The smile of Buddha meditating.
Photo by Ganesh Kumar.
Photo by Ganesh Kumar.
gate gate para-gate
Meaning, discussion
gate gate para gate,
gone gone fully gone
para sam gate, bodhi svaha!
fully perfectly gone awakening rejoice!
gone gone fully gone
para sam gate, bodhi svaha!
fully perfectly gone awakening rejoice!
The Song
Soraya Saraswati offers an energising and clear song for this mantra, with her partner Terry Oldfield on their Namaste album, dated 2016.
Available at https://terryoldfield.com/product-category/album/
You can listen to and buy this song as a single, as a download, from https://terryoldfield.bandcamp.com/album/namaste Track 10, Gate Gate
The Mantra's Meaning
This mantra can be about the cessation of all defilements, which occurs at bodhi awakening.
This bodhi is awakening to the deluding power of defilements. When we wake up to the games that they play on us, convincing us that we should entertain defilements, permit them in our mind, energise them, identify with them and allow them to be in control, especially of our speech and actions.
.
In the simplest form, it is the awakening that happens repeatedly in meditation for Buddha’s enlightenment. When we realise that our mind has wandered away yet again, and that we can set aside busy-ness and return to inner peace and rest. This everyday experience of awakening gives us a taste of deeper awakening, when all defilements have fully and perfectly gone, and we are truly at peace, and appreciation and delight now fill our mind. This is the bodhi awakening. Let us rejoice.
Let this guide us.
This bodhi is awakening to the deluding power of defilements. When we wake up to the games that they play on us, convincing us that we should entertain defilements, permit them in our mind, energise them, identify with them and allow them to be in control, especially of our speech and actions.
.
In the simplest form, it is the awakening that happens repeatedly in meditation for Buddha’s enlightenment. When we realise that our mind has wandered away yet again, and that we can set aside busy-ness and return to inner peace and rest. This everyday experience of awakening gives us a taste of deeper awakening, when all defilements have fully and perfectly gone, and we are truly at peace, and appreciation and delight now fill our mind. This is the bodhi awakening. Let us rejoice.
Let this guide us.
The Heart Sutra.
Our song is actually the conclusion of a famous Mahayana Buddhist Sutra or discourse called the “Heart Sutra”. In it, Shaariputra the Buddha’s chief disciple, is instructed in prajñā pāramitā = perfect knowing and perfection of mind that can arise in deep meditation.
The usual translations of this Sutra are almost incomprehensible. So I have prepared a new interpretation or commentary on the Heart Sutra, full of Sanskrit from the Sutra, and 3,000 words long. It’s published on this site on its own webpage. I will summarise for Soraya and Terry’s song.
The Heart Sutra is all about śūnyatā, which means “emptiness” in the dictionary. Most translations of this Sutra use this definition. But other translations will work better at different places in the Sutra. In fact, as you progress through this commentary, the meaning of śūnyatā will evolve and develop, from no-self to Liberation. This is one of the beauties of this Sutra.
In the Heart Sutra, Buddha declares that –
Body is śūnyatā.
This can mean that there is nothing “in” the body that is worth clinging to. Or rather, that if we do try to cling to this nothingness, this will only make the problem worse. Especially in sickness, injury, burn-out, and lack of training or proper care. Including death. This reflection can help us when our time eventually comes.
The purpose of this reflection is to help us let go of the body. To help us cultivate the perception that the body is something to care for, and not something to cling to nor be attached to. Sooner or later our body will not be able to perform well, due to sickness, over-work, injury or lack of training, and eventually old age. When we can accept this, we will avoid a lot of unnecessary suffering.
This theme of emptiness or śūnyatā can also be applied to substances that are taken into the body, and effect the body. Especially substances that are empty or śūnyatā of nourishment, such as drugs, alcohol, and white sugar white flour products. In addictions, there is a history of dependence and abuse, which is a kind of “clinging”. Can we cultivate the perception that there is nothing in the addictive substance that’s worth clinging to ? Can we perceive the problems of such attachment, and perceive this clearly ?
Mind is śūnyatā.
This is best understood to mean “empty of defilement” or “empty of mental noise”. As an affirmation or wish -
śūnyatā is given some definition later in this Sutra. In śūnyatā, there is tremendous spaciousness in the mind. It is uncluttered, without chatter, and has all the clarity and inspiration that comes from spaciousness of mind. Indeed, meditating on spaciousness is now one of my favourites, for I find it very healing and liberating.
All Dharma is śūnyatā .
We access much of the Dharma as spiritual teachings, from a spiritual teacher or writer. Such reading stimulates the thinking mind, and the mind becomes busy. Our minds need to be active and engaged when we interact with the outside world. And trying to get info off the internet greatly stimulates such busy-ness. Too much reading of a website like this will only keep our mind away from the rejuvenating stillness and silence of meditation.
All this busy-ness of mind simply activates the ego. At times, the reader will feel compelled to either agree or disagree with what they have read or heard. And we can easily get attached to our opinions.
Therefore, Buddha advises us to try to perceive spiritual writings as śūnyatā, as being empty of self. The thought driven self is really not needed in the Dharma. We can set aside opinions about the Dharma. Just let the Dharma soak in, and help take us to inner peace, clarity and contentment.
In śūnyatā there is no Doctrine.
The Heart Sutra also says –
“In śūnyatā there is no doctrine about dependent origination, nor doctrine about noble truths. There is only knowing = jñāna and attainment = prāptir”. (These two doctrines are central to Buddhist ideology.) How can we best use such a negation?
When we feel at ease and untroubled, when we can enjoy experience and appreciate the good things we have, when we are confident and competent, when we can share with others and be supportive and tolerant, when we can let go of the unhelpful and unnecessary, when these beautiful Spiritual Qualities are active, then śūnyatā is present in our Being. This is liberation in the Here and Now. Our being is empty of defilement.
When we are like this, then there is no need for doctrines. In a sense, the doctrine and the religion behind it is like a vehicle. We need it to get to work or get home again, or wherever. But having arrived, we then leave the vehicle and enter our destination. Maha-yāna contains the word “yāna” which means “vehicle”.
M 9. Beyond the Sense Doors.
The Sutra says –
“The Way to Liberation is beyond the sense doors.”
We normally use the sense doors as our meditation object, when we are moving towards Liberation. Touch of breath is commonly taught in Buddhism. The sound and sensations of chanting mantra is commonly taught in various Hindu sects, or images of Deities are used.
The purpose here is to divert our mind from thinking to sensing. To shift the mind out of its age old habits of compulsive thinking. This is a strategy to train the mind to stop its heedless wandering in saṃsāra, and avoid being reborn back into the same old problems. Get out of the old ruts.
But the untrained mind might have (great) difficulty in believing that focussing on the breath or mantra could ever take us to Freedom. It just does not make sense to the thought driven self.
So we might get the impression that the breath or mantra is the important thing, when we attend a meditation session or retreat, or Kirtan. Therefore, our Sutra advises us that the Way to Being Free is actually beyond the sense doors. The sense doors are no more than a vehicle, to take us to our Goal.
M 10. Conclusion.
The Sutra concludes with the song by Soraya and Terry. It can summarise the Heart Sutra.
gate gate paragate
going gone fully gone
para sam gate bodhi svāha
fully perfectly gone (at) awakening rejoice!
So this mantra can also be about attachment. Attachment is going, gone, fully gone and perfectly fully gone at bodhi awakening.
Let us rejoice when we can let go …. of that which we need to let go of.
The usual translations of this Sutra are almost incomprehensible. So I have prepared a new interpretation or commentary on the Heart Sutra, full of Sanskrit from the Sutra, and 3,000 words long. It’s published on this site on its own webpage. I will summarise for Soraya and Terry’s song.
The Heart Sutra is all about śūnyatā, which means “emptiness” in the dictionary. Most translations of this Sutra use this definition. But other translations will work better at different places in the Sutra. In fact, as you progress through this commentary, the meaning of śūnyatā will evolve and develop, from no-self to Liberation. This is one of the beauties of this Sutra.
In the Heart Sutra, Buddha declares that –
- Mind, body and Dharma are all śūnyatā.
Body is śūnyatā.
This can mean that there is nothing “in” the body that is worth clinging to. Or rather, that if we do try to cling to this nothingness, this will only make the problem worse. Especially in sickness, injury, burn-out, and lack of training or proper care. Including death. This reflection can help us when our time eventually comes.
The purpose of this reflection is to help us let go of the body. To help us cultivate the perception that the body is something to care for, and not something to cling to nor be attached to. Sooner or later our body will not be able to perform well, due to sickness, over-work, injury or lack of training, and eventually old age. When we can accept this, we will avoid a lot of unnecessary suffering.
This theme of emptiness or śūnyatā can also be applied to substances that are taken into the body, and effect the body. Especially substances that are empty or śūnyatā of nourishment, such as drugs, alcohol, and white sugar white flour products. In addictions, there is a history of dependence and abuse, which is a kind of “clinging”. Can we cultivate the perception that there is nothing in the addictive substance that’s worth clinging to ? Can we perceive the problems of such attachment, and perceive this clearly ?
Mind is śūnyatā.
This is best understood to mean “empty of defilement” or “empty of mental noise”. As an affirmation or wish -
- May my mind be empty of defilement and mental noise.
śūnyatā is given some definition later in this Sutra. In śūnyatā, there is tremendous spaciousness in the mind. It is uncluttered, without chatter, and has all the clarity and inspiration that comes from spaciousness of mind. Indeed, meditating on spaciousness is now one of my favourites, for I find it very healing and liberating.
All Dharma is śūnyatā .
We access much of the Dharma as spiritual teachings, from a spiritual teacher or writer. Such reading stimulates the thinking mind, and the mind becomes busy. Our minds need to be active and engaged when we interact with the outside world. And trying to get info off the internet greatly stimulates such busy-ness. Too much reading of a website like this will only keep our mind away from the rejuvenating stillness and silence of meditation.
All this busy-ness of mind simply activates the ego. At times, the reader will feel compelled to either agree or disagree with what they have read or heard. And we can easily get attached to our opinions.
Therefore, Buddha advises us to try to perceive spiritual writings as śūnyatā, as being empty of self. The thought driven self is really not needed in the Dharma. We can set aside opinions about the Dharma. Just let the Dharma soak in, and help take us to inner peace, clarity and contentment.
In śūnyatā there is no Doctrine.
The Heart Sutra also says –
“In śūnyatā there is no doctrine about dependent origination, nor doctrine about noble truths. There is only knowing = jñāna and attainment = prāptir”. (These two doctrines are central to Buddhist ideology.) How can we best use such a negation?
When we feel at ease and untroubled, when we can enjoy experience and appreciate the good things we have, when we are confident and competent, when we can share with others and be supportive and tolerant, when we can let go of the unhelpful and unnecessary, when these beautiful Spiritual Qualities are active, then śūnyatā is present in our Being. This is liberation in the Here and Now. Our being is empty of defilement.
When we are like this, then there is no need for doctrines. In a sense, the doctrine and the religion behind it is like a vehicle. We need it to get to work or get home again, or wherever. But having arrived, we then leave the vehicle and enter our destination. Maha-yāna contains the word “yāna” which means “vehicle”.
M 9. Beyond the Sense Doors.
The Sutra says –
“The Way to Liberation is beyond the sense doors.”
We normally use the sense doors as our meditation object, when we are moving towards Liberation. Touch of breath is commonly taught in Buddhism. The sound and sensations of chanting mantra is commonly taught in various Hindu sects, or images of Deities are used.
The purpose here is to divert our mind from thinking to sensing. To shift the mind out of its age old habits of compulsive thinking. This is a strategy to train the mind to stop its heedless wandering in saṃsāra, and avoid being reborn back into the same old problems. Get out of the old ruts.
But the untrained mind might have (great) difficulty in believing that focussing on the breath or mantra could ever take us to Freedom. It just does not make sense to the thought driven self.
So we might get the impression that the breath or mantra is the important thing, when we attend a meditation session or retreat, or Kirtan. Therefore, our Sutra advises us that the Way to Being Free is actually beyond the sense doors. The sense doors are no more than a vehicle, to take us to our Goal.
M 10. Conclusion.
The Sutra concludes with the song by Soraya and Terry. It can summarise the Heart Sutra.
gate gate paragate
going gone fully gone
para sam gate bodhi svāha
fully perfectly gone (at) awakening rejoice!
So this mantra can also be about attachment. Attachment is going, gone, fully gone and perfectly fully gone at bodhi awakening.
Let us rejoice when we can let go …. of that which we need to let go of.
For more translated Sanskrit mantras :
click onto the + at the top of this webpage, then click again onto the +
My introductory webpages “Mantras Translated A - C”
discuss how to gain the full benefit of these mantra writeups.