The Heart Sutra (般若波罗蜜多心经) is the shortest Prajnaparamita scripture, distilling the doctrine of emptiness into roughly 260 Chinese characters; it is the most widely chanted sutra across East Asian Buddhism, with Guanyin Bodhisattva as its speaker.

Heart Sutra

The Heart Sutra condenses Prajnaparamita wisdom on emptiness and liberation. This entry includes full Chinese text, tone-mark pinyin, and an English rendering.

guān zì zài pú sà , xíng shēn bān ruò bō luó mì duō shí , zhào jiàn wǔ yùn jiē kōng , dù yī qiè kǔ è 。 「 shě lì zi ! sè bù yì kōng , kōng bù yì sè , sè jí shì kōng , kōng jí shì sè ; shòu 、 xiǎng 、 xíng 、 shí , yì fù rú shì 。 「 shě lì zi ! shì zhū fǎ kōng xiāng , bù shēng bù miè , bù gòu bù jìng , bù zēng bù jiǎn 。 shì gù , kōng zhōng wú sè , wú shòu 、 xiǎng 、 xíng 、 shí ; wú yǎn 、 ěr 、 bí 、 shé 、 shēn 、 yì ; wú sè 、 shēng 、 xiāng 、 wèi 、 chù 、 fǎ ; wú yǎn jiè , nǎi zhì wú yì shí jiè ; wú wú míng , yì wú wú míng jǐn , nǎi zhì wú lǎo sǐ , yì wú lǎo sǐ jǐn ; wú kǔ 、 jí 、 miè 、 dào ; wú zhì , yì wú dé , yǐ wú suǒ dé gù 。 「 pú tí sà duǒ , yī bān ruò bō luó mì duō gù , xīn wú guà ài ; wú guà ài gù , wú yǒu kǒng bù , yuǎn lí diān dào mèng xiǎng , jiū jìng niè pán 。 sān shì zhū fú , yī bān ruò bō luó mì duō gù , dé ā nòu duō luó sān miǎo sān pú tí 。 「 gù zhī bān ruò bō luó mì duō , shì dà shén zhòu , shì dà míng zhòu , shì wú shàng zhòu , shì wú děng děng zhòu , néng chú yī qiè kǔ , zhēn shí bù xū 。 」 gù shuō bān ruò bō luó mì duō zhòu , jí shuō zhòu yuē : 「 jiē dì jiē dì bō luó jiē dì bō luó sēng jiē dì pú tí sà pó hē?

觀自在菩薩,行深般若波羅蜜多時,照見五蘊皆空,度一切苦厄。「舍利子!色不異空,空不異色,色即是空,空即是色;受、想、行、識,亦復如是。「舍利子!是諸法空相,不生不滅,不垢不淨,不增不減。是故,空中無色,無受、想、行、識;無眼、耳、鼻、舌、身、意;無色、聲、香、味、觸、法;無眼界,乃至無意識界;無無明,亦無無明盡,乃至無老死,亦無老死盡;無苦、集、滅、道;無智,亦無得,以無所得故。「菩提薩埵,依般若波羅蜜多故,心無罣礙;無罣礙故,無有恐怖,遠離顛倒夢想,究竟涅槃。三世諸佛,依般若波羅蜜多故,得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。「故知般若波羅蜜多,是大神咒,是大明咒,是無上咒,是無等等咒,能除一切苦,真實不虛。」故說般若波羅蜜多咒,即說咒曰:「揭諦揭諦波羅揭諦波羅僧揭諦菩提薩婆訶?

Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, while deeply practicing Prajnaparamita, perceived that the five aggregates are empty and transcended all suffering. Shariputra, form is not different from emptiness, and emptiness is not different from form; form itself is emptiness, emptiness itself form. So too with feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness. In emptiness there is no birth or death, no defilement or purity, no increase or decrease. Therefore in emptiness there is no form, feeling, perception, formation, or consciousness; no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind; no sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, or dharmas; no realm of eye up to no realm of mind-consciousness; no ignorance and no ending of ignorance, up to no aging-and-death and no ending of aging-and-death; no suffering, origin, cessation, or path; no wisdom and no attainment. Because there is nothing to attain, the bodhisattva relies on Prajnaparamita and the mind is without hindrance; without hindrance there is no fear, far from inverted dreams, and one reaches nirvana. All Buddhas of past, present, and future rely on Prajnaparamita and attain unsurpassed perfect enlightenment. Therefore know Prajnaparamita as the great mantra, the great bright mantra, the unsurpassed mantra, the unequalled mantra, able to remove all suffering, true and not false. Thus the mantra is spoken: Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha.

Source

Tradition
Mahayana; chanted universally across Chinese Pure Land, Chan, and Tiantai traditions — present in every East Asian Buddhist morning service.
Source
Sanskrit Prajnaparamita-hridaya; Chinese canonical: Taisho Tripitaka T. 251 (Xuanzang translation, 649 CE).
Translation
Cihang's rendering follows Xuanzang's Chinese translation (649 CE) with minor adaptation for bilingual devotional reading. Note: Kumarajiva's shorter liturgical version also circulates widely; Xuanzang's is the most widely printed modern version.
Note
Devotional presentation for recitation practice, not a scholarly critical edition.
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