"The Heart Sutra" (RAP version)

The Heart Sutra [Mantra] by MC Yogi (feat. 10,000 Buddhas) is closer to an actual RAP song

"Heart Sutra - Rap" by Chogyal Rinpoche

Avalokita [Kwan Yin] hears the cries of the world

(Chogyal Rinpoche) 🇬🇧 This rap was composed with the intention of making the daily recitation of the sacred Heart Sutra easily accessible to young people. May it be of benefit. [Don't show it to your grandmother or her head may explode.]

ma sam jö mé sherab parol chin

makyé mingak namkhé ngowo nyi

soso rangrig yeshe chöyulwa

dü sum gyalwé yum la chaktsal lo

• VIDEO: The Mexican Buddhist Cholos of Thailand (AFP)

diké dak gi töpa dü chik na

chomdendé gyalpö khab jagö pungpö ri la gelong gi gendün chenpo dang

changchub sempé gendün chenpo dang tab chik tu zhuk té

dé tsé chomdendé zabmo nangwa zhejawa chö kyi namdrang kyi ting ngé dzin la nyompar zhuk so

yang dé tsé changchub sempa sempa chenpo pakpa chenrezik wangchuk sherab kyi parol tu chinpa zabmo chöpa nyi la nampar ta zhing

pungpo ngapo dedak la yang rangzhin gyi tongpar nampar ta o

dené sangye kyi tü

tsé dang denpa sharibü changchub sempa sempa chenpo pakpa chenrezik wangchuk la diké ché mé so

rik kyi bu gang lala sherab kyi parol tu chinpa zabmo chöpa chepar döpa dé jitar labpar ja

deké ché mepa dang | changchub sempa sempa chenpo pakpa chenrezik wangchuk gi tsé dang denpa shara datibu la diké ché mé so

Wait, wait! Shouldn't we decide if we're East Coast or West Coast first? (sanghabuild.org)

.

teyata | om gaté gaté para gaté | para samgaté | bodhi soha

sharibu rik kyi bu am rik kyi bumo gang lala sherab kyi parol tu chinpa zabmo chöpa chepar döpa dé ditar nampar tawar ja té

pungpo ngapo dedak kyang rangzhin gyi tongpar nampar yangdakpar jesu ta o

zuk tongpa o | tongpanyi kyang zuk so

zuk lé tongpanyi zhen mayin no

tongpanyi lé kyang zuk zhen mayin no

dezhindu tsorwa dang | dushé dang

dujé dang | nampar shepa nam tongpa o

sharibu detawé na chö tamché tongpanyi dé

tsennyi mepa | makyepa | magakpa

drima mepa | drima dang dralwa mepa

driwa mepa | gangwa mepa o

sharibu detawé na tongpanyi la zukmé

tsorwa mé | dushé mé | dujé nam mé | nampar shepa mé

mik mé | nawa mé | na mé | che mé | lü mé | yi mé

zuk mé | dra mé | dri mé | ro mé | rekja mé | chö mé do

mik gi kham mepa né yi kyi kham mé

yi kyi nampar shepé kham kyi bardu yang mé do

marikpa mé | marikpa zepa mepa né gashi mé

gashi zepé bardu yang mé do

dukngalwa dang | künjungwa dang

gokpa dang | lam mé | yeshe mé | tobpa mé

matobpa yang mé do

teyata | om gaté gaté para gaté | para samgaté | bodhi soha

sharibu detawé na changchub sempa nam tobpa mepé chir

sherab kyi parol tu chinpa la ten ching né té

sem la dribpa mepé trakpa mé dé

chin chi lok lé shintu dé né nya ngen lé depé tarchin to

dü sum du nampar zhukpé sangye tamché kyang sherab kyi parol tu chinpa la ten né

lana mepa yangdakpar dzokpé changchub tu ngönpar dzokpar sangye so

detawé na sherab kyi parol tu chinpé ngak

rigpa chenpö ngak | lana mepé ngak

minyampa dang nyampé ngak | dukngal tamché rabtu zhiwar jepé ngak

midzünpé na denpar shepar ja té

sherab kyi parol tu chinpé ngak mepa

teyata | om gaté gaté para gaté | para samgaté | bodhi soha

• Tibetan and English translation of the Heart Sutra: lotsawahouse.org/words-of...

