The Heart Stra (Sanskrit: Prajpramit Hdaya) is a famous stra in Ma aya literally means "The Heart of the Perfection

of Transcendent Wisdom". The He art Stra is often cited as the best-known [1] and most popular Buddhist scripture of all.[2][3] Contents 1 Introduction 2 Origin and early translations 2.1 Critical Editions 2.2 Nattier hypothesis 2.3 Title 3 Text 4 Mantra 4.1 Chinese exegesis 4.2 Tibetan exegesis 4.3 Translation 5 Recordings 6 Popular culture 7 Western philosophy 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links 12.1 Translations 12.2 Discourses Introduction The Heart Stra, belonging to the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajpramit) category of Mahyna uddhism literature along with the Diamond Stra, is perhaps the most prominent rep resentative of the genre. The Heart Stra is made up of 14 shlokas in Sanskrit, with each shloka containing 32 syllables. In the standard Chinese translation by Xuanzang, it has 260 Chines e characters. In English it is composed of sixteen sentences.[4] This makes it t he shortest text in the Perfection of Wisdom genre, which contains scriptures in lengths up to 100,000 shlokas. According to Buddhist scholar and author Geshe K elsang Gyatso in his commentary to the Heart Stra: The Essence of Wisdom Sutra (Heart Stra) is much shorter than the other Perfe ction of Wisdom stras but it contains explicitly or implicitly the entire meaning of the longer Sutras.[5] This sutra is classified by Edward Conze as belonging to the third of four perio ds in the development of the Perfection of Wisdom canon, although because it con tains a mantra (sometimes called a dharani), it does overlap with the final, tan tric phase of development according to this scheme, and is included in the tantr a section of at least some editions of the Kangyur.[6] Conze estimates the sutra 's date of origin to be 350 CE; some others consider it to be two centuries olde r than that.[7] Recent scholarship is unable to verify any date earlier than the 7th century CE.[8] The Chinese version is frequently chanted (in the local pronunciation) by the Ch an (Zen/Seon/Thin) school during ceremonies in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam r espectively. It is also significant to the Shingon Buddhist school in Japan, who se founder Kkai wrote a commentary on it, and to the various Tibetan Buddhist sch ools, where it is studied extensively. The stra is in a small class of stras not attributed to the Buddha. In some versio

