The Heart Sutra is the shortest and most potent of the Buddhist sutras. It details the Absolute perspective particularly identifying and providing examples of Absence/ Emptiness as a function and quality of the Absolute.
Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra
translated by Stephen Mugen Snyder, Roshi
Om excellent Prajna Paramita Om
Great Avalokiteshvara bodhisattva, deeply steeped in and abiding as Prajna Paramita, thoroughly beheld the five skandhas exist as Absence. Turning to Shariputra he said:
“O Shariputra, form is Absence; Absence is form. Form is not different from Absence; Absence is not different from form. This wise perception vanquishes conceptual knowing.
“O Shariputra, this profound realization is unaffected, unobstructed, by all markers of materiality or mentality.
“Therefore, Shariputra, form is Absence, feeling is Absence, perception is Absence, mental impulses are Absence, consciousness itself is Absence.
“No eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, no hearing, no smell, no taste, no touch: all are realized truths.
“No form in hearing, no form in smell, no form in taste, no form in touch, no form in sight, no marker of self, and no delusion: each are a deep truth of Absence until no old age or death and no elimination of old age and death. With nothing to attain, there is no dukkha, no causation, no path, no knowing, no gain, no attainment.
“Therefore, Shariputra, with nothing to attain bodhisattvas abide as Prajna Paramita: resting and releasing in accord with the supreme knowledge of the unmanifest and the manifest as corresponding everlasting in unsurpassed peace.
“In the perfection of time, all Buddhas exude Prajna Paramita in impeccable measure. Skillfully warmhearted, the unmanifest of Absence reveals and liberates any reliance on realization or identity with Awakening.
“In the unchanging three worlds, every Buddha abides as Prajna Paramita, expressing incomparable authentic Awakeness.
“Therefore, be clear that Prajna Paramita is a great mantra, an all-knowing mantra, a protective mantra.
“Therefore, know that the unconditioned Prajna Paramita, the knowing mantra, the protective mantra, is an immaculate mantra that preserves and confirms authentic truth.
“Therefore, repeat with me:
Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi svaha,
Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi svaha,
Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi svaha.”
Commentary:
Prajna paramita [Unconditioned Perfect Wisdom]
Gate (going)
Gate (going)
Parasamgate (thoroughly / completely gone)
Bodhi Svaha (awakening; may it be so)
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Video: Chanting the Heart Sutra
Video: Dharma Talk on the Heart Sutra
