Master Wang Xianglu | 2018-06-23 | Download | AI assisted translation
| 观自在菩萨，行深般若波罗蜜多时，照见五蕴皆空，度一切苦厄。 | Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, while practicing the profound perfection of prajñā, clearly saw that the five aggregates are all empty, and thus crossed beyond all suffering and adversity. |
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| 此四句为全经总持，首一句又为四句之总持，言修行成佛，须至大自在为止。自己自在，更度他人至自在者为菩萨，而其妙用在一观字，观个本来，言自己和众生本来自在，之所以不自在者，徒因迷而不觉，枉自烦恼，若欲修复本来，还得起般若妙观之用，悟入本来，以慧照力参之，此修心之总诀也。 | These four sentences are the comprehensive dhāraṇī of the entire sūtra, and the first sentence is in turn the dhāraṇī of the four sentences. They say that in cultivating practice to attain Buddhahood, one must reach great freedom. One who is free oneself and further leads others to freedom is a bodhisattva. Its wondrous function lies in the single word “contemplate”: contemplate the original nature. This means that oneself and sentient beings are originally free; the reason they are not free is merely that, through delusion, they fail to awaken and vainly generate afflictions. If one wishes to restore the original nature, one must still bring forth the function of the wondrous contemplation of prajñā, awaken and enter the original nature, and investigate it through the power of wisdom’s illumination. This is the essential formula for cultivating the mind. |
| 下三句谓妙观起用之法。在自性莲华，行甚深之般若法，用以度登彼岸，然岸属假名，亦无彼此，姑以迷为此岸，觉为彼岸而已。而迷觉之别，只在一心，心若觉悟，则名到彼岸之上。 | The following three sentences explain the method by which wondrous contemplation is put into function. Upon the lotus of one’s intrinsic nature, one practices the profound Dharma of prajñā, using it to cross over and reach the other shore. Yet “shore” is only a provisional name; there is in fact neither this nor that. For the moment, delusion is called this shore and awakening the other shore, that is all. The distinction between delusion and awakening lies only in one mind. If the mind awakens, this is called arriving upon the other shore. |
| 波罗者，彼岸也，蜜者到也，多者上也，非此岸，非中流，非彼岸，必彼岸之上，乃名究竟，故曰行深。但心不可得，依境而立，与境相对，外而六尘，内而六根，皆色也，相对即受，如风之相接而受也。 | Pāra means the other shore; mi means to reach; tā means upon. It is not this shore, not midstream, and not merely the other shore; one must be upon the other shore before it can be called ultimate. Therefore it is said to be profound practice. Yet mind cannot be grasped; it is established in dependence upon objects and stands in opposition to them. Externally there are the six sense objects, and internally the six sense faculties; all are form. Opposition gives rise to sensation, just as wind is felt when it comes into contact. |
| 既受矣，遂动乎念，是曰想，想之刹那流转曰行，于是意识中知其为风，为冷为热，一切分别，相因而起，此五事蕴结不散，是曰五蕴，言心境互蕴，迷而为一，流浪深入，不知所返，久习成惯，难以解脱，且视为当然矣。 | Once sensation has arisen, thought then moves; this is called conception. The moment-to-moment flow of conception is called formation. Thereupon, consciousness knows it to be wind, cold, or heat; all discriminations arise interdependently. When these five things accumulate and cohere without dispersing, they are called the five aggregates. This means that mind and objects mutually contain one another; through delusion they become one. One wanders and sinks ever deeper, not knowing how to return. Long habituation becomes customary and difficult to escape, and one even takes it to be only natural. |
| 于是事有成败，心有顺逆，苦乐以起，苦者固苦，乐者亦苦，以乐不究竟，一切无常，终归于苦也。凡身受疾痛而心不安者曰苦，意有颠倒而心不安者曰厄，般若不开，苦厄未除，不名得度。 | Thus affairs meet with success or failure, and the mind encounters favorable or adverse conditions; suffering and pleasure arise accordingly. Suffering is certainly suffering, but pleasure too is suffering, for pleasure is not ultimate. All things are impermanent and in the end return to suffering. When the body suffers illness or pain and the mind is uneasy, this is called suffering; when one’s thoughts are distorted and the mind is uneasy, this is called adversity. If prajñā has not opened and suffering and adversity have not been removed, one cannot be said to have crossed beyond them. |
