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| Avalokitesvara/Kwan Yin |
The "Heart Sutra" is an apocryphal text in the Mahayana Buddhist school often cited as the most popular "sutra" in Buddhism.
It is not actually a sutra nor does it literally call itself one. But, as with many Mahayana texts, it imitates or is written in the form of a
Brahminical-Hindu discourse, purportedly between Kwan Yin (Goddess of Compassion, here still in the earlier form of Lord Avalokiteshvara, a Brahminical deity who looks down and therefore hears the cries of the world) and Ven. Sariputra (the arhat male disciple declared "foremost in wisdom" by the historical Buddha).
Its Sanskrit name is
Prajnaparamita Hridaya or "The Heart of Perfect Wisdom," a reference to the
paramita or "perfection" it is bringing to perfection. The perfection of wisdom is the understanding of the uniquely Buddhist teaching of the "empty" or impersonal nature of all phenomena, particularly the "Five Aggregates or 'Heaps' Clung to as Self" (
pancha-upadanakkhanda). The word "sutra" is not present in any known Sanskrit manuscripts.
Literally, the Sanskrit name can be taken to mean "The Heart of the Perfection of (Transcendent) Wisdom." It is the heart because it is the culmination or abbreviated version, the pith, of a very long work attempting to explain emptiness (selflessness, egolessness, the impersonal nature of phenomena).
The post-historical Buddhist work belongs to the Mahayana "Perfection of Wisdom" (prajna-paramita) literature. In English this short version is composed of just 16 sentences. A much longer version exists. This short version is the core or "heart" of it from the Chinese. FULL STORY:
When? Recent scholarship is unable to verify any date earlier than the 600s CE. Available evidence points toward it being composed in the 500s or 600s.
Where? There are differences of opinion among scholars. The scholar Jan Nattier has suggested that the earliest (shortest) version of the Heart Sutra was first assembled or composed in China in the Chinese language based on a Chinese translation of the Longer Perfection of Wisdom "Sutra" along with the new composition.
Evidence supports a Chinese version at least a century before a Sanskrit version. Nattier's theory is supported by some other prominent scholars of Buddhism but is not universally accepted.
Who? In short, the composition might have been assembled or composed in China. In any case, it is not taken to be the words of Buddha. The more popular Lord
Avalokiteshvara -- who came to refer to the Goddess or
Bodhisattva of Compassion Kwan Yin -- is speaking to the historical Buddha's chief male disciple "foremost in wisdom," who is here a strawman figure relying on head-centered intellect, whereas Avalokita/Kwan Yin uses heart-centered intuition to arrive at the realization of ultimate truth.
Who was
Sariputra? (Born Upatisya/Upatissa, Sanskrit
Shari-putra or Pali
Sari-putta, his common nickname means "Sari's son")? Sariputra was one of the chief disciples of the historical Buddha, of which there were four, two nuns and two monks. He was often praised and co-taught with the Buddha, and he was declared "foremost in wisdom."
Emptiness or Suchness?
What does the text say? The text, which for these reasons, really should not be called a "sutra," describes liberation by meditative insight or "the wisdom that has gone beyond [mere reasoning]."
This insight or
vipasyana (Pali
vipassana) refers to "
emptiness" (
tathātā [roughly "that-like-that," "the thing like that," e.g., that flows
like water, is firm
like the earth],
suchness,
thusness,
anatta, not-self, egolessness, soullessness, corelessness, essencelessness, the
impersonal nature of things all which are
ultimately devoid of self-identity) by a contradiction that is loosely rendered "Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form" ("All is empty, and empty is all").
.
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| Famous Zen American singer Leonard Cohen |
To elaborate, the Buddhist singer and former Zen Buddhist monk Leonard Cohen sang, "There's a crack in everything," so it follows, too, that "there's a crack in the statement that there's a crack in everything." [It's the exception that proves the rule.] Some yet cling to a
doctrine of self (an identity-view, a self-view) and so would say something like, "'All is empty' even this [absolute] statement; therefore, at least one thing is not empty [and that is this eternal Self, this Higher Self, the
Atman (Soul), which is the
witnessing consciousness, which sees no duality, the Brahman of the
Brahmins' lore]."
