Sacred Tools
Sutras
A sutra is a scripture, a sacred dialog or a prayer.
The Heart of Highest Wisdom Sutra
Form is not different from One, nor is One different from form. Feeling, perception, discrimination and consciousness are all marked by One, neither coming into being nor ceasing to be, neither increasing nor decreasing.
Therefore, within One, the world of form does not exist. Neither does the world of mind. There is no old age or death, no sensation, perception, discrimination or consciousness. There is neither ignorance nor the extinction of ignorance. There is no suffering or cessation of suffering. There is neither wisdom nor attainment of wisdom.
Because there is nothing to be attained, Seekers relying on the Highest Wisdom are free from obstacles. They have no fear, and, in the end, attain Nirvana. It is by relying on the Highest Wisdom that they make themselves receptive to enlightenment.
Therefore do we know that the Highest Wisdom is contained in a sacred mantra, a mantra of great knowledge, a mantra unsurpassed, unequaled. Its use can lead to the termination of all suffering truly and without fail. Therefore, utter this mantra of Highest Wisdom thus:
Gaté, Gaté, Paragaté, Parasamgaté, Bodhi ! Svaha !
Gone, Gone, Gone Beyond. Completely gone Beyond. Enlightenment! Svaha!
~ Interpreted by
Swami Ma Chaitanyamayi
HSIN HSIN MING
(The Mind of Absolute Trust)
The Great Way is not difficult
for those who have no preferences.
When love and hate are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised.
Make the smallest distinction, however,
and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.
If you wish to see the truth
then hold no opinions for or against anything.
To set up what you like against what you dislike
is the disease of the mind.
When the deep meaning of things
is not understood, the mind's essential peace
is disturbed to no avail.
The Way is perfect like vast space
where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess.
Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject
that we do not see the true nature of things.
Live neither in the entanglements of outer things,
nor in inner feelings of emptiness.
Be serene in the oneness of things
and such erroneous views
will disappear by themselves.
When you try to stop activity to achieve passivity
your very effort fills you with activity.
As long as you remain in one extreme or the other
you will never know Oneness.
Those who do not live in the single Way
achieve neither activity, passivity,
assertion or denial.
To deny the reality of things
is to miss their reality.
To assert the emptiness of things
is to miss their reality.
The more you talk and think about it,
the further astray you wander from the truth.
Stop talking and thinking
and there is nothing you will not be able to know.
To return to the root is to find the meaning,
but to pursue appearances is to miss the source.
At the moment of inner enlightenment,
there is a going beyond appearance and emptiness.
The changes that appear to occur
in the empty world
we call real only because of our ignorance.
Do not search for the truth:
only cease cherishing opinions.
Do not remain in the dualistic state.
Avoid such pursuits carefully.
If there is even a trace
of this and that, of right and wrong,
the Mind-essence will be lost in confusion.
Although all dualities come from the One,
do not be attached to even this One.
When the mind exists undisturbed in the Way,
nothing in the world can offend,
and when a thing can no longer offend,
it ceases to exist in the old way.
When no discriminating thoughts arise,
the old mind ceases to exist.
When thought objects vanish,
the thinking-subject vanishes.
Things are objects because of the subject.
The mind is such because of things.
Understand the relativity of these two
and the basic reality: the unity of emptiness.
In this Emptiness, the two are indistinguishable
and each contains in itself the whole world.
If you do not discriminate
between coarse and fine,
you will not be tempted to prejudice and opinion.
To live in the Great Way
is neither easy nor difficult,
but those with limited views
are fearful and irresolute.
The faster they hurry, the slower they go,
and clinging cannot be limited:
even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment
is to go astray.
Just let things be in their own way,
and there will be neither coming nor going.
Obey the nature of things (your own nature),
and you will walk freely and undisturbed.
When thought is in bondage, the truth is hidden,
for everything is murky and unclear,
and the burdensome practice of judging
brings annoyance and weariness.
What benefits can be derived
from distinctions add separations?
If you wish to move in the One Way,
do not dislike even the world of senses and ideas.
Indeed, to accept them fully
Is identical to true enlightenment.
The wise person strives to no goals
but the foolish person fetters themselves.
There is one Dharma, not many.
