THE SUTRA OF THE HEART OF TRANSCENDANT KNOWLEDGE
Translated into English by the Nalanda Translation Committee, with reference to several Sanskrit editions

Thus have I heard
Once the Blessed One was dwelling in Rajagrha at Vulture Peak mountain, together with a great gathering of the sangha of monks and a great gathering of the sangha of bodhisattvas. At that time the Blessed One entered the samadhi that expresses the dharma called profound illumination, and at the same time noble Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, while practicing the profound prajnaparamita, saw in this way: he saw the five skandhas to be empty of nature.

Then, through the power of the Buddha, venerable Sariputra said to noble Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, "How should a son or daughter of noble family train, who wishes the practice the profound prajnaparamita?"

Addressed in this way, noble Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva said to venerable Sariputra, "O, Sariputra, a son or daughter of noble family who wishes to practice the profound prajnaparamita should see in this way: seeing the five skandhas to be empty of nature. Form is emptiness; emptiness also is form. Emptiness is no other than form; form is no other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness are emptiness. Thus, Sariputra, all dharmas are emptiness. There are no characteristics. There is no birth and no cessation. There is no impurity and no purity. There is no decrease and no increase. Therefore, Sariputra, in emptiness, there is no form, no feeling, no perception, no formation, no consciousness; no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind; no appearance, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no dharmas; no eye dhatu up to no mind dhatu, no dhatu of dharmas, no mind consciousness dhatu; no ignorance, no end of ignorance up to no end of old age and death, no end of old age and death; no suffering, no origin of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no path, no wisdom, no attainment, and no nonattainment. Therefore, Sariputra, since the bodhisattvas have no attainment, they abide by means of prajnaparamita. Since there is no obscuration of mind, there is no fear. They transcend falsity and attain complete nirvana. All the buddhas of the three times, by means of prajnaparamita, fully awaken to unsurpassable, true, complete enlightenment. Therefore, the great mantra of prajnaparamita, the mantra of great insight, the unsurpassed mantra, the unequaled mantra, the mantra that calms all suffering, should be known as truth, since there is no deception. The prajnaparamita mantra is said in this way:

OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA

Thus, Sariputra, the bodhisattva mahasattva should train in the profound prajnaparamita."

Then the Blessed One arose from that samadhi and praised noble Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, saying, "Good, good, O son of noble family; thus it is, O son of noble family, thus it is. One should practice the profound prajnaparamita just as you have taught and all the tathagatas will rejoice."

When the Blessed One has said this, venerable Sariputra and noble Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, that whole assembly and the world with its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas rejoiced and praised the words of the Blessed One.

Some thoughts on the Heart Sutra by Candia Ludy

The Heart Sutra is one of the Prajnaparamita sutras. Prajna can be translated as transcendent knowledge, transcendent understanding or transcendent wisdom. Prajna is the wisdom that sees things as they are, not bound up by concepts. Paramita means to go to the other shore. Prajnaparamita is a wisdom that goes beyond any dualistic thinking - beyond any kind of right or wrong, this or that, yes or no thinking. There are a lot of teachings on prajnaparamita and some of them are very long - up to twenty thousand lines. This sutra is called the Heart Sutra because it is the pith essence of all these teachings.

The Sutra of the Heart of Transcendent Knowledge (Heart Sutra) was taught at Rajagrha at Vulture Peak Mountain and is called the second turning of the wheel of dharma. It's said that many people were there and that the Buddha went into a samadhi (meditative state) that is called the profound illumination. The Buddha taught in different ways. One is the way he taught the Heart Sutra, where he didn't say a word. The Buddha went into this profound illumination samadhi which was a mind transmission for Avalokitesvara who did the teaching.

Avalokitesvara spoke because Shariputra asked him, "How should a son or daughter of noble family train, who wishes to practice the profound prajnaparamita?" Avalokitesvara's answer is found in all versions of the Heart Sutra: "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Emptiness is no other than form, form is no other than emptiness."

The Buddha taught through Avalokitesvara that anything, if you cling to it as a belief system or make it the way, will block you from understanding the truth — even the teachings of the Buddha will be an obstacle if you hold on to them creating something solid and use them as ground under your feet.

"Therefore, Sariputra, since the bodhisattvas have no attainment, they abide by means of prajnaparamita." Prajnaparamita is a description of how we can work with our mind. We will block our self existing openness, our flexible, unfearful wise mind and grow more uptight, afraid and solid if we hold on to hard to our beliefs about our religion or philosophy, our politics, our selves, or anything. It is this holding on to so hard that blocks us. Prajnaparamita exists in the hearts and minds of people. It is not somewhere else.

"Since there is no obscuration of mind, there is no fear," means that as long as we need security, certainty or solid beliefs there will be fear - the fear that we feel as soon as we are insecure, uncertain or groundless - and this fear will block innate prajnaparamita. For us, walking the path toward enlightenment is knowing the nature of this fear very clearly. Wise people for centuries have said that this looking and knowing will naturally lead to fearlessness and the awakening of prajnaparamita.

The mantra is: OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA.
Ven. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche translates this manta as: OM, GONE, GONE, GONE BEYOND, GONE COMPLETELY BEYOND, AWAKE, SO BE IT.

The mantra describes the path, the journey to enlightenment. Going, going on, going beyond, going from where we are now to "no obscuration of mind".

We are sons and daughters of noble family. With training, remembering and doing, we can awaken transcendent wisdom. Making friends, studying and practicing with others who are on the journey helps. Join us for this 9 day retreat.