Prajnaparamita, or The Heart of Wisdom Sutra
The Blessed Mother, the Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom
In Sanskrit: Bhagavati Prajna Paramita Hridaya
[This is the first segment.]
THUS HAVE I ONCE HEARD:
The Blessed One [Buddha Shakyamuni] was staying in Rajgriha at Vulture Peak along
with a great community of monks and a great community of bodhisattvas, and at that
time, the Blessed One entered the meditative absorption on the varieties of
phenomena called the appearance of the profound. At that time as well, the noble
Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva, the great being, clearly beheld the practice of
the profound perfection of wisdom itself and saw that even the five aggregates are
empty of intrinsic existence.
Thereupon, through the Buddha's inspiration, the venerable Shariputra spoke to the
noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva, the great being, and said, "How should any
noble son or noble daughter who wishes to engage in the practice of the profound
perfection of wisdom train?"
When this had been said, the holy Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva, the great
being, spoke to the venerable Shariputra and said, "Shariputra, any noble son or
noble daughter who so wishes to engage in the practice of the profound perfection
of wisdom should clearly see this way: they should see perfectly that even the five
aggregates are empty of intrinsic existence. Form is emptiness, emptiness is form;
emptiness is not other than form, form too is not other than emptiness. Likewise,
feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness are all empty.
Therefore, Shariputra, all phenomena are emptiness; they are without defining
characteristics; they are not born, they do not cease; they are not defiled, they
are not undefiled; they are not deficient, and they are not complete.
"Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness there is no form, no feelings, no perceptions,
no mental formations, and no consciousness. There is no eye, no ear, no nose, no
tongue, no body, and no mind. There is no form, no sound, no smell, no taste, no
texture, and no mental objects. There is no eye-element and so on up to no mind-
element including up to no element of mental consciousness. There is no ignorance,
there is no extinction of ignorance, and so on up to no aging and death and no
extinction of aging and death. Likewise, there is no suffering, origin, cessation,
or path; there is no wisdom, no attainment, and even no non-attainment.
"Therefore, Shariputra, since bodhisattvas have no attainments, they rely on this
perfection of wisdom and abide in it. Having no obscuration in their minds, they
have no fear, and by going utterly beyond error, they will reach the end of
nirvana. All the buddhas too who abide in the three times attained the full
awakening of unexcelled, perfect enlightenment by relying on this profound
perfection of wisdom.
"Therefore, one should know that the mantra of the perfection of wisdom - the
mantra of great knowledge, the unexcelled mantra, the mantra equal to the
unequalled, the mantra that quells all suffering - is true because it is not
deceptive. The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is proclaimed:
tadyatha gaté gaté paragaté parasamgaté bodhí svaha!
Shariputra, the bodhisattvas, the great beings, should train in the perfection of
wisdom in this way."
Thereupon, the Blessed One arose from that meditative absorption and commended the
holy Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva, the great being, saying this is excellent.
"Excellent! Excellent! O noble child, it is just so; it should be just so. One must
practice the profound perfection of wisdom just as you have revealed. For then even
the tathagatas will rejoice.”
As the Blessed One uttered these words, the venerable Shariputra, the holy
Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva, the great being, along with the entire assembly,
including the worlds of gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas, all rejoiced and
hailed what the Blessed One had said.
(Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama: Essence of the Heart Sutra - The Dalai
Lama’s Heart of Wisdom Teachings, translated and edited by Geshe Thupten Jinpa,
Wisdom Publications, Somerville 2005)
