Heart Sutra, Part Two

Heart Sutra, Part Two
Daiho-roshi


O Shariputra, form is no other than emptiness, emptiness no other than form, form is exactly emptiness, emptiness exactly form. Feeling, thought, impulse, and consciousness are likewise like this.



This phrasing is a core teaching arising from our practice. These words are only words: take them to mean nothing at all! They are simply the words we use to describe what we experience and “attain” on the cushion, walking, eating, and/or working in everyday Zen. When we practice with our breath and are deeply here, we see clearly the impermanence of everything.



As we go through our day and notice our breath enter and leave; we experience the comings and goings of mind, feeling, body, consciousness, and so on. Nothing lasts, nothing. Yet everything is here, always.



It is important to see that both sides of this couplet are true: form is emptiness and emptiness is form. If we reside in the first half we are like the monk in the koan sitting on top of that hundred-foot pole, residing in emptiness, nihilistic and worthless. “Getting” that form is emptiness does not mean that it does not matter or that it won’t smack you upside your head. It simply means is like a river flowing, whatever the it of it is.





Emptiness is form is a statement of perfect faith. What goes, will come again. The out breath is only half of the story, as is death, as is life, as is pain, as is pleasure. Moreover, each of the aggregates is the same.



We must trust in the processes of the universe, and when we let our ego-self go, we rise and fall on the waters of form/no form, tranquil or stormy, with perfect equanimity. And we take the next step. We always take the next step. We have vowed to do so.