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Heart Sutra
When the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara was engaged
in the practice of the deep Prajnaparamita, he perceived that
there are five Skandhas; and
these he saw in their self-nature to be empty.
"O Sariputra, form is here emptiness,
emptiness is form; form is no other than emptiness, emptiness
is no other than form; that which is form is emptiness, that
which is emptiness is form. The same can be said of sensation,
thought, confection and consciousness.
"O Sariputra, all things here are characterized
with emptiness: they are
not born, they are not annihilated; they are not tainted,
they are not immaculate; they do not increase, they do not
decrease. Therefore, O Sariputra, in emptiness there is no
form, no sensation, no thought, no confection, no consciousness;
no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; no form, sound, colour,
taste, touch, objects; no Dhatu of vision, till we come to
no Dhatu of consciousness; there is no knowledge, no ignorance,
till we come to there is no old age and death, no extinction
of old age and death; there is no suffering, no accumulation,
no annihilation, no path; there is no knowledge, no attainment,
[and] no realization, because there is no attainment. In the
mind of the Bodhisattva who dwells depending on the Prajnaparamita
there are no obstacles; and, going beyond the perverted views,
he reaches final Nirvana. All the Buddhas of the past, present,
and future, depending on the Prajnaparamita, attain to the
highest perfect enlightenment.
"Therefore, one ought to know that the
Prajnaparamita is the great Mantram, the Mantram of great
wisdom, the highest Mantram, the peerless Mantram, which is
capable of allaying all pain; it is truth because it is not
falsehood: this is the Mantram proclaimed in the Prajnaparamita.
It runs: 'Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, Bodhi, svaha!'
(O Bodhi, gone, gone, gone to the other shore, landed at the
other shore, Svaha!)"
From Manual of Zen Buddhism, D.T. Suzuki
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