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| Hinduism: Drop (atman) merges with Brahman |
Emptiness (
sunyata,
anatta) has come to mean "everything" or the "infinite potential" of nothing (no-thing) to become anything and everything. It turns a sad black hole into a hopeful spout at the other end shooting out new universes in the Brahminical-Hindu conception of the universe,
Brahman (above even
Brahma the "Supreme"), the Godhead. Mahayana survived because it came to be very, very Hindu, ignoring what the historical Buddha taught and setting up as many
buddhas as the Vedas and Brahmins had "gods." Medicine Buddha,
Vairocana the "Cosmic" Buddha, the
"Celestial" Buddha Amitabha... Even "the perfection of wisdom" (which used to mean
bringing insight or wisdom to perfection) was anthropomorphized and made the
Goddess Prajnaparamita who is on par, and possibly more beautiful (
see below) than Kwan Yin, the "
Bodhisattva of Compassion."
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| Leonard Cohen as Zen monk, Mt. Baldy |
In light of the foregoing wisdom, know that
Śūnyatā is "emptiness" but only in the sense of selflessness or nonidentity (
not-self). Form is empty, that is to say "devoid of self," and emptiness is form is only emphasizing it, as if to say, "A mirage is unreal, and the unreal is a mirage."
To reason that it means more than this when it is in fact idiomatic will lead to a paradox, when it is precisely the use of a paradox that is trying to prevent the reasoning portion of the mind from stepping in and short circuiting intuition or direct penetration of an ultimate truth. Ultimate truth is, by definition, beyond any such duality or simple linear comprehension. It must be experienced directly not arrived at by reason. If reason could arrive it, it would have arrived at ultimate truth long ago.
What separates ordinary worldlings, however intelligent or wise, from enlightened individuals (of any of the various stages of enlightenment from stream-enterer to arhat) is the realization of this very thing -- not self, emptiness, the impersonal nature of things. It is the key realization that brings about awakening or enlightenment. It is the wisdom that has gone beyond, beyond even beyond.
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| Brahminical deity Avalokiteshvara = Kwan Yin |
Like many Vedantic-Hindu sutras, and this is really what Mahayana is imitating over the historical Buddha's discourses (as preserved in that other Buddhist school known as the Theravada, which is not a Hinayana school because all of those were driven to extinction by the machinations of the Mahayana/Brahminical movements), a text begins with an
Om and ends with a mantra.
So the translator Edward Conze renders the culminating Heart Sutra mantra: "Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond, O what an awakening, all hail!"
Om is a divine sound signifying that a profound truth is about to be uttered, namely this teaching.
The closing is
svaha or "All hail!" which actually means something more like "So it is!" or "Behold!" or "Well said!" or "Hallelujah!" or "So be it! [in the consummation of a spell]" or "Word!" [in the modern colloquial usage of the American urban vernacular].
The
Diamond Sutra, which was also never uttered by the historical Buddha or any of his immediate disciples, belongs to the same class of later Mahayana Buddhist literature.
The Heart Sutra: Three Versions
1. Dr. Moriarty's transliteration
deep perfect wisdom action perform luminously
saw five bundles them own nature empty
? saw oh Sariputra
form emptiness evidently form form not different
emptiness emptiness not different form
this form that emptiness this emptiness that form
like this feeling thought choice consciousness
oh Sariputra all dharmas emptiness
mark not born not pure not increase not decrease?
