Prajna

Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, doing deep Prajna Paramita, perceived the emptiness of all five conditions and was freed from pain.

With these words, in the form in which we chanted it at the Zen Community of New York, the Heart Sutra begins. I have been chanting these words regularly since I arrived at ZCNY, although only recently have I discovered something which has eluded me for more than 30 years.  

Newly arrived at ZCNY, I was plunged into the study of the “five conditions.” 

Form is Emptiness; emptiness is form. Form is the first condition. We began with form. We had a daily assignment to do between biweekly classes, to observe the form of a moment in our lives. What was I experiencing with my eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind?

After each subsequent class meeting, we added another condition. The Sutra continues, Oh Shariputra, form is no other than emptiness, emptiness no other than form. Form is exactly emptiness, emptiness exactly form. Sensation, perception, reaction, and consciousness are also like this. 

Every day, I observed a moment in my life. First, I observed the form of my experience. I journaled my observations. By the end of the course, looking at a moment in the day, I was observing not only form but sensation, perception, reaction, and consciousness as well. The sutra terminology was clumsy, but Bernie had worked out a series or prompts. Using Bernie’s prompts, I avoided philosophical exploration of the nature of experience and plunged into the concreteness of the moment. Getting into the practice, I realized the selfness of my experience, changing my relationship to myself and others. I could see how the life I was taking for granted arrived, not in the totality which I experienced but in the elements of form and of the other four conditions.

In the practice if we are lucky – I was lucky – we discover the active creativity in our experience. It’s not that we make experience out of nothing. We are not inhabiting an imaginary world, but we do make our experience out of emptiness, out of that which is without form. And as the Sutra says, “Sensation, perception, reaction, and consciousness are also like this.” 

Being aware of that turns out to be a big deal. It feels like a miracle. Perceiving the emptiness of all five conditions, I have been freed from pain, although not every moment. I was in the hospital for a couple of surgeries this spring. They put in a catheter. When the catheter was removed, I screamed with pain. The pain was real, and then it was over. Maybe I’ve been mostly lucky. I’ve dodged some bullets, but I expect there will be more pain tests in my future.

Occasionally, the question of my favorite sutra comes up in Zen conversation. It’s the Heart Sutra. These lines of the Heart Sutra have been fundamental to my practice now for more than 30 years both as a student and as a teacher.

Today, I am coming back to the first line of the sutra with fresh eyes. What a surprise. 

Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, doing deep Prajna Paramita. I am realizing that for 30 years, I have been, if not ignoring these words, dismissing them as having nothing to do with me. Who am I? I’m not Avalokiteshvara. The Bodhisattva of Compassion stands very high in the Zen pantheon. Bernie and Jishu loved her. Avalokiteshvara hears all the cries, all the sorrows of the Universe, and works tirelessly to relieve the pain. She might be called the Bodhisattva of peacemaking. If the Zen Peacemakers were to have a patron saint, I think it would have to be Avalokiteshvara.

Bernie used to say that he had never met anyone who was enlightened all the time. Then he would pause and with a chuckle add, “Except maybe the Dalai Lama.” Bernie would explain that the Dalai Lama had a leg up on the rest of us. “After all, he’s a reincarnation of Avalokiteshvara.”

As I’ve chanted the sutra all these years, I’ve understood that Avalokiteshvara was capable of doing deep Prajna Paramita, something that I could only aspire to. Really, how could I even aspire? Deep Prajna Paramita was so beyond me. I don’t think I did anything deeply. When I dipped my toes into koan study with Jishu, she would frequently challenge me to go deeper. I had no idea what she meant. I was certainly no Avalokiteshvara. If only I was capable of doing deep Prajna Paramita.

Fortunately, I thought, doing deep Prajna Paramita wasn’t necessary. Bernie had created an alternate pathway, the Ox Program, which allowed me to go deeply into the five conditions. Miracle of miracles, I was freed from pain, more or less. 

I think now that I misunderstood that opening line. I have been hearing a causal connection: Because Avalokiteshvara was doing deep Prajna Paramita—whatever that was, I had no idea -- she was able to perceive the emptiness of all five conditions. Today, I am hearing something else. Today, I am hearing an equivalence. Perceiving the emptiness of all five conditions is Prajna Paramita. Prajna Paramita is perceiving the emptiness of all five conditions.

Prajna Paramita just always sounded so intimidating. There was another Ox Course a couple of years later in which we worked with six Paramitas as we had worked with the five conditions, as tools for looking more deeply at ourselves. Somehow, I was able to approach Dana Paramita, Giving Practice, and the other Paramitas using them as tools for looking more deeply at myself. As I worked for instance with Dana Paramita, I tasted Giving although I was not always a generous person. Prajna Paramita, although I tried to use it to look more deeply, remained the practice of the saints. 

Now I think perhaps I have been practicing Prajna all these years, although not every minute. I do perceive the emptiness of my experience. Not all the time. I’m no Avalokiteshvara. I’m no Dalai Lama. But life is pretty good. I am a much more peaceful person than I was when I started my first Ox Course with Jishu.