The Heart Sutra ( prajna-paramita): English translation.

The Heart Sutra is very popular among Buddhists both for its brevity and depth of meaning. With 14  Sanskrit verses ( slokas), it is the most highly abbreviated version of the Perfection of Wisdom (prajna-paramita) texts. Here is its Sanskrit text and the English translation by Edward Conze.

Sunyata is often misunderstood. Someone came to Bodhidharma and said he knows Buddhism. Bodhidharma asks, so what is it. "Sunyata" he answers. Bodhidharma gives him a punch in his face. Then he cries in pain. "If it is all sunyata then why are you crying?"

Our self and senses and opinions are real but they are not really real.

We are not a soul or stardust. We are a river. A flux. No true essence. Just a composite of many things and interrelated with many things. Who we are and what we think and feel is determined by a thousand other things and we think that it is our original true thought. Buddhism is like the deconstruction of the soul concept of the Advaita Vedanta.

A better word for sunyata would be Openness.

Sunyata teaches us to question this formed reality and leads us to a larger avenue of possibilities and only possibilities. Nagarjuna once said, "To whom sunyata can occur. Everything is possible." You can laugh at your pain and let go of anything. Even search for knowledge and Buddhahood.

At the core is the Brahma viharas' way of living, the om mani padme om way of living. It's the mantra: "May I be happy, kind, do good karma, and live in tranquility and equanimity."

It's our solo journey, but at the end of the day, what we will regret is not being happier and more kind.

I am telling these things about compassion in this sutra of wisdom because compassion is the biggest wisdom and this sutra of greatest wisdom comes from the bodhisattva avalokiteswora, the embodiment of compassion.

The text of the sutra was said to be revealed to Nagarjuna by a dragon king. It was small in the beginning and got bigger and bigger with time and later got shortened and shortened. The shortest one consists of a syllabus "A", meaning anti-. Anti of the formed concepts. Anti of the whole karma and desires. The extinction of which alone is Nirbanna.

Arya-Avalokitesvaro bodhisattvo gambhiram prajnaparamitacaryam caramano vyavalokayati sma: panca-skandhas tams ca svabhavasunyan pasyati sma.

Avalokita, the Holy Lord and Bodhisattva, was moving in the deep course of the Wisdom which has gone beyond. He looked down from on high, He beheld but five heaps, and He saw that in their own-being they were empty.

Iha Sariputra rupam sunyata sunyataiva rupam, rupan na prithak sunyata sunyataya na prithag rupam, yad rupam sa sunyata ya sunyata tad rupam; evam eva vedana-samjna-samskara-vijnanam.

Here, O Sariputra, form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form ; emptiness does not differ from form, form does not differ from emptiness, whatever is emptiness, that is form, the same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses, and consciousness.

Iha Sariputra sarva-dharmah sunyata-laksana, anutpanna aniruddha, amala aviamala, anuna aparipurnah.

Here, O Sariputra, all dharmas are marked with emptiness ; they are not produced or stopped, not defiled or immaculate, not deficient or complete.

Tasmac Sariputra sunyatayam na rupam na vedana na samjna na samskarah na vijnanam. Na caksuh-srotra-ghranajihva-kaya-manamsi. Na rupa-sabda-gandha-rasa-sprastavaya-dharmah. Na caksur-dhatur yavan na manovjnana-dhatuh. Na-avidya na-avidya-ksayo yavan na jara-maranam na jara-marana-ksayo. Na duhkha-samudaya-nirodha-marga. Na jnanam, na praptir na-apraptih.

Therefore, O Sariputra, in emptiness there is no form nor feeling, nor perception, nor impulse, nor consciousness ; No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind ; No forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touchables or objects of mind ; No sight-organ element, and so forth, until we come to: No mind-consciousness element ; There is no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance, and so forth, until we come to : There is no decay and death, no extinction of decay and death. There is no suffering, no origination, no stopping, no path. There is no cognition, no attainment and no non-attainment.

Tasmac Sariputra apraptitvad bodhisattvasya prajnaparamitam asritya viharaty acittavaranah. Cittavarana-nastitvad atrastro viparyasa-atikranto nishtha-nirvana-praptah.

Therefore, O Sariputra, it is because of his non-attainmentness that a Bodhisattva, through having relied on the Perfection of Wisdom, dwells without thought-coverings. In the absence of thought-coverings he has not been made to tremble,he has overcome what can upset, and in the end he attains to Nirvana.

Tryadhva-vyavasthitah sarva-buddhah prajnaparamitam-asritya-anuttaram samyaksambodhim abhisambuddhah

All those who appear as Buddhas in the three periods of time fully awake to the utmost, right and perfect Enlightenment because they have relied on the Perfection of Wisdom. 

Tasmaj jnatavyam : prajnaparamita maha-mantro maha-vidya-mantro 'nuttara-mantro' samasamamantrah, sarva-duhkha-prasamanah, satyam amithyatvat. Prajnaparamitayam ukto mantrah. Tadyatha : Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhisvaha. Iti prajnaparamita-hridayam samaptam.

Therefore one should know the prajnaparamita as the great spell, the spell of great knowledge, the utmost spell, the unequalled spell, allayer of all suffering, in truth -- for what could go wrong ? By the prajnaparamita has this spell been delivered. It runs like this :

gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha.

गते गते पार गते पारसं गते बोधि स्वाहा !

( Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond, O what an awakening, all-hail ! -- )

This completes the Heart of perfect Wisdom.

The youtube link to the mantra is https://youtu.be/BOK8f7ZymDI?si=vV7i7PtKVcTiJuRd

https://youtu.be/TsAl22OT-W0?si=rT9BKx-PA3MGieVk