Let’s copy out Heart Sutra

“Let’s protect ourselves against the invisible coronavirus by the invisible power of copying out Heart Sutra.” Yohnin Koike, the vice-chief priest of Suma-dera Temple, called on everyone via YouTube.





Copy out Heart Sutra

He said that the Emperor Saga had eagerly copied out Heart Sutra praying for the recovery from an epidemic in Japan in ancient times and the epidemic had faded out. “Coping out Heart Sutra gives you a mysterious power, thus let’s try to copy out Heart Sutra even if you have no experience of not only copying it out but also reading it”, he added.
Every person in the world can do it and participate in the circle of something mysterious. It is said that Heart Sutra has its mysterious power in its each individual word, thus even if you don’t know its kanji or Japanese language, you can be initiated into something mysterious by copying out Heart Sutra. Incidentally, a man in ancient times made an emoji sutra, illuminated sutra, for people who had no knowledge of kanji. And to read the illustrated words of Heart Sutra has the same mysterious power as the true words. Then you can do it even without the knowledge of not only each word of Heart Sutra but also the meaning of Heart Sutra.
The steps you should do are as follows. Firstly, you access the website of Suma-dera Temple and print out a paper with very lightly-printed words of Heart Sutra. Prepare a black pen. Secondly, wash your hands and burn insence. Calm your mind. Pray for your health or people’s recovery from the pandemic etc. After that, trace the lightly-printed words with the pen. Be silent while tracing. After finishing tracing, pray again. Finally, send your heart Sutra with your wish, address and name to Suma-dera Temple. So the vice-chief priest will pray for you in the temple.

An effect of copying out Heart Sutra

Copying out Heart Sutra brings us some proof of its mysterious power. And I got it. It didn’t have the causal relationship with my copying out Heart Sutra, but I am assured by it.
I have copied out Heart Sutra while staying at home during the urgent protection against the novel coronavirus. One day I went to Osaka by my car and parked it at a Times parking lot. After doing some works for a hour I came back to the car park and drove away. Several minutes passed, I noticed a small folded piece of paper between the wiper and the front window. My heart was beaten and I pulled my car over to the side of the road. I took the note and opened. There was a message. “The left frontside of your car was in a hit-and-run accident“. I was surprised and looked at the front bumper. There was the trace of an accident. Soon, I called the number of the kind witness, but I couldn’t reach him. First of all, I went back to the car park and I got a call on the way.
As soon as I arrived there I greeted him and thanked him, and heard all about the accident he witnessed. His witness and his picture helped the investigation of the police.
He lived in Chiba city far from Osaka and came to Osaka for his work on a day trip. He was walking beside the car park by chance after work, and he saw the accident. He isn’t a man who forgive a hit-and-run, so he took pictures of the number plate of the car and the trace of the accident on the hit-and-run car at once.
During the investigation he stayed there. I felt obliged but he never put on airs. I wanted to take him to a restaurant or give him something, but there were no open restaurants nor department stores due to this epidemic. I barely got his name and address and thanked him politely, at last we separated.
I was enveloped by the air of a miracle. He is a very good man, he witnessed the hit-and-run, he was waiting for me for several ten minutes, even though I drove away he called a policeman for me who he didn’t know, and he stayed there until the end of the investigation in spite of having to go back to Chiba! All the thing were thankful and marvelous. Actually It was the bad accident, contrarily, my heart was particularly lightened by him.

The scenery of Heart sutra

It isn’t necessary to know the meaning of Heart Sutra to copy it out. Heart Sutra is very difficult to understand. I don’t have deep nor detailed knowledge about Heart Sutra, but for a person who wants to know about Heart Sutra I will explain the scenery of Heart Sutra.
Firstly, I will show the aim of Heart Sutra. It is for the sake of becoming a bodhisattva, a great angelic person. The goal is Nirvana, the realm of all the wisdom, prajna, in this cosmos. Every person who wants to go there has an opportunity to arrive there. You may think it impossible, but Buddhism guarantees it. However, Nirvana is far, far away and the winding way across the suffering stages to Nirvana has a countless number of difficulties. Secondly, Heart Sutra includes short explanations of characteristics of this cosmos and how to use the wisdom, prajna, that you got in the previous stage at the next stage. So there is a great amount of wisdom about the characteristics of this cosmos and about every stage in its very short sutra. Heart Sutra is the smallest sutra but is one of the greatest sutras. Thus it makes us suffer to understand.
The cosmos of Heart Sutra is the explanation in Buddhism of the cosmos of quantum science. “Implicate order and explicate order are ontological concepts for quantum theory” was coined by theoretical physicist David Bohm. Just implicate order in quantum science is “Ku” of Heart Sutra and explicate order is “U” of Heart Sutra. In Heart Sutra there is a phrase; “Ku is U and U is Ku”, it shows the same view as the simultaneous existence between implicate order and explicate order. However, Heart Sutra isn’t a guidance in science, then to know the construction of the cosmos helps you to understand at the best that Heart Sutra is a logical sutra, but doesn’t help to enlighten you. You have to walk on the winding way. Thus you have to do a lot of practices of Buddhism, and copying out Heart Sutra is one of them.
More difficultly, a person who goes along the winding way of a lot of practices is just you, nonetheless you have to abandon the selfish you, the false you. Thanks to consecutively denying you, you can discover the true you.
the goal of Heart Sutra isn’t a land which exists somewhere. The goal exists in your heart.

