I bow /
to the Lady of Wisdom, /
clear and boundless. //
The Buddha sat upon Vulture Peak, /
surrounded by monks and bodhisattvas. //
He entered a deep absorption — /
where everything arises, shines, and is known. //
Avalokiteshvara, /
looked into the heart of wisdom /
and saw the five streams of being /
empty of their own nature. //
Then Shariputra asked: /
To live this deep wisdom/
How should one train?//
O Shariputra, /
see this clearly — /
Replied Avalokiteshvara /
this body is emptiness, /
and emptiness is this body. //
Body is not other than emptiness, /
emptiness not other than body. //
The same is true /
for feelings, /
for thoughts, /
stories, and awareness. //
All experience is open — /
not fixed, /
not born or destroyed, /
not pure or impure, /
not lacking, not complete. //
Therefore, Shariputra, /
in emptiness there is no thing to grasp: /
no form, no feeling, /
no thought, no story, no awareness. //
No eye, no ear, no nose, /
no tongue, no body, no mind. /
No color, sound, smell, taste, touch, or thought. //
No ignorance, /
no end of ignorance. /
No old age and death, /
no end of old age and death. //
No suffering, /
no cause, /
no cessation, /
no path. //
Nothing to know, /
nothing to gain. //
And so the bodhisattva rests, /
trusting the heart of wisdom. /
With nothing clouding the mind, /
no fear arises. /
Delusion falls away, /
and awakening unfolds. //
All buddhas of past, present, and future /
awaken by this same wisdom. //
Therefore, know this mantra of the heart — /
the great mantra, /
the clear mantra, /
the unsurpassed mantra — /
that ends all suffering. //
It is true, not illusion. //
Say it — /
feel it — /
know it — //
Om gāte gāte / pāragāte / pārasaṃgāte / bodhi svāhā. //
These lyrics draw on the wonderful translations of the Heart Sutra by Ken McLeod and Thich Nhat Hanh. I created the music with suno.com.
Ken McLeod's translation of the Heart Sutra is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 and was used with permission. Thich Nhat Hanh's translation is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.