A Heart Sutra Journey | Part Fourteen

"...NO WISDOM, AND NO GAIN."

In the prior verse, Avalokitesvara folded suffering, along with the path to liberation from suffering, into emptiness. The Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path are the cornerstones of Buddhist wisdom, and only have existence through their relation to suffering. So it is unsurprising that wisdom, too, resides in emptiness.

The concept of gain here is translated from the Sandskrit prapti - and can also be rendered attainment. The full line also includes aprapti, which is non-attainment. So both gain and no-gain, or attainment and non-attainment are empty. With wisdom in emptiness, any attempt to discern, attain, or renounce dharmas are void of self-existence and therefore empty.

Before thoughts arise, and before knowledge and discernment - what is present? How is this expressed?

A monk asked Jōshū in all earnestness, “What is the meaning of the patriarch’s coming from the West?” Jōshū said, “The oak tree there in the garden.”

Mumonkan - Case 37

See the full text of the Heart Sutra at: https://oneriverzen.org/heart-sutra