The Heart Sutra

The Heart Sutra is revered by all branches of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. It is one of the shortest of all sutras, and one of the most profound. Kobo Daishi wrote an essay on this sutra in which he says it contains the complete Buddhist teachings and says that anyone who practices the teachings and meditates on them will achieve enlightenment.

The Heart Sutra

When the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara was engaged in the practice of the deep Prajnaparamita, he perceived that there are the five Skandas; and these he saw in their self-nature to be empty.

"O Sariputra, form is here emptiness is form; form is not 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 not 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 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!

There is, as you might expect, a truly enormous literature about the Heart Sutra. It has been translated into dozens upon dozens of languages, and commented on by hundreds of writers. A quick web search will lead you to thousands of pages of information.