Verses Extract From
The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra
Wonderful wisdom can reach the other shore
right now;
The true
mind itself can merge with
enlightenment’s
source.
Dharma and analogy comprise its title,
which
transcends the relative.
Empty of the characteristics of all dharmas
is this
substance beyond words.
Fundamental non-attainment is its purpose
and intent,
And by using its power of eradication,
the three
obstacles are cleansed away.
The “butter division” is determined to be
the meaning
of this teaching,
A maha turning around: this is the
prajna boat.
Reversing
the light to shine within, Avalokiteshva
Bodhisattva.
His mind is thus, thus, unmoving, a superior one
at peace;
With total understanding of the ever-shining,
he is host
and master.
Six types of psychic power are an ordinary matter,
And even less can the winds and rains of the eight
directions
cause alarm.
He rolls it up and secretly hides it away;
And lets it go to fill the entire world.
Practice
the Way, cultivate yourself, and do not search outside.
The prajna of your own nature is the deep and secret cause.
White billows soar to the heavens, the black waves cease;
Nirvana, the other shore, effortlessly is climbed.
Time and again, time and again, don’t miss the chance;
Care for it, be deligent, take hold of the divine
innocence.
Unclear mirage: thus the news arrives;
Now it’s there, not it’s not – see what is originally
esteemed.
The three
lights shine everywhere, permeating the three forces.
The one returns to the place of union, yet the one comes
forth
again.
See that form is emptiness and that feeling is the same
way;
False thoughts are the shifting currents, while formation
is the
arranger of
karma;
With consciousness, which understands differences, the five
shadows are
completed.
Mirror-flowers and water-moon, beyond defiling dust:
Emptiness not empty – the great function of clarity;
Vision is yet not a view – happiness indeed!
Across the
sea of suffering, one leaves the revolving wheel.
The rains disperse, the heavens clear; just then the
moon is
fully bright.
The ch’ien source is the Way-substance, among people
the sage.
His undecaying golden body is rare in the world.
Cast off life; what need of thousand-year drugs?
Attain extinction; why wait ten thousand kalpas?
Five dwellings ended, the two deaths disappear forever.
Roam at will from East to West, throughout the Dharma
Realm.
Shariputra
is the solid and durable proof;
The name means “pelican” – the demeanor of his mother.
With precepts and samadhi complete and bright, the
pearl-light
appears;
Practice and understanding interact, and his body is
transparent.
How does there come to be great wisdom? Because the
stupid make
their mark.
Already in his mother’s womb a fine eloquence had been
born;
This real wisdom is complete within all people;
Grasp it at Jeweled Wood Peak at Ts’ao Creek.
“Form does
not differ from emptiness”: “is” is like “is not”.
“Emptiness does not differ from for”: the distinction is
of substance
and function.
“Form itself is emptiness”: its true source is fathomed.
“Emptiness itself is form”: the false flow has dried up.
Mountains, rivers, and the great earth are only
manifestations
of consciousness.
“Dream, illusion, bubble, shadow” – so it is!
Be careful not to seek outside; maintain the Middle Way.
To cast down stained threads of cause is to come toward
the Thus.
Feeling,
cognition, formation, and consciousness are
like
emptiness and form.
Again he calls, “Shariputra, pay attention, listen!”
“All dharmas are empty of characteristics,” lacking a
nature of
their own.
“Not produced, not destroyed,” they silently pervade;
“Not defiled, not pure,” they are separate from
corrupting
filth;
“They neither increase nor diminish” – enlighten the
dark and
mysterious middle.
In the pure and deep ultimate silence, all creation
is
transcended:
A sudden awakening to the original perfect fusion of
self and
dharmas.
Therefore
in emptiness there are no characteristics
of form.
Feeling, cognition, formation, and consciousness
disappear
also,
As well as the six faculties and six objects, together
with six
consciousnesses.
With three minds in three ceasings, three closures are
passed
through.
The great cart of the white ox turns with the sound
lin-lin.
A little yellow-faced child jumps and thumps in
agitation.
What instructive meaning is there in this?
The front double-three and the back double-three meet.
No ending of ignorance – its basic nature is empty.
False activity, discrimination, followed by name
and form;
The six entrances, contact, feeling, love, grasping,
having;
Rebirth, and old age and death are each that way too.
For ten thousand miles the sky is clear, without a
cloud or a
shadow;
Still water fills a deep pool and reveals the
light of the
moon.
Like people who drink when thirsty and know the
hot from the
cold.
Talking about food, and helping it grow: the work
is always
wanting.
together,
Accumulating is feelings which beckon, each unlike the
other.
Only through extinction can the ultimate joy be attained.
Therefore, this is the Way that should be practiced
to awaken to
the emptiness of dharmas.
Through three turnings of the Four Truths the Dharma-
wheel
revolves,
Seven shares in enlightenment, the eightfold upright
path,
intention, mindfulness, and diligence.
One day connect right through and ripen the fruit
of sagehood;
Partial truth with residue is just a conjured city.
paramitas.
The Perfect cultivates to the point of wonderful
enlightenment,
where
noumenon is suddenly clarified.
Without any wisdom, he destroys attachment and empties
every
characteristic;
Without
attainment, he has no verification and comprehends
the fusion of dharmas.
He makes a jeweled realm appear on the tip of a
single hair.
And he turns the Dharma-Wheel while sitting on a
speck of
dust.
These words are spoken, yet few have faith;
I do not know how many know my sound.
There is no cultivation, verification, or attainment.
What has characteristics and is conditioned has a
time of
demise,
And Bodhisattvas, in becoming enlightened to this truth,
Trust to prajna, and become even with the other shore.
The mind without impediments leaves the retribution-
obstacle
behind;
A nature totally, truly empty puts an end to words and
thoughts.
I send these words to those of future worth: seek it
in yourself;
A head piled on top of a head is the height of stupidity.
Having no impediments is the true letting go;
When fear is no more, the activity-obstacles depart.
Distortion left far behind, the characteristic of
production
perishes;
The coarse, fine, and dust-and-sand delusions of
your
dream-thoughts become Thus.
The three obstacles are dissolved, the three virtues
perfected.
The six faculties are used interchangeably, certifying
the
attainment of the six psychic powers.
When you are capable of this wonderful truth, you
yourself
enjoy its use;
Those who know easily enlighten the dark and difficult
path.
perish;
This final perfect stillness is called nirvana.
Those passed by, not yet come, and now existing,
All Buddhas of the three periods of time, rooted in
a common
source,
Through reliance on this prajna paramita,
Reach the genuine and equal enlightenment of the
supreme
Immortal.
If those who practice are capable only of diligence
and vigor,
What worry can there be about not attaining the
field of the
Dharma-nature?
It is “a great spiritual mantra,” hard to fathom fully;
“A great bright mantra,” illuminating a thousand times
a thousand
times a thousand world systems.
“A supreme mantra,” the utmost fruition of
enlightenment;
“An unequalled mantra,” reaching the ultimate peak.
All suffering is removed, and the turning wheel comes
to rest.
“Genuine and not false”: everyone progresses.
What has been spoken discloses the profound prajna,
And briefly explains the dhyana of the Patriarchs of
the East and
West.
As part of the esoteric, the mantra can’t be thought
about;
It is followed by everyone together, like the edict
of a monarch
And like a secret password among the troops.
If one’s reply to the question is not fitting,
one is
quickly put in line.
The wonderful truth of the Great Vehicle is apart
from
distinctions,
Yet ordinary people see false conditioned cause
as true.
Guided by the finger, gaze at the moon; the finger
is not the
moon;
Borrowing the mantra, light the mind. The mantra
is the mind.