반야심경

1

觀自在菩薩 行深般若波羅蜜多時

guān zì zài pú sà xíng shēn bō rě bō luó mì duō shí

Key Message

When one cultivates the eye of deep wisdom, the gate of truth opens at last.

▸This opening verse of the Heart Sutra describes Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva (Guanyin) engaged in the practice of deep Prajñāpāramitā — the perfection of wisdom.

This opening verse of the Heart Sutra describes Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva (Guanyin) engaged in the practice of deep Prajñāpāramitā — the perfection of wisdom. The name 'Guān Zì Zài' (觀自在) means 'the one who perceives freely and without obstruction,' pointing to the bodhisattva's ability to penetrate all phenomena without hindrance. 'Xíng Shēn' (行深) indicates not mere intellectual knowledge but deep, embodied practice and realization. Prajñāpāramitā (般若波羅蜜多) is the transliteration of the Sanskrit Prajñāpāramitā — the wisdom that carries one to the other shore (nirvāṇa). This single verse establishes the narrator, setting, and the foundational principle that depth of practice is the gateway to awakening.

Related Verses

For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
2

照見五蘊皆空 度一切苦厄

zhào jiàn wǔ yùn jiē kōng dù yī qiē kǔ è

Key Message

When one penetrates the absence of inherent self in all phenomena, freedom from all suffering follows.

▸This verse declares that Avalokiteśvara, through the light of wisdom, clearly perceives that all five aggregates (skandhas) are empty — and thereby crossed over all suffering and distress.

3

舍利子 色不異空 空不異色 色即是空 空即是色

shè lì zǐ sè bù yì kōng kōng bù yì sè sè jí shì kōng kōng jí shì sè

Key Message

Form and emptiness are not two; phenomena themselves are precisely emptiness.

▸This is the most fundamental declaration of the Heart Sutra, in which the bodhisattva addresses Śāriputra (the foremost disciple in wisdom) directly.

4

受想行識 亦復如是

shòu xiǎng xíng shí yì fù rú shì

Key Message

Sensation, perception, formation, and consciousness — all are empty; there is no fixed self anywhere to be found.

▸Having established the emptiness of form (the first aggregate) in the preceding verse, this passage concisely extends the same truth to the remaining four aggregates: sensation (受, vedanā), perception (想, saṃjñā), mental formations (行, saṃskāra), and consciousness (識, vijñāna).

5

舍利子 是諸法空相 不生不滅 不垢不淨 不增不減

shè lì zǐ shì zhū fǎ kōng xiāng bù shēng bù miè bù gòu bù jìng bù zēng bù jiǎn

Key Message

The nature of emptiness is a realm of absolute freedom that cannot be bound by any relative concept.

▸Addressing Śāriputra once more, the sutra describes the empty nature (kōng xiāng, 空相) of all dharmas through three pairs of negations.

6

是故空中無色 無受想行識

shì gù kōng zhōng wú sè wú shòu xiǎng xíng shí

Key Message

In the dimension of emptiness, none of the elements we take to constitute the 'self' can hold its ground.

▸'Therefore' (是故), within the dimension of emptiness, there is no form, and there is no sensation, perception, mental formations, or consciousness.

7

無眼耳鼻舌身意 無色聲香味觸法

wú yǎn ěr bí shé shēn yì wú sè shēng xiāng wèi chù fǎ

Key Message

Both the sensing subject and the sensed object are without substance; the very root of sensory attachment is shaken.

▸In the dimension of emptiness, there are no six sense organs (六根: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind) and no corresponding six sense objects (六境: form, sound, smell, taste, touch, mental objects).

8

無眼界 乃至無意識界

wú yǎn jiè nǎi zhì wú yì shí jiè

Key Message

All levels and domains of cognition are empty; the entire experiential world opens without obstruction.

▸There is no realm of the eye (眼界) and, extending to, no realm of mind-consciousness (意識界).

9

無無明 亦無無明盡 乃至無老死 亦無老死盡

wú wú míng yì wú wú míng jìn nǎi zhì wú lǎo sǐ yì wú lǎo sǐ jìn

Key Message

Neither the chain of suffering nor the severing of that chain can become an object of clinging.

▸There is no ignorance (無明, avidyā) — the first link of dependent origination — and no exhaustion of ignorance either; extending to, there is no old age and death (老死), and no exhaustion of old age and death either.

10

無苦集滅道 無智亦無得

wú kǔ jí miè dào wú zhì yì wú dé

Key Message

True awakening is not attaining something but releasing even the attachment to attaining.

▸Even the four noble truths (四聖諦) — suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path — are not present in the dimension of emptiness; nor is there wisdom (智) or attainment (得).

11

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

yǐ wú suǒ dé gù pú tí sà duǒ yī bō rě bō luó mì duō gù xīn wú guà ài wú guà ài gù wú yǒu kǒng bù yuǎn lí diān dǎo mèng xiǎng jiū jìng niè pán

Key Message

When the mind is free of all obstruction, fear vanishes; awakening from all illusion, one reaches perfect peace.

▸This verse contains the practical conclusion of the sutra.

12

三世諸佛 依般若波羅蜜多故 得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提

sān shì zhū fó yī bō rě bō luó mì duō gù dé ā nòu duō luó sān miǎo sān pú tí

Key Message

All beings who have attained awakening across all time have walked this path of wisdom.

▸All the Buddhas of past, present, and future (三世諸佛) also, by relying on Prajñāpāramitā, attained anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi (阿耨多羅三藐三菩提) — the highest, perfect awakening.

13

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

gù zhī bō rě bō luó mì duō shì dà shén zhòu shì dà míng zhòu shì wú shàng zhòu shì wú děng děng zhòu néng chú yī qiē kǔ zhēn shí bù xū

Key Message

The wisdom of Prajñāpāramitā possesses genuine power capable of sweeping away all suffering.

▸This verse praises Prajñāpāramitā in four ways: it is the great mantra of divine power (大神咒), the great mantra of luminosity (大明咒), the unsurpassed mantra (無上咒), and the unequalled mantra (無等等咒).

14

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

gù shuō bō rě 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

Key Message

Now let us go — beyond language and concept, completely crossing to the shore of awakening.

▸This is the final verse and the essential mantra (眞言, dhāraṇī) of the sutra.