03.29.2024 The Heart Sutra Will Change You Forever The Heart Sutra is a text that confounds the logical mind, but pierces deeply into the heart of the person who observes it. As Karl Brunnhozl writes in “The Heart Sutra Will Change You Forever,” one thing we can safely say is that if we read the Heart Sutra, “it does not make any sense.” In fact, it’s when you’re not looking at it that you most often realize the truth of it. For many, the “Aha!” moment comes while daydreaming onboard a plane, floating on a lake, or camping in the woods. For a moment, the tension breaks, the fog clears, and you experience the truth of emptiness and boundless compassion. The sutra becomes a personal experience — each person experiencing the same truth in different ways, yet arriving at the same lesson. To look at the Heart Sutra in its object form is to see it as just a text, but in the heart and mind it becomes a universal salve to a variety of emotional ailments that humans experience. In an essay I wrote on LionsRoar.com, I describe my experience with Heart Sutra’s central mantra: gate gate paragate, parasamgate bodhi svaha. I still struggle to explain why this mantra came to my mind one weekend at the cottage, but it appeared to me exactly when I needed it. For me, the act of reciting it opened a door to the realization that this personal experience was the truth of the mantra. I will never forget the feeling of clarity I had when it jumped from the page and into my life. My hope is that you may experience your own “Aha!” moment with the help of this perplexing and personal sutra. —Sandra Hannebohm, Digital Producer, Lion’s Roar   Unlocking the Wisdom of the Heart Sutra The Heart Sutra is a pithy, powerful text. If you understand it, says Ven. Guan Cheng, you understand the Buddha’s teachings.   The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra, often just called the Heart Sutra, is very important in Mahayana Buddhism. It’s the summary of the Diamond Sutra, which is itself the summary of the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra—a sutra of six hundred volumes. Though the Heart Sutra is a very short sutra, it contains many Buddhist concepts. If you understand the meaning of the Heart Sutra, then you have a very good grasp of the Buddha’s teachings.   ADVERTISEMENT The Heart Sutra Will Change You Forever   Penetrate the true meaning of the Heart Sutra, says Karl Brunnhölzl, and nothing will be the same again. The secret is making it personal.   Besides being a meditation manual, we could also say that the Heart Sutra is like a big koan. But it is not just one koan, it is like those Russian dolls: there is one big doll on the outside and then there is a smaller one inside that first one, and there are many more smaller ones in each following one.   Gone, Gone, Everything Gone Like leaves in the autumn or wood in the fire, all things pass. But, there is a moment in which we can see things as they are. I discovered a mantra by a lake in the woods. We were on our way to the family cabin but, as someone who regularly copes with a panic disorder, I was paralyzed, as usual, by compulsive negative thoughts and anxiety. My mind went from shaming me for not keeping in touch with friends, to giving me a guilt trip for not seeing my mother that weekend, to blaming me for taking a vacation instead of working. It just wouldn’t stop. LION’S ROAR PROMOTION