The Heart Sutra: a request for discussion
My dear fellow Mindspringers, I send you all greetings of love and peace. I am wondering if any of you would like to join me in discussing this beautiful quote - a translation by Thich Nhat Hanh - from The Heart Sutra? Please forgive me if I have transcribed it incorrectly, but I believe the words are: "There is no suffering, no origin of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no path, no wisdom, no attainment, and no nonattainment." We have touched upon this most profound text in our class, but I remain perplexed, only knowing that it is central and at the core of what we are doing in our sessions. Perhaps nothing really exists in a fixed, dualistic manner. But is there not a way to the cessation of sufferng? Is there not an innate wisdom that lies in the essence of every being that is understandable? And no path? Then why are we studying Buddhism? Or, why do I study Islam? Forgive me if my questions are too simplistic, but I would love to hear your thoughts. I love Thich Nhat Hanh, for in his life, he acted upon his beliefs as a peace activist, and he personally knew deep love - human love - true love. But I feel that there are levels of understanding I have not attained concerning his quote, and I ask for your enlightenment! With love and my salaams!
If I may, dear Teena and Ignacio, and fellow Mindsprings, I would like to present an additional point that perhaps underlines the discrepancy that I find in Thich Nhat Hanh's famous statement, quoted above. The Master teaches that suffering has neither origin nor cessation; in fact, he states that "there is no suffering". This seems to contradict the essential concepts of Buddhism, particularly Mahayama Buddhism, that our own teacher has presented to us in our Mindsprings sessions. This evening, while watching the recording of today's Buddhism class, I listened to our teacher emphasize that the whole point of Mahayana Buddhislm is to free ourselves from suffering. Indeed, our teacher has said that we strive to free ourselves from suffering to become enlightened and to be of maximum benefit to the universe. This contradicts, seemingly, The Master's statement that there is no suffering! I wish for enlightenment, and invite you all to respond, with my deepest thanks and salaams.