Thich Nhat Hanh: An Analysis

Understanding the Heart Sutra is one of the more difficult readings to grasp because the ideas behind the words are not so easy to understand as is. The extrapolation Thich Nhat Hanh presents about this sutra breaks down each idea and expands every thought. Questions contemplating emptiness, oneness, being, and life are explained into depth to help non-Buddhists understanding of the being one with all that surrounds us. It is a prevalent theme throughout the commentary (and Buddhism) that everything is empty, and emptiness is everything. But what is meant by emptiness? From a definition standpoint, one would think that emptiness is the lack of existence or substance but from what the Buddha has taught us, emptiness is where life begins. Emptiness …show more content…
A wave is full of movement and beauty and all at once can become still. The wave is a part of the water, and the water can become a wave. To some this may not make any sense, but we can also look at it in a different sense: “form is the fist and emptiness is the hand”. A fist has definition, strength, power and then all at once the fist can go away becoming an empty palm. The hand and fist coexist. Either example shows that the form of a being is one-in-the-same and ever changing and without emptiness it would not be able to change into a “wave” or a …show more content…
This mantra was stated when Enlightenment was reached. It is personally thought that this mantra is proclaiming that everyone that is leaving to be Enlightened, and that they only way to reach Enlightenment is if liberation of suffering is felt and oneness with all is realized. The world view of suffering was changed to where the world before Enlightenment does not exist. Suffering does not ever disappear but it transforms, just like the wave and the water. The point where suffering and personal desires cease is the phenomenon of Nirvana, the ultimate goal of