FOREWORD ~

The Prajñaparamita Heart Sutra is the essence of Buddhist teaching. It is chanted or recited daily in monastic and lay communities throughout the world.Thich Nhat Hanh’s commentaries, contained in this book, are part of the continuous stream of oral transmission basic to Buddhism since the time of Shakyamuni Buddha, 2,500 years ago. The literature of the Prajñaparamita (Perfect Understanding) dates back to the beginning of the Christian Era and has been studied and expounded for 2,000 years, first in India, and then in China, Japan,Vietnam, Korea, Tibet, and other countries with a Mahayana Buddhist tradition.

For nearly a century, these teachings have been available in English, and for more than fifty years they have been taught in the West in the context of meditation practice by Zen and Tibetan teachers. Often, these teachings have proven difficult for Westerners to understand.

In the spring of 1987, Vietnamese Zen master, poet, and activist for peace Thich Nhat Hanh offered a series of retreats and lectures in California, the Pacific Northwest, Colorado, New England, and New York. He encouraged his American listeners to join him in an experiment to discover what he called “the true face of American Buddhism,” one that is not foreign but springs from the depths of our understanding. “Buddhism is not one. The teachings of Buddhism are many. When Buddhism enters a country, that country always acquires a new form of Buddhism. . . .The teaching of Buddhism in this country will be different from other countries. Buddhism, in order to be Buddhism, must be suitable, appropriate to the psychology and the culture of the society that it serves.” To enrich our understanding and aid us in our explorations, Thay (an informal title for “teacher,” pronounced “tie”) offered several talks on the Prajñaparamita Heart Sutra. Some of these were public lectures delivered to seven or eight hundred listeners, and others were offered to fifty or sixty people on retreat together.

At the retreat in Ojai, California, artists and meditators sat beneath a large oak in the cradle of the Los Padres Mountains, the sound of early morning birds or the touch of a warm breeze accompanying Thay’s gentle, penetrating voice. His talks on the Heart Sutra were singularly comprehensible, bringing new life and vivid understanding to this ancient teaching. This book is a compilation of several of those talks, several streams flowing together to form one.

During the retreats, Thay encouraged participants to give calm, clear-seeing, and intimate attention to each daily activity, whether eating a meal, drawing a Buddha, or just walking quietly, aware of the contact between our foot and the earth that supports it. In order to encourage this kind of mindfulness, a bell master sounded a large bell regularly, and everyone stopped their activity, breathed three times, and recited silently, “Listen, listen, this wonderful sound brings me back to my true self.”

“A bell is a bodhisattva,” Thay said. “It helps us to wake up.” With this in mind, when the bell was invited to sound we put down our garden tools, our hammers, our paint brushes or pens, and came back to ourselves for a moment, breathing with a natural serenity, smiling a relaxed smile to ourselves and all those around us—the people, the trees, a flower, a child running with delight, even our worries and sometimes our pain. As we did this, we just listened deeply and became one with the sound of the bell. It is truly remarkable how deeply a bell can ring inside a person. After this pause, we resumed our activity with renewed energy, a little more attentively, a little more aware.

A bell is not the only kind of bodhisattva. Anything can help us to awaken to the present moment and all that it contains. “Buddhism is a clever way to enjoy life,” Thay says. In this light, I would like to suggest you read this small book as if listening to a bell. Put down your daily tasks for a moment, both physical and mental, sit comfortably, and allow the words of this wonderful teacher to ring deeply inside you. I am certain, if you bring yourself and this book together in this way, you will hear the bell of mindfulness many times. When it rings, lower the book and listen to its sound echoing in your own depths.You might even try breathing calmly and offering a smile. This may seem difficult at first, as it did for many of us, but I can still hear Thay’s encouraging voice tell us, “You can do it!” In this way, the depth of your heart and of the Heart Sutra will come very close. They might even touch.

Intimacy is at the heart of the teaching contained in this book. In the thirteenth century, Zen Master Eihei Dogen taught that enlightenment is just intimacy with all things. Thich Nhat Hanh’s teaching is the same. When we allow the true heart of understanding to arise within us, such intimacy is not only possible, it is the spontaneous expression of what we and all things truly are. To allow our lives to be guided by such intimacy is to nourish the seed of compassion within us and others alike. Peace between partners, neighbors, nations—even peace within ourselves—may sometimes seem an impossible dream, but if we look deeply into the heart of the teaching Thich Nhat Hanh offers, I think we can discover a way for such peace to be realized. Peace in our world is not far from there.

 

Peter Levitt
Salt Spring Island
British Columbia
June 2009