Mantra Section: Unraveling the Mantra of the Heart Sutra

“Therefore, one should know that the Prajna-Paramita (Perfection of Wisdom) is the great divine mantra…the unequalled mantra…”
Is the Heart Sutra fundamentally a sutra, or is it also a mantra?
Why does the Heart Sutra, which expounds the Mahāyāna doctrine of emptiness and prajna (wisdom), contain a mantra?
What is the relationship between the mantra of the Heart Sutra and the teaching of emptiness in prajna?
How should Buddhist practitioners regard and cultivate this teaching in their practice?

■ Tsui-Ku Hsu (許翠谷)

Among the well-known Buddhist scriptures, the Heart Sutra is the most concise in wording, the richest in content, and the most widely circulated. The Chinese versions currently used in China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and other regions are mostly translations by the Tang Dynasty Master Xuanzang. Master Xuanzang not only translated the Heart Sutra but had already formed a deep Dharma connection with it even before embarking on his westward journey to India to obtain the scriptures.

According to the Biography of the Tripitaka Master of the Great Ci’en Monastery of the Great Tang Dynasty, Master Xuanzang once cared for an elderly man suffering from severe leprosy while studying in Sichuan. Deeply moved by Xuanzang’s compassion, the old man later presented him with a copy of the Heart Sutra. During Xuanzang’s westward pilgrimage to India, he encountered numerous dangers and hardships. Whether crossing the desolate shifting sands-- where neither birds nor beasts could survive--- or facing terrifying apparitions and demonic illusions conjured by demons and spirits, he single-mindedly invoked the sacred name of Guanyin Bodhisattva. When calamities could not be completely dispelled, he would sincerely recite the Heart Sutra. It is said that whenever he recited the sutra, all such ghostly shadows immediately vanished without a trace.

This passage not only records the karmic conditions under which Master Xuanzang first encountered the Heart Sutra, but also conveys to later generations the idea that reciting the Heart Sutra has the power to dispel calamities and remove karmic obstructions.

In particular, the sutra declares: “Therefore, one should know that the Prajna-Paramita is the great divine mantra, the great wisdom mantra, the unsurpassed mantra, the unequalled mantra, capable of removing all suffering, true and not false.” It then concludes with the mantra: “Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha.”

This naturally makes people curious about what profound meaning is contained within the mantra of the Heart Sutra. Can it truly extinguish all suffering and liberate beings from affliction and adversity?

 Prajna / Wisdom Is the Great Mantra 

“The mantra of the Heart Sutra is a supporting text of prajna. It serves as a method for sustaining the continuity of correct faith in the practice of prajna.” In The History of the Philosophy of the Heart Sutra, Master Dongchu interprets the mantra of the Heart Sutra according to the traditional structural divisions of the sutra. He points out that the concluding section of the Heart Sutra contains two parts.

The passage from “Therefore, one should know that the Prajna-Paramita…” to “…true and not false” functions as a verse of praise in the Heart Sutra. The mantra section, from "Therefore, the Prajna-Paramita Mantra…" to "Bodhi Svaha," serves as a supporting expression of the teaching of emptiness in prajna.

Because a “mantra” or Dharani is understood to embody and uphold immeasurable meanings, possess inconceivable spiritual power, and carry the merit of warding off calamities and removing all forms of obstacles, Master Dongchu held that the first half of the circulation section of the Heart Sutra employs the “Great Mantra” as a metaphor for Prajna-Paramita itself. In this way, it serves to praise the profound, vast, and unobstructed wisdom of emptiness, which illuminates and cuts through ignorance and delusion, and stands supreme among all Dharma teachings.

Therefore, the mantras in the Heart Sutra should not be understood only as the mantra at the end of the text. Rather, in order to truly understand the meaning of the text, the mantras must be grasped from the perspective of the prajna essence permeating the entire sutra, which illuminates the emptiness of the five aggregates.

In the Commentaries on the Heart Sutra, Master Sheng Yen likewise explains that the essential teaching of the entire Heart Sutra lies in using prajna to break through attachment to the self and to realize that the five aggregates are all empty. When emptiness is directly realized, one is able, through profound and expansive wisdom, to transcend all afflictions and obstructions, thereby bringing all practices to fulfillment.

If one can cultivate and actualize the teaching in this way, then Prajna-Paramita itself becomes a kind of mantra capable of removing all suffering, true and not false. This not only echoes the teaching that links the beginning and end of the sutra—“illuminating and realizing that the five aggregates are empty, one transcends all suffering and distress”—but also inspires profound faith in the wisdom of prajna and emptiness.

However, if Prajna-Paramita itself already functions as a mantra, why does the Heart Sutra further conclude with an actual mantra as a means of circulation and support?

In his Commentary on the Prajna-Paramita Heart Sutra, Master Yin Shun explains that sentient beings are habitually attached to phenomena as truly existent. Consequently, when they hear the Heart Sutra negate all physical and mental phenomena while expounding the teaching of emptiness in prajna, it often conflicts with their deeply rooted tendencies, making them difficult to accept with faith and understanding.

