Comic Heart Sutra

Author: Cai Zhizhong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: A white cloud, what do we see? It looks like a dog, like a lover's heart, or like a mother's white cloud. It's still a white cloud. Whether we see it with joy or sorrow, it remains a white cloud. The only difference is our heart!
Many people ask me, "Why do you love painting?" I answer, "Why do you ask why I love painting?" This question is like asking, "Why do birds fly? Why do fish swim? Why do flowers bloom?" Because fish are fish, birds are birds, and flowers are flowers. Why do I love painting? Because I am me, and I am the one who loves painting! Why don't you ask why the clock ticks?
We often say, "Taiwan's rivers are heavily polluted and unsuitable for life." But the river near Xin Store Galaxy Cave where I live is still quite clear. I often stand by the river, watching "Brother Stream," who swims back and forth quickly in the fast-flowing water, darting from this rock to that, then back again. They play and chase each other in groups. I am just like "Brother Stream," swimming in the river of comics since childhood, playing every day.
For no reason, just because I love painting, want to paint, can paint—it's that simple. Just like "Brother Stream" loves to swim and wants to swim, for no reason.
Until one day, I looked up at the sky through the roof of a glass house and saw a white cloud. That changed everything! White clouds float in the clear sky for no reason—they are still white clouds. But as I watched the white cloud, I suddenly had an idea. I wondered if "Brother Stream," who plays in the stream for no reason, was being too selfish. Shouldn't those who are more capable have an obligation to do more for those who are less capable? "Brother Stream" can share travel tips with immobile stones or tell the grass and flowers by the river about the coming spring so they can prepare in advance.
Since this idea of "doing more for others" took root in my heart, I began to search for what I could do for others. Soon, I found and decided to draw "Comic Buddhist Scriptures." After three years of studying Buddhist scriptures and their terminology, and another two years of sketching each scripture, I have now completed this work—Comic Heart Sutra.
For 1,600 years, many eminent monks have devoted their efforts to translating Buddhist scriptures from ancient Indian to Chinese classical literature. During this long period, there have been seven versions of the Heart Sutra alone, and countless commentaries and treatises in later generations. However, not every version of the translation or commentary is the same. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. My Comic Heart Sutra is no different—it has its merits but also its flaws. Use the good parts, and let the bad parts pass. Don't cling to them and cause distress in your hearts.
The world is wonderful precisely because it has many species, and each person can choose what they need from the many options, without being attached to distinguishing between good and evil. As Zen Master Sengcan wrote in The Heart of Faith (): "The highest truth is not difficult, only the mind is picky; Avoid hatred and love, be clear and bright. A tiny difference can create a vast gap between heaven and earth; Drink the present moment, don't cling to right or wrong. Striving between right and wrong is a sickness of the mind."
The Heart Sutra is the core of the Great Prajna Paramita Sutra. If we can truly understand and practice it, we will surely attain the ultimate state of purity and non-stuffiness, free from the birth and death of suffering. No longer will we be trapped in the cycle of suffering created by our minds, but we will live a pure life.
No matter how we see Comic Heart Sutra, it is still Comic Heart Sutra. No matter whether we judge it as gain, loss, destruction, praise, ridicule, suffering, or happiness, Comic Heart Sutra is still Comic Heart Sutra. The only difference is our heart!