Quotes from the Heart Sutra
"Bodhisattva Guanzizai, in practicing the profound prajna paramita, observes and perceives that the five aggregates are all empty, thus transcending all suffering and distress."
Excerpts from The Secret Meanings of the Heart Sutra
Venerable Xiao Pingshi
The Guanzizai Rendition by Master Xuanzang
When translating the Buddhist scripture Heart Sutra into the Chinese language, why did Dharma Master Xuanzang not use the well-known name of “Bodhisattva Avalokitêśvara, [which], in practicing the profound prajna paramita, observes and perceives that the five aggregates are all empty, thus transcending all suffering and distress”? Why did he not translate the name into Bodhisattva Avalokitêśvara? It is because the described bodhisattva’s mind state in the Heart Sutra does not observe or comprehend others’ minds!
The notion of Avalokitêśvara is to observe the inner voices of sentient beings in the mundane world, but Guanzizai (literal meaning: observing self-existing) denotes an individual who can observe and comprehend his inherently self-existing mind! If we can directly observe and reflect on our True Mind, which inherently exists by itself, this process best befits the true meaning of Guanzizai!
The Secret Meanings of the Heart Sutra, p. 224