The Heart of Perfect Wisdom

Thus did I hear at one time.  Buddha was sitting on Vulture Peak with a great assembly of monks and bodhisattvas.  He was absorbed in profound meditation on the diversity of the phenomenal world.  Also at that time, the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara was contemplating the profound perfection of wisdom  He saw that the five aggregates are empty of inherent existence.  Then, by the power of Buddha, the monk Shariputra asked Avalokiteshvara, "If an honorable man wishes to develop the profound perfection of wisdom, what should he practice?"

The bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara answered the monk Shariputra:  "An honorable man or woman who wishes to develop the profound perfection of wisdom should know that the five aggregates are empty of inherent existence.  Form is emptiness; emptiness is form.  Emptiness is not other than form and form is not other than emptiness.  The other aggregates are also empty.  In perfect wisdom, Shariputra, all phenomena are empty--that is to say, they neither arise nor cease, are neither defiled or immaculate, and are neither deficient nor complete.  Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness there is no form, no feeling, no percerption, no mental activity, and no consciousness; in emptiness there is no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, and no mind;  in emptiness there is no form, no sound, no odor, no taste, nothing to touch, nothing to know; there are no sensory faculties; there is no ignorance and no extinction of ignorance--none of the links of cyclic existence, and no extinction of these links, including no aging and death and no extinction of aging and death.  Similarly, there is no suffering, no origins, no cessations, no paths, no wisdom, no attainment and also no non-attainment.

Because bodhisattvas have no attainment, they rest within and depend upon perfect wisdom.  Because their minds are free from the obstructions of conceptual thought, they are fearless.  They are utterly beyond all problems in complete nirvana.  All the buddhas of the past, present, and future have awakened into perfect and complete enlightenment by relying on the perfection of wisdom.

Therefore, the mantra of perfect wisdom is unsurpassed; it is the mantra that relieves all suffering.  It is true, not false. The mantra is:

tadyatha om gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha

[It is thus.  Om.  Go, go, go beyond, go completely beyond:  Enlightenment!]

Shariputra, bodhisattvas should practice perfect wisdom in this way."

Then Buddha arose from his meditation and said to Avalokiteshvara, "Well done, well done, well done.  It is just as you have said.  The profound perfect wisdom should be practiced just as you have taught it.  All the buddhas appreciate this."  At this, the monk Shariputra, the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, and all the rest of the assembly, including gods, demi-gods, humans, and various invisible beings, were filled with admiration and praised the words of Buddha.