worlds:
No boundaries can be found
To the means of total knowledge.

One of (and perhaps) the most amazing and mind blowing things I've ever read occurs in the Gandavyuha (Entry Into the Conceivable). The plot of this chapter (often considered a sutra in its own right) revolves around a young spiritual pilgrim named Sudhana. Sudhana resolves to learn about the various practices of Awakened beings. Beginning with the Bodhisattva Manjushri, Sudhana travels from teacher to teacher (53 in all) and learns about dharma practices from a huge assortment of people; ascetics, mighty rulers, courtesans, celestials beings, bodhisattvas, and many more.

Towards the end of his quest, Sudhana encounters Maitreya Bodhisattva (teacher no. 50). In a beautiful exchange, Maitreya praises Sudhana welcomes him as a bodhisattva mahasattva to be. Maitreya then invites Sudhana to enter the Tower of Vairocana Buddha's Adornments. With a snap of his finger, Maitreya opens the door and Sudhana enters. What does Sudhana see inside?

He saw the tower immensely vast and wide, hundreds of thousands of leagues wide, as measureless as the sky, as vast as all of space, adorned with countless attributes; countless canopies, banners, pennants, jewels, garlands of pearls and gems, moons and half moons, multicolored streamers, jewel nets, gold nets, strings of jewels, jewels on golden threads, sweetly ringing bells and nets of chimes, flowers showering, celestial garlands and streamers, censers giving off fragrant fumes, showers of gold dust, networks of upper chambers, round windows, arches, turrets, mirrors, jewel figurines of women, jewel chips, pillars, clouds of precious cloths, jewel trees, jewel railings, jeweled pathways, jeweled awnings, various arrays of the floor, chambers of the jewels, jeweled promenades, rows of golden banana trees, statues made of all kinds of jewels, images of enlightening beings, singing birds, jewel lotuses, lotus ponds, jewel stairways, ground of masses of various jewels, radiant gems, arrays of all kinds of jewels. Also, inside the great tower he saw hundreds of thousands of other towers similarly arrayed; he saw those towers as infinitely vast as space, evenly arrayed in all directions, yet these towers were not mixed up with one another, being each mutually distinct, while appearing reflected in each and every object of the other towers.

I don't know about you but I could use a breather after reading that.

Continuing on, Sudhana doesn't just see pretty buildings however. He also sees many other things inside of the tower (and towers inside his tower):

The moment he bowed, by the power of Maitreya, Sudhana perceived himself in all of those towers; and in all those towers he saw various diverse inconceivable miraculous scenes. In one tower he saw where the enlightening being Maitreya first aspired to supreme perfect enlightenment, what his family was, what his basic goodness was, how he was inspired, how he was encouraged by his spiritual friends, how long he lived, what age he lived in, what buddha he met, what land he adorned, what assembly he was in, and what kind of special vows he undertook. He also perceived the length of of life of the beings and the buddha of that time, and saw himself in the prescence of that buddha, and saw all of his works.

Sudhana sees even more and more wondrous things with the descriptions more incredible and amazing than the above. The language and descriptions get progressively loftier and far out as Sudhana approaches the end of his quest (Manjushri and Samantabhadra are the 52nd and 53rd final teachers respectively).

As I stated before, such teachings just completely blow me away (in a good way!). Some of my good dharma friends that I've spoken to, however, have the opposite view: they feel such language is totally excessive, ridiculous and pointless, i.e. not relevant to "real practice". I'll argue, however, that the very far out language of the sutra is an excellent tool to help our practice.

The purpose of such amazing and wondrous descriptions of reality and phenomena have a very specific purpose: to take all of our imaginations, conceptions, and ideas and stretch them to the limit, thus setting the stage for us to go beyond all of these things. As Ajahn Amaro of Abhayagiri Monastery likes to say, "we can't think our way out of samsara".

Reflecting on ideas such as the vastness of the universe (or multiverses), how they intersect, interpenetrate, and are interconnected in a net of phenomena and causality is useful for another reason: it helps break down the idea of the Self. I, for one, find it much harder to hold up my own tiny slice of the world as all important when confronted with the awesome expanse of reality as presented in the Avataṃsaka.

As amazing and inspiring as I find the sutra, I also find some (actually a lot) very difficult to understand. Despite this, I can't help the feeling that even if many of the teachings are currently "over my head" I know that they come from a special place: the minds of Awakened Beings. What I actually do understand has totally transformed the way I view my practice and understanding of the Buddha Dharma.

