​How to Practice the Heart Sutra

The practice of the Heart Sutra centers on three methods: reciting the sutra, copying it by hand, and reciting it while doing prostrations. Regardless of the approach, the most important element is the mind. Throughout the process of practice, one passes through the states of a scattered mind, a focused mind, and a unified mind. In the end, one realizes the emptiness of both self and phenomena. As a result, the mind is free from attachment, thereby experiencing the emptiness taught in the Heart Sutra.
 
■ Tsui-Ku Hsu (許翠谷)
 
At just 260 characters, the Heart Sutra encompasses Buddhist practice methods from its most foundational to the most profound levels. Yet concepts such as Prajñā and the emptiness of all phenomena taught in the Heart Sutra can easily feel too profound to comprehend. How do we transform them into actual experience and embody them in daily life? Master Sheng Yen held that since each person has different karmic roots and causes and conditions, the practice of “perceiving the five skandhas as empty” must begin with the practice of contemplation. Yet, without a foundation in Chan meditation, it is not easy to give rise to contemplation in daily life. While the ultimate aim of Heart Sutra practice is to directly realize the wisdom of emptiness beyond form, practice must still begin with form. Hence, reciting the sutra, copying it, and reciting it while doing prostrations are a natural starting place. Performing these acts gradually draws one into the innermost realization of Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva.
 
Copying the Sutra by Hand
 
Beyond circulating the sutra and sharing the Dharma with others, the primary purpose of copying the sutra is to deepen one’s familiarity with it through repeated transcription. Furthermore, this practice serves to gradually transform the body and mind so that the three karmas of body, speech, and mind grow into harmony with the sutra’s essential meaning.
 
In “The Exquisite Dharma: Commentary on the Lotus Sutra”, Master Sheng Yen advises that before picking up the brush to copy the sutra, we should first wash our hands, light incense, and offer three prostrations to the sutra, because “to see the sutra is to see the Dharma, and to see the Dharma is to see the Buddha.” Copying the sutra should therefore be approached with a reverent and undivided mind, as though listening to the Buddha expound the Dharma in person. Copying sutras not only helps to soften and calm one’s mind, bringing it to clarity and tranquility, but each stroke of the brush, drawn in concentrated stillness, is itself also a form of meditation practice.
 
Reciting the Sutra
 
The Heart Sutra is perhaps the most well-known sutra among Buddhist practitioners. However, Master Sheng Yen reminds us that sutra recitation is more than just memorizing the text and keeping it in mind. The sutra’s essential meaning should serve as a mirror held against every thought that arises. Not only is it applied to examine one’s body and mind, but also woven into the rhythms of daily life, whether it be walking, standing, sitting, or resting. When encountering affliction or difficulty, one should contemplate “What is this affliction?”, “What is this hardship?” and remind oneself that these are only temporary phenomena that arose from varying causes and conditions and are destined to pass with them. What is called for in the moment is simply to face them and accept them.
 
In “Master Sheng Yen on Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara's Methods” by Master Sheng Yen, the Master also suggests that when one is still unable to concentrate during visualization, one may recite the verse “When the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara was coursing in the deep Prajñāpāramitā, he perceived that all five skandhas are empty, thereby transcending all sufferings,” or simply “perceived that all five skandhas are empty, thereby transcending all sufferings.” By treating the passage as a mantra, reciting and holding it with faith, our bodies and minds will gradually settle into stillness and ease. This is the first step of sutra recitation as practice.
 
Reciting the sutra while doing prostrations
 
The purpose of reciting the sutra while doing prostrations is not to comprehend its content, but to settle the body and mind through wholehearted recitation and prostration to the entire text. Each bow is like bowing to all the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Arhats, and Dharma protectors and Devi kings who were present when the Buddha expounded the Dharma. Hence, one is bowing not only to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, but also to the full content of the sutra itself. As for the actual method of bowing to the Heart Sutra: before each prostration, one first recites “Namo (I pay homage to) Prajñāpāramitā Heart Sutra” and “Namo Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the Prajñā Assembly,” then bows to each character of the sutra in turn, one bow per character.
 
Whether through sutra recitation, copying the sutra, or bowing to it, all three methods help the practitioner gather the scattered mind so contemplation may arise naturally in daily life. Doing so allows practitioners to observe the changing flow of the body, sensation, mind, and phenomena, as well as to perceive the formation and dissolution of the four elements and the five skandhas. When one genuinely sees that all things arise from causes and conditions, one will neither cling to existence nor abide in emptiness. Thus, all self-centered grasping falls away. This is precisely the practice of “perceiving that all five skandhas are empty” and the realization of the Prajñā wisdom of emptiness.



Related articles: 

The Ever-Popular Prajnaparamita

​How to Practice the Heart Sutra

Mantra Section: Unraveling the Mantra of the Heart Sutra

Mantra Box: Methods for Practicing the Heart Sutra Mantra


Resource: Issue 325 of Humanity Magazine, Dharma Drum Publishing Corporation
Photo: 常鐸法師
Translation: Claire   
Editing: Keith Brown, Patricia Yang