by Tang Huyen

The Heart Sutra says the Bodhisattva "relies on" the Perfection of Wisdom to dwell without mental hindrance. This single word — aashritya, "relying on" — is a punchline. Throughout the Prajnaparamita literature, relying on anything is precisely what the awakened do not do. To lean on earth, water, fire, consciousness, the All, even the Dharma itself, is to give consciousness a foothold, and consciousness with a foothold means bending, coming and going, birth, death, and the entire mass of suffering. The Buddha meditates without leaning on anything whatsoever, and even the gods cannot comprehend what he depends on, because the answer is: nothing. Then the Heart Sutra turns around and says the Bodhisattva relies on the Perfection of Wisdom — relies on the not-relying. The wit is fully intended. Tang Huyen, a practitioner and scholar of early Buddhist and Prajnaparamita literature, wrote for talk.religion.buddhism through the 2000s, bringing rare philological precision to Usenet debates. This essay was his response to a misreading of the Heart Sutra's central verb.

The word aashritya means "relying on" (Conze, Materials, p. 114). The noun is aashraya, platform, foundation, physical basis. A synonym is nishraya, support. Another synonym is prati.s.thaa, support, used largely in the negative adjective a-prati.s.thita — "unsupported, not based on anything." This cluster of words and concepts marks one of the major differences between the Buddhist tradition and the Brahmanical one: the latter reveres these words and concepts, whereas the former denigrates them.

By missing the verb, one also misses the huge word-play, for here the verb "to rely on, to lean on" is used positively — after it, or its synonyms, have been used negatively in many places in the Perfection of Wisdom scriptures, going back to the Buddha himself.

Consciousness Without Support

There are two cases of monks killing themselves due to pain in illness (SN I.122 / SA 1091; SN III.124 / SA 1265). The Buddha said that their consciousness was not established (a-ppatitthita) when they died.

If one mentates (ceteti), composes thoughts (pakappeti), and tends to anything (anuseti), this becomes an object (arammana) for consciousness to stand on. The object being, the support (patittha) for consciousness becomes. Consciousness being supported and having grown, bending becomes; bending being, coming and going become; coming and going being, decease and birth become; decease and birth being, future birth, old age, death, sorrow, lamentation, suffering, grief and despair become. Thus arises this entire mass of suffering.

But if one does not mentate, does not compose thoughts, and does not tend to anything, then this does not become an object for consciousness to stand on. The object not being, the support for consciousness becomes not. Consciousness not being supported and not having grown, bending becomes not; coming and going become not; decease and birth become not; future birth, old age, death, sorrow, lamentation, suffering, grief and despair become not. Thus ceases this entire mass of suffering. (SA 361, 100b; SN II.66–68 / 12.40)

Meditating Without Leaning

The Buddha talks about meditating without leaning on anything whatsoever — the All included:

"He meditates not leaning on earth, water, fire, air, the place of infinity of space, the place of the infinity of consciousness, the place of nothing(ness), the place of neither notion nor not-notion; he meditates not leaning on this world, the world beyond, on whatever is seen, heard, sensed, cognised, obtained, sought after, followed after by mind, the sun and the moon, without leaning on them he meditates (na prthivam nisritya dhyayati), because he has un-done (vi-bhuta) the notion of earth to the notion of the All (sarva — the Sanskrit says: he meditates not leaning on [the notion] 'all, all' [na sarvam sarvam iti nisritya dhyayati]). To him thus meditating, the gods with Indra, with Brahma and with Prajapati even from afar bow down, saying:

We worship you, thoroughbred of men, we worship you, most excellent of men, for what it is dependent on which you meditate, that we cannot comprehend!"

(AN V.323–326 / 11.10; SA 926, 235c–236b; Sanskrit in Louis de la Vallée Poussin, "Notes on (1) Sunyata and (2) the Middle Path," Indian Historical Quarterly, 1928, 168; Bodhisattva-bhumi, 49–50; Lamotte, Traité, 86, n. 2)

Where Is the Wind Supported?

There is a dialogue where a brahman asks the Buddha where the brahmanic scriptures are supported. Man, says the Buddha. Where is man supported? Food. Food? The earth. Earth? Water. Water? The wind. Wind? Space. And where is space supported?

"You go too far, great brahman. Space is un-supported (a-pratisthita). It is only because of the sun and moon that there is space!"

The brahman, missing the Buddha's double message, keeps asking — through the four god-kings, to the Great Brahma, who is supported by patience and honesty. Where is that supported? The Buddha answers: blowing-out (nirvana). And where is nirvana supported?

"Brahman! You want to have the ultimate supported! Your question goes too far (atisarasi)! However, blowing-out (nirvana) is un-supported (a-pratisthita)! Blowing-out is the goal, blowing-out is the end!"

This dialogue is famous in Indian Buddhism, and is quoted by Nagarjuna (Christian Lindtner, "Nagarjuna and the Problem of Precanonical Buddhism," Religious Traditions, Volumes 15–16–17, 1994, 120 and n. 13).

The Diamond Sutra and the Unsupported Thought

The Diamond scripture says: "the bodhisattva mahasattva ought to give rise to an un-supported thought (a-prati.s.thita.m cittam), to a thought unsupported by anything (na kvacit-prati.s.thita.m cittam), to a thought unsupported by form, sound, scent, flavour, tangible, object-of-mind." Hui-neng is supposed to awaken when hearing this short disquisition. It is often quoted by the Hva-shang of Northern Chan in the Lhasa debate against Kamalasila.

A being devoted to awakening (bodhi-sattva), a great being, having stood in the perfection of wisdom, by way of not taking his stand on it (prajña-paramitayam sthitva-asthana-yogena), should perfect the perfection of giving, by way of seeing that no renunciation has taken place, since gift, giver, and recipient have not been apprehended (Edward Conze, The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom, 45; Étienne Lamotte, Le traité de la grande vertu de la sagesse, II, 650).

All Support Is Unsupported

The above quotations say roughly: "All support is unsupported," "All foundation is unfounded," "All basis is baseless," "All establishment is unestablished," "All ground is groundless," "All bottom is bottomless."

So, after that lengthy tradition of not relying on, of not standing on, of not leaning on, the Heart scripture turns around and plays with words and ideas: given that perfect wisdom does not rely on anything, the Bodhisattva relies on perfect wisdom to remove mental hindrances and accomplish awakening. The Bodhisattva relies on the not-relying-on in order to accomplish awakening.

It is like Daoism talking of "doing the non-doing" (wei wu-wei). The oxymorons are fully intended.

Colophon

Written by Tang Huyen and posted to talk.religion.buddhism, alt.philosophy.zen, alt.zen, and alt.religion.buddhism.tibetan on 25 December 2005. Original Message-ID: <[email protected]>.

Tang Huyen was a regular contributor to Buddhist Usenet groups through the 2000s, distinguished by rigorous citation of Pali, Sanskrit, and Chinese canonical sources alongside Western scholarship (Conze, Lamotte, de la Vallée Poussin, Lindtner). This essay exemplifies his method: a single word in a familiar scripture opens into a vast tradition, and the tradition circles back to illuminate the scripture's hidden wit.

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Original Message-ID: <[email protected]>.

🌲