Learn and fully understand the meaning of the Heart Sutra

I’m certain I understand the meaning behind this sutra. If it could only be interpreted to a certain extent with the help of langauge, then I’m not sure I could convey what I know with only words. I cannot fathom too deeply on it, or sometimes I lose meaning. But I have the essence of it, however basic.

I’ve always known this won’t take overnight to complete. There are people who have been reading this sutra hundreds and hundreds of times and still the idea of sunyata eludes them. It’s not that I can’t grasp the concept of impermanence. Nothing lasts forever. I didn’t have to read the Heart Sutra to know that. But just when I think I’ve got the real idea of emptiness and the ultimate reality of all things in the universe, the meaning twists itself away from me and I’m back to feeling like I don’t really get it. I’m gonna let this slide to the bottom of the list for a while, and slowly digest the meaning over time. I may yet be able to mark this one off as done one day. Certainly I’ve memorized it, but to fully understand will take a long time.

Didn’t actually think I could do it in so short a space of time (initially I had estimated it would take months) but I can recite the Heart Sutra and understand what each word means. Obviously, I’ve yet to “understand” it, but still… hurray for little progresses.

I’ve learnt it off all right, but I think it’ll take me some more time to comprehend the meaning of this mantra wholly. So I’m not marking this as done yet. Better to know I’ve done this right, than to conjecture the teaching behind the Heart Sutra.

I think I’m already a third the way there, so it doesn’t seem to be looking so impossible anymore! It may take some time for me to get used to the translation though. Even in English, it’s quite a profound mantra.

This may be a challenge in itself, but I think it is well worth trying. The mantra itself is long, but if I take it slowly, I’m sure to get it eventually.