A discussion I had with one of the monks at the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery (which hosts and webcasts Avataṃsaka lectures every Saturday night) shed much light on how I view the sutra. After expressing my feelings on the text (almost verbatim from the previous paragraph) the Ven. Chin He said to me, "Well you have to understand, you pick up the sutra, open the pages, and read from one cover to the next, in a straight line. What the sutra teaches, however, is not a straight line. It is like a three dimensional sphere that pervades everything. Actually infinite dimensions if we look at the Avataṃsaka itself haha". I couldn't agree more.

Ultimately though, beyond the amazing descriptions and profound imagery, the sutra deals with the foundation of the Mahayana teachings: the Bodhisattva Path. In describing this Path, the sutra manages to yet again blow us away with its profound eloquence:

It is like a great regal tree growing in the rocks and sand of a
barren wilderness. When the roots get water, the branches, leaves,
flowers, and fruits will all flourish. The regal Bodhi-tree growing in
the wilderness of birth and death is the same. All living beings are
its roots; all Buddha’s and Bodhisattvas are its flowers and fruits.
By benefiting all beings with the water of great compassion, one can
realize the flowers and fruits of the Buddha’s and Bodhisattvas
wisdom. Why is this? It is because by benefiting living beings with
the water of great compassion, the Bodhisattvas can achieve supreme
perfect enlightenment; therefore, Bodhi belongs to living beings.
Without living beings, no Bodhisattva could achieve supreme, perfect
enlightenment.

When the Lamp Goes Out

When they plow their fields
and sow seeds in the earth,
when they care for their wives and children
young brahmans find riches.

But I've done everything right
and followed the rule of my teacher.
I'm not lazy or proud.
Why haven't I found peace?

Bathing my feet
I watched the bathwater
spill down the slope.
I concentrated my mind
the way you train a good horse.

Then I took a lamp
and went into my cell,
checked the bed,
and sat down on it.
I took a needle
and pushed the wick down.

When the lamp went out
my mind was freed.

-Patacara's Verses in the Therigatha (5.10). Translated by Susan Murcott in "The First Buddhist Women (Parallax, 2006, 2nd ed.)

Peaceful Mysticism vs. Religious Fanaticism

I've always found Sufism quite interesting and am a fan of the great Sufi teachers/poets like Hafez, Rumi, and Saadi. The South Asian Sufi traditions in particular, with their Qawwali performances and veneration of dargahs are fascinating to me. With this in mind, I'd like to share a recent article from Smithsonian Magazine about the status of Sufi practioners in Pakistan. It's called "Pakistan's Sufis Preach Faith and Ecstasy" and looks at the challenges posed to this centuries old tradition by recent, religious fanatics. As the article explains:

...Sufism is not a sect, like Shiism or Sunnism, but rather the mystical side of Islam—a personal, experiential approach to Allah, which contrasts with the prescriptive, doctrinal approach of fundamentalists like the Taliban. It exists throughout the Muslim world (perhaps most visibly in Turkey, where whirling dervishes represent a strain of Sufism), and its millions of followers generally embrace Islam as a religious experience, not a social or political one. Sufis represent the strongest indigenous force against Islamic fundamentalism. Yet Western countries have tended to underestimate their importance even as the West has spent, since 2001, millions of dollars on interfaith dialogues, public diplomacy campaigns and other initiatives to counter extremism. Sufis are particularly significant in Pakistan, where Taliban-inspired gangs threaten the prevailing social, political and religious order...

In times of such great religious and cultural conflict, we should do our best to support and encourage those who choose peace, love, and tolerance over violence, hatred, and intolerance. In the words of Rumi:

Though we seem to be sleeping,
there is an inner wakefulness
that directs the dream, and
that will eventually startle us back
to the truth of who we are.

Let's get a moving!

My Head is Going To Explode: Reflections on the Avataṃsaka Sutra Part I

It is said there are 84,000 ways to practice Dharma and one way I practice involves reading/studying the Sutras. The very first text I picked up was the one that also set me on the Buddhist path: the Dhammapada (my favorite translation being that of Gil Fronsdal). Much of my initial study focused exclusively on Pali Suttas and Theravadan writers but I soon became curious about the vast Ocean of Mahayana sutras.

I slowly began to explore these sutras and almost immediately I knew that I was dealing with a whole different kind of sutra. Stylistically and doctrinally, many Mahayana sutras are completely different from the Pali texts I was used to. It took a while for me to figure a way in which to constructively approach them.

