The Heart Sutra
Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, meditating deeply on Perfection
of Wisdom, saw clearly that the five aspects of human existence are empty*, and
so released himself from suffering. Answering the monk Sariputra, he said this:
Body is nothing
more than emptiness,
emptiness is nothing more than body.
The body is
exactly empty,
and emptiness is exactly body.
The other four aspects
of human existence --
feeling, thought, will, and consciousness --
are
likewise nothing more than emptiness,
and emptiness nothing more than they.
All things are empty:
Nothing is born, nothing dies,
nothing is pure, nothing is stained,
nothing increases and nothing decreases.
So,
in emptiness, there is no body,
no feeling, no thought,
no will, no
consciousness.
There are no eyes, no ears,
no nose, no tongue,
no body, no mind.
There is no seeing, no hearing,
no smelling, no tasting,
no touching, no imagining.
There is nothing seen, nor heard,
nor
smelled, nor tasted,
nor touched, nor imagined.
There
is no ignorance,
and no end to ignorance.
There is no old age and death,
and no end to old age and death.
There is no suffering, no cause of
suffering,
no end to suffering, no path to follow.
There is no attainment
of wisdom,
and no wisdom to attain.
The
Bodhisattvas rely on the Perfection of Wisdom,
and so with no delusions,
they feel no fear,
and have Nirvana here and now.
All
the Buddhas,
past, present, and future,
rely on the Perfection of Wisdom,
and live in full enlightenment.
The
Perfection of Wisdom is the greatest mantra.
It is the clearest mantra,
the highest mantra,
the mantra that removes all suffering.
This
is truth that cannot be doubted.
Say it so:
Gaté,
gaté,
paragaté,
parasamgaté.
Bodhi!
Svaha!
Which means...
Gone,
gone,
gone over,
gone fully
over.
Awakened!
So be it!
