The Sutra of the Heart of Transcendent Knowledge

Thus I have heard. Once the Blessed One was dwelling in Rajagria at Vulture Peak Mountain, together with a great gathering of the sangha of monks and a great gathering of the sangha of bodhisattvas. At that time, the Blessed One entered the Samadhi that expresses the dharma called “profound illumination”, and at the same time noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, while practicing the profound prajnaparamita, saw in this way, he saw the five skandhas to be empty of nature.

Then, through the power of the Buddha, venerable Shariputra said to the noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, “How should a son or daughter of noble family train, who wishes to practice the profound prajnaparamita?”

Addressed in this way, noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, said to venerable Shariputra, “O Shariputra, a son or daughter of noble family who wishes to practice the profound prajnaparamita should see in this way: seeing the five skandhas to be empty of nature. Form is emptiness; emptiness also is form. Emptiness is no other than form; form is no other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness are emptiness. Thus, Shariputra, all dharmas are emptiness. There are no characteristics. There is no birth and no cessation. There is no impurity and no purity. There is no decrease and no increase. Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness there is no form, no feeling, no perception, no 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 dharmas; no eye dhatu, up to no mind dhatu, no dhatu of dharmas, no mind consciousness dhatu; no ignorance, no end of ignorance up to no old age, and death; no end of old age and death; no suffering, no origin of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no path, no wisdom, no attainment, and no non-attainment. Therefore, Shariputra, since the bodhisattvas have no attainment, they abide by means of prajnaparamita. Since there is no obscuration of mind, there is no fear. They transcend falsity and attain complete nirvana. All the Buddhas of the three times, by means of prajnaparamita, fully awaken to unsurpassable, true, complete enlightenment. Therefore, the great mantra of prajnaparamita, the mantra of great insight, the unsurpassed mantra, the unequalled mantra, the mantra that calms all suffering should be know as truth, since there is no deception. The prajnaparamita mantra is said in this way:

TADYATHA OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA

(Gone, gone, gone over, gone fully over. Awakened! So be it!)

Thus Shariputra, the bodhisattva mahasattva should train in the profound prajnaparamita.”

Then the blessed One arose from the samadhi and praised the noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, saying “Good, good, O son of noble family, thus it is, O son of noble family, thus it is. One should practice the profound prajnaparamita just as you have taught and all the tathagatas will rejoice.”

When the blessed One had said this, venerable Shariputra and noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, that whole assembly and the world with its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas rejoiced and praised the words of the Blessed One.

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Lotsawa bhikshu Rinchen De translated this text into Tibetan with the Indian pandita Vimalamitra. It was edited by the great editor–lotsawas Gelo, Namkha, and others. This Tibetan text was copied from the fresco in Gegye Chermaling at the glorious Samye vihara. It has been translated into English by the Nalanda Translation Committee with reference to several Sanskrit editions.


* Dhatu - (Skt., Tib. kham) There are five elements of everything in the world in Buddhism: earth, water, fire, wind, and space (or ether). The internal elements are the same but have a property associated with them so there is: earth (solidity), fluidity (water), fire (heat), wind (movement), and space (the vacuities within the body).

* Emptiness is the usual translation for the Buddhist term Sunyata (or Shunyata). It refers to the fact that no thing -- including human existence -- has ultimate substantiality, which in turn means that no thing is permanent and no thing is totally independent of everything else. In other words, everything in this world is interconnected and in constant flux. A deep appreciation of this idea of emptiness thus saves us from the suffering caused by our egos, our attachments, and our resistance to change and loss.

* Prajnaparamita - the perfection of wisdom. (Tib. sherab chi parol tu chin pa) The Buddhist literature outlining the mahayana path and emptiness written mostly around the second century.

* Skandha - (Tib. pung pa) Literally "heaps." These are the five basic transformations that perceptions undergo when an object is perceived: form, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness. First is form that includes all sounds, smells, etc. everything we usually think of as outside the mind. The second and third are sensations (pleasant and unpleasant, etc.) and identification. Fourth is mental events that actually include the second and third aggregates. The fifth is ordinary consciousness such as the sensory and mental consciousnesses.

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