During this time, I had been reading a book well known to many who share an interest in Eastern spirituality and science: The Tao of Physics. This book fascinated me on so many levels but the one thing that I found particularly striking was Frijof Capra's explanations of reality being an interpenetrating phenomenon, best illustrated by the famous metaphor of Indra's Net. Alan Watts provides a concise and elegant explanation:

Imagine a multidimensional spider's web in the early morning covered with dew drops. And every dew drop contains the reflection of all the other dew drops. And, in each reflected dew drop, the reflections of all the other dew drops in that reflection. And so ad infinitum. That is the Buddhist conception of the universe in an image.

Or in the words of William Blake:

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

Wow. Amazing. Beyond amazing. I had never heard of anything even remotely close to this before in my life. I'd always been a dreamer as a kid, looking up at the dozen or so stars visible in the New York City nights and contemplating my tiny but special place in the universe. This however, just totally made my head explode. The source material for this, as Capra repeatedly referenced was actually a Mahayana Buddhist text called the Avataṃsaka Sutra (अवतंसक सूत्र, 華嚴經), translated as the Flower Adornment (or Ornament) Scripture. Up until this point, my exploration of Mahayana sutras was rather aimless, drifting from here to there but now I had a target and my sights were set. I couldn't believe that there were sutras which talked about this...apparently in excessive detail. I had to read this and I had to know more.

After some searching around, I discovered some peculiar particulars about the Avataṃsaka. The sutra as it comes down to us now is actually a compendium of various smaller sutras. The almost all of the original Sanskrit text has been lost with the sutra being preserved in Chinese and Tibetan translation. Two of the Sanskrit chapters have survived and they are arguable the most popular and influential parts; the Ten Grounds (Daśabhūmika - दशभूमिक) and Entry into the Inconceivable (Gandavyuha - गन्दव्यूह) chapters. The Ten Grounds chapter focuses on the stages of the Bodhisattva Path that lead up to enlightenment while the Entry Into the Inconceivable details the journey of the spiritual pilgrim Sudhana as he visits various teachers in his quest for Awakening.

The Avataṃsaka is nicknamed by some as the "King of Sutras", not only because it is the longest text but also because of the grand scope of its teachings. D.T. Suzuki (as quoted by Thomas Cleary) writes of it:

As to the Avatamsaka-Sutra, it really is the consummation of Buddhist thought, Buddhist sentiment, and Buddhist experience. To my mind, no religious literature in the world can ever approach the grandeur of conception, the depth of feeling, and the gigantic scale of composition as attained by this sutra. Here not only deeply speculative minds find satisfaction, but humble spirits and heavily oppressed hearts, too, will have their burdens lightened. Abstract truths are so concretely, so symbolically represented here that one will come to realization of the truth that even in a particle of dust, the whole universe is seen reflected - not this visible universe only, but vast systems of universes, conceivable by the highest minds only.

Suzuki's wondrous, if somewhat intimidating view, also points to another interesting tidbit about the sutra: it remains a little known, obscure text in Western Buddhism. The reasons for this are not hard to understand. The sutra's length and complexity alone are enough to dissuade many translators. Indeed, there's only one complete English translation of the sutra out there, the one by Thomas Cleary. Aside from this, the Buddhist Text Translation Society has published some translations of small bits of the sutra but these are currently being revised - a fresh and complete translation of the Ten Grounds is currently in the works.

Still determined to check out this text, I picked up a copy of Cleary's translation, opened it up, and became another one of the countless practitioners who would be (in a positive way) be totally blown away...

The World is a Playground

I perceive the world as a playground
Where dawn and dusk appear in eternal rounds
In His Universal form is a plaything the throne of Solomon
The miracles of the Messiah seem so ordinary in my eyes
Without name I cannot comprehend any form
Illusionary but is the identity of all objects
My anguish envelopes the entire desert
Silently flows the river in front of my floods
Ask not what separation has done to me
Just see your poise when I come in front of you
Truly you say that I am egotistical and proud
It is the reflection, O friend, in your limited mirror
To appreciate the style and charm of conversation
Just bring in the goblet and wine
Hatred manifests due to my envious mind
Thus I say, don't take his name in front of me
Faith stops me while temptations attract
Inspite of Kaaba behind and church ahead
I am the Lover, yet notorious is my charm
Thus Laila calls names to Majnu in front of me
"Dies" not one though the union is a delight
In premonition of the separation night
Alas, this be it, the bloody separation wave
I know not what else is in store ahead of me
Though the hands don't move, the eyes are alive
Wine and goblet, let them stay in front of me
Says "Ghalib"
Conscience is companion and trusted friend
Don't pass any judgments in front of me.

