People who want to attain wisdom usually do not know how or where to begin. If you seek wisdom through words, all you will gain is intellectual knowledge. Scholars may study and even recite sutras by heart without perceiving their meaning from direct personal experience. Writing about sutras, doing comparative analysis, and so on, do not necessarily confer acquired wisdom. Not that it is impossible to gain wisdom through reading sutras; it depends on one’ s attitude. If one reads sutras with an attitude of gaining intellectual understanding, wisdom will be elusive. On the other hand, if you approach sutras as a method of meditation or contemplation, and commit your whole being to perceiving their meaning, it is possible for wisdom to arise.

Chan emphasizes a living wisdom, in which one personifies the Buddhadharma on the way to directly experiencing wisdom. For this reason, the schools of Chan have revered the Heart Sutra and the Diamond Sutra for succinctly expounding the core realizations of the Buddha. The Heart Sutra, however, is much shorter, more direct and condensed than the Diamond Sutra, making it easier to memorize and recite. For centuries, practitioners in Chan monasteries have recited the Heart Sutra at least twice a day. This deepened their commitment to Buddhism, mirrored and attuned their cultivation of the Dharma, and of their view of reality and themselves.

Quieting the mind is only one facet of the practice because at the core of the sutra’ s teachings are both wisdom and compassion. In fact, one leads to the other. Any insight derived from meditation is incomplete unless imbued and tempered with compassion. We only fully realize the Dharma when we act with both wisdom and compassion.