The Heart Sutra: Remix

Click to jump to the Heart Sutra Remix

The Heart Sutra is a fundamental teaching from the Mahayana branch of Buddhist doctrine, as this branch then sprouted more branches itself (such and Chan/Zen, Pure Land and Vajrayana to name a few) most lineages have their preferred version or an opinion on the Heart Sutra.
[If you are reading this and are a mostly in the Theravada lineages, I would be interested in hearing a Theravadin perspective on this teaching.]

I have even posted before about the Heart Sutra although that time was mostly as a reference version in the early days of the internet.

There are many versions available these days - an interesting collection can be found at dharmanet.org. Many things come to mind when presented with soo many versions of a key text:

• Most are translated by a group of people, usually due to the specialist knowledge required to authentically translate some of the more thoughtful or idea-dense words.
• Sometimes the translators are just linguists that have no intrinsic "feel" for the scriptures being translated.
• None come close to a "Conversational English" version (some of the Zen translations get surprisingly close) and all end up sounding like they are ancient texts translated via specialist terms that were only discovered and shared by religious missionaries, both Buddhist and Christian - and few missionaries have such perfect language skills to base such important translations on.
• The dharmanet.org version by "the Reverend Xuan-Zang" is by Tripitaka from Monkey/Journey to the West fame. "Xuan-Zang" was his Chinese name and upon his return to China, he was famous for his teaching on this scripture - in fact in the classical Chinese novel Journey to the West based on his adventure has the full text of the Heart Sutra in it out of respect to him.

Christian scholars have had very similar problems with the Bible; constantly battling to make it "sound right" but still make sense. This had lead to some "Remix" Bibles - such as the Message translation - Bibles in a conversational tone that can be used to get the idea of what is being said without being bogged down in some very linguistic matters.

Here is a similar version of the Heart Sutra I managed to compose, keep in mind I only speak English and that this may be revised or reposted to keep it up to date.

The Heart Sutra Remix

By the author of this blog

The great compassionate one, while wading through coursing thoughts of glowing light realized that the five parts that make a human were hollow.

Talking to Shariputra, the great compassionate one said:
“Do you realize that the five things that make a person aren’t real?
Physical things are hollow, and hollow things are physical - As one takes up space and the other is the space between what is there.
That’s because, the physical and the non-physical define each other!
The same is true with people’s feelings, what they see of the world, how they think the world works and how they think of themselves!
It doesn’t mean a thing! - except to the person who is feeling, perceiving, thinking of the world and themselves.

So all truths are just as hollow!

There are no building blocks to make a person out of!
There is no birth and no death!
No purity or impurity!
No increasing or decreasing!

So, Shariputra, in this hollow, empty space of a place there is:
No physical forms,
No feelings,
No perceptions,
No ideas,
No self-consciousness!

No eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, no appearance, no sound, no smell, no taste, nothing other than my mind to think of, nothing for an eye to see, nothing outside for your mind to notice, no other place of truths to discover and no identity or self to be conscious of!

There is no ignorance, no end to ignorance - up to no old age and death AND no end of old age and death!

In short:
No Suffering!

Nothing to get caught up in and suffer over and so, no end to suffering!

There is no “path”, no “wisdom”, nothing to “get” - and nothing you don’t already have!

Because - people like me Shariputra, have nothing to “get” they sit around in these clear, coursing and glowing thoughts all the time.

Since there is nothing for my mind to hide behind - there is no fear of anything.
Since there is nothing left that can be false - I only see the truth around me.

All those perfect people out there, know this and do this as well.

So, the idea behind all this - the key thing is:
“Go, go! Go beyond! Keep on going and go completely beyond! Wake up and see the light!!”

The Heart Sutra

Translation by the Nalanda Translation Committee

Thus have I heard. Once the Blessed One was dwelling in Rajagriha at Vulture Peak mountain, together with a great gathering of the sangha of monks and a great gathering of the sangha of bodhisattvas. At that time the Blessed One entered the samadhi that expresses the dharma called "profound illumination," and at the same time noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, while practicing the profound prajnaparamita, saw in this way: he saw the five skandhas to be empty of nature.

Then, through the power of the Buddha, venerable Shariputra said to noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, "How should a son or daughter of noble family train, who wishes to practice the profound prajnaparamita?"

Addressed in this way, noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, said to venerable Shariputra, "O Shariputra, a son or daughter of noble family who wishes to practice the profound prajnaparamita should see in this way: seeing the five skandhas to be empty of nature. Form is emptiness; emptiness also is form. Emptiness is no other than form; form is no other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness are emptiness. Thus, Shariputra, all dharmas are emptiness. There are no characteristics. There is no birth and no cessation. There is no impurity and no purity. There is no decrease and no increase. Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness, there is no form, no feeling, no perception, no formation, no consciousness; no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind; no appearance, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no dharmas, no eye dhatu up to no mind dhatu, no dhatu of dharmas, no mind consciousness dhatu; no ignorance, no end of ignorance up to no old age and death, no end of old age and death; no suffering, no origin of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no path, no wisdom, no attainment, and no non-attainment. Therefore, Shariputra, since the bodhisattvas have no attainment, they abide by means of prajnaparamita.

Since there is no obscuration of mind, there is no fear. They transcend falsity and attain complete nirvana. All the buddhas of the three times, by means of prajnaparamita, fully awaken to unsurpassable, true, complete enlightenment. Therefore, the great mantra of prajnaparamita, the mantra of great insight, the unsurpassed mantra, the unequaled mantra, the mantra that calms all suffering, should be known as truth, since there is no deception. The prajnaparamita mantra is said in this way:

OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA

Thus, Shariputra, the bodhisattva mahasattva should train in the profound prajnaparamita.

Then the Blessed One arose from that samadhi and praised noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, saying, "Good, good, O son of noble family; thus it is, O son of noble family, thus it is. One should practice the profound prajnaparamita just as you have taught and all the tathagatas will rejoice."
When the Blessed One had said this, venerable Shariputra and noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, that whole assembly and the world with its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas rejoiced and praised the words of the Blessed One.