THE HEART SUTRA (English)

Standard English translation (by the great Edward Conze) with minor edits by Wisdom Quarterly (The Heart Sutra | Buddhist Traditions | Amherst College)

Om! Homage to the Perfection of Wisdom, the Lovely, the Holy!

Avalokita, the Holy Lord and Bodhisattva, was moving in the deep course of the Wisdom which has gone beyond.

He looked down from on high, beheld but five heaps, and saw that in their own-being they were empty.

Here, O Sariputra,

form is emptiness, and the very emptiness is form;

Emptiness does not differ from form, and form does not differ from emptiness; whatever is emptiness, that is form.

The same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses, and consciousness.

Here, O Sariputra,

all dharmas [phenomena] are marked with emptiness;

They are neither produced nor stopped, neither defiled nor immaculate, neither deficient nor complete.

Therefore, O Sariputra,

in emptiness there is no form nor feeling, nor perception, nor impulse, nor consciousness;

[There is] no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; no forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touchables [tangibles], or objects of mind; no sight-organ element, and so forth, until we come to:

[There is] no mind-consciousness element; there is no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance, and so forth, until we come to: there is no decay and death, no extinction of decay and death. There is no suffering, no origination, no stopping, no path.

There is no cognition, no attainment, and no non-attainment.

Therefore, O Sariputra,

it is because of one's non-attainmentness that a bodhisattva, through having relied on the Perfection of Wisdom, dwells without thought-coverings. In the absence of thought-coverings one has not been made to tremble.

One has overcome what can upset, and in the end one attains to Nirvana.

All those who appear as buddhas in the three periods of time [past, present, future] fully awake to the utmost, right and perfect Enlightenment because they have relied on the Perfection of Wisdom.

Therefore one should know the prajna-paramita as the great spell [mantra], the spell of great knowledge, the utmost spell, the unequalled spell, allayer of all suffering, in truth -- for what could go wrong? By the prajnaparamita has this spell been delivered. It runs like this:

gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha.

(Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond, O what an awakening, all-hail!)

This completes the Heart of perfect Wisdom.

What's rap if not bad lyrics 'n a good beat?

Wisdom Quarterly COMMENTARY

Grandmaster Flash on "The Message"

Greatest rapper of a generation Justin "Elvis" Biel?

Get Out The Way: "Move B**h" (Ludacris)

It's a beautiful sentiment to present this timeless classic of the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajna Paramita) literature to youth in an idiom they might appreciate and listen to more than grandmotherly droning and chanting in a temple setting. But it does bring up one minor problematic question: What is rap? Is it like poetry in that anything is if it says it is? The phonebook well-read can be [made to be] "poetic." So drop a beat behind it and any ol' grouping of words is "rapping"? May be. We can ask Weird Al or Justin Timberlake. But it seems to us that real rapping, which is why the young at heart like and relate to it so much, is its brutal honesty, simplicity, and funky @$$ beat.

The uncensored (explicit) version just has more umph and gusto.

It's the beat, the beat, the beat propelled by a propulsive lyrical accompaniment consistent with the feel or underlying sentiment of the genre. One has to wonder if N.W.A would have had as much success -- with the exact same musical elements -- if their lyrical content and message were "Officers Is Nice" instead of "F*** the Police." Similarly, what is arguably the greatest rap song ever [if such a thing were possible to accurately determine] might not really be with weaker lyrics. In the case of Ludacris' "Excuse Me, Miss, If I May Just Get Through," or as it is known on internet radio "Move B*tch," where "bitch" refers, of course, to a pregnant dog driving in front of him and his featured artists. Ergo, if we're going to really have a Heart Sutra Rap, methinks we need to get real, gritty, and street, not simply rely on poetic feet.

• When is music Cultural Appropriation: Elvis Presley vs. The Beatles

The corrosive effects of listening to rap music on violent office workers

• MC Yogi, "Heart Sutra [Mantra] Rap," 2023; Chogyal Rinpoche, Sept. 18, 2022; Edward Conze (trans.), "The Heart Sutra"; Office Space (Mike Judge); Grandmaster Flash; Weird Al Yankovic, "White & Nerdy"; Ludacris, "Move B*tch"; Dhr. Seven, Seth Auberon, Amber Larson, Brother Jason (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly