Dharma/Arte

thoughts are things:

the heart sutra for children

John Pappas

Illustrations: Ed Cross

The Heart Sutra is chanted daily in many Buddhist temples, Zen centers and private homes and is a standard in the Mahayana tradition. It is very popular due to its brevity and depth of teaching into the Buddhist concept of Shunyata (emptiness). Literally, the sutra describes the experience of Avalokitesvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, as liberation is reached through deep meditation. Avalokitsvara then goes on to explain the awakened nature of realizing the emptiness of all phenomena.

The sutra is often chanted in a monotonous manner with each syllable equaling one beat. While this creates a wonderful experience when chanting in a group, it falls short when a parent wishes to impart this particular concept to their children. In my version, I included a bouncing rhyme and contrasting, contemporary imagery to create a reading experience that would be more enjoyable to children and parent. Something that can be sung and danced to in childish vigor and intensity. Illustrator Ed Cross includes playful artistry to complement and punctuate key portions of verse.

 

 

Avalokitesvara, you say! Doing deep meditation all day.

A silent song, a dance in the gray.

Didn’t stop for a bowl of stew, cake or tea

Stared deep into life’s flowing sea, clearly saw that it was emp-i-ty.

 

Dancing around, the wind in hair, completely free from pain and care.

Things are thoughts and thoughts are things!

(I said it once, twice, thrice! Do you also dare?)

My care, my hair, the thoughts on the air all amount to Noth-i-ing.

My dreams at night, my dance all day, scrapes on knees and flowers in May

Oh, they arise and fall! It has always been this way!

No God in sky, no Devil below. No pure light, no unholy glow.

 

 

In emp-i-tiness no moss to gather on a rock that does not roll.

No gateman at the end to pay a toll.

No puzzle pieces to a-gather, no riddles in my brain to rattle.

No boogieman hidden at night. No robber lost in flight!

No weeping eye, no spying ear, no nose to twitch,

No lying tongue, body to bathe or mind to bewitch!

 

No auburn hair, no joke to tell, no cupboards bare,

no rose to smell, no touch of angels’ wings.

None of these things!

You think this sad. A real mess.

Also no realm of sight, no realm of consciousness.

 

No kings. No fools. Nothing in-between.

No sacred night! No as-it-ever-has-been

No grave in sight but also no immortal might.

Cradle to grave, tomb to toddler. There is no need to fight!

No tears in the eye, no pie in the sky.

No story, no song (sorry this non-sense took so long),

but in this non-song a Bodhisattva just bounces along

With no path in front. No path behind. No hindrance, no fear. We don’t mind!

 

 

With each breath a miracle, a present, a gift; I hope this rhyme provided some lift.

To make you feel not so small but really, actually, trully quite tall

Like a tree with branches that connect to all.

Like leaves that blossom, burn and then fall.

For when your branches spread ahead

and penetrate the gloom and the doom

To touch the forgotten, the remembered, the yet-to-be,

You have obtained anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.

 

 

But it is a lender, meant to be shared for benefit.

Which is why the following mantra is such a perfect fit.

This silly mantra comes off sounding so glib,

It completely clears all pain; This is no fib!

Oh Dear! What would your mother say?

This very day! What would she say?

Gate! Gate! Paragate! Parasamgate!

Bodhi Svaha! Is what she would say!

 

But what would you say? This very day?

My mild child, my child wild?

Which words sing a silent song and dance in the gray?

Tu whit! Tu whoo! What to do?

Grab a boat. Sink or float.

Either way we cross the bay. Hooray!

 

—

Text: © 2011 by John Pappas. All rights reserved. This text is being published by Dharma/Arte by arrangement with the author and may not be archived or distributed further without express permission.

Illustrations: © 2011 by Ed Cross. All rights reserved.

John Pappas is a struggling Zen practitioner with a slight Vajrayana palate stumbling between the relative and absolute through the Buddhist Purgatory otherwise known as the Great Plains of South Dakota. Emerging writer, librarian and aspiring hungry ghost, John spews his skewed perception of the dharma all over his personal blog, Subtle Dharma Mouth Punch, as well as on the ephemeral Elephant Journal and occasionally (while having no artistic ability to speak of) on Dharma/Arte. John also loves tacos, homebrew, yoginis and obscure Cthulhu references. You can follow him on Twitter under the handle @zendirtzendust.

Ed Cross is an illustrator, graphic designer and devoted Buddhist father. He tweets about design here and about Dhamma here. See more of his work and contact him here.