therefore Sariputra in the middle of emptiness
no form no feeling no thought no choice no consciousness
no eye ear no nose tongue body mind
no form sound smell taste touch dharmas
no eye-area up to no mind-consciousness area
no clarity no clarity no clarity exhaustion no clarity exhaustion
up to old age no old age exhaustion
no suffering end of suffering path
no knowledge no ownership no witnessing no thing to own
therefore bodhisattva perfect wisdom dwells
in dwell thought no obstacle clarity exhaustion not clarity exhaustion
up to old age no old age exhaustion
no suffering end of suffering path
no knowledge no property no witnessing no thing to own
therefore bodhisattva perfect wisdom dwells
in dwell thought no obstacle thought no obstacle
no existence fear fright inverse reverse ? separate
perfectly stands nirvana three worlds thing experiences
all buddhas perfect wisdom dwell
unexcelled ultimate perfect insight together? buddhas
therefore should know ? perfect wisdom great charm great clear charm
unexcelled charm unequalled equal charm
all suffering stop terminate genuine real not vain
perfect wisdom declared charm saying
gone gone totally gone totally completely gone enlightened so be it (gone, gone, gone beyond, gone beyond the beyond, o bodhi hail!)
[Prepared by Dr. Michael E. Moriarty, Communication Arts Dept., Valley City State University, Valley City, North Dakota]
2. Translated by Red Pine
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| Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, Lanka |
Bill Porter uses the pen name of the American author and translator Red Pine. In 2018 he won the American Academy of Arts and Letters Thornton Wilder Prize for translation. For his
Heart Sutra work, he made use of various Sanskrit and Chinese versions, using the teachings of dozens of ancient teachers in his own commentary.
❦
The noble Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva,
while practicing the deep practice of Prajnaparamita,
looked upon the Five Skandhas
and seeing they were empty of self-existence,
said, "Here, Shariputra,
form is emptiness, emptiness is form;
emptiness is not separate from form, form is not separate from emptiness;
whatever is form is emptiness, whatever is emptiness is form.
The same holds for sensation and perception, memory and consciousness.
Here, Shariputra, all dharmas are defined by emptiness
not birth or destruction, purity or defilement, completeness or deficiency.
Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness there is no form,
no sensation, no perception, no memory and no consciousness;
no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body and no mind;
no shape, no sound, no smell, no taste, no feeling and no thought;
no element of perception, from eye to conceptual consciousness;
no causal link, from ignorance to old age and death,
and no end of causal link, from ignorance to old age and death;
no suffering, no source, no relief, no path;
no knowledge, no attainment and no non-attainment.
Therefore, Shariputra, without attainment,
bodhisattvas take refuge in Prajnaparamita
and live without walls of the mind.
Without walls of the mind and thus without fears,
they see through delusions and finally nirvana.
All buddhas past, present, and future
also take refuge in Prajnaparamita
and realize unexcelled, perfect enlightenment.
You should therefore know the great mantra of Prajnaparamita,
the mantra of great magic,
the unexcelled mantra,
the mantra equal to the unequalled,
which heals all suffering and is true, not false,
the mantra in Prajnaparamita spoken thus:
"Gate gate, paragate, parasangate, bodhi svaha."
3. The classic Edward Conze version in Sanskrit and English
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| Perfection of Wisdom as a goddess, East Java (wiki) |
"There have been several critical editions of the Sanskrit text of the Heart Sutra, but to date
the definitive edition is Edward Conze's. It was originally published in 1948 and then again in 1967.
Conze had access to 12 Nepalese manuscripts (mss.), seven mss. and inscriptions from China, two mss. from Japan, as well as several translations from the Chinese canon and one from the Tibetan.
There is a great deal of variation across the manuscripts in the title, the
mangala verses, and within the text itself. Many of the manuscripts are corrupt or simply carelessly copied." [WP, "Heart Sutra"].
The Heart [of Perfect Wisdom] Sutra translated from Sanskrit by Edward Conze
Om namo Bhagavatyai Arya-Prajnaparamitayai!
Homage to the Perfection of Wisdom, the Lovely, the Holy!
Arya-Avalokitesvaro bodhisattvo gambhiram prajnaparamitacaryam caramano vyavalokayati sma: panca-skandhas tams ca svabhavasunyan pasyati sma.