| 度苦厄者，度此幻心也，以苦厄皆属诸心，度心惟仗甚深般若，照见其本空而已。空者何，此心与境而已，境属幻有，心属幻立，此心境幻合之五蕴，本属凭空缘生，非有实体，如以为苦则苦矣，以为乐则乐矣，以为实，则认妄为真而颠倒矣。以为幻，则心无所系而苦乐断矣，照见五蕴本空，心得自在矣，心即空寂，万事解脱，故名一切。 | To cross beyond suffering and adversity is to cross beyond this illusory mind, for suffering and adversity all belong to the various states of mind. To cross beyond mind, one can rely only on profound prajñā, clearly seeing its fundamental emptiness. What is emptiness? It is simply this mind and its objects. Objects are illusorily present, and mind is illusorily established. These five aggregates, formed by the illusory conjunction of mind and objects, arise dependently from empty space and have no substantial reality. If one takes them to be suffering, there is suffering; if one takes them to be pleasure, there is pleasure. If one takes them to be real, one mistakes the false for the true and is thereby inverted. If one takes them to be illusory, the mind has nothing to which it is bound, and suffering and pleasure cease. Clearly seeing that the five aggregates are fundamentally empty, the mind attains freedom. The mind itself is empty and quiescent, and all affairs are liberated; hence the words “all suffering and adversity.” |
| 然则三句者，救心之无上妙法也，惟一切二字，义至微细，不至究竟，不得谓为一切也。所言空者，非有无之谓空也，惟以缘会而有，其体本空，其用不无，以无自性故空，以假合故空，况照见亦属五蕴也，惟不执而已。 | Thus, these three sentences are the supreme wondrous Dharma for saving the mind. Yet the meaning of the two words “all” is exceedingly subtle: unless one reaches the ultimate, one cannot speak of “all.” The emptiness spoken of is not emptiness in the sense of being or nonbeing. Things exist only through the coming together of conditions; their substance is fundamentally empty, though their functioning is not nonexistent. They are empty because they lack intrinsic nature, and empty because they are provisionally compounded. Moreover, clear seeing itself belongs to the five aggregates; one need only not cling to it. |
| 凡夫不知苦厄之所自起，并不知五蕴为何物，并不知苦厄之在心而非身，更不知五蕴之本空，尤不知照见之妙法，故世世沉沦于此岸也。 | Ordinary beings do not know from where suffering and adversity arise. Nor do they know what the five aggregates are; nor do they know that suffering and adversity are in the mind rather than the body; still less do they know that the five aggregates are fundamentally empty, or know the wondrous method of clear seeing. Therefore, life after life, they sink and drift upon this shore. |
| 罗汉知五蕴是空，乃般若无力，偏执于空，未解空义，其执空者，仍等于有也，如虽不在此岸，却在中流，未达彼岸，故名入流，以其慧照未全，尚未开般若也。菩萨已知五蕴本空，但照见未空，尚执功用，有时失照，如虽达彼岸而未登岸也，必焉八地以上菩萨，与佛等量，并照见亦空矣，且空亦不著矣，方名皆空。 | Arhats know that the five aggregates are empty, but their prajñā lacks power. They cling one-sidedly to emptiness and have not understood its meaning. Those who cling to emptiness are still equivalent to clinging to existence. It is as though, although no longer on this shore, they remain midstream and have not reached the other shore. Therefore this is called entering the stream. Since the illumination of their wisdom is incomplete, prajñā has not yet opened. Bodhisattvas already know that the five aggregates are fundamentally empty, but clear seeing has not yet become empty; they still cling to its function and at times lose that illumination. It is as though they have reached the other shore but have not yet stepped onto it. Only bodhisattvas of the eighth bhūmi and above, equal in measure to the Buddha, have clear seeing that is itself empty; moreover, they do not cling even to emptiness. Only then can it be called “all empty.” |
| 如是自在，挂碍斯尽，非力行甚深之般若，不能登彼岸之上也，以究竟涅槃也。至此庶可名为一切也，观照之妙用，至此已备，且所谓照者，起般若以妙观也，见者，眼下直见本来也，非空非有，无实无虚，总在自觉，非尽佛度，以行在我而照见在自心也。此四句，已总持心经之全义，故曰总持。 | In this way one is free, and all hindrances are exhausted. Without vigorously practicing profound prajñā, one cannot ascend to the other shore, for this is ultimate nirvāṇa. Only then may it perhaps be called “all.” By this point, the wondrous function of contemplation and illumination is complete. What is meant by “illumination” is to bring forth prajñā for wondrous contemplation; what is meant by “seeing” is directly seeing the original nature before one’s very eyes. It is neither empty nor existent, neither real nor unreal; it all lies in one’s own awakening. It is not wholly accomplished by the Buddha’s deliverance, for practice lies with oneself and clear seeing lies in one’s own mind. These four sentences already contain the complete meaning of the Heart Sūtra; therefore they are called a comprehensive dhāraṇī. |