Distinctions arise
from the clinging needs of the ignorant.
To seek Mind with the mind
is the greatest of all mistakes.
Rest and unrest derive from illusion.
With enlightenment there is no
liking and disliking.
All dualities come from ignorant inference.
They are like dreams or flowers in the air:
foolish to try to grasp them.
Gain and loss and right and wrong:
such thoughts must finally be abolished at once.
If the eye never sleeps,
all dreams will naturally cease.
If the mind makes no discriminations,
the ten thousand things
are as they are, of single essence.
To understand the mystery of this One-essence
is to be released from all entanglements.
When all things are seen equally,
the timeless Self-essence is reached.
No comparisons or analogies are possible
in this causeless, relationless state.
Consider movement stationary
and the stationary in motion:
Both movement and rest disappear.
When such dualities cease to exist,
Oneness itself cannot exist.
To this ultimate finality
no law or description applies.
For the unified mind, in accord with the Way,
all self-centered striving ceases.
Doubts and resolutions vanish
and life in true faith is possible.
With a single stroke we are freed from bondage.
Nothing clings to us and we hold on to nothing.
All is empty, clear and self-illuminating,
with no exertion of the mind's power.
Here thought, feeling, knowledge and imagination are of no value.
In this world of Suchness
There is neither self nor other-than-self.
To come directly into harmony with this reality
just say, when doubt arises, "Not two."
In this "not two" nothing is separate,
nothing is excluded.
No matter when or where,
enlightenment means entering this truth.
This truth is beyond extension or diminution
in time and space.
In it a single thought is ten thousand years.
Emptiness here, Emptiness there,
but the infinite universe
stands always before your eyes.
Infinitely large and infinitely small;
No difference, for definitions have vanished,
no boundaries are seen.
So too with Being and non-Being.
Don't waste time in doubts and arguments
that have nothing to do with this.
One thing, all things,
move among and intermingle
without distinction.
To live in this realization
is to be without anxiety about non-perfection.
To live in this faith is the road to non-duality,
because the non-dual is one
with the trusting mind.
Words!
The Way is beyond language,
for in it there is
no yesterday
no tomorrow
no today.
~ Seng-Ts'an ~
Third Patriarch of Chan
3rd Century A.D., China
Metta Sutra (The Sutra of Loving-Kindness)
May all beings be happy,
May they be joyous and live in safety.
All living beings, whether weak or strong,
In high, middle or low realms of existence,
Small or great, near or far, born or to be born,
May all beings be happy.
Let no one deceive another
Nor despise any being in any state.
Let none by anger or hatred wish harm to another.
Even as a mother, at the risk of her life,
Watches over and protects her only child,
So with a boundless mind, let one cherish all living things,
Suffusing loving kindness over the whole world,
Above, below and all around without limit.
Prayer to the Bodhisattva
Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers
but to be fearless in facing them.
Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain
but for the heart to conquer it.
Let me not look for allies in life's battlefield
but to my own strength.
Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved
but hope for patience to win my freedom.
Sarvamangalam!
Blessings to all!
~ Rabindranath Tagore ~
Prayer of Compassion
May any spiritual merit that I obtain
Through my devotion to the Way
Be dedicated to relieving the suffering
Of all living beings without exception.
May I be the doctor and the medicine
And may I be the nurse
For all sick beings in the world
Until everyone is healed.
May I fall as rain of food and drink
To clear away the pain of thirst and hunger.
And during times of famine
May I change myself into food and drink.
May I become an inexhaustible treasure
For those who are poor and destitute.
May I turn into all things that they could need
And may these be placed close by them.
May my bodily powers and all my acts
Of goodness in the past, present and future
Be offered without remorse
To the wellbeing of the world.
May I be a protector for those without support,
A guide for all travelers on the Way.
May I be a bridge, a raft and a boat
For all those who wish to cross the water.
May I be the shore for those adrift,
A light for those in darkness.
May I be a home for the homeless
And a servant for the world.
May I act as the mighty earth,
Or like the free and open skies,
To support and provide the space
Whereby I and all others may grow.
And until they pass away,
May I also be the source of life
For all the realms of varied beings
That reach out unto the end of space.
~ Shantideva (India, 8th Century C.E.) ~