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, He beheld but five heaps, and he saw that in their own-being they were empty.
Iha Sariputra rupam sunyata sunyataiva rupam, rupan na prithak sunyata sunyataya na prithag rupam, yad rupam sa sunyata ya sunyata tad rupam; evam eva vedana-samjna-samskara-vijnanam.
O, Sariputra, form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form; emptiness does not differ from form, form does not differ from emptiness; whatever is form, that is emptiness, whatever is emptiness, that is form, the same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses and consciousness.
Iha Sariputra sarva-dharmah sunyata-laksana, anutpanna aniruddha, amala aviamala, anuna aparipurnah.
O, Sariputra, all dharmas are marked with emptiness; they are not produced or stopped, not defiled or immaculate, not deficient or complete.
Tasmac Chariputra sunyatayam na rupam na vedana na samjna na samskarah na vijnanam. Na caksuh-srotra-ghranajihva-kaya-manamsi. Na rupa-sabda-gandha-rasa-sprastavaya-dharmah. Na caksur-dhatur yavan na manovjnana-dhatuh. Na-avidya na-avidya-ksayo yavan na jara-maranam na jara-marana-ksayo. Na duhkha-samudaya-nirodha-marga. Na jnanam, na praptir na-apraptih.
Therefore, Sariputra, in emptiness there is no form, nor feeling, nor perception, nor impulse, nor consciousness; No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; No forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touchables or objects of mind; No sight-organ element, and so forth, until we come to: 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 non-attainment.
Tasmac Chariputra apraptitvad bodhisattvasya prajnaparamitam asritya viharaty acittavaranah. Cittavarana-nastitvad atrastro viparyasa-atikranto nishtha-nirvana-praptah.
Therefore, Sariputra, it is because of his non-attainmentness that a Bodhisattva, through having relied on the Perfection of Wisdom, dwells without thought-coverings. In the absence of thought-coverings he has not been made to tremble, he has overcome what can upset, and in the end he attains to Nirvana.
Tryadhva-vyavasthitah sarva-buddhah prajnaparamitam-asritya-anuttaram samyaksambodhim abhisambuddhah.
All those who appear as Buddhas in the three periods of time fully awake to the utmost, right and perfect Enlightenment because they have relied on the Perfection of Wisdom.
Tasmaj jnatavyam: prajnaparamita maha-mantro maha-vidya-mantro "nuttara-mantro" samasama-mantrah, sarva-duhkha-prasamanah, satyam amithyatvat. Prajnaparamitayam ukto mantrah. Tadyatha: Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhisvaha. Iti prajnaparamita-hridayam samaptam.
Therefore one should know the prajnaparamita as the great spell, 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:
Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond, O what an awakening, all-hail!
4. Dhr. Seven translation, Sanskrit/English
It is unusual to locate a recording sung by a native Sanskrit speaker from India.
Vidya Rao's rendering is perhaps the only such recording available. This famous Buddhist chant is part of a collection recorded by
Siddhartha's Intent, an organization dedicated to reviving the wisdom traditions of Ancient India.
