verse for opening a sutra
the unsurpassed, profound, and wonderful dharma,
in hundreds of millions of eons, is difficult to encounter,
i now see and hear it, receive and uphold it,
and i vow to fathom the tathagata's true meaning.
and i vow to practise the tathagata's true way
and i vow to attain the tathagata's true state

the heart of prajna paramita sutra

when bodhisattva avalokiteshvara was practicing the profound prajna paramita, he illuminated the five skandhas and saw that they are all empty, and he crossed beyond all suffering and difficulty.

shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness; emptiness does not differ from form. form itself is emptiness; emptiness itself is form. so too are feeling, cognition, formation, and consciousness.

shariputra, all dharmas are empty of characteristics. they are not produced, not destroyed, not defiled, not pure; and they neither increase nor diminish. therefore, in emptiness there is no form, feeling, cognition, formation, or consciousness; no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind; no sights, sounds, smells, tastes, objects of touch, or dharmas; no field of the eyes up to and including no field of mind consciousness; and no ignorance or ending of ignorance, up to and including no old age and death or ending of old age and death. there is no suffering, no accumulating, no extinction, and no way, and no understanding and no attaining.

because nothing is attained, the bodhisattva through reliance on prajna paramita is unimpeded in his mind. because there is no impediment, he is not afraid, and he leaves distorted dream-thinking far behind. ultimately nirvana! all buddhas of the three periods of time attain anuttara-samyak-sambodhi through reliance on prajna paramita. therefore know that prajna paramita is a great spiritual mantra, a great bright mantra, a supreme mantra, an unequalled mantra. it can remove all suffering; it is genuine and not false. that is why the mantra of prajna paramita was spoken. recite it like this:

gaté gaté paragaté parasamgaté

bodhi svaha!

end of the heart of prajna paramita sutra