The Heart of Perfect Wisdom (The Heart Sutra)
The Heart Sutra: Avalokiteshvara tells Shariputra that form is emptiness and emptiness is form, and the sutra ends with the mantra gate gate paragate.
Verses
The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra. Om, homage to the Blessed Noble Perfection of Wisdom.
Verse 1
The noble bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, while practicing the profound perfection of wisdom, looked upon the five aggregates and saw that they are empty of inherent existence.
Verse 2
Here, Shariputra, form is emptiness, and emptiness itself is form. Emptiness is not separate from form, nor is form separate from emptiness. Whatever is form, that is emptiness; whatever is emptiness, that is form. So it is also with feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness.
Verse 3
Here, Shariputra, all phenomena are marked by emptiness: they are not born, not destroyed, not defiled, not pure, not deficient, not complete.
Verse 4
Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness there is no form, no feeling, no perception, no mental formations, no consciousness.
No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind. No form, sound, smell, taste, touch, mental objects.
No eye element, up to no mind-consciousness element.
No ignorance and no end of ignorance, up to no aging and death and no end of aging and death.
No suffering, origin, cessation, path. No knowledge, no attainment, no non-attainment.
Verse 5
Therefore, Shariputra, because the bodhisattva has no attainment, and relies on the perfection of wisdom, he dwells without mental hindrances. With no mental hindrances, he is fearless, has transcended error, and attains the final nirvana.
Verse 6
All buddhas dwelling in the three times, relying on the perfection of wisdom, have fully realized unsurpassed, perfect enlightenment.
Verse 7
Therefore, know that the perfection of wisdom is the great mantra, the great wisdom mantra, the unsurpassed mantra, the mantra equal to the unequaled. It completely pacifies all suffering; it is true because it is not false.
Verse 8
The mantra proclaimed in the perfection of wisdom is thus: gone, gone, gone beyond, gone completely beyond, enlightenment, svaha.
Verse 9
Thus concludes the Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom.
Verse 10
Worship Guidelines & Chanting Benefits (Phalashruti)
Daily or auspicious lunar days (Ekadashi, Purnima, Pradosham)
Brahma Muhurta (4:00 AM – 6:00 AM) or Evening Dusk (Sandhya)
Ghee lamp (Deepa), Incense (Dhoopa), Fresh flowers & Water offering
- Peace of mind, spiritual upliftment, and harmonious energy in the home
Background
The Heart Sutra, in Sanskrit Prajnaparamita Hridaya, is one of the shortest texts of the Prajnaparamita, the Perfection of Wisdom literature of Mahayana Buddhism. It is recited in Zen, Tibetan and other Mahayana traditions, often at the beginning or end of a practice. In this short Sanskrit text the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, while practising the profound perfection of wisdom, sees that the five aggregates are empty of own-being, and then speaks to Shariputra. He says that form is emptiness, that emptiness does not differ from form, and that in emptiness there is no suffering, no origin, no cessation and no path. The sutra closes with the mantra of the Perfection of Wisdom, gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha, given in verse 9 of this text. The text exists in Sanskrit and in several Chinese translations, the best known attributed to Xuanzang in the seventh century. Scholars still discuss its exact origin, so this page does not give it a date.
Did You Know?
Avalokiteshvara speaks
The sutra opens with the noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, who looks into the five aggregates, the skandhas of form, feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness. He sees them empty of own-being. He then says to Shariputra: iha Shariputra, here, Shariputra.
Form is emptiness
The famous lines say that form is emptiness and emptiness itself is form. Emptiness is not apart from form, and form is not apart from emptiness. They say the same of feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness. Emptiness here means that things lack a separate, fixed nature of their own and arise in dependence.
No this, no that
In emptiness there is no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body or mind, and no ignorance or its ending, up to no ageing and death. There is no suffering, origin, cessation or path, no knowledge and no attainment. The sutra goes through the basic categories of Buddhist teaching to show that none of them is to be clung to.
Fearlessness
Because the bodhisattva has no attainment to hold, he relies on the perfection of wisdom. His mind is without hindrance, he is without fear, and he has gone beyond error to nirvana. The sutra adds that all buddhas of the three times awakened through the same perfection.
The mantra in verse 9
The final mantra reads gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha. It can be rendered gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond, awakening, hail. The sutra itself calls the perfection of wisdom the great mantra, the unsurpassed mantra, which quiets all suffering.
Avalokiteshvara
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