The Heart Sutra

207 Pages·2005·10.362 MB·English

by  Red Pine

the
heart- sutra
1• !!! II !!! II !!! Ill !!! Ill !! 1• !!! II !!! Ill

the
heart- sutra
THE WOMB OF BUDDHAS
Translation and Commentary by
RED PINE
SHOEMAKER & HOARD
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Copyright© 2004 by Red Pine
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or repro
duced in any mannerwhatsoeverwithoutwritten permission
from the Publisher, except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tripi taka. Si.itrapitaka. Prajtuiparamita. Hridaya. English.
The heart sutra: the womb of Buddhas I translated from
the Sanskrit with a commentary by Red Pine.
p.cm.
ISBN 1-59376-074-4
1. Tripi taka. Si.itrapitaka. Prajfiaparamita. Hridaya
Commentaries. I. Pine, Red. II. Title.
BQ!962.E5 P56 2004
294.3'85-dc22
2004011666
Text and jacket design by Gopa & Ted2, Inc.
Jacket art: Qgi Ying, Chinese, Ming dynasty, 1494/5-1552.
Chao Mengju Writing the Buddhist 'WearF (Hridaya) Sutra
in Exchange for Tea. Handscroll, ink and color on paper.
©The Cleveland Museum of Art. John L. Severence Fund.
Map on page 19 designed by Molly O'Halloran.
Frontispiece: A bas relief carved from marble in 1956 to replace
an obliterated earlier eleventh century version at Lumbini,
where Shakyamuni was born.
Printed in the United States ofA merica
Shoemaker & Hoard
A Division of Avalon Publishing Group Inc.
Distributed by Publishers Group West
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
The Heart Sutra 2
Introduction 5
The Heart Sutra:
Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutran 29
Part One: Prajnaparamita 41
Part Two: Abhidharma in the Light ofP rajnaparamita 97
Part Three: The Bodhisattva Path 129
Part Four: The Womb ofB uddhas 145
Names, Terms, and Texts 161
The Heart Sutra: The Longer Version 199

The Heart Sutra
The Heart Sutra
1. The nobleAvalokiteshvara Bodhisattva,
while practicing the deep practice ofPrajnaparamita,
looked upon the Five Skandhas
and seeing they were empty of self-existence,
5 said, "Here, Shariputra,
form is emptiness, emptiness is form;
emptiness is no~ separate from form,
form is not separate from emptiness;
whatever is form is emptiness,
whatever is emptiness is form.
The same holds for sensation and perception,
memory and consciousness.
to Here, Shariputra, all dharmas are defined by emptiness
not birth or destruction, purity or defilement,
completeness or deficiency.
Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness there is no form,
no sensation, no perception, no memory and no
consciousness;
no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body and no mind;
15 no shape, no sound, no smell, no taste, no feeling
and no thought;
·"""
no element of perception, from eye to conceptual
consciousness;
no causal link, from ignorance to old age and death,
and no end of causal link, from ignorance to old age and death;
no suffering, no source, no relief, no path;
20 no knowledge, no attainment and no non-attainment.
Therefore, Shariputra, without attainment,
bodhisattavas take refuge in Prajnaparamita
and live without walls of the mind.
Without walls of the mind and thus without fears,
25 they see through delusions and finally nirvana.
All buddhas past, present and future
also take refuge in Prajnaparamita
and realize unexcelled, perfect enlightenment.
You should therefore know the great mantra ofPrajnaparamita,
30 the mantra of great magic,
the unexcelled mantra,
the mantra equal to the unequalled,
which heals all suffering and is true, not false,
the mantra in Prajnaparamita spoken thus:
<Gate gate, paragate, parasangate, bodhi svaha."'