Because ignorance and wisdom are diametrically opposed in the way they apprehend phenomena and because ignorance is an erroneous consciousness, wisdom can overcome ignorance. When ignorance is uprooted, all the afflictions that depend on it also cease. Other counterforces do not have the ability to eliminate ignorance but are applied to individual afflictions. Since cultivating […]
時 照 見 (from the third line of the Heart Sutra)
OK – now things get a little complicated. Here are the first three lines of the Heart Sutra, with some characters highlighted in two different colors. The color coding is explained below: 1—————————————————————————————– 摩 訶 般 若 波 羅 蜜 多 心 經 ma ha ban ya ba ra mil ta shim gyong great prajna […]
“… when practicing deeply …” 行深 in the second line of the Heart Sutra
觀 自 在 菩 薩 行 深 般 若 kwan ja jae bo sal haeng shim ban ya avalokiteshvavra bodhisattva practice […]
菩薩: Chinese for “Bodhisattva”
The Chinese name of Avalokiteshvara, as we saw in the previous post, is 觀自在. But the Chinese title of Avalokiteshvara is the next two words on the second line of the Heart Sutra: 菩薩. Here is the whole second line, with these two characters in red: 觀 自 在 菩 薩 行 深 般 若 […]
Full steam ahead into the second line of the Heart Sutra
OK, so far I have covered the first line of the Heart Sutra. Yay me! Depending on how you count, we are now either going to start on the first or the second line of the Heart Sutra. If we count the title as the first line (which is what I’ve been doing), then here […]
Searching for the Ox (尋 牛)
忙 忙 撥 草 去 追 尋
busy busy pulling grass go chase search
水 闊 山 遙 路 更 深
water wide mountain distant path deeper
Writing the Ox, the short version (just the titles)
十牛圖
十 (shí: ten) / 牛 (niú: ox) / 圖 (tú: picture/diagram)
尋牛序一
尋 (xún: to search) / 序 (xù: number) / 一 (yī: one)
The Six Distortions (from the Analects)
From the Analects, 17.6: 好仁不好學、其蔽也愚。 好知不好學、其蔽也蕩。 好信不好學、其蔽也賊。 好直不好學、其蔽也絞。 好勇不好學、其蔽也亂。 好剛不好學、其蔽也狂。 Confucius once asked Zhòng Yóu (仲由) if he had heard of “the six words and the six distortions”. Yóu said he had not. The Master then explained as follows: The “six words” (六言) are: 仁 (kindness), 知 (wisdom), 信 (reliability), 直 (honesty), 勇 (courage), and […]
Celery and pintos surprise
1 can pinto beansabout 75% of a bunch of celery2 large tomatoes1 cup frozen peas1/2 tsp salt2 bay leavesAfter all the above have had some time to get to know each other, then add 1/2 lb of pasta of your choice with 1 cup of water. Maybe turn up the heat for a little while […]
心經: How to write “Heart Sutra” in Chinese characters
The last two characters in the first line of the Heart Sutra are 心經: 摩 訶 般 若 波 羅 蜜 多 心 經ma ha ban ya ba ra mil ta shim gyong The first of these characters is 心 (xīn), is the Chinese character for “mind” and also for “heart”. The character 心 is actually used to translate two different Sanskrit words in […]