Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra- New Liturgical and Poetic Translation
The following is my poetic/liturgical translation of the Heart Sutra:
The Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara,
Whilst in profound Prajna Paramita
Saw illume the void of the five skandhas
And prevailed over all pain and peril.
Sariputta, image and void differ not,
Image is void and void is image,
So too sense and thought,
Conduct and consciousness.
Sariputta, the manifold dharmas
Are void and neither arise nor cease,
Are neither defiled nor pure and neither
Swell nor dwindle.
Thus, voidness has no image ; no sense,
Thought, conduct and consciousness.
Without eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body or mind ;
Without sight and sound, or scent, taste,
Feelings of touch, and dharma.
With no realm of vision or realm of awareness,
Neither dullness nor the end of dullness,
Neither decline and demise
Nor the end of decline and demise.
Devoid of pain, its causes, and need to cease it,
Without wisdom or gain
And with nothing to attain.
Bodhisattvas with Prajna Paramita
Have easeful hearts free from fear.
Forfeiting minds of mirage like dreams,
They achieve ultimate Nibbana.
The Buddhas that were, are now, and yet to come
Shall all through Prajna Paramita achieve
Anuttara- samyak- sambodhi.
Hence, know that Prajna Paramita
Is the greatly divine mantra,
The most luminous mantra,
The unsurpassed mantra,
And the peerless mantra.
Able to banish all misery;
Forever true and never false!
Thus, proclaim the Prajna Paramita Mantra,
And chant it so:
Jie dì jie dì
bo luó jie dì
bo luó seng jie dì
pú tí sà pó he
All rights released into public domain, please feel free to share.
Copyright © Brian Chung | Year Posted 2018
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