ཤེས་རབ་་སྙིང་པོ་།
The Heart (of Wisdom) Sutra
प्रज्ञापारमिताहृदयसूत्रम्। [संक्षिप्तमातृका] ॥ नमः सर्वज्ञाय॥ ॥ ऊँ नमो भगवत्यै आर्य-प्रज्ञापारमितायै ॥ आर्यविलोकितेश्वरो बोधिसत्वो गम्भीरां प्रज्ञापारमिता-चर्या चरमाणो व्यवलोकयति स्म-पञ्च स्कन्धाः । तांश्च स्वभाव-शून्यान् पश्यति स्म॥ इह शारिपुत्र रूपं शून्यता, शून्यतैव रूपम्। रूपान्न पृथक् शून्यता, शून्यताया न पृथग् रूपम्। यद्रूपं सा शून्यता, या शून्यता तद्रूपम् । एवमेव वेदना-संज्ञा-संस्कार-विज्ञानं ॥ इहं शारिपुत्र सर्व धर्माः शून्यता, लक्षणा, अनुत्पन्ना, अनिरुद्धा, अमला विमला, अनूना अपरिपूर्णाः। तस्माच्छारिपुत्र शून्यतायां न रूपं, न वेदना, न संज्ञा, न संस्काराः, न विज्ञानं । न चक्षुःश्रोत्र-घ्राण-जिह्वा-काय-मनांसि । न रूप-शब्द-गन्ध-रस-स्प्रष्टव्य:-धर्माः। न चक्षुर्धातुर्यावन्न मनोविज्ञान-धातु न विधा । न अविधा-क्षयो यावन्न जरा मरणं न जरा मरण-क्षयो । न दुःख-समुदय-निरोध मार्गा । न ज्ञानं न प्राप्तिर् न अप्राप्तिः ॥ तस्माच्छारिपुत्र अत्रात्तित्वाद बोधिसत्वस्य प्रज्ञापारमितामाश्रित्य विहरति अचित्तावरणः। चित्तावरण-नास्तित्वाद अत्रस्तो विपर्यासातिक्रान्तो निष्ठ-निर्वाण प्राप्तः। त्रध्व-व्यवस्थितः सर्व-बुद्धाः प्रज्ञापारमितामाश्रित्य अनुत्तरां सम्यक्-संबोधिम् अभिसंबुद्धाः ॥ तस्मात्ज्ञातव्यं प्रज्ञापारमिता महा-मन्त्रोऽमहा-विधा-मन्त्रोऽनुत्तर-मन्त्रोऽसमसम-मन्त्रः, सर्व-दुःख प्रशमनः, सत्यम् अमिथ्यत्वात् । प्रज्ञापारमितायाम् उक्तो मन्त्रः। तधथा -- 'गते गते पारगते पारसंगते बोधि स्वाहा'॥ इति प्रज्ञा पारमिता हृदय सूत्रं समाप्तम्॥
English: Heart Sutra (translation)
.
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| Avalokiteshvara now Kwan Yin |
Om namo Bhagavatyai Arya-Prajnaparamitayai.
Honor to the sublime, noble perfection of wisdom!
Arya-Avalokitesvaro bodhisattvo gambhiram prajnaparamitacaryam caramano vyavalokayati sma: panca-skandhas tams ca svabhavasunyan pasyati sma.
[Compassionate] Avalokitesvara, the noble being-bent-on-perfect-enlightenment, was moving in the deep course of transcendent wisdom which has gone beyond. He looked down from on high and [knowing-and-seeing] beheld nothing more than these Five Aggregates. And he saw that they were empty [=impersonal, devoid of "self," without suchness or intrinsic identity].
Iha Sariputra rupam sunyata sunyataiva rupam, rupan na prithak sunyata sunyataya na prithag rupam, yad rupam sa sunyata ya sunyata tad rupam; evam eva vedana-samjna-samskara-vijnanam.
Here, O [wise] Shariputra, form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form; emptiness does not differ from form, and form does not differ from emptiness. Whatever is form, that is emptiness, and whatever is emptiness, that is form. The same is true of [the other four aggregates:] feelings [sensations], perceptions, mental formations [like volitions], and consciousness.
Iha Sariputra sarva-dharmah sunyata-laksana, anutpanna aniruddha, amala aviamala, anuna aparipurnah.
Here, O Shariputra, all phenomena bear this universal mark of emptiness [shunyata, anatta "not-self"]. They are neither produced nor annihilated, neither defiled nor pure, neither deficient nor complete. [That is to say, there is no duality, no opposites.]
