A free translation/interpretation of the Heart Sutra:
When the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara set sail on the Ocean of Perfect Wisdom,
they discovered Self is not solid. It is impermanent.
This discovery freed them from suffering
and the craving for different circumstances.
Form, they realized, is no more solid than space.
Space is no more insubstantial than form.
Form is impermanent, and space is impermanent.
Both are fundamentally empty.
The same is true of feelings, concepts,
and the storylines that make up human consciousness.
And so all teachings, all truth
are also impermanent
and fundamentally empty.
There is nothing solid or permanent to get hold of. Nothing lasting for
eyes to see, ears to hear, tongues to taste, noses to smell, fingers to touch.
Existence itself is impermanent and fundamentally empty.
Ignorance is not solid or permanent, and thus
the end of ignorance is not solid or permanent.
Old age and death are not solid or permanent, and thus
the end of old age and death is not solid or permanent.
The Truth of Suffering is not solid or permanent, and thus
the Path of Liberation from Suffering is not solid or permanent.
No wisdom will lead to solid ground.
No attainment will create permanence.
There is nothing to accomplish. Nothing to achieve.
And so any Boddhisattva who sets sail on the Ocean of Perfect Wisdom
will find no clinging in the mind.
And because there is no clinging, there is no fear.
The Boddhisattva sails past confusion and into freedom.
Buddhas of all time–past, present, and future–sail the Ocean of Perfect Wisdom to realize liberation.
The Ocean of Perfect Wisdom is itself liberation from all suffering.
And so the sailors sing,
“Going, going, gone. All the way over. Now we wake up, hallelujah!”
– Mark J. Royse
