Toh 21Tâm Kinh Bát-Nhã Ba-La-Mật-Đa, Đấng Phúc Lành Từ Mẫu (Bhagavatī­prajñā­pāramitā­hṛdaya)

Summary

In this famous scripture, known popularly as The Heart
Sūtra, the Buddha Śākyamuni inspires his senior monk Śāriputra to request
instructions from the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara on the way to practice the perfection of
wisdom. Avalokiteśvara then describes how an aspiring practitioner of the perfection of
wisdom must first understand how all phenomena lack an intrinsic nature, which amounts to
the realization of emptiness. Next, Avalokiteśvara reveals a brief mantra that the
practitioner can recite as a method for engendering this understanding experientially.
Following Avalokiteśvara’s teaching, the Buddha offers his endorsement and confirms that
this is the foremost way to practice the perfection of wisdom.

Acknowledgements

Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the guidance of Chokyi
Nyima Rinpoche. The translation was produced by Catherine Dalton and Andreas Doctor, who
also wrote the introduction. Wiesiek Mical compared the translation against the Sanskrit.
The translators also wish to thank Jeffrey Kotyk, Jayarava Attwood, and Joshua Capitanio
for their helpful comments and advice.

The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000:
Translating the Words of the Buddha.

Introduction

The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom, the Blessed
Mother, which today
is popularly known simply as The Heart Sūtra, has been cherished, read, and recited by Mahāyāna Buddhists in
East and Central Asia for well over a millennium. Over the centuries, scholars and
practitioners have continued to find deep meaning in this short scripture and vigorously
debated its purpose and practice—and even whether to classify it as a sūtra or a tantra.
Still today, The Heart Sūtra continues to be recited around
the world in monasteries, temples, and meditation centers in a variety of Buddhist
traditions. As a result of its popularity, in more recent times the sūtra has been
translated into a wide variety of modern languages that are available in print and
online.

The sūtra takes place on Vulture Peak Mountain near Rājagṛha. Here the Buddha
inspires his senior monk Śāriputra to request instructions from the bodhisattva
Avalokiteśvara regarding the practice of the perfection of wisdom. Prompted in this way, Avalokiteśvara describes how
an aspiring practitioner of the perfection of wisdom must first understand that all
phenomena lack an intrinsic nature and therefore are empty. To manifest this realization
in the practitioner, Avalokiteśvara reveals a brief mantra to be recited: tadyathā gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā.
Following Avalokiteśvara’s teaching, the Buddha offers his endorsement of what has been
said and confirms that this is indeed the foremost way to practice the perfection of
wisdom.

In English we speak of The Heart Sūtra in the
singular, but this obscures the fact that—more than most Buddhist canonical
scriptures—this short teaching exists in a variety of versions, recensions, and
redactions in multiple canonical languages. Most importantly, The
Heart Sūtra exists in both a short and a long version (although the long
version is also very brief) in Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan. In East Asia the shorter
version, which is also the older one in terms of textual history, became the most
popular, while in Tibet the longer version was favored.

The Short Sūtra

The short version of The Heart Sūtra was first
compiled—most likely as an abstract of longer Prajñāpāramitā sūtras—in China sometime
in the middle of the seventh century ce. Shortly thereafter, it appears that the
sūtra was translated from Chinese into Sanskrit. The material used to compile the
sūtra was extracted from key passages in Prajñāpāramitā scriptures in Chinese
translation, especially Kumārajīva’s (344–413 ce)
translation of The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand
Lines (Taishō 223). These central statements were then framed by an
introduction describing the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara’s role as the teacher, and then
a concluding mantra, which functioned to encapsulate the blessings of the
Prajñāpāramitā teachings. In this way, the short version of The
Heart Sūtra combines established Buddhist Prajñāpāramitā scripture with
dhāraṇī practice in an abridged
format that is eminently suited for recitation. Notably, at that time in China such
scriptural digests summarizing the words of the Buddha (buddhavacana) were common, and The Heart
Sūtra is certainly not unique in this way. What is remarkable, however, is the immense importance and popularity
the short version of The Heart Sūtra came to enjoy in
China and the rest of East Asia. When viewed from the perspective of its roots in
Prajñāpāramitā literature and its transformative and liberating efficacy in the
perception of its many devotees, The Heart Sūtra does
fulfill important criteria for being a genuine Buddhist scripture. For example, the
Mahāyāna sūtra Inspiring Determination (Adhyāśayasañcodana, Toh
69) defines authentic buddhavacana as any
discourse that fulfils the following four criteria: (1) it must be
meaningful, (2) it has to be consistent with the Dharma, (3) it should reduce mental
defilements, and (4) it should present the qualities of nirvāṇa as opposed to
saṃsāra. In
this sense The Heart Sūtra is perhaps not so different
from many other Mahāyāna scriptures, in particular those of the Prajñāpāramitā family,
that likewise were transmitted across a variety of time periods, regions, cultures,
and languages—constantly in flux, yet ever encapsulating the transcendent aspects of
authentic buddhavacana.

