Bānruò bōluómìduō xīnjīng 般若波羅蜜多心經
Heart of the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra translated by 玄奘 (譯)
About the work
A short one-juan mid-Táng translation of the Sanskrit Prajñāpāramitā-hṛdaya-sūtra by Xuánzàng 玄奘 (602–664) — the canonical Heart Sūtra of East Asian Buddhism, by far the most widely-recited Buddhist scripture in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese ritual practice. Composed at 永徽元年 = 649 — first translated immediately upon Xuánzàng’s return from India in 645 (the Cíēnzhuàn 慈恩傳 reports that Xuánzàng received the text orally from a sick monk en route to India and chanted it during his desert crossings, a hagiographic origin-story). The Xùzàng preserves the text under T251 with a Míng Tàizǔ imperial preface at the head — a notable accretion. notBefore / notAfter = 649 (date of Xuánzàng’s translation). Cross-reference field cites Nos. 250, 252-255, 257. Preserved as T8 no. 251. Catalog dynasty 唐.
Abstract
Xuánzàng’s translation is the short recension Heart Sūtra and the canonical East Asian form. Major distinctive features:
- Avalokiteśvara as 觀自在 (Guānzìzài, “Sovereign-of-Looking”) rather than the older 觀世音 (Guānshìyīn, “Sound-Looking”) of Kumārajīva — Xuánzàng’s correction based on his Sanskrit philology.
- Sphericalstandard sequence: zhào jiàn wǔyùn jiē kōng, dù yīqiè kǔè 照見五蘊皆空，度一切苦厄 (“perceiving the five aggregates as all empty, ferrying [beings] across all suffering”).
- The doctrinal heart-formula: sè jí shì kōng, kōng jí shì sè; sè bù yì kōng, kōng bù yì sè 色即是空，空即是色；色不異空，空不異色 (“form is itself emptiness, emptiness is itself form; form is not other than emptiness, emptiness is not other than form”).
- The closing mantra: jiēdì jiēdì, bōluójiēdì, bōluósēngjiēdì, pútí sàpóhē 揭諦揭諦，波羅揭諦，波羅僧揭諦，菩提薩婆訶 (gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā).
The text was immediately adopted as the principal liturgical scripture of the Tang Buddhist establishment and has remained so for nearly fourteen centuries. The Míng Tàizǔ imperial preface at the head (御製序 of Hóngwǔ era) confirms its status as the most imperially-promoted Mahāyāna text in early-Míng China. The hagiographic role of the text in Xuánzàng’s pilgrimage — invoked to ward off demons during the desert crossings — became a foundational element of the Xīyóu jì literary cycle.
Translations and research
- See KR6c0127 for principal modern studies of the Hṛdaya tradition.
- Donald S. Lopez Jr., The Heart Sutra Explained (SUNY, 1988); Elaborations on Emptiness (Princeton, 1996).
- Pine Red (Bill Porter), The Heart Sutra: The Womb of Buddhas (Counterpoint, 2004) — accessible English commentary.
Other points of interest
The Heart Sūtra in Xuánzàng’s rendering is the most-recited Buddhist text in the world, sustaining East Asian Buddhist liturgical practice from the 7th century to the present. Its 260 characters compress the core prajñāpāramitā doctrinal program into a memorizable form usable in any monastic or lay devotional setting.
Links
- 玄奘 DILA
- CBETA online
- Translator: Xuánzàng 玄奘 (602–664) — see person note 玄奘
- Sanskrit: Prajñāpāramitā-hṛdaya-sūtra (short recension)
- Earlier counterpart: KR6c0127 Móhē bānruò bōluómì dàmíng zhòu jīng (Kumārajīva)
- Imperial-preface: Míng Tàizǔ Gāohuángdì yùzhì xù 大明太祖高皇帝御製序
- Cross-references: T250 (KR6c0127), T252 (KR6c0129), T253 (KR6c0130), T254, T255, T257
- Dazangthings date evidence (655): [ T ] T = CBETA [Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association]. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924-1932. CBReader v 5.0, 2014. https://dazangthings.nz/cbc/source/1/
- Kanseki DB