-Mirza Ghalib (مرزا غالب)

Dharma Dictionary: Abhaya (अभय)

March 4th, 1933 a man with a newly appointed job had the task of giving a talk about what he planned to accomplish in his new post. This wouldn’t be any ordinary speech however. The situation was delicate and he would need to choose his words very carefully. In an unusual move, instead of immediately addressing specific issues, he first decided to focus on what he felt was the true root of the problem: the misdirected mind. Carefully considering how and what his audience was feeling, he told them very early in his speech:

“So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” (1)

The man was the newly elected U.S. President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the speech was his Inaugural address to a country in the midst of the Great Depression. All of us know what fear is. Perhaps we can’t provide a dictionary definition (2) but we all know what it is because we’ve all experienced it in its various forms. We also know that fear can drive people to things that they would never do under normal circumstances. So much suffering, great and small, has arisen from fear but how can we begin to understand it? One way is to look at what it means to be free from fear, or abhaya.

Abhaya (pronounced “uh-bhuh-yuh”) is a Pali/Sanskrit word meaning “fearless, free from danger, safe, secure, undaunted” (3). It is composed of two parts; ‘bhaya’ meaning “fear, fright, or dread” (4) and the prefix ‘a’ which denotes ‘not, or non’.

Fear can be very powerful. It can be so powerful that it paralyzes us, as FDR says. Because of fear’s potential to paralyze in so many ways; physical, emotional, and spiritual, the Buddha taught many different ways of overcoming it. In the Dhajjaga Sutta (The Top of the Standard Sutta), the Buddha gives advice to his followers on how to overcome fear when they are practicing alone in the wilderness. Imagine what it must’ve been like to try and meditate alone when there are tigers, wild elephants, cobras, bandits, and many other fear-inspiring things roaming around. In this case, the Buddha recommended the practice of Recollecting (5) the Three Jewels (the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha) as a way to allay fear:

“i. Whether in forest or at foot of tree,
Or in some secluded spot, O monks,
Do call to mind that Buddha Supreme;
Then will there be no fear to you at all.

ii. If you think not of the Buddha, O monks,
That Lord of the world and Chief of men,
Then do think, O monks, of that Dhamma;
So well preached and leading to Nibbana.

iii. If you think not of the Dhamma, O monks
Well preached and leading to Nibbana;
Then do think, O monks, of that Sangha,
That wonderful field of merit to all.

iv. To those recalling the Buddha supreme,
To those recalling the Dhamma sublime,
And to those recalling the Sangha,
No fear, no terror will make them quiver”. (6)

On another occasion, a group of monks were facing a similar situation; they couldn’t practice because they were being disturbed by spirits that wanted to drive them out of the forest (7). When they told the Buddha of this occurrence, he taught them what would become one of the most well-known suttas ever: the Metta Sutta. In Pali ‘metta’ means loving-kindness, or benevolence (8). The reason for the Buddha teaching metta to the terrified monks is simple: fear cannot dwell in a heart filled with love. A full discussion of metta is best left for another thread but what we should keep in mind is that metta is not merely a psychological comfort: it has real power and can “rub off” on other beings.

One famous story involving the power of metta has to do with a drunken elephant that tried to attack the Buddha. Acharya Buddharakkhita relates this story in his book “Metta – The Philosophy and Practice of Universal Love”:

“Once the Buddha was returning from his almsround together with his retinue of monks. As they were nearing the prison, in consideration of a handsome bribe from Devadatta, the Buddha's evil and ambitious cousin, the executioner let loose the fierce elephant Nalagiri, which was used for the execution of criminals. As the intoxicated elephant rushed towards the Buddha trumpeting fearfully, the Buddha projected powerful thoughts of metta towards it. Venerable Ananda, the Buddha's attendant, was so deeply concerned about the Buddha's safety that he ran in front of the Buddha to shield him, but the Buddha asked him to stand aside since the projection of love itself was quite sufficient. The impact of the Buddha's metta-radiation was so immediate and overwhelming that by the time the animal neared the Buddha it was completely tamed as though a drunken wretch had suddenly become sober by the magical power of a spell. The tusker, it is said, bowed down in reverence in the way trained elephants do in a circus”. (9)

Another powerful way of overcoming fear is to look deep within ourselves and take a long look at the nature of the fear itself. Noted Tibetan Buddhist scholar, Alexander Berzin says that one way we can do this is to:

