Heart Sutra

These are the concluding lines, in Sanskrit, from the Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra (Heart of Perfect Wisdom) , one of the most important texts of Mahayana Buddhism. It extolls the significance of the great Prajnaparamita Mantra:

gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha!

In translation:

Gone, gone to the other shore
All gone to the other shore
Hail Enlightenment!

Hear / download a guide to singing the Prajnaparamita Mantra here.

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Thich Nhat Hanh recommends study and chanting of the Heart Sutra as a means of understanding how everything can be empty of separate self, while at the same time being full of everything else in the cosmos. In this dharma realm, he says, "Birth, death, being and non-being do not truly exist." They are simply notions, he observes, and the practice of the Heart Sutra is the practice of removing all ideas.

"Go, go, go perfectly and completely to build the path for enlightenment."

The exclamation is suffused by joy. "This happiness arises when we become free of incessant worrying and preoccupation, and from the fact that the body and mind are at ease".




This is the Mantra in Japanese, which reads:

gyatei gyatei haragyatei harasôgyatei boji sowaka

Here is a YouTube clip of the Heart Sutra recited by Imee Ooi, in Chinese (Mandarin).



And here is Vidya Rao singing the Prajnaparamita Mantra.