The Heart Sutra

Venerable Toby Gillies day retreat at Gisborne.

The Heart Sutra:  Meditations on Emptiness 

I am just home from a day retreat with Toby at Gisborne.

Tired and with my head slightly spun around on its axis from contemplating emptiness. Clear as a bell. The teachings from Toby were like arrows... hitting the bull's eye.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The Heart Sutra

Heart of the Prajna-Paramita Sutra, also called Heart Sutra, is the shortest and the most popular sutra in Buddhism. The Heart Sutra is regarded as the summation of the wisdom of Buddha. It explains perfectly the teaching of non-attachment, which is essentially the doctrine of emptiness. 

When Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva is practising the profound Prajna-paramita,
He sees and illuminates to the emptiness of the five skandhas, and
Thus attains deliverance from all suffering.

Sariputra, matter is not different from emptiness, and
Emptiness is not different from matter.
Matter is emptiness and emptiness is matter.
So too are sensation, recognition, volition and consciousness.

Sariputra, the emptiness character of all dharmas,
neither arises nor ceases, is neither pure nor impure, and
neither increases nor decreases.

Therefore, in emptiness: there is no matter,
no sensation, recognition, volition or consciousness,
no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind,
no sight, sound, scent, taste, tangibles, or dharma,
no field of the eye up to no field of mental consciousness,
no suffering, no cause of suffering,
no ending of suffering, and no path,
no wisdom and also no attainment.
Because there is nothing obtainable.

Bodhisattvas through the reliance on Prajna-paramita
Have no attachment and hindrance in their minds.
Because there is no more attachment and hindrance,
There is no more fear, and
Far away from erroneous views and wishful-thinking,
Ultimately : The Final Nirvana.

Therefore, realize that Prajna-paramita
is the great wondrous mantra,
the great radiant mantra,
the unsurpassed mantra, and
the unequalled mantra.

It can eradicate all suffering, and
It is genuine and not false.
Therefore, utter the Prajna-paramita mantra -
Chant: Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhisvaha!

About The Venerable Toby Gillies

Venerable Toby Gillies has a unique and rare knowledge encompassing the full breadth and depth of traditional Tibetan Buddhism, having studied with a renowned Tibetan Geshe for 35 years. He has had the privilege of private interviews with his Holiness the Dalai Lama and received teaching from him. Venerable Toby Gillies has also discussed and debated Tibetan philosophy with many highly realised scholars and meditation masters.

Toby’s open enquiring mind, combined with the ability to listen, has led to a continued interest in interfaith discussion. This has resulted in joint retreats bringing together senior religious leaders from a variety of faiths.

What separates Venerable Toby Gillies from other teachers is his innate ability to meld, adapt and communicate the Buddha’s message through his personal experience as a westerner navigating and conquering the pathways of the mind as presented in Tibetan Buddhism.

By demystifying Tibetan Buddhism and bringing the philosophical elements into the 21st century, Venerable Toby Gillies shows by example how meditation, analysis of the mind and understaning can make life a happier, healthier, relaxed and more joyous experience.

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Please call me by my true names by Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh| Please Call Me by My True Names by Thich Nhat Hanh (1929 - ) Timeline Original LanguageEnglish Don't say that I will depart tomorrow -- even today I am still arriving. Look deeply: every second I am arriving to be a bud on a Spring branch, to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings, learning to sing in my new nest, to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower, to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone. I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry, to fear and to hope. The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death of all that is alive. I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river. And I am the bird that swoops down to swallow the mayfly. I am the frog swimming happily in the clear water of a pond. And I am the grass-snake that silently feeds itself on the frog. I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones, my legs as thin as bamboo sticks. And I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to Uganda. I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat, who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate. And I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving. I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my hands. And I am the man who has to pay his "debt of blood" to my people dying slowly in a forced-labor camp. My joy is like Spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth. My pain is like a river of tears, so vast it fills the four oceans. Please call me by my true names, so I can hear all my cries and my laughter at once, so I can see that my joy and pain are one. Please call me by my true names, so I can wake up, and so the door of my heart can be left open, the door of compassion. 1989