The Sūtra of the Heart of Transcendent Wisdom

Translation of བཅམ་ལྡན་འདས་མ་ཤས་རབ་ཀྱ་ཕ་རལ་ཏ་ཕྱན་པའ་སྙང་པ (བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་མ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་སྙིང་པོ)

Language: English
Date: 2019 CE
Translator: Adam Pearcey
Extent: 98 passages, 876 words
Text: complete digital text
Source: lotsawahouse · Adam Pearcey (tr.), The Sūtra of the Heart of Transcendent Wisdom, Lotsawa House (version 1.1-20240923) · CC BY-NC 4.0 (Lotsawa House); shown with attribution on a non-commercial site

Text

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Beyond words, beyond thought, beyond description, Prajñāpāramitā

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Unborn, unceasing, the very essence of space

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Yet it can be experienced as the wisdom of our own rigpa:

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Homage to the mother of the buddhas of past, present and future!

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Chomden dema sherab kyi parol tu chinpé nyingpo

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In the English language: The Blessed Mother, the Heart of the Transcendent Perfection of Wisdom

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At one time the Blessed One was dwelling in Rājgṛha at Vulture Peak mountain, together with a great community of

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monks and a great community of bodhisattvas.

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At that time, the Blessed One entered an absorption on categories of phenomena called ‘perception of the profound’.

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At the same time, noble Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva and great being, beheld the practice of the profound perfection of wisdom,

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And saw that the five aggregates are empty of nature.

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Venerable Śāriputra said to noble Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva and great being:

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“How should a child of noble family who wishes to practise the profound perfection of wisdom train?”

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This is what he said, and the noble Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva and great being, replied to venerable Śāriputra as follows:

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“O Śāriputra, a son of noble family or daughter of noble family who wishes to practise the profound perfection of wisdom should regard things in this way:

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They should see the five aggregates to be empty of nature.

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In the same way, sensation, recognition,

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Conditioning factors and consciousness are emptiness.

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Therefore, Śāriputra, all dharmas are emptiness.

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They are without characteristics; they are unarisen and unceasing;

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They are not deficient and not complete.

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Therefore, Śāriputra, in emptiness, there is no form,

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No sensation, no recognition, no conditioning factors, no consciousness;

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No eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind;

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No visible form, no sound, no odour, no taste, no texture, and no mental objects;

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There is no eye element up to no mind element;

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And as far as no mental consciousness element;

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There is no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance up to no old age and death,

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No cessation, no path, no wisdom, no attainment,

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Therefore, Śāriputra, since bodhisattvas have no attainment,

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They rely on and abide by the perfection of wisdom.

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Since their minds are unobscured, they have no fear.

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They completely transcend error and reach the ultimate nirvāṇa.

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All the buddhas throughout the three times

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Fully awaken to unsurpassable, true, complete enlightenment by means of the perfection of wisdom.

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Therefore, the mantra of the perfection of wisdom—

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The mantra of great insight, the unsurpassed mantra,

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The mantra that equals the unequalled, the mantra that pacifies all suffering—

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Is not false and should be understood as true.

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The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is proclaimed as follows:

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tadyathā | oṃ gate gate pāragate | pārasaṃgate | bodhi svāhā

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Śāriputra, a bodhisattva and great being should train in the profound perfection of wisdom in this way.”

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Thereupon, the Blessed One arose from that absorption

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And commended Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva and great being:

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“Excellent, excellent, O son of noble family, that is how it is. That is just how it is.

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One should practise the profound perfection of wisdom just as you have taught

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And then even the tathāgatas will rejoice.”

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Noble Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva and great being,

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Together with the whole assembly and the world of gods, human beings,

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Asuras and gandharvas rejoiced and praised

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Thus concludes the Mahāyāna Sūtra of the Blessed Mother, the Heart of the Transcendent Perfection of Wisdom.

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Homage to the Great Mother, Prajñāpāramitā!

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Through the power and strength of paying homage to you,

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Just as, long ago, the king of the gods Indra, by the power and strength of contemplating the profound meaning of the perfection of wisdom, the Great Mother, and reciting its words,

Was able to avert the demonic forces of negativity, so in the very same way, may we too, through the power and strength of contemplating the profound meaning of the Perfection of Wisdom, the Great Mother, and reciting its words,