ns of the text, starting with that of Fayue dating to about 735,[9] the Buddha c onfirms and praises the words of Avalokitevara, although this is not included in the preeminent Chinese version translated by Xuanzang. The Tibetan canon uses th e longer version,[10][11] although Tibetan translations without the framing text have been found at Dunhuang. The Chinese Buddhist canon includes both long and short versions, and both versions exist in Sanskrit.[10] Origin and early translations The earliest extant text of the Heart Sutra is the palm-leaf manuscript found at the Horyuji Temple, and dated to 609 CE. It was one of two texts which formed t he basis for a published edition by Max Mller (1881), and formed the basis of a p ublished edition by Shaku Hannya (1923). (See image top right) However it is imp ortant to note that a comparison of the script with India manuscripts and inscri ptions argues for a date in the 8th century for the Horyuji manuscript.[12] A Chinese text attributed to Xuanzang and dated 649 CE is preserved in the Chine se Tripiaka. Stories exist of earlier translations but are likely to be apocrypha l. In particular Edward Conze acknowledges that the text attributed to Kumarajva is the work of his student. It is not mentioned a biography compiled in 519 CE.[ 13] John McRae and Jan Nattier have argued that this translation was created by someone else, much later, based on Kumarajiva's Large Stra.[14] Zhi Qian's versio n, supposedly composed in 200-250 CE, was lost before the time of Xuanzang, who produced his own version in 649CE, which closely matches the one attributed to K umarajiva.[15] Xuanzang's version is the first record of the title "Heart Stra" ( xn jng) being used for the text,[16] and Fukui Fumimasa has argued that actually mean s dhra scripture.[17][18] According to Huili's biography, Xuanzang learned the sutr a from an inhabitant of Sichuan, and subsequently chanted it during times of dan ger in his journey to the West.[19] Thus the available evidence points towards the Heart Sutra being composed in 6th or 7th century. Critical Editions There have been several critical editions of the Sanskrit text of the Heart Sutr a, but to date the definitive edition is Conze's, originally published in 1948, and then again in 1967. Conze had access to 12 Nepalese manuscripts; seven mss. and inscriptions from China; two mss. from Japan; as well as several translation s from the Chinese Canon and one from the Tibetan.[20] There is a great deal of variation across the manuscripts in the title, the magala verses, and within the text itself. Many of the manuscripts are corrupt or simply carelessly copied. Nattier hypothesis However, based on textual patterns in the Sanskrit and Chinese versions of the H eart Stra and the Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra, scholar Jan Nattier has suggested tha t the earliest (shortest) version of the Heart Stra was probably first composed i n China in the Chinese language from a mixture material derived from the Chinese translation of the Large Perfection of Wisdom Sutra (cf. vol. 1-1, pg 64 of Tak aysu 2007) and new composition, and that this assemblage was later translated in to Sanskrit (or back-translated, in the case of most of the stra). She argues tha t the majority of the text was redacted from a Larger Sutra on the Perfection of Wisdom, which had originated with a Sanskrit Indian original, but that the "fra ming" passages (the introduction and concluding passages) were new compositions in Chinese by a Chinese author, and that the text was intended as a dharani rath er than a stra.[8][21][22] The Chinese version of the core (i.e. the short versio n) of the Heart Stra matches a passage from the Large Sutra almost exactly, chara cter by character; but the corresponding Sanskrit texts, while agreeing in meani ng, differ in virtually every word.[23] Furthermore, Nattier argues that there i s no evidence (such as a commentary) of a Sanskrit version before the 8th centur y CE,[24] and she dates the first evidence (in the form of commentaries by Xuanz ang's disciples Kuiji and Wonch'uk, and Dunhuang manuscripts) of Chinese version

s to the 7th century CE. She considers attributions to earlier problematic". In any case, the corroborating evidence supports at least a century before a Sanskrit version.[25] This theory t amongst some other prominent scholars of Buddhism, but is by lly accepted.[26] Title

dates "extremely a Chinese version has gained suppor no means universa

The Zhi Qian version is titled Po-jo po-lo-mi shen-chou i chuan[27] or Prajnapar amita Dharani;[28] the Kumarajiva version is titled Mo-ho po-jo po-lo-mi shen-ch ou i chuan[27] or Maha Prajnaparamita Mahavidya Dharani. Xuanzang's translation was the first to use Hrdaya ("Heart") in the title.[29] Despite the common name Heart Stra, the word stra is not present in known Sanskrit manuscripts, which refer to it simply as prajpramithdaya.[10] Xuanzang's translation was also the first to call the text a sutra. No extant Sanskrit copies use this word, though it has become standard usage in Chinese and Tibetan, as well as En glish.[30] Some citations of Zhi Qian's and Kumarajiva's versions prepend moho (which would be maha in Sanskrit) to the title. Some Tibetan editions add bhagavat, meaning " Victorious One" or "Conqueror", an epithet of Prajnaparamita as goddess.[31] In the Tibetan text the title is given first in Sanskrit and then in Tibetan: Sanskrit: Bhagavatprajpramithdaya Tibetan:

