Perfection

With palms together,

Good Morning All,

At the conclusion of the Wisdom Heart Sutra we chant "Gate, gate, gate, paragata, parasamgata, Bodhi Svaha!" Or, Gone, gone, gone to the other shore, attained the other shore having never left, Awaken. Hooray!" Gate, pronounced gah-tay, is the sino-japanaese word for paramita. We translate paramita as "perfection" or "excellence." It is understood to be a reference to attainment. So, this dharani, (short mantra) is saying that attainment is something we already possess, even though we strive to attain it. The "other shore," attainment, enlightenment, is with us right now, right here. It is us. It is the universe.

The combining of qualities and notions such as "shore," "perfection," "excellence," "crossing," never leaving, attaining, etc. is a linguistic way of picking up a hammer and cracking ourselves over the head. All one, yet different. This shore, this moment, this understanding is the same as that moment, that shore, that understanding. And there is no real movement from one to the other because they exist in the same time and in the same space simultaneously.

Our effort to be good people, to sit strong Zen, is nothing more than the sweat equity involved in growing a tree knowing that the fruit, the branches, the roots, and shade of that tree already exist in the seed, in the ground, in the air, and in the water. We still make the effort. We still till the soil, plant the seed and nurse the plant. Yet when we do so with open eyes, effort is bliss.

Be well.