« As long as people continue the search for enlightenment, the Buddhist canon is not closed » wrote Thomas Cleary in his Introduction to the Blue Cliff Record.

Here is one of the essential texts of that canon. This version is based on Thich Nhat Hanh’s new rendering. Here, I tried to present the ageless truths of this text without some of the technical terms.

HEART SUTRA
Insights to Live by

Body, feelings, sensations, mental states, and consciousness
are all empty—that is, they don’t exist by themselves.
This insight nurtures our wellbeing.

The body itself is empty—
it is made of everything on Earth;
thus, the Earth is the source of our body.
The same is true of feelings, sensations, perceptions,
mental states, and consciousness.

What we call birth is all of nature
appearing in a new form,
What we call death is one face of nature
dissolving back into emptiness—back into nature.
Other opposites such as being and non-being,
sacred and profane, Increasing and decreasing
are deceptive, as they are subjective and one-sided.

Body, Feelings, Sensations,
Mental States and Consciousness
Do not exist as separate entities;
Neither do our sense organs,
The objects of our senses,
and our sensations themselves.

That is also true of suffering,
The cause and the end of suffering,
insight and attainment.
They are also not separate entities;
They don’t exist by themselves.

Those who practice with this insight
see no more obstacles in their minds,
they can overcome fear,
give up wrong perceptions,
and attain wellbeing.

They have gone beyond,
beyond the self, and known awakening.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF EMPTINESS

The Heart Sutra teaches a holistic point of view.

Here’s an iconic bit of conversation between Bodhidharma, the first ancestor of Zen, and his successor Huike that illustrates what a holistic point of view feels like to an outsider:

Huike came to Bodhidharma and said, “I have no peace of mind. Please pacify my mind.”
“Bring me your mind, and I will pacify it for you,” said Bodhidharma.
Huike said, “I’m looking for it, but I cannot find it.”
“There,” Bodhidharma replied, “I have pacified your mind.”

Bodhidharma was implying that mind is not a separate thing that one can isolate and fix; it is part of the whole person, his way of life, his beliefs, his upbringing, and the society he lives in. Also, ‘mind’ is more like a verb than a noun.

If Bodhidharma were a holistic therapist, I can imagine how he might reply to a patient with sleep problems:
“Bring me your sleep, and I will fix it for you.”
The implication is that sleep is part of a larger whole that cannot be separated out.

If he were a holistic mayor, I can imagine conversations such as:
Employee: “We are having traffic problems at such and such an intersection.”
Mayor: “Bring me that intersection, and I will fix it.” Indeed, our traffic challenges are related to our way of life, our work schedules, public transport alternatives, and our determination to live away from where we work. They are not separate from those.

Similarly, a sleep problem is related to anxiety, lifestyle, exercise, caffeinated drinks, nighttime routine and alcohol consumption—among other things. A holistic approach would consider all these, while a reductionist approach would be to take sleeping pills.

The holistically minded mayor here is not suggesting that a certain intersection can actually be transported to her office; she means that the congestion there is part of a wider issue—it is a societal problem. A holistic approach would consider all the related issues.

The holistic vision is particularly appropriate in our day as we face pollution and climate change.
As I read about the half-measures our governments take, I imagine Bodhidharma saying with a twinkle in his eye, ‘Bring me the environment, and I’ll fix it.’