Traditionally, the earliest version of The Heart
Sūtra in Chinese was thought to be Taishō 250, which in traditional sources
is described as a translation of Kumārajīva. However, this attribution is generally no
longer accepted, and some scholars have placed it later in time—some even in the
beginning of the eighth century ce. Apart from
Taishō 250, the earliest witness for The Heart Sūtra’s
existence is a famous stone stele, which was discovered in the early twentieth century
at the Yunju Temple in the Fangshan region near Beijing. The inscription on this stele
is a rendering of the short version of The Heart Sūtra,
and the colophon is dated to 661. The colophon further states that this is the
translation prepared by Xuanzang (i.e., an equivalent of Taishō 251). Of the three shorter
versions of the text in Chinese, this is the one that has been commonly read and recited across East
Asia down to the present day.

In terms of Sanskrit sources, the first rendering of the short sūtra in
Sanskrit was likely produced shortly after the compilation of The
Heart Sūtra in Chinese in the middle of the seventh century. However, the
earliest witness we have of a Sanskrit text is not an actual Sanskrit manuscript, but
rather a version with the Sanskrit transliterated into Chinese characters (Taishō
256). This text was likely produced by the famous translator and teacher Amoghavajra
(705–74) and can therefore be dated to the eighth century.
While multiple Sanskrit manuscripts of the shorter version of The
Heart Sūtra exist, any dating of such manuscripts is typically fraught with
much uncertainty. Scholars have, however, dated a Sanskrit manuscript of the short
version (currently kept in Tokyo National Museum) to the ninth or tenth century, and
this appears to be the earliest extant Sanskrit manuscript. Tibetan translations of the short sūtra were never included
in any of the Kangyurs, but several have been identified among the Dunhuang
manuscripts.

In sum, we can conclude that the Chinese version of the short sūtra must
have been compiled sometime between 404 (when Kumārajīva completed his
translation of Taishō 223) and 661 ce (the date on the
stone stele), and that the Sanskrit translation was produced soon thereafter. However, in
addition to these mutually distant historical markers, we also have data that place
the likely time of compilation much more precisely within just a two-year period from
654–56 ce. First, 654 ce marks
the year when the Dhāraṇīsamuccaya (Taishō 901),
which is the likely source of the mantra in The Heart
Sūtra, was translated into Chinese. Second, in Xuanzang’s biography (Taishō 2053, written in the
late seventh century) it is mentioned that in 656 Xuanzang offered a gold-lettered
version of The Heart Sūtra to the imperial family as a
gift. Although the biography is a later source than the stone stele, the date provided
in the biography is the earliest placement of The Heart
Sūtra in the historical record and this may possibly be the very occasion on
which The Heart Sūtra was first compiled in Chinese.

The Long Sūtra

The history of the longer version of The Heart
Sūtra presents us with an equally complex picture of textual transmission.
Notably, there are at least two distinct longer versions of The
Heart Sūtra. Both longer versions add to the short sūtra by presenting a
more extensive, traditional introduction (beginning with the statement “Thus did I
hear at one time”) and a conventional concluding section as we generally know them
from the Mahāyāna sūtras. As a result, the longer versions appear much more like a
typical sūtra than does the short version.

The earliest version of the long sūtra, traditionally dated to 738 ce, is a text that only exists in Chinese (Taishō 252). While
the text presents itself as a translation from Sanskrit, it is most likely an early
attempt to present the short sūtra in a traditional literary format by adding an
introduction and a concluding section, which appear to have been composed directly in
Chinese. This version does not seem to have gained much popularity, as its unique
introduction was never replicated or copied in other sources.