Thus, during the period of Indian Mahayana Buddhism, esoteric mantras were incorporated into the scripture in response to the capacities and needs of sentient beings, thereby facilitating the propagation and acceptance of the Mahayana path of prajna wisdom.

For example, the mantra at the end of the sutra may be interpreted as "Gone! Gone! Gone to the other shore! All gone to the other shore, and attain Buddhahood!"

Master Yin Shun therefore held that the meaning of this mantra is fully consistent with the central doctrine of the Heart Sutra. Both are grounded in wisdom as their guide, thus enabling sentient beings to transcend this shore of suffering and affliction, as well as to reach the other shore of liberation and freedom.

Master Dongchu likewise held that placing the paramita—the means of crossing beyond all suffering and distress—in the form of a mantra at the end of the sutra serves to inspire deep faith and understanding in practitioners. Through wholehearted recitation and sustained practice, it enables them to preserve the continuity of right faith in prajna and to further embody the wisdom of the Heart Sutra within daily life, ultimately realizing the wisdom of ultimate reality.

The Source of the Heart Sutra Mantra

Although the mantra of the Heart Sutra corresponds closely with the philosophy of prajna, and the Chinese version of the Heart Sutra translated by Master Xuanzang is regarded as the distilled essence of the six-hundred-volume The Great Prajna-Paramita Sutra, this particular mantra itself does not appear within that vast scripture.

Through extensive study of texts such as the Large Parjna Sutra and The Great Prajna-Paramita Sutra, Master Dongchu carefully analyzed and compared the scriptural sources of the Heart Sutra. He discovered that nearly every section of the sutra can be traced to parallel passages within The Great Prajna-Paramita Sutra, with the sole exception of the concluding mantra. Instead, he found that a similar mantra appears in the Dharanisamgraha Sutra, translated by the Indian monk Atikuta.

Mr. Lin Guangming, Deputy Director of the Center for Buddhist Studies at Fo Guang University and a specialist in mantras, pointed out that the mantra of the Heart Sutra bears an extremely close resemblance to a passage in volume three of the Dharanisamgraha Sutra, in the section titled Great Heart of Prajna Dharani: “Tadyatha, Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha.”

Moreover, the monk Atikuta translated numerous Esoteric Buddhist scriptures at Da Ci'en Temple during the Tang Dynasty, which influenced the corpus of texts translated by Xuanzang at that time. Consequently, the mantra of the Heart Sutra has often been mistakenly regarded as originating from the Dharanisamgraha Sutra.

Mr. Lin Guangming further explains that the Dharanisamgraha Sutra was compiled and selectively translated by Atikuta from the Great Vajra Bodhimanda Sutra. The text primarily expounds the mudras and mantras associated with various Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and heavenly deities, and belongs to the corpus of Esoteric Buddhist ritual literature. As such, it incorporates many mantras drawn from the prajna class of scriptures.

“For this reason,” he notes, “to claim that the mantra of the Heart Sutra originated from the Dharanisamgraha Sutra risks reversing cause and effect. During the period of Indian Mahayana Buddhism, the Sanskrit Heart Sutra may in fact have predated this compilation.”

Practice in Daily Life Is Fundamental

Regardless of which scripture the mantra may have originated from, whether it was added at a later period, or how great the merits of mantra recitation may be, the most essential point remains the actual practice and realization of the wondrous function of Prajna-Paramita in one’s daily life.

Master Yin Shun explained in the Commentary on the Prajna-Paramita Heart Sutra that although Prajna-Paramita is the Buddha Dharma’s method for liberating sentient beings from suffering and affliction, the sutra’s teaching of “transcending all suffering and distress” and “removing all suffering” must ultimately be realized through the transformation of one’s own body and mind. This requires deeply understanding that all phenomena arise, change, and cease through the coming together and dispersal of causes and conditions.
Although the wisdom of emptiness is regarded as the highest wisdom, it is not something to be sought externally. Rather, the very arising and changing of phenomena in ordinary daily life constitute the clearest expression and living practice of prajna itself.
 
Master Sheng Yen, who entered the path of prajna through mantra recitation and sutra practice, embodied this teaching through faith, practice, and realization in everyday life. From the seemingly ordinary and unremarkable, he awakened to the true nature of life and existence, as expressed in his verse: “Within emptiness, there are weeping and laughing.”



Related articles: 

The Ever-Popular Prajnaparamita

​How to Practice the Heart Sutra

Mantra Section: Unraveling the Mantra of the Heart Sutra

Mantra Box: Methods for Practicing the Heart Sutra Mantra


Resource: Issue 325 of Humanity Magazine, Dharma Drum Publishing Corporation
Photo: 常鐸法師
Translation: Brenda  
Editing: 演香法師 (Vevenerable Yan Hsiang), Keith Brown