The Heart Sutra

The Heart Sutra

The Heart of the Prajna Paramita Sutra - the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara's advice to śāriputra.
prajñāpāramitā hṛdaya sūtra - the heart of the great sūtras of Transcendent Wisdom (sanskrit: mahãprajñãpãramitã) - here, the Wisdom, that ferries to the other shore, is revealed, for the sake of all.
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The Sutra

The Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, deeply immersed in the practice of transcendent wisdom, looking upon the five skandhas (form, sensation, perception, samskãras, and consciousness), saw that they are empty in essence (i.e. devoid of self-nature).

 The Bodhisattva said:

Hey śāriputra! Right here! Right now! - Form is not separate from emptiness - emptiness is not separate from form. Form is indeed emptiness, emptiness is indeed form.

It is exactly the same with sensation, perception, impulse and consciousness.Hey śāriputra! Right here! Right now! - All things are characteristically empty - they neither begin nor end; they are neither stained nor pure; they neither increase nor decrease. Therefore, in emptiness, there is no form, no sensation, no perception, no impulse, no consciousness.

No eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind. No ideas of form, sound, odour, taste, no objects to be touched.No realm of sight nor even realm of mindstuff.

There is no ignorance, no loss of ignorance, no old age and death, no end of old age and death

There is no suffering, no origination of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no path that leads to the cessation of suffering (cf. Four Noble Truths).

There is no knowledge, no attainment, no non-attainment. Because there is no attainment for the Bodhisattva, having relied on the practice of transcendent wisdom, he wanders unobstructed by fetters of mind.

Since there is no mindstuff, he has gone beyond any errant travesty of mind, without fear, he has reached the nirvāna abode.

All Buddhas, established in all three times, past, present and future, having relied on the unsurpassed prajñãpãramitã, have awoken to the complete enlightenment of the Buddha.

Therefore, one should ponder the truth of the great mantra of prajñãpãramitã, the mantra of great wisdom, the unsurpassed mantra, the mantra without equal, the mantra that ends suffering.

It is true because it is the essence of all that is not false!The prajñãpãramitã mantra is spoken as follows -
गते गते पारगते पारसंगते बोधि स्वाहा
"gate gate pāragate pārasamgate bodhi svāhā"
 Translation - Gone! Gone! Safely across! United, abiding on the Other Shore! Enlightenment! Ah!! Blessing indeed!
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Translation by MWright ©2012

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