The four remaining Chinese versions of the long sūtra (Taishō 253, 254, 255,
and 257) are all translations that were produced either from Sanskrit or Tibetan
manuscripts.
Although they each feature certain idiosyncratic elements,
all of them clearly belong to the same family in text-historical terms. Unfortunately,
there are no surviving Sanskrit manuscripts from the period when these four
translations were produced, from the late eighth to the early eleventh century. The earliest Sanskrit witnesses we have
of the longer version of The Heart Sūtra are Nepalese
manuscripts that were produced several centuries later.

Just as with the Sanskrit translation of the short sūtra, we also do not
know the circumstances in which the Sanskrit text of the longer version first
appeared. It must have taken place, however, prior to 788 ce, when the first Chinese translation from Sanskrit was produced. At around
the same time, the two Tibetan translations, which were subsequently included in the
Kangyur (see more below), must also have been produced. We can say that with some
confidence, since the translation is recorded in the Denkarma catalog of completed
translations, which is dated to 812.

In the Tengyur collections seven commentaries on the long sūtra by Indian
scholars and one by a Chinese scholar are included in Tibetan translation. Some of
these commentaries were composed by such well-known names in Tibetan history as
Kamalaśīla (740–95), Vimalamitra (eighth/ninth c.), and Atīśa (982–1054). The
authors of these commentaries were all active from the eighth to the eleventh century
and most of them are known to have visited Tibet. Interestingly, the different
commentators view The Heart Sūtra through very diverse
hermeneutical lenses and interpret it variously through the systems of sūtra, tantra,
and even ritual practice (sādhana). This great
variety of interpretations, combined with the fact that there is no mention of The Heart Sūtra in any other source linked to India, makes it
seem likely that the commentaries were all composed in Tibet during the sojourns of
these Indian masters there.

It therefore appears that the history of the long sūtra can be told largely
as a Sino-Tibetan exchange of ideas and manuscripts, which unfolded during the eighth
to the eleventh century. In this regard, there are strong indications that the
Dunhuang region was an important center for the exchange of such ideas and
manuscripts. Among the scriptural treasures discovered in the Dunhuang caves in the
early twentieth century, all of which must date prior to the turn of the eleventh
century when the caves at Dunhuang were sealed off, there are numerous manuscripts of
The Heart Sūtra in both Chinese and Tibetan. In
addition to the shorter versions mentioned above, there are a number of longer
versions, and apparently even a few “hybrid” manuscripts that are neither of the
standard short or long sūtras. Like the Chinese and Sanskrit versions, these Tibetan Dunhuang
manuscripts provide a variety of readings, but so far no comparative analyses of these
texts, or critical editions of the manuscripts, have been published.

In Tibet, only the longer version of The Heart
Sūtra was included in the various Kangyur collections, where it has been
preserved in two recensions, which Jonathan Silk has designated Recension A and
Recension B. These two recensions represent individual manuscript
traditions and appear to have been translated into Tibetan by different translators,
although the exact details remain unknown. The two recensions vary on several significant points,
such as the title of the text, the name of the absorption in which the Buddha rests,
the mantra that Avalokiteśvara reveals, and the presence or absence of a translator’s
colophon.

The fact that The Heart Sūtra incorporates
elements of both sūtra and tantra, and therefore has been
variously classified throughout its history, is evident from its placement in the
different Kangyur collections, where it often appears twice in both the Tantra section
and the Perfection of Wisdom section. Generally speaking, all Kangyurs include Recension A in their
Tantra sections, whereas some Kangyurs, mostly those of the Thempangma (them spangs ma) branch, also include Recension B in the
Perfection of Wisdom section. The Kangyurs that belong to the Tshalpa (tshal pa) branch mostly include the text only once, in
the Tantra section. In the
Degé Kangyur, however, the text appears in both the Perfection of Wisdom and the
Tantra sections, but, unlike the Thempangma Kangyurs, the Degé Kangyur includes
Recension A both times, thus omitting Recension B.