“Reaffirm that having Buddha-nature means that we have the basis for all good qualities complete within us. In Western psychological terms, these qualities may be conscious or unconscious (we may be mindful of them or not, and they may be developed to different degrees). Often, we project the unconscious qualities as a "shadow." Because the unconscious is the unknown, the tension of being unaware of it manifests as fear of the unknown and thus fear of our unknown unconscious qualities. Thus, we may identify with our conscious intellectual side and ignore or deny our unknown, unconscious, emotional feeling side. We may project the emotional feeling side as a shadow and be frightened of others who are very emotional. We may be afraid of our own emotional side and have anxiety about being out of touch with our feelings. If we identify with our conscious emotional feeling side and deny our unconscious intellectual side, we may project the intellectual side as a shadow and be intimidated by those who are intellectual. We may be afraid to try to understand anything and feel anxiety about being intellectually dull. Thus, we need to reaffirm both sides as complete within us, as aspects of our Buddha-natures” (10).

As previously mentioned, fear is one of the biggest obstacles we encounter on the spiritual path but what can happen after we move past our fears? According to the Heart Sutra, the answer is liberation. In this sutra, the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (11) describes the liberating insights he has regarding the inherent emptiness (or limitless potential) of various aspects of existence. Towards the end of the Sutra, he says:

“…through prajñāpāramitā bodhisattvas have no obstructions in their minds. Having no obstructions there is no fear and departing from erroneous views and conclusions, they reach ultimate nirvana”(12).

Sarvamangalam - सर्वमंगलम्
May all be blessed,

***

(1) “History Matters” – The U.S. Survey Course on the Web, George Mason University:
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5057/
(2) Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary (http://www.merriam-webster.com/) defines fear as, among other things, “an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger
(3) Pali Text Society's Pali-English Dictionary Online p. 61. Accessed via the "Digital Dictionaries of South Asia" Project. http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries
(4) Ibid, p 499
(5) Mindful Recollection is known in Sanskrit as anusmṛti - (Devanāgari: अनुस्मृति ); Pali: Anussati.
(6) Dhajjaga Sutta, Samyutta Nikaya Section 11, Sutta 3, translated by Piyadassi Thera. From Access to Insight: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn11/sn11.003.piya.html
(7) Metta-The Philosophy and Practice of Universal Love, by Acharya Buddharakkhita. From Access to Insight:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/buddharakkhita/wheel365.html#ch1
(8) Ibid.
(9) Ibid
(10) “Handling Fear” by Alexander Berzin. From the Berzin Archives:
http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/archives/sutra/level3_lojong_material/general/hand_fear.html
(11) The word ‘Abhaya’ is also a common epithet for Avalokiteshvara, (the Fearless One) as well as for bodhisattvas in general.
(12) Prajñāpāramitā (Devanāgari: प्रज्ञापारमिता) means the “Perfection of Wisdom” in Sanskrit. It is one of the qualities that Bodhisattvas cultivate on their path to Full Awakening. This translation of the Heart Sutra is from the Bodhi Monastery Liturgy:
http://www.bodhimonastery.net/bm/

Dharma Dictionary Introduction

Greetings everyone! The Dharma Dictionary posts are brief explanations of important words and concepts that are commonly encountered in the Buddhadharma. These entries are by no means meant to be comprehensive but are intended to be a starting point for further study/exploration, hence the references given at the end of each post.

I'd like to thank all my teachers over the years, both spiritual and academic, as well as my Good Friends. Their insight and guidance in helping me understand just a tiny bit of the Buddha's path to liberation is immensely appreciated.

May all be blessed!

Podcast is Emptiness, Emptiness is Podcast

Unfettered Mind, the website of noted scholar/translator and writer Ken McLeod has an absolutely fascinating two part series dealing (mostly) with the Heart Sutra. The talks, entitled "Anything's Possible", are dialogues between Ken and Bill Porter (aka Red Pine), another well known scholar/translator/writer and a personal favorite of mine.

Aside from the great insights of the translators, the numerous questions posed by the audience are also very illuminating. Each talk is ~1.5 h and go well with a pot of good tea (or several!).

Special thanks to Roby Wallace for sharing this!

Salutation to the Dawn

Look to this day!
For it is life
The very life of life
In its brief course
Lie all the varieties and realities
of your existence.

The bliss of growth
The bliss of action
The splendor of achievement.
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision,
And today well lived,
Makes yesterday a dream of Happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of Hope.

Look well,therefore,to this Day
Such is the Salutation to the Dawn.

-Kālidāsa