Tasmac Sariputra sunyatayam na rupam na vedana na samjna na samskarah na vijnanam. Na caksuh-srotra-ghranajihva-kaya-manam si. Na rupa-sabda-gandha-rasa-sprastavaya-dharmah. Na caksur-dhatur yavan na manovjnana-dhatuh. Na-avidya na-avidya-ksayo yavan na jara-maranam na jara-marana-ksayo. Na duhkha-samudaya-nirodha-marga. Na jnanam, na praptir, na-apraptih.
Therefore, O Shariputra, in emptiness there is no form, feeling, perception, formation, or consciousness. There is no [contact as a consequence of three things coming together to form what is called] eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind. There are no [external] forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, or objects of mind [in that they are not real and permanent but illusory and transient. There is no [sense-base consisting of] sight-organ element, and so forth...no mind-consciousness element. There is no ignorance, no cessation of ignorance, and so forth... There is no decay and death, no cessation of decay and death. There is no suffering, no origination, no cessation, no path. There is no knowing, no attaining, and no non-attaining.
Tasmac Sariputra apraptitvad bodhisattvasya prajnaparamitam asritya viharaty acittavaranah. Cittavarana-nastitvad atrastro viparyasa-atikranto nishtha-nirvana-praptah.
Therefore, O Sariputra, it is because of his non-attainment-ness that a being-bent-on-perfect-enlightenment, through having relied on the perfection of wisdom [prajna paramita], dwells without thought-coverings. In the absence of thought-coverings one does not tremble, having overcome what can upset, and in the end one abides in nirvana [the unconditioned element, the ultimate reality that is even beyond beyond].
Tryadhva-vyavasthitah sarva-buddhah prajnaparamitam-asritya-anuttaram samyaksambodhim abhisambuddhah.
All those who appear as perfectly-enlightened-beings in the past, present, and future fully awake to the utmost-enlightenment because they have relied on the perfection of wisdom.
Tasmaj jnatavyam: prajnaparamita maha-mantro maha-vidya-mantro nuttara-mantro samasama-mantrah, sarva-duhkha-prasamanah, satyam amithyatvat. Prajnaparamitayam ukto mantrah. Tadyatha:
Therefore, one should know the perfection of wisdom by this great mantra, the mantra of great wisdom, the utmost mantra, the unequalled mantra, the allayer of all suffering, in truth for how else could it be? By the perfection of wisdom is this mantra arrived at thus:
Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha.
Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond,
O what an awakening, so it is!
Iti prajnaparamita-hridayam samaptam.
This completes the heart of perfect wisdom.
Blofeld, John. 1959. The Zen Teaching of Huang Po: On the Transmission of Mind. Being the Teaching of the Zen Master Huang Po as Recorded by the Scholar P'ei Hsi of the T'ang Dynasty. Evergreen ed. New York: Grove Press.
Bokar Rinpoche and Kenpo Donyo. 1994. Profound Wisdom of The Heart Sutra and Other Teachings. English translation by Christiane Buchet of the French translation Profondeur de la Sagesse. San Francisco, CA: ClearPoint Press.
Conze, Edward. 1959. Buddhist Scriptures. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Gombrich, Richard F. 2009. What the Buddha Thought. London: Equinox.
Heng-ching Shih, tr. with Dan Lusthaus. 2001. A Comprehensive Commentary on the Heart Sutra (Prajnaparamita-Hrdaya-Sutra). (Taisho Volume 33, Number 1710). Berkeley, CA: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research.
Lopez Jr., Donald S. 1988. The Heart Sutra Explained: Indian and Tibetan Commentaries. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Nishijima, Gudo Wafo and Cross, Chodo, trs. 1996. Master Dogen's Shobogenzo. Book 2. Windbell Publications. London.
Osborne, Arthur ed. 1971. The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharsi in His Own Words. New ed. London: Rider.
Pine, Red. 2004. The Heart Sutra: The Womb of Buddhas. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint Press.
Waddell, Norman, tr. 2013. Zen Words for the Heart: Hakuin's Commentary on The Heart Sutra. Boston and London: Shambhala.
Pali canon abbreviations
AN -
Anguttara Nikaya (Numerical Discourses Collection)
