Heart Sutra Expressed in Real Life
The Heart Sutra expressed in real life
(No old age and death and no end to old age and death)
Below are the series of short pieces I wrote during my father’s sudden decline and eventual death. The title of this blog post is a reference to the Heart Sutra, one of the most important Buddhist texts. It is a direct expression of non-duality. After his body was taken away I created a ceremony during which I chanted the sutra. I’ve included the entire text at the bottom of this post.
Feb 16, 2025
Moving my dad into hospice tomorrow and this popped up on my phone.
Memories are funny. This was four years ago, and at a time when things were not easy for him, but we had a lovely evening that night having cocktails on the dock with his next door neighbor. But the family had really broken apart at this point and there was lots of loneliness and sadness in the house.
When compared to 10 years earlier, when my mom was alive and my sister was around and we were all together and things were “normal,” this photo would represent a terrible decline in quality of life.
But in moment-to-moment experience, it was a wonderful evening and now represents a beautiful memory. And how about that magical sunset?!?! It was unbelievable and it was mirrored in the water— no words could describe it. Truly ineffable.
This isn’t just about relativity. This is about how our assessments and expectations distort and shift what “is.” That moment on the dock was perfect as it was. Without mom, without my sister, without all the things we lost or thought we must have, we created a new moment, a beautiful memory. We had a great night. We had love and joy and it was enough.
And as I brace myself to see his recent precipitous decline, I embrace this moment when I can still be with him physically, hear his voice, when my sister and I are a team again, ready to care for him and preparing for his departure. Nothing will be the same again. Nothing is ever the same again. New moment. New moment.
Feb 22, 2025
Headed home for a few days to recharge. Then back to Florida to be with Dad until further notice.
It was an intense week and I deleted FB and IG apps from my phone while down there so I could be more present.
I still found ways of escaping and distracting myself, but not having the easy go-to was very helpful.
Through my own personal experience, I have come to believe that if I can be completely and unadulteratedly present, I will have a spiritual opening. It’s really that simple. Presence itself is awakening. Practice is enlightenment.
This type of presence is both easily accessible and very, very difficult. The mind plays tricks and does its dance which produces many, many ways to come out of the moment. And, it’s so simple to drop back in. One breath and I am here again.
In the face of death, presence becomes both more accessible and more slippery. Let me do this other thing instead. Let me think about that instead. But then I am face to face with my father and there is only this. This tender, precious moment of heart to heart presence and love.
That tender moment is what the world is made of, this is who are.
March 2, 2025
“The medicine that comes with losing someone we love is the medicine of vulnerability. That is a medicine.”
— Francis Weller
Stu update: he is declining quickly and his kidneys are failing. He is still conscious and engaging but seems to be living in 3 different realities: the recent past where he could still go out for dinner, the present (where he is bedridden) and some liminal space where he speaks and gestures about things going on somewhere else, in another time or other dimension.
When viewed energetically, and not just as physical, dying is clearly a profound process of letting go and resolution. Coming to grips with what was and accepting what is and what is about to be.
To call it anything but sacred is to cheapen the profundity of the human experience. “I am now, but what will be soon?” The mystery seems almost unbearable, but it feels (from my perspective observing), like a confrontation with all we are and settling with self and all those decisions, actions and non-actions we wrought.
My sister and I are doing our best to make him comfortable and at ease. I’m moving energy with him and it’s a lot. I want him to meet himself with compassion and encourage him and praise him. He deserves that and so much more.
March 3, 2025
“Birth and death are only a door through which we go in and out. Birth and death are a game of hide-and-seek. So smile to me, take my hand, and wave good-bye. Tomorrow we shall meet again, or even before.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh
March 5, 2025
Stuart is complete
11/1/1933 - 3/5/2025
Stu’s work here is done and he is making his way “home.”
He brought joy and love into the world and was filled with kindness and caring. He stood for justice and humanity.
He loved beauty. Art, music, poetry.
He sought pleasure, to a fault perhaps, but he was living breathing celebration of life, of moment to moment joy and connection. He loved people and always wanted to kibitz and joke and connect with others.
He loved engaged conversation and could speak informatively about many, many subjects from physics to modern art to jazz to baseball, to politics to history to literature. And more. He didn’t talk down or lecture, he was always learning and cared to hear you too.
He loved my mother like a sunflower loves the Sun.
He lost his own mother at 10 and it was a great wounding. Maybe in his final days he recovered from that, but I trust in the end he is finding his way back to the Great Mother and back into the arms of unconditional love. He deserves that.
Heart Sutra
Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, doing deep Prajna Paramita,
Clearly saw emptiness of all the five conditions
Thus completely relieving misfortune and pain.
Oh Shariputra, form is no other than emptiness,
Emptiness no other than form;
Form is exactly emptiness, emptiness exactly form.
Sensation, conception, discrimination, awareness are likewise like this.
Oh Shariputra, all Dharmas are forms of emptiness:
Not born, not destroyed; not stained, not pure, without loss, without gain.
So in emptiness there is no form, no sensation, conception, discrimination, awareness.
No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; no color, sound, smell, taste, touch, phenomena.
No realm of sight, no realm of consciousness; no ignorance and no end to ignorance,
No old age and death, no end to old age and death,
No suffering , no cause of suffering, no extinguishing,
no path, no wisdom and no gain.
No gain and thus the Bodhisattva lives Prajna Paramita,
With no hindrance in the mind.
No hindrance, therefore no fear.
Far beyond deluded thoughts, this is Nirvana.
All past, present, and future Buddhas live Prajna±a Paramita.
And therefore attain Anutara-Samyak-Sambodhi.
Therefore know Prajna Paramita is the great mantra,
The vivid mantra, the best mantra, the unsurpassable mantra.
It completely clears all pain.
This is the truth, not a lie.
So set forth the Prajna Paramita mantra,
Set forth this mantra and say:
Gate Gate Paragate! Parasamgate! Bodhi Svaha! Prajna Heart Sutra!
Questions:
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The Heart Sutra is a short and powerful scripture in Mahayana Buddhism — kind of like a whisper from the heart of wisdom itself. People often chant it for its deep, calming truth: that nothing has a fixed, separate self, and everything’s woven together. It’s a distilled drop from the vast ocean of the Prajnaparamita teachings, reminding us that real compassion comes from seeing through the illusion of separateness.
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When the Buddha taught that clinging is the source of suffering, he used a list of five aspects of experience as shorthand for all the things we cling to. This list, called the “five aggregates”
Form
Feeling
Perception
Mental Formations
Consciousness
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In Buddhism, a sutra is a sacred text, often considered a record of the Buddha's teachings. The term "sutra" is derived from the Sanskrit word "sūkta," meaning "well spoken," reflecting the belief that the Buddha's teachings are of great value. Sutras are part of the Buddhist canon, including the Tripitaka, which holds the three baskets of teachings: precepts, sutras, and commentaries.
