The Sūtra on Delivering the Heart of Transcendental Discernment
Prajñā Pāramitā Hṛdaya Sūtra (________)
Attributed to Fǎchéng (__) from a Tibetan version, Taishō No. 255
Like this I have heard:
At one time the Blessed One was on Vulture’s Peak by the great City of the Royal
House with a host of monks and great bodhisattvas, when he (suddenly) entered into
a great resolve of meditation that was a very deep illumination endowed with many
different gateways into the transcendental nature of life’s purpose (dharma
paryaya, __).
At the same time, in the course of practicing the deep deliverance of
transcendental discernment, the great Bodhisattva ‘Master of Beholding the Cries of
this World’ illuminated the five projections of life’s purpose and saw that they
were empty of any existential nature.
There was also a monk named Śāriputra blessed with a long life in the community
here who, touched by the awesome power of the Buddha’s grace, spoke to this noble
bodhisattva, saying:
“When virtuous sons aspire to cultivate the very deep practice of delivering
transcendental
discernment, how should they do so?”
Having spoken like this, the great Bodhisattva ‘Master of Beholding the Cries of
this World’
answered, saying:
“Śāriputra, when virtuous sons and daughters aspire to cultivate the very deep
practice of
delivering transcendental discernment, they should meditate on the five
projections of
life’s purpose and observe that they are empty of any existential nature.
* With there being form, so there is emptiness.
* With there being emptiness, so there is form.
* Form is inseparable from emptiness and emptiness is inseparable from form.
* Like this, in emotional feeling, mental association, motive force and
consciousness,
everywhere there is also the nature of emptiness.
Because of this Śāriputra, in being endowed with the nature of emptiness, all
purposes are
devoid of any characteristics.
* They are neither arising nor perishing
* They are neither afflicted nor pure, and
* They are neither increasing nor decreasing.
Śāriputra! Because of this, when there is the nature of emptiness:
* There is no existence of physical form, and there is no existence of
emotional feeling,
mental association, motive force or consciousness.
* There is no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body or calculating mind.
* There is no visible form, audible sound, fragrance, flavor, contact or
mental purpose.
* There is no vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch or distinction of a
mental object.
* There is no ignorance and no ending of ignorance, and ultimately there is
no old age
& death and no ending of old age & death.
* There is no suffering, no origination of suffering, no transcendence of
suffering and no
noble path.
There is no knowledge of emptiness and there is no attainment of emptiness.
Śāriputra!
* Because there is nothing more to be attained, upon becoming devoted to the
deliverance of transcendental discernment, the minds of those awakened to
a higher
sense of purpose have no obstacles that prevent them from penetrating the
nature of
emptiness.
* Because they are not obstructed from it, they are without any fear, they
completely
overcome the delusions of the imagination and they are endowed with the
ultimate
spiritual freedom.
* Because the enlightened beings of the past, present and future are
completely
devoted to the deliverance of transcendental discernment, they are
awakened to
the supremely perfect universal enlightenment and the descent of the
Buddhas into this world.
Śāriputra!
* Because they understand the deliverance of transcendental discernment
there is:
The invocation that is great in spirit,
The invocation that is great in illumination,
The invocation that is most distinguished,
The invocation that is without any equal.
* Because it eliminates all suffering and it is absolutely real without any
falsehood,
they summon this secret invocation that delivers transcendental
discernment, saying:
"GA-TE GA-TE, PĀ-RA-GA-TE, PĀ-RA-SAṂ-GA-TE, BO-DHI, SVĀ-HĀ!"
"Gone, gone, gone to the other shore, all gone to the other shore.
Enlightenment, let it be!"
Śāriputra! This is the way that the great bodhisattvas cultivate the very deep
practice of
delivering transcendental discernment.”
The Blessed One then arose in a state of bliss from his resolve of meditation and
praised the
Bodhisattva ‘Master of Beholding the Cries of This World’, saying:
“Very good, very good, virtuous one. It is just as you have said! The very deep
deliverance
of transcendental discernment should be practiced like this. When it is, all
the enlightened
beings that have descended into this world (sarva tathāgataḥ, 切如) will
rejoice
accordingly.”
When the Blessed One had spoken like this, Śāriputra, the noble Bodhisattva ‘Master
of
Beholding the Cries of This World’ and all the others in the assembly including all
the gods in
heaven, the people of humanity, the giants of ego, the musical spirits of the air
and the rest all
heard the Buddha, rejoiced greatly, faithfully accepted the teaching and put it
into practice.
(Johnson, Peter Lunde: Delivering the Heart of Transcendental Discernment - An
Explanation of The Heart Sūtra - Prajñā Pāramitā Hṛdaya Sūtra, An Lạc Publications,
2020)
