S3 EP2: Where did "Maha" go?

n this episode, JP Liang opens the door to a deeply personal and contemplative journey into the Heart Sutra, tracing the roots of his connection to this sacred text through memory, music, and meditation.

It begins with childhood—learning Chinese calligraphy in a tiny, makeshift classroom, where an old scholar who had lived through the Cultural Revolution passed down ancient traditions with quiet intensity. Amid black-and-white TV flickers and brushstrokes, JP fell in love with Hanzi: not just as language, but as spirit. Each character became a doorway into something deeper. And decades later, when he reads the Heart Sutra in Chinese, it’s no longer just a recitation. It’s an encounter with living friends. With memory. With mystery.

JP then explores the incredible life of Xuanzang, the Tang dynasty monk whose 10,000-mile journey to India and back changed the course of Buddhism in China. Xuanzang's Chinese translation of the Heart Sutra—barely 260 characters—became a lifeline for monks, sailors, and seekers across centuries. JP recounts a lesser-known moment from Xuanzang’s journey: a dying monk’s recitation of a short sutra—a cryptic poem of emptiness—that would eventually ripple across time as the Heart Sutra.

The episode also dives into a powerful unpacking of the sutra’s full Sanskrit title: Mahāprajñāpāramitā Hṛdaya Sūtra. JP breaks down each term:

Prajñā (般若): not just wisdom, but a seeing-through—an intuitive clarity that dissolves the self.

Pāramitā (波羅蜜多): not a destination, but a crossing. A breeze from the other shore that’s already here.

Hṛdaya (心): the center of consciousness, where thoughts and feelings rise—not a part of us, but the whole.

Sūtra (經): a thread of wisdom woven through time, holding transformation in its form.

But one word is missing in Xuanzang’s Chinese version: mahā—“great.” Why was it left out? Some say it’s implied. Others say it was a stylistic choice. But JP isn’t satisfied with those answers. Instead, he listens. He holds the question in meditation. And each morning, he asks again:

Where did mahā go?

This episode is a quiet meditation on language, lineage, and the heart’s vast capacity to hold it all.

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