When the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara was meditating on the profound prajna-paramita, he perceived that all the five aggregates are void and empty, and he was thereupon freed from all sufferings and calamities. Sariputra, matter is not different from voidness and voidness is not different from matter: matter is voidness and voidness is matter. Such is also the case with sensation, perception, discrimination and consciousness. Sariputra, all these things are void in nature, having neither beginning nor end, being neither pure nor impure, and having neither increase nor decrease. Therefore, in voidness there is not matter, no sensation, no perception, no discrimination and no consciousness; there is no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body and no mind; there is no sight, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch and no mental process; there is no category of eye nor is there a category of consciousness; no ignorance nor the cessation of ignorance; no old age and death, nor the cessation of old age and death; there is no suffering, no causes of suffering, no cessation of suffering, and no way leading go the cessation of suffering; and there is no wisdom, nor anything to be gained. As nothing is to be gained, a Bodhisattva depending on prajna-paramita becomes free in his mind, and as he is free in his mind he has no fear and is rid of dreamlike thoughts of unreality and enjoys ultimate Nirvana. By mean of prajna-paramita, all Buddhas of the past, the present and the future realize anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Therefore, we know prajna-paramita is a great, divine spell, a great enlightening spell, a supreme spell, and a spell without a parallel, that can do away with all sufferings without fail. Thus we recite the Prajna-paramita Spell and say: Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi, svaha!
As the Patriarch from the Tang had already the origins of enlightenment inside himself, he was able to remember the Heart Sutra after only one hearing, and it has been passed on down to this very day. This sutra is the kernel of the cultivation of the truth, and it is the gateway to becoming a Buddha. When the hermit had recited it, he started to rise up to his crow's nest by cloud, but Sanzang tugged at him and said that he wanted to know about the way to the Western Heaven. To this the hermit replied with a smile:
“The journey will not be difficult,
If you try to follow my instructions.
There will be a thousand mountains, a thousand deep rivers.
Many evil miasmas, and many a devil.
If you reach the edge of the sky
Do not worry or be afraid.
If you come to Precipitous Cliff
Walk with your feet placed sideways.
Be careful in the Black Pine Forest,
Where many an evil fox may block your path.
The capital cities will be full of spirits,
And demon kings will live in the mountains.
Tigers will sit in the music rooms,
Wolves will be in charge of the accounts.
Lions and elephants will all be kings,
With tigers and leopards for ministers.
A wild boar will carry your luggage,
A water monster will lead the way.
A very old stone monkey
Has no cause to be angry.
Ask those friends of yours-
They know the way to the West.”
Monkey smiled bitterly and said, “Let's go. No need to ask him; you can ask me.” Sanzang did not understand what he meant. The hermit changed himself into a beam of golden light and went up to his nest, while the venerable Sanzang bowed to him in gratitude. Monkey, now furiously angry, raised his iron cudgel and was just going up to wreck the place when ten thousand lotus flowers appeared, protected by a thousand miraculous mists. Brother Monkey, you are strong enough to stir up the ocean or turn a river upside-down; but don't even dream of touching a twig of that nest! When Sanzang saw what he was going to do, he grabbed hold of him and said, “Wukong, what do you mean by trying to wreck this Bodhisattva's nest?”
“He insulted us two disciples,” Monkey replied.
“He did not insult you,” said Sanzang. “He was talking about the way to the Western Heaven.”
“You wouldn't be able to understand,” Monkey said. “When he said, 'A wild boar will carry your luggage,' he was insulting Pig; and 'A very old stone monkey' was an insult to me. You didn't get his meaning, of course.”
“Don't be angry,” said Pig. “That hermit knows about the past and the future as well. We don't yet know whether his talk about a water monster leading the way will come true or not. Let him off.”
Monkey saw the lotus blossoms and the miraculous mists draw in round the nest, and could but ask his master to mount the horse and go down the mountain to the West. On this journey,
Although they knew blessings rare on earth,
There was many a demon and disaster in the hill.
If you don't know what lay in store for them, listen to the explanation in the next installment.
Chapter 20
The Tang Priest Meets Trouble on the Yellow Wind Ridge
Pig Wins Mastery Halfway up the Mountain
The Dharma is born in the mind,
And in turn is destroyed by the mind.
Who do life and death come from?
Decide for yourself.
If it is all from your own mind,
Why do you need others to tell you?
All you need to do is work hard,
Squeezing blood out of iron.
Thread a silken rope through your nose.
And fasten yourself to emptiness.
Tie it to the tree of non-action,
To prevent it from collapsing.
Don't acknowledge bandits as your sons,
Or you will forget the Dharma and the mind.
Do not allow yourself to be deceived by others-
Smash them first with a punch.
When the mind appears it is non-existent,
When the Dharma appears, it ceases.
When the boy and the ox both disappear,
The blue sky is absolutely clear.
All is as round as an autumn moon,
And this and that can no longer be distinguished.
This gatha refers to how the Patriarch Xuanzang came to awareness and understanding of the Heart Sutra and thus opened the gate. As that venerable elder recited it constantly, a ray of miraculous light penetrated through to him.
Eating and sleeping in the open, the three of them traveled on, and before long the heat of summer was upon them.
The blossoms were over, the butterflies' passion spent.
High in the trees the cicadas screeched.
Wild silkworms spun cocoons amid the pomegranate blossom,
As lotus flowers opened in the pool.
As they were travelling along one evening they saw a cottage beside the road. “Look,” said Sanzang, “the sun is setting behind the Western hills, hiding its mirror of fire, and the moon is rising from the Eastern sea to show its wheel of ice. How lucky that there is a family living by our path. Let's spend the night here and set off again tomorrow morning.”
“Well said,” put in Pig. “I'm a bit hungry, and if we begged some food from that house I'd have more strength for carrying the luggage.”
“Homesick ghost,” remarked Brother Monkey, “you've only been away from home for a few days, but you're already regretting that you came.”