Heart Sutra Essential

Here I have scaled down the Heart Sutra, also known as Maka Hannya Haramitsu in the Zen Buddhist tradition, to its essentials. Below we have the original, then translated and abridged to the essential version. It was a fun process and something of a curiosity for all pillow warmers out there.

Everything and all is empty
There’s nothing to drag us down
What is there makes no difference
From what wasn’t there all along
What’s there is empty, what isn’t, isn’t there anyway
Everything and all is empty, even what we feel today
There’s nothing on my mind
No reason to fear
delusions don’t burden my heart no more
I found some peace of mind
Of what was and is to come
Relying on my emptiness
The lesson learned of love
Gone, gone Gone utterly far beyond
What a feeling

Heart Sutra

When the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara.
Was Coursing in the Deep Prajna Paramita.
He Perceived That All Five Skandhas Are Empty.
Thus He Overcame All Ills and Suffering.
Oh, Sariputra, Form Does not Differ From the Void,
And the Void Does Not Differ From Form.
Form is Void and Void is Form;
The Same is True For Feelings, Perceptions, Volitions and Consciousness.
Sariputra, the Characteristics of the Voidness of All Dharmas
Are Non-Arising, Non-Ceasing, Non-Defiled, Non-Pure, Non-Increasing, Non-Decreasing.
Therefore, in the Void There Are No Forms,
No Feelings, Perceptions, Volitions or Consciousness.
No Eye, Ear, Nose, Tongue, Body or Mind;
No Form, Sound, Smell, Taste, Touch or Mind Object; No Realm of the Eye,
Until We Come to No realm of Consciousness.
No ignorance and Also No Ending of Ignorance,
Until We Come to No Old Age and Death and No Ending of Old Age and Death.
Also, There is No Truth of Suffering,
Of the Cause of Suffering,
Of the Cessation of Suffering, Nor of the Path.
There is No Wisdom, and There is No Attainment Whatsoever.
Because There is Nothing to Be Attained,
The Bodhisattva Relying On Prajna Paramita Has No Obstruction in His Mind.
Because There is No Obstruction, He Has no Fear,
And He passes Far Beyond Confused Imagination.
And Reaches Ultimate Nirvana.
The Buddhas of the Past, Present and Future,
By Relying on Prajna Paramita
Have Attained Supreme Enlightenment.
Therefore, the Prajna Paramita is the Great Magic Spell,
The Spell of Illumination, the Supreme Spell,
Which Can Truly Protect One From All Suffering Without Fail.
Therefore He Uttered the Spell of Prajnaparmita,
Saying Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha.