Teachings about Heart Sutra - Essay Example

Theology: Heart Sutra Introduction Heart Sutra is a well known Buddhist teaching because of its depth of meaning. In Buddhist’s teaching, perfection of wisdom has an important role and heart sutra along with diamond sutra is the most important teachings in making one’s wisdom perfect. Heart sutra is often referred as the wisdom sutra also. The origin of this sutra is still unknown to us. Some people believe that it originated around 350 CE whereas some others believe that it originated even before. According to Conze (2001) heart sutra is the restatement of the four holy truths (Conze, p.90). The four noble truths are; The Nature of Suffering, Sufferings Origin, Sufferings Cessation, and The Path Leading to the Cessation of Suffering. The path leading to cessation is an eight fold path set out by Buddha. These are related to faith, morality and meditation. Faith: Right Understanding + Right Thought (Wisdom) Morality: Right Speech +Right Bodily Action+ Right Livelihood Meditation: Right Effort+ Right Mindfulness+ Right Concentration (The Three Marks of Existence and the Holy Eight-Fold Path) Meaning of Emptiness or Nirvana in the context of heart Sutra The Heart Sutra emphasizes wisdom and emptiness. This sutra teaches us that the thing which looks like something much is nothing much. Form outside; it appears to be a lot, but there is really nothing behind. A swelled head as we know is an empty head (Conze, p.85). Heart Sutra reveals that most of the big things in this world are just like inflated balloons. From outside, the balloon may look like big, but we know that only air is inside the balloon. In other words, this sutra tries to educate us that whatever we perceive as big in this world are noting really meaningful. For example, many people may think that earning wealth and fame is a good achievement in this world. But according to Heart Sutra teachings, such things are just like inflated balloons. When we die, we cannot take anything with us and hence the physical achievements in this world are meaningless. Heart Sutra and idea of salvation according to Christian belief According to Christian belief, salvation can be obtained only through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the son of God who has sacrificed his life for saving the life of sinners. All the people in the world are sinners according to Christian belief. As per the rules of God, death is the punishment for sinners. But the sin has arrived in this world because of Adam’s sin. In other words, we, the children of Adam, are sinners traditionally because of the sins committed by Adam. God has given the verdict that in order to wipe off the punishment of sin from the world, person without free from sins should sacrifice his life. But in this world no saints are there. So God has sent his only son Jesus to the world in order to sacrifice his life to save our lives. Jesus’ sacrifice enabled him to attain full control or authority over the human life in this world. In short, Jesus has the authority to save our lives if we accept him as the savior and do what he asked us to do. Desire is the cause of misery according to Buddhist principles. In order to attain happiness one should kill desire. Buddhists see nothing important in this life. In their opinion, we should attain ultimate wisdom in order to attain salvation. Buddhists also emphasize the right action and right thoughts in order to attain salvation like the Christians. Morality and faith are important for Buddhists also, but their faith rules and moral rules are slightly different from that of the Christians. While most of the beliefs of the Christians revolved around Jesus Christ and his teachings, Buddhists give more emphasize to the attainment of wisdom. Buddhism does not believe that all the people are sinners because of Adam’s sin. In their opinion, the actions and thoughts of a person make him sinner or saint. Buddhists believe that human life is trapped in a repetitive cycle. What we do or think in this life will give us another better, worse or similar life depending on our actions and thoughts (karma) in this life. In order to escape from this life cycle one should attain nirvana, a state in which the mind experiences complete freedom and liberation and no attachments will be left in such minds. In other words, the desire major cause of suffering will be emptied and we will attain nirvana or salvation. But Christians believe that human has only one life in this world and the actions and thoughts in this life will decide whether we will get hell or heaven. Personal reflection: meaning of religious belief Man is a social animal and dominance is one of our inherited traits. In our attempt for dominance, we often commit so many sins which will jeopardize our existence in this world. Religions help us to stay away from sins. In fact all the religions advise us to stay away from sins and do only good things. No religion asks the followers to do sins and attain salvation. Nobody knows from where we come and where we go after death. Even though science and technology has advanced a lot, still we are unable to unveil the miseries surrounding birth and death. No scientist has so far succeeded in creating an artificial life in a laboratory setup. Till we succeeded in unveiling the secrets behind birth and life after death, religions and its teachings have significance in this world. It is illogical to believe that life evolved from emptiness and our soul or whatever the energy which drives us will vanishes after death. According to scientific principles, energy cannot be destroyed. If that is true, it is logical to believe that our life energy or soul may not die after our physical death and under such circumstances, the teachings of religions have significance in our life. Conclusions Heart sutra is often referred as wisdom sutra which is all about attaining wisdom. The core of heart sutra lies in wisdom and emptiness. Buddhists believe that a person should undergo different life cycles based on his/her actions and thoughts in the previous life, till the eternal state of nirvana is attained. Nirvana is the ultimate state of human life cycle which can be attained only when a person was able to avoid any desire or attachment in this life. Christians on the other hand, believe that human has only one life in this word and he will get hell or heaven based his actions. While Buddhists emphasize on wisdom to attain salvation, Christians advocate the belief in Jesus Christ as the way to attain salvation. Works Cited 1. Conze, Edward. 2001. “Buddhist Wisdom: The Diamond Sutra and The Heart Sutra”.Edward Conze (Translator)› Visit Amazons Edward Conze PageFind all the books, read about the author, and more.See search results for this authoAre you an author? Learn about Author Central Publisher: Vintage (April 24, 2001) 2. “The Three Marks of Existence and the Holy Eight-Fold Path”. Accessed on 11 July 2010 from Read More