Our translation is based primarily on the version of Recension A that is
included in the Degé Kangyur. We have made Recension A our primary focus in order to
present in English one important version of The Heart
Sūtra as it has been transmitted in Tibet since the early ninth century,
rather than attempting to edit this version in search of an elusive urtext. However,
to give the reader a taste of the differences between the two Tibetan
recensions—differences that the Tibetans found worthy of preservation in their
Kangyurs—we have included in the form of notes the most significant variations between
the Degé text and the version of Recension B that is included in the Perfection of
Wisdom section in the Stok Palace Kangyur.
We have also attempted, whenever possible, to let our translation be informed by the
published Sanskrit editions of The Heart Sūtra, the eight
commentaries on the text in the Tengyur collections, and the growing scholarly
literature on The Heart Sūtra.

The Translation

The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom, the Blessed

Mother

Homage to the Perfection of Wisdom, the Blessed
Mother!

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was residing on Vulture Peak
Mountain at Rājagṛha together with a great saṅgha of monks and a great saṅgha of
bodhisattvas.

At that time the Blessed One rested in an absorption on the categories of
phenomena called illumination of the profound.

At the same time, the bodhisattva great being, noble Avalokiteśvara, while practicing the
profound perfection of wisdom, looked and saw that the five aggregates are also empty of an intrinsic nature.

Then, due to the Buddha’s power, venerable Śāriputra asked the bodhisattva
great being, noble Avalokiteśvara, “How should sons of noble family or daughters of
noble family train if they wish to engage in the practice of the profound
perfection of wisdom?”

The bodhisattva great being, noble Avalokiteśvara, replied to venerable
Śāradvatīputra, “Śāriputra, sons of noble family or daughters of noble family who wish
to engage in the practice of the profound perfection of wisdom should see things in this
way: they should correctly observe the five aggregates to be empty of an intrinsic
nature.

“Form is empty. Emptiness is
form. Emptiness is not other than form, and form is also not other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling,
perception, formation, and consciousness are empty.

“Śāriputra, therefore, all phenomena are emptiness; they are without
characteristics, unborn, unceasing, without stains, without absence of stains, not deficient, and not complete.

“There is no element of the eye, up to no element of the mind, and further up to no
element of the mind consciousness.

“There is no ignorance and no exhaustion of ignorance, up to no aging and
death and no exhaustion of aging and death.

“There is no suffering, no origin of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no
path, no wisdom, no attainment, and no nonattainment.

“Śāriputra, therefore, since bodhisattvas have no attainment, they rely upon
and dwell in the perfection of wisdom. Because their minds have no
veils, they have no fear. Having utterly gone beyond error, they reach the culmination of
nirvāṇa.

“All the buddhas who reside in the three times have likewise fully awakened to
unsurpassed and perfect awakening by relying upon the perfection of wisdom.

“Therefore, the mantra of the perfection of wisdom is the mantra of great knowledge, the
unsurpassed mantra, the mantra that is equal to the unequaled, and the mantra that
utterly pacifies all suffering. Since it is not false, it should be known to be true.

“The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is stated thus:

“Śāriputra, this is the way a bodhisattva great being should train in the
profound perfection of wisdom.”

Then the Blessed One arose from that absorption and gave his approval to the
bodhisattva great being, noble Avalokiteśvara, saying, “Excellent! Excellent! Son of noble family, it is like that. Son of noble family,
it is like that. The profound perfection of wisdom should be practiced just as you have
taught, and even the thus-gone ones will rejoice.”

When the Blessed One had said this, venerable Śāradvatīputra, the bodhisattva great being,
noble Avalokiteśvara, and the entire assembly, as well as the world with its
devas, humans, asuras, and gandharvas, rejoiced and praised what the Blessed One had
said.

This completes The Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Heart
of the Perfection of Wisdom, the Blessed Mother.”

Colophon

This was translated by the Indian preceptor Vimalamitra and the translator
monk Rinchen Dé, and then edited and finalized by the editor-translators Gelo, Namkha,
and others. It was then carefully proofed against the writing on the wall of the Gegye
Jema Ling Temple at glorious Samye—the spontaneously accomplished temple.

Notes

Bibliography

Tibetan Canonical Texts

Secondary Sources

Rinchen Dé

rin chen sde
རིན་ཆེན་སྡེ།

Gelo

dge blo
དགེ་བློ།

Namkha

nam mkha’
ནམ་མཁའ།