Finally, what about the next metaphor?
You know the movie Star Wars? You know the famous words?; “may the force be with you”. The force is similar to “prajna” of Heart Sutra. Yes, prajna is always near you. Nonetheless, it is far from you, because everyone sadly puts on his thick selfish-coat over his true self. Thus we have to put it off to be with prajna. By excluding the entertaining from the movie, you will find the mysterious spirituality in it. If you do a lot of training of your heart like Luke Skywalker, you can become a bodhisattva similar to how Luke became a Jedi and a Jedi Master from a normal person. Aside the skill of light saber If you consecutively practiced properly, you could gain the mysterious power like a Judi Master, for example, moving something or reading the mind of another person. Remember the movie so that you will become aware that Luke who had thought only about himself had become a Judi who had thought about all the people, peace and freedom. Heart Sutra is a sutra to gain peace and freedom in your heart, and to love others who have the same true selves in their hearts.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Karuta competitions by the 100 Poems

Image
I saw on TV news that many young foreigners competed karuta competitions by the 100 Poems. I was surprised at that, as well as I was interested why they played karuta competitions and why they knew how to play. Because karuta competitions are so difficult that the number of those who play the game isn’t large even in Japan. Eventually, I never have played karuta competitions. Incidentally, the 100 Poems, “hyakunin-issyu” in Japanese, are familiar with Japanese People. Japanese people in most cases learn the 100 Poems in their junior high-schools or high-schools, and they sometimes play a game of competing accuracy and quickness with several people that players grab a card written with the only second phrases of a poem from cards on tatami listening to full phrases of a poem. Of course I learned the 100 Poems in my junior high school and sometimes played the game, but I was a weak player of karuta games. Karuta competitions are a severer sport than the game above, so the sport dema
Read more

Warikan Custom In Japan

Image
Culture in a country is the result made by the specific customs based on the thoughts of the people, if it is true, to try to look out for the specific custom of a country where you visit is a joyful challenge during your traveling time. When I visited foreign countries I experienced the different customs from Japan and I was happy to know it. Many anthropologists say that Japanese culture is especially different from cultures of other countries. Then foreigners visiting Japan will feel pleasure by finding out the different customs from their countries. Warikan is the one specific Japanese custom. Warikan is to split the bill among members who ate dishes and drank in restaurants and it is generally a popular custom in Japan. I have a foreign friend who has been in Japan from Australia and I sometimes have drinking parties with him. He knows Japanese customs but perhaps his true sense depends on western customs. At paying the bill when I suggested “sloping warikan” to him as a mat
Read more

Satsuma-biwa music

Image
Hiromi Hakozaki, who is a Satsuma-biwa player, played biwa music at the machiya of Onishi-tune-shoten and explained how biwa instruments became its present form. I want to write about one of Japan’s specific sound instruments according to her explanation. Before my explanation I want to mention my impression after listening to her play, I said to her in this way. “The sounds of Satsuma-biwa is calm in terms that it allows a human physiological phenomenon like that blood pressure will be peaceful, but is very deep in terms that it lets the human spirit vibrate strongly.” Biwa v.s. Lute Biwa(Japanese lute) came far from Persia in the 8th century via The Silk Road. The picture above is an ancient Persian lute instrument(front and back) which is stored as a national treasure in Syosoin next to Todaiji or Kasuga Shrine in Nara City from the 8th century. There is an opinion that the lute in Syosoin is the original biwa(lute). And the long history for thirteen centuries in Japan tra
Read more