SHIH-FU:

I think you are confusing no thought with no-self. It is possible to reach a point in meditation when the mind is still. At this point there seem to be no thoughts, but there is in fact one thought. The person continues steadily on one thought. The mind does not move. No thinking is going on. This is samadhi. One does not have to be enlightened to experience this; or to put it another way, experiencing samadhi is not automatically enlightenment.

On the other hand, if a person experiences true enlightenment, then the idea of a self disappears. There is no self. But thoughts continue, just as they would in an ordinary person's mind. An enlightened person can function, reason and make judgments. The difference is that the enlightened person does not attribute these mental functions to a self.

STUDENT:

The first few lines of the Heart Sutra read: "When the bodhisattva, Avalokitesvara, was coursing through deep Prajnaparamita, he perceived that all five skandhas are empty, thereby transcending all suffering." If Avalokitesvara perceived that all five skandhas are empty, how did he know there were any skandhas to begin with?

SHIH-FU:

In the Heart Sutra, the Buddha tells us what the Bodhisattva has done. Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara is not saying it. The Bodhisattva is not pointing to the five skandhas and saying, "These are empty."