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Bodhicitta Sangha Daily Prayers and Practices
Bodhicitta Sangha Daily Prayers and Practices
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Essence of the Perfection of Wisdom | The Heart Sutra
Bhagavti Prajpramit Hdaya (Sanskrit) | Sherab Nyingpo (Tibetan)
If you wish to practice this sutra, visualize the Tatagata in the sky before you. He holds the mudra that subdues mara and is
surrounded by the members of the Hinayana and Mahayana sanghas, including Avalokiteshvara and Shariputra, who are engaged in
discussion. As you contemplate the nature of emptiness, recite this profound sutra as much as possible, up to seven times, and repeat the
vidya mantra a suitable number of times as well.
Then, through the power of the Buddha, venerable Shariputra addressed noble Avalokiteshvara, the
bodhisattva mahasattva: How should a son or daughter of noble family who wishes to practice the
profound perfection of wisdom train?
Form is emptiness; emptiness also is form. Form is not other than emptiness, emptiness is not other than
form. Just so, sensation, perception, formation, and consciousness are emptiness.
O Shariputra, all dharmas (phenomena; ch) are emptiness in just this way. There are no characteristics.
There is no birth and no cessation. There is neither impurity nor absence of impurity. There is no
increase and no decline.
O Shariputra, since this is the case, in emptiness there is no form, no sensation, no perception, no
formation, and no consciousness; no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, and no mind; no forms,
no sounds, no smells, no tastes, no touch, and no phenomena; no eye element to no mind element, up to
no mind consciousness element; no ignorance and no end of ignorance, up to no old age and death and
no end of old age and death. In the same way, there is no suffering, no source of suffering, no cessation
of suffering, and no path; no wisdom, no attainment and no non-attainment.
Therefore, Shariputra, since bodhisattvas have nothing to attain, they rely upon and dwell in the
perfection of wisdom. Since their minds are unobscured, they have no fear. Transcending all forms of
misconception, they reach nirvana. All the buddhas throughout the three times as well rely upon the
perfection of wisdom, and in so doing become perfect buddhas, actualizing unsurpassed, true, complete
enlightenment.
Therefore, the mantra of the perfection of wisdom, the mantra of great insight, the unsurpassed
mantra, the mantra equal to that which has no equal, the mantra that completely pacifies all suffering
should be known as truth, for it is not false.
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The perfection of wisdom mantra is spoken thus:
Shariputra, a bodhisattva mahasattva should practice the profound perfection of wisdom in this way.
The Bhagavan then arose from his absorption and said to noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva
mahasattva: Good, good, O son of noble family! Thus it is, son of noble family, thus it is! The profound
perfection of wisdom should be practiced just as you have taught. In this, all the tatagatas rejoice!
When the Bhagavan said this, venerable Shariputra and noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva
mahasattva, along with the entire retinue and the world with its gods, humans, demi-gods, and
gandharvas rejoiced and praised the words of the Bhagavan.
In times past, the king of gods, Indra, pondered the profound nature of the perfection of wisdom and
chanted its liturgy. In this way, he dispelled all negative, harmful forces and other factors that create
discord.
[Clap at each !]
Just so, by pondering the profound nature of the Great Mother, the Perfection of Wisdom, and chanting
this liturgy, may all negative, harmful forces and other factors that create discord be dispelled! May they
disappear! May they be pacified! May they be thoroughly pacified!
Conclude by dedicating the merit, making aspirations, and reciting auspicious prayers.
1 ma tsa wa sherab, prajnmamlamadhymakakrik; Ngrjuna: The one who has revealed that the state of peacethe origin of
dependent arisingis unceasing, unborn, not negated, not eternal, not coming, not going, not different, and not similar and that all
elaborations are thoroughly pacified is the fully perfected Buddha. I prostrate to every word of his sacred speech.
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