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The Heart Sutra - Being and Non-being Inter-are
The formula “Form is emptiness” is the heart of the Heart Sutra, in which Form is the body, living matter, and also inanimate matter. Form is an aggregation of causes and conditions, called a formation, manifesting based on the principle of interdependent co-arising. Looking deeply into this aggregation, we do not see a core, a substance, or any element that is unchanging or permanent. Form is a conventional designation, conventional names like self and dharma used for the convenience of life, but its nature is Emptiness (Empty of a permanent entity).
The nature of Form is the Middle Way, transcending four pairs of opposing concepts, totaling eight “no’s” called the Eight Negations:
- No birth and no death.
- No coming and no going.
- No same and no different.
- No being and no non-being.
The reality of all things is Interbeing, meaning nothing can be by itself alone; this relies on that to arise. Form is also signlessness, transcending all deceptive signs of perception, just as H2O can manifest as snow, clouds, or ice, but its nature remains H2O. From that insight, the practitioner attains aimlessness (Apranihita), no longer running after any object, including enlightenment, realizing that they are already what they want to become. Heaven or the Pure Land is not a place without death or suffering, but a place where there is love, Great Wisdom (Maha Prajna), and Great Compassion (Maha Karuna).