Heart Sutra

Heart Sutra
Maha-Prajna-Paramita-Hridaya Sutra
Prajnaparamita-Hrdaya Sutra


When Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva was practicing the profound Prajna Paramita, he investigated and perceived the five Skandhas and saw that they were all non-existent, thus securing his deliverance from 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, mental function and consciousness in relation to emptiness.
Shariputra, all dharmas are empty of characteristics. They are not created, not annihilated, not impure, not pure, and they neither increase nor decrease. Therefore, in emptiness there is no form, feeling, cognition, mental function, or consciousness; no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind; no sights, sounds, smells, taste, touch, and ideas; 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 are no Four Noble Truths, no wisdom and no gain.
Because nothing is gained, the Bodhisattva, through reliance on Prajna Paramita, has no hindrances in his heart. Because there is no hindrance, he is not afraid, is free from contrary and delusive ideas and attain the Final Nirvana.
All Buddhas of the past, present and future attain enlightenment 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!