, Wylie: bcom ldan 'das ma sh

In other languages, the title is frequently called "Heart Sutra" in common-usage : English: Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom Chinese: xn jng ( / ) Japanese: Han-nya Shin-gy ( / ) Korean: Panya Shimgyeong ( ) Text Sanskrit manuscript of the Heart Stra, written in the Siddha script. Bibliothque na tionale de France Various commentators divide this text into different numbers of sections. Briefl y, the sutra describes the experience of liberation of the bodhisattva of compas sion, Avalokitevara, as a result of insight gained while engaged in deep meditati on to awaken the faculty of praja (wisdom). The insight refers to apprehension of the fundamental emptiness of all phenomena, known through and as the five aggre gates of human existence (skandhas): form (rpa), feeling (vedan), volitions (samskr) , perceptions (saj), and consciousness (vijna). The specific sequence of concepts listed in lines 12-20 ("...in emptiness there is no form, no sensation, ... no attainment and no non-attainment") is the same sequence used in the Sarvastivadin Samyukta Agama; this sequence differs in comp arable texts of other sects. On this basis, Red Pine has argued that the Heart St ra is specifically a response to Sarvastivada teachings that, in the sense "phen omena" or its constituents, are real.[32] Lines 12-13 enumerate the five skandha s. Lines 14-15 list the twelve ayatanas or abodes.[33] Line 16 makes a reference to the eighteen dhatus or elements of consciousness, using a conventional short hand of naming only the first (eye) and last (conceptual consciousness) of the e lements.[34] Lines 17-18 assert the emptiness of the Twelve Nidnas, the tradition al twelve links of dependent origination.[35] Line 19 refers to the Four Noble T ruths.

Avalokitevara addresses ariputra, who was, according to the scriptures and texts o f the Sarvastivada and other early Buddhist schools, the promulgator of abhidhar ma, having been singled out by the Buddha to receive those teachings.[36] Avalok itevara famously states that, "Form is empty (nyat). Emptiness is form." and declare s the other skandhas to be equally empty that is dependently originated. Avaloki tevara then goes through some of the most fundamental Buddhist teachings such as the Four Noble Truths and explains that in emptiness none of these notions apply . This is interpreted according to the concept of smaran as saying that teaching s, while accurate descriptions of conventional truth, are mere statements about reality they are not reality itself and that they are therefore not applicable t o the ultimate truth that is by definition beyond our comprehending. Thus the bo dhisattva, as the archetypal Mahyna Buddhist, relies on the perfection of wisdom, defined in the larger Perfection of Wisdom sutra to be the wisdom that perceives reality directly without conceptual attachment. This perfection of wisdom is co ndensed in the mantra with which the sutra concludes. It is unusual for Avalokitevara to be in the central role in a Prajpramit text. Early Prajpramit texts involve Subhuti, who is absent from both versions of the Heart Stra , and the Buddha who is only present in the longer version.[37] This could be co nsidered evidence that the text is Chinese in origin.[8] Mantra Jan Nattier points out in her article on the origins of the Heart Stra that this mantra in several variations is present in the Chinese Tripiaka associated with s everal different Prajpramit texts.[8] The version in the Heart Stra runs: Sanskrit IAST: gate gate pragate prasagate bodhi svh Sanskrit Devangar: Sanskrit IPA: te te pate paste bod s aa This was transliterated by other Mahayana Buddhist traditions in China and Tibet , and then spread to other regions such as Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. Classical transliterations of the mantra include:

Chinese: / Chinese Pinyin: Jid, jid, blu jid, blusng jid, pt suph Vietnamese: Yt , yt , Ba la yt , Ba la tng yt , B tt b ha Japanese: / Korean: (Romanisation: Aje aje bara-aje baraseung-aje moji s Tibetan: Chinese exegesis In the traditions of Chinese Buddhism in East Asia, it is said that the Indian m asters who came to China to translate Sanskrit texts never translated mantras in to Chinese because they knew this could not be done. They also held that it was impossible to explain the esoteric meanings of the mantras in words.[38] It is s aid that when a devotee succeeds in realizing singleness of mind (samdhi) by repe ating a mantra, then its profound meaning will be clearly revealed to him or her .[38] Tibetan exegesis Each Buddhist tradition with an interest in the Heart Stra seems to have its own interpretation of the stra, and therefore of the mantra. As Alex Wayman commented : One feature of these commentaries [in Tibetan] on the Heart Stra struck me qu ite forcibly: each commentary seemed so different to the others, and yet they al l seemed to show in greater or lesser degree the influence of the Mdhyamika schoo l of Buddhist philosophy.[39]

