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The Heart Sutra
Thus have I heard. At one time the Blessed One was dwelling at Vulture Peak Mountain, together with a great gathering of monks, nuns, and bodhisattvas. At that time the Blessed One entered into the Samadhi on the enumeration of phenomena called “Appearance of the Profound.”
At the same time the noble Avalokiteshvara, the Great Being, was engaging in the practice of the profound Perfection of Wisdom and clearly saw the 5 skandhas to be empty of any essential nature.
Then, by the inspiration of the Buddha, venerable Shariputra said to noble Avalokiteshvara,
“Wishing to practice the profound Perfection of Wisdom, how should a son or daughter of good lineage train?”
The noble Avalokiteshvara replied to venerable Shariputra “O Shariputra, a son or daughter of good lineage, who wishes to practice the profound Perfection of Wisdom should discern in this way: view the 5 skandhas to be empty of essential nature. Appearance is emptiness and emptiness is appearance. Appearance is not other than emptiness, emptiness is not other than appearance. Whatever is appearance, that is emptiness. Whatever is emptiness, that is appearance. In the same way feeling, recognition, karmic formations, and consciousness are emptiness.
Here, O Shariputra, all dharmas are marked with emptiness. They have no characteristics. There is no arising and no cessation. There is no purity and no impurity. There is no increase and no decrease.
Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness there is no appearance, no feeling, no perception, no karmic formation, no consciousness; no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind; no appearance, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no phenomena. There is no eye element up to no mind element, and so on, up to no mind-consciousness element.
There is no ignorance and no extinction of ignorance up to no aging and death and no extinction of aging and death. There is no suffering, no cause of suffering, no cessation of suffering and no path. No wisdom, no attainment, and no non-attainment.
Therefore, Shariputra, because the Bodhisattvas have no attainment, they rely on the Perfection of Wisdom. Since there is no obscuration of mind, there is no fear.
They transcend all error and attain complete Nirvana, passing beyond the bounds of sorrow.
All the Buddhas of the three times, by means of Perfect Wisdom, have fully awakened to the utmost true and complete Enlightenment.
Therefore the mantra of the Perfection of Wisdom is the great mantra, the mantra of great knowledge, the unsurpassed mantra, the mantra equal to the unequaled, the mantra that thoroughly pacifies all suffering. It is true because it is not false. The mantra of the Perfection of Wisdom is said in this way:
Om Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha
(Om, Gone, Gone, Gone Beyond, Gone Totally Beyond, Awakening, So Be It)
Then the Blessed One arose from that Samadhi and commended noble Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva, the Great Being: “Well done O son of good lineage, thus it is. One should practice the profound Perfection of Wisdom just as you have taught and all the Tathagatas will rejoice.
After the Blessed One thus spoke, venerable Shariputra, noble Avalokiteshvara, and the world with its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas rejoiced and praised the words of the Blessed One.
(Prepared for Nalanda Institute Olympia by Bob Harris)