The Noble Heart Sutra

of the Perfection of Wisdom

(Arya Bhagavati Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra)


 Colophon:
Text compiled from various sources, edited and formatted
by Wolfgang Saumweber, 11/2004 (www.vajrayogini.com).


How to meditate in sessions on the Heart Sutra
Refuge and Bodhichitta
I go for refuge until I am enlightened
To the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Supreme Assembly.
By the virtuous merit that I create
By practicing giving and other perfections,
May I attain the state of a buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings.

Praise to Manjushri
Obeisance to my Guru and Protector, Manjushri.
You hold to your heart a scripture symbolic of seeing all things as they are.
Your sun-like understanding shines unclouded by defilements
or traces of ignorance.
With the loving compassion of a father for his only son,
You teach in sixty ways all beings caught in the prison of samsara, who
are confused in the darkness of their ignorance and overwhelmed by
suffering.
Your dragon-thunder proclamation of the Dharma arouses us from the
stupor of our delusions and frees us from the iron chains of our
karma.
Your powerful sword of wisdom hews down suffering wherever its sprouts
appear, clearing away the darkness of all ignorance.
Your princely body is adorned with the 112 marks of a Buddha.
You have completed the ten stages, achieving the highest perfection of a
Bodhisattva.
You have been pure from the beginning. I prostrate to You, Manjushri.
OM A RA PA TSA NA DHIH

Compassionate One, with the brilliance of your wisdom, illuminate the

darkness enclosing my mind.
Enlighten my intelligence and wisdom, so that I may gain insight into the
Buddha’s words and the texts that explain them.

NAMO MANJUSHRIYE KUMARA BUDDHAYA BODHISATTVAYA

MAHASATTVAYA MAHA KARUNIKAYA TAYATA OM ARATZE
BIRATZE SHUDDHE BISHUDDE SHODAYA BASHADAYA AMALE
BIMALE NIRAMALE TZAYAWARE RURUTSALE HUM HUM HUM
PHAT PHAT PHAT SVAHA


Four Immeasurables
May all beings have happiness and its cause.
May all beings be freed from suffering and its cause.
May all beings never be separated from the happiness
that is beyond all suffering.
May all beings dwell in equanimity, unaffected by attraction to dear ones
and aversion to others.

Generating the Wish for Enlightenment

All phenomena arise from their causes
Their causes are explained by the Buddha.
Cessation of these causes too
Are taught thus by the great sage.
With a wish to free all beings
I shall always go for refuge
To the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha,
Until I reach full enlightenment.
Enthused by wisdom and compassion
Today in the Buddha’s presence
I generate the Mind for Full Awakening
For the benefit of all sentient beings.
As long as space remains,
As long as sentient beings remain,
Until then, may I too remain
And dispel the miseries of the world.

Seven Limb Prayer

With my body, speech and mind, humbly I prostrate,
And make offerings both set out and imagined.
I declare my wrong deeds from all time,
And rejoice in the virtues of all.
Please stay until samsara ceases,
And turn the wheel of Dharma for us.
I dedicate all virtues to great enlightenment.


Recitation of the Sutra
The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra
Homage to the Holy Perfection of Wisdom!
Thus have I heard. At one time The Lord was staying at Rajagriha on Vulture
Peak Mountain together with a great host of monks and a great host of Bo-
dhisattvas. At that time, the Lord was composed in the concentration on the
course of Dharmas called Profound Illumination.
At that time also the noble Lord Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva and Maha-
sattva, in the practice of the profound Perfection of Wisdom looked down; he
beheld but five skandhas and that in their own being they were empty. Then,
through the inspiration of the Buddha, the elder Shariputra said to the noble
Lord Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva and Mahasattva, “How should any son
of good family train who wishes to engage in the practice of the profound
Perfection of Wisdom?” And the noble Lord Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisat-
tva and Mahasattva, spoke to the elder Shariputra as follows, “Shariputra, any
son or daughter of good family who wishes to engage in the practice of the
profound Perfection of Wisdom should look upon it thus: he (or she) beholds
but five skandhas and that in their own- being they are empty.”
“Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Emptiness does not differ from form,
and form does not differ from emptiness. Likewise, feelings, recognitions,
volitions, and consciousnesses are empty.” “So, Shariputra, all dharmas are
empty, lacking differentiating marks; they are not produced nor stopped, not
defiled and not immaculate, not deficient and not complete.”
“Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness there is no form, no feeling, no recogni-
tion, no volition, no consciousness; no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no
body, no mind; no visible form, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no
mental object; no eye-element, and so forth, up to no mind-element; and no
mental- consciousness element; no ignorance and no extinction of igno-
rance, and so on, up to no aging and death and no extinction of aging and
death; likewise there is no Suffering, Origin, Cessation or Path, no wisdom-
knowledge, no attainment and no non-attainment.”
“Therefore, Shariputra, because there is no attainment, Bodhisattvas abide
relying on the Perfection of Wisdom, without obscuration of thought, and so
they are unafraid. Transcending perverted views, they attain the end, Nir-
vana.” “All Buddhas existing in the three times, relying on the Perfection of
Wisdom, fully awaken to the highest, perfect Enlightenment.” “Therefore, one
should know that the mantra of the Prajnaparamita is the mantra of great
knowledge, the highest mantra, the unequalled mantra, the mantra that ends
all suffering, the Truth, since it has nothing wrong. The mantra of the Prajna-
paramita is proclaimed:


 TAYATA OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI
SOHA.”

“In this way, Shariputra, should a Bodhisattva and Mahasattva train in the
profound Perfection of Wisdom.” Then the Lord rose from his concentration
and commended the noble Lord Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva and Ma-
hasattva, saying “Well done, well done, 0 son of good family! So it is, 0 son of
good family, so it is. Just as you have taught, should the profound Perfection
of Wisdom be practiced and all the Tathagatas will rejoice.”
When the Lord had uttered this, the elder Shariputra, the noble Lord Avalok-
iteshvara, the Bodhisattva and Mahasattva, and all the beings present, includ-
ing the devas, humans, asuras and gandharvas were delighted and applauded
the Lord’s speech.
(This completes the Arya Bhagavati Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra.)


Removing Obstacles
I prostrate to the gathering of dakinis in the three chakras
Who abide in the holy yoga of using space.
By your powers of clairvoyance and magical emanation,
Look after practitioners like a mother looks after her child.
A KA SA MA RA DZA SHA DA RA SA MA RA YA PHAT (21x)

TAYATA OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAM GATE BODHI

SOHA

By the truth of the existence of the Three Jewels,

May all inner and outer hindrances and adversities be overcome.
May they become nonexistent! (clap)
May they be pacified! (clap)
May they be completely pacified! (clap)
May all negative forces opposed to the Dharma be completely pacified.
May the host of eighty thousand obstacles be pacified.
May we be separated from all adverse conditions to the Dharma,
And may we obtain all circumstances conducive to the Dharma;
May there be auspiciousness, happiness and well-being here, right now!

Meditate here on the meaning of the Heart Sutra in silent contemplation or with
repeated recitation. Then make strong dedication prayers to realize emptiness
for the benefit of all sentient beings and any other dedication prayers you wish
to make.