Table of Contents

Heart Sutra

]] Heart Sutra (Skt. prajñāpāramitā hṛdaya; Tib. ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་, Wyl. shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i snying po), aka The Twenty-Five Verses on the Perfection of Wisdom — the most popular sutra of the prajñaparamita collection and indeed of the mahayana as a whole. Although the sutra primarily consists of a dialogue between Shariputra and the great bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, their words are inspired by the blessings of the Buddha, who remains absorbed in samadhi meditation until the end of the discussion. As with all the prajñaparamita sutras, the teaching took place at Vulture's Peak near Rajagriha.

It was first translated into Tibetan by Vimalamitra and Rinchen Dé. The translation was later revised by Gewé Lodrö, Namkha and others.

In the various commentaries, there are different explanations as to how the sutra can be related to the five paths.

Translation by the Buddhist Text Translation Society

The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra

Translated by Tang Dharma Master of the Tripitaka Hsüan-Tsang on imperial command.

When Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva was practicing the profound prajna paramita, he illuminated the five skandhas and saw that they are all empty, and he crossed beyond all suffering and difficulty.

Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness; emptiness does not differ from form. Form itself is emptiness; emptiness itself is form. So, too, are feeling, cognition, formation, and consciousness.
Shariputra, all dharmas are empty of characteristics. They are not produced. Not destroyed, not defiled, not pure, and they neither increase nor diminish. Therefore, in emptiness there is no form, feeling, cognition, formation, or consciousness; no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind; no sights, sounds, smells, tastes, objects of touch, or dharmas; no field of the eyes, up to and including no field of mind-consciousness; and no ignorance or ending of ignorance, up to and including no old age and death or ending of old age and death. There is no suffering, no accumulating, no extinction, no way, and no understanding and no attaining.

Because nothing is attained, the Bodhisattva, through reliance on prajna paramita, is unimpeded in his mind. Because there is no impediment, he is not afraid, and he leaves distorted dream-thinking far behind. Ultimately Nirvana!

All Buddhas of the three periods of time attain Anuttarasamyaksambodhi through reliance on prajna paramita. Therefore, know that prajna paramita is a great spiritual mantra, a great bright mantra, a supreme mantra, an unequalled mantra. It can remove all suffering; it is genuine and not false. That is why the mantra of prajna paramita was spoken. Recite it like this:

Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha!

Fair Use Source: http://cttbusa.org/heartsutra/heartsutra.htm

Mantra

The sutra includes the mantra tadyatha om gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha (tadyathā oṃ gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā). Atisha explained that the mantra encapsulates the entire teaching of the Heart Sutra for the benefit of those of the sharpest faculties.<ref>Lopez (1996), p.170</ref>

Dokpa

The Heart Sutra is often recited together with a supplemental section for dokpa, the practice of averting harm and negativity. The text of the dokpa section refers to an incident recounted in the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra in Eight Thousand Lines and Perfection of Wisdom Sutra in Eighteen Thousand Lines, when the god Indra turned away Mara and his forces, who were approaching the Buddha, by contemplating and reciting the Prajnaparamita.<ref>Lopez (1996) pp.223-4</ref>

Commentaries

Indian

Tibetan

:

English

Translations

Famous Quotations

<noinclude>==རྒྱལ་བའི་བཀའ། The Word of the Buddha==</noinclude>

Form is emptiness; emptiness also is form.<br /> Emptiness is no other than form,<br /> Form is no other than emptiness.<br /> :::Śākyamuni, Heart Sūtra

<noinclude>QuotationsSutra Quotations</noinclude>

Notes

<small><references/></small>

Teachings on the Heart Sutra Given to the [[About Rigpa|Rigpa]] Sangha

Further Reading

Texts Sutras Prajnaparamita