Heart Sutra

A reproduction of the palm-leaf manuscript in Siddham script, originally held at Hōryū-ji Temple, Japan; now located in the Tokyo National Museum at the Gallery of Hōryū-ji Treasure. The original copy may be the earliest extant Sanskrit manuscript dated to the 7th–8th century CE.[1]

The Heart Sūtra[note 1] is a popular sutra in Mahāyāna Buddhism. In Sanskrit, the title Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya translates as "The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom".

The Sutra famously states, "Form is emptiness (śūnyatā), emptiness is form." It is a condensed exposition on the Buddhist Mahayana teaching of the Two Truths doctrine, which says that ultimately all phenomena are Śūnyatā (emptiness).

It has been called "the most frequently used and recited text in the entire Mahayana Buddhist tradition."[2] The text has been translated into English dozens of times from Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan, as well as other source languages.

  1. ^ e-Museum 2018   Ink on pattra (palmyra leaves used for writing upon) ink on paper Heart Sutra: 4.9x28.0 Dharani: 4.9x27.9/10.0x28.3 Late Gupta period/7–8th century Tokyo National Museum N-8'
  2. ^ Brunnhölzl 2017.


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