by Red Pine
Vimalakirti Sutra . One of the most popular Mahayana sutras, it features the visit by Manjushri to the sick layman Vimalakirti, who serves as an example of the high level of attainment possible outside a monastic environment. Several Chinese and Tibetan translations are extant, and there are also a number in English.
vinaya . That part of the Buddhist Tripitaka that contains the texts listing the rules that govern the lives of Buddhist monastic and lay followers.
Watanabe, Shogo. “A Comparative Study of the Pancavinshatisahasrika Prajnaparamita” in the Journal of the American Oriental Society, 1994.
Yi-ching (635-713) . Chinese monk who traveled to India in 671 and translated a number of sutras and vinaya texts after his return in 695. His translation of the Heart Sutra was made in 706 at Chienfu Temple in Ch’ang-an but was lost in China. A copy later turned up in Japan, but scholars remain divided over its authenticity.
Yin-shun (1906-present) . One of the foremost Chinese scholars of early Indian Buddhism and the Madhyamaka philosophy of Nagarjuna. His Heart Sutra commentary was delivered in 1947 as a series of talks at Hsuehtou Temple in Chekiang province following the death of his teacher, Master T’ai-hsu (1889-1947). It can be found in his Po-jo-ching chiang-chi (Taipei: Cheng-wen, 1998).
Yogacara . This term means the “practice of yoga,” but in its application in Buddhism it refers to the school of Mahayana that viewed the world and its objects as made of mind alone and that consequently engaged in a detailed analysis of consciousness as the means for liberation.
Yuan-tse (613-696), aka Wonchuk . Korean disciple of Hsuan-tsang known for his commentaries on his teacher’s translations. His commentary on the Heart Sutra is preserved in the Supplement to the Tripitaka, vol. 41, pp. 635-655.
Yueh-chih, aka Tokharians, Kushans . Nomadic tribe inhabiting the pastures of the Chilien Mountains south of the Silk Road oasis of Tunhuang, where they are recorded as living as early as 1000 B.C. Following a series of defeats by the nomadic Hsiung-nu in the second century B.C., one branch of the Yueh-chih migrated westward and eventually established the Kushan Empire with its center in what are now Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
The Heart Sutra
The Longer Version
IN ADDITION to the standard text of the Heart Sutra that forms the basis of this book, there is a longer version. This longer version appeared in China as early as the eighth century and was translated into Chinese at least six times: by Fa-yueh (Dharmacandra) around 735 and again around 740, by Prajna and Li-yen in 790, by Fa-ch’eng (Chos-grub) from the Tibetan around 845, by Chih-hui-lun (Prajnacakra) in 861, and by Shih-hu (Danapala) around 990. These Chinese translations of the longer version are all quite similar, except for the second, retranslation by Fa-yueh, which includes just enough window dressing to make one wonder if his Tantric hosts in Ch’ang-an did not at some point encourage him to “add feet to his snake.” Aside from this singular anomaly, the Chinese translations of the longer version agree quite closely with the Sanskrit edition edited by Conze, which is the edition I have used for the following translation.
The only significant difference between the longer and shorter versions of the text, and this applies to the Chinese as well as the Sanskrit, is that the longer version includes an introduction and conclusion, thus serving to elevate this from a dharani to the standard sutra format. The rest of the text, as a quick comparison with the shorter version at the front of this book will show, was identical.
Thus have I heard: Once when the Bhagavan was dwelling on Rajgir’s Vulture Mountain together with a great assembly of bhikshus and a great assembly of bodhisattvas, he entered the samadhi known as Manifestation of the Deep.At that moment, the fearless Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva was practicing the deep practice of Prajnaparamita, and looking upon the Five Skandhas saw that they were empty of self-existence. By the power of the Buddha, the venerable Shariputra then asked the fearless Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, “If any noble son or daughter were to practice the deep practice of Prajnaparamita, how should they be instructed?”
Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva answered, “Shariputra, if any noble son or daughter were to practice the deep practice of Prajnaparamita, they should thus be instructed: ‘empty of self-existence are the Five Skandhas.’
“Here, Shariputra, form is emptiness, emptiness is form; emptiness is not 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. 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; 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; no knowledge, no attainment and no non-attainment.
“Therefore, Shariputra, without attainment, bodhisattvas take refuge in Prajnaparamita and live without walls of the mind. Without walls of the mind and thus without fears, 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 of Prajnaparamita, 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, para-gate, para-san-gate, bodhi svaha.’
“Thus, Shariputra, should fearless bodhisattvas be instructed to practice the deep practice of Prajnaparamita.”
At that moment, the Bhagavan rose from samadhi and praised Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, “Well done, noble son, well done. So it is, noble son, so should the deep practice of Prajnaparamita be practiced. As you have declared, so is it confirmed by all arhats and tathagatas.”
When the Bhagavan had finished speaking, the venerable Shariputra, the fearless Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, and all those present in the worlds of gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas praised what the Bhagavan had proclaimed.
Thus concludes the Heart of Prajnaparamita.
Copyright © 2004 by Red Pine
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the Publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tripitaka. Sūtrapitaka. Prajñāpāramitā. Hridaya. English.
The heart sutra : the womb of Buddhas / translated from the Sanskrit with a commentary by Red Pine.
p. cm.
eISBN : 978-1-582-43992-1
1. Tripitaka. Sūtrapitaka. Prajñāpāramitā. Hridaya—
Commentaries. I. Pine, Red. II. Title.
BQ1962.E5 P56 2004
294.3’85—dc22
2004011666
Chao Meng-fu Writing the Buddhist “Heart” (Hridaya) Sutra in Exchange for Tea. Handscroll, ink and color on paper.
Frontispiece: A bas relief carved from marble in 1956 to replace an obliterated earlier eleventh century version at Lumbini, where Shakyamuni was born.
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