Donald Lopez goes further to suggest: The question still remains of the exact function of the mantra within the su tra, because the sutra provides no such explanation and the sadhanas make only p erfunctory references to the mantra.[40] Tibetan exegesis of the mantra tends to look back on it from a Tantric point of view. For instance seeing it as representing progressive steps along the five pa ths of the Bodhisattva, through the two preparatory stages (the path of accumula tion and preparation gate, gate), through the first part of the first bhumi (pat h of insight pragate), through the second part of the first to the tenth bhumi (p ath of meditation Prasamgate), and to the eleventh bhumi (stage of no more learni ng bodhi svh). As Geshe Kelsang Gyatso explains in The New Heart of Wisdom: This mantra, retained in the original Sanskrit, explains in very condensed f orm the practice of the five Mahayana paths, which we attain and complete in dep endence upon the perfection of wisdom.[41] The current Dalai Lama explains the mantra in a discourse on the Heart Sutra bot h as an instruction for practice and as a device for measuring one's own level o f spiritual attainment, and translates it as go, go, go beyond, go thoroughly be yond, and establish yourself in enlightenment. In the discourse, he gives a simi lar explanation to the four stages (the four go's) as in the previous paragraph. Translation Edward Conze attempted to render the mantra into English as: "gone gone, gone be yond, gone altogether beyond, O what an awakening, all hail!" There are several approaches to translating the mantra, most of which assume that the mantra obeys the rules of Classical Sanskrit. However, the string of words resists analysis and, like most mantras, is not a grammatical sentence. Recordings

The Heart Stra has been set to music a number of times.[42] Many singers solo thi s sutra.[43] The Buddhist Audio Visual Production Centre () produced an album ngs of the Heart Stra in 1995 featuring a number of Hong Kong pop singers, includ ing Alan Tam, Anita Mui and Faye Wong and composer by Andrew Lam Man Chung () to ra ise money to rebuild the Chi Lin Nunnery.[44] Other Hong Kong pop singers, such as the Four Heavenly Kings sang the Heart Stra to raise money for relief efforts related to the 1999 Chichi earthquake.[45] Shaolin Monk Shifu Shi Yan Ming also recites the Sutra at the end of the song "Life Changes" by the Wu-Tang Clan, in remembrance of the deceased member ODB. The outro of the b-side song Ghetto Defe ndant by the British first wave punk band The Clash also features the heart sutr a, recited by American beat poet Allen Ginsberg. A slightly edited version is us ed as the lyrics for Yoshimitsu's theme in the PlayStation 2 game Tekken Tag Tou rnament. An Indian styled version was also created by Bombay Jayashri title name d - Ji Project. Popular culture In the centuries following the historical Xuanzang, an extended tradition of lit erature fictionalizing the life of Xuanzang and glorifying his special relations hip with the Heart Sutra arose, of particular note being the Journey to the West [46] (16th century/Ming dynasty). In chapter nineteen of Journey to the West, th e fictitious Xuanzang learns by heart the Heart Sutra after hearing it recited o ne time by the Crow's Nest Zen Master, who flies down from his tree perch with a scroll containing it, and offers to impart it. A full text of the Heart Sutra i s quoted in this fictional account. The mantra of the Heart Sutra was used as th e lyrics for the opening theme song of the 2011 Chinese television series Journe y to the West. Western philosophy

Schopenhauer, in the final words of his main work, compared his doctrine to the ny at of the Heart Sutra. In Volume 1, 71 of The World as Will and Representation, S chopenhauer wrote: "to those in whom the will [to continue living] has turned and has denied itself, this very real world of ours, with all its suns and Milky Wa ys, is nothing."[47] To this, he appended the following note: "This is also the PrajnaParamita of the Buddhists, the 'beyond all knowledge,' in other words, the point where subject and object no longer exist. (See I. J. Schmidt, 'ber das Maha jana und PradschnaParamita'.)" [48]