The Heart Sūtra in the Kangyur
In Tibet, only the longer version of The Heart Sūtra was included in the various Kangyur collections, where it has been preserved in two recensions, which Jonathan Silk has designated Recension A and Recension B.26 These two recensions represent individual manuscript traditions and appear to have been translated into Tibetan by different translators, although the exact details remain unknown.27 The two recensions vary on several significant points, such as the title of the text, the name of the absorption in which the Buddha rests, the mantra that Avalokiteśvara reveals, and the presence or absence of a translator’s colophon.
The fact that The Heart Sūtra incorporates elements of both sūtra and tantra, and therefore has been variously classified throughout its history, is evident from its placement in the different Kangyur collections, where it often appears twice in both the Tantra section and the Perfection of Wisdom section.28 Generally speaking, all Kangyurs include Recension A in their Tantra sections, whereas some Kangyurs, mostly those of the Thempangma (them spangs ma) branch, also include Recension B in the Perfection of Wisdom section.29 The Kangyurs that belong to the Tshalpa (tshal pa) branch mostly include the text only once, in the Tantra section.30 In the Degé Kangyur, however, the text appears in both the Perfection of Wisdom and the Tantra sections, but, unlike the Thempangma Kangyurs, the Degé Kangyur includes Recension A both times, thus omitting Recension B.31
Our translation is based primarily on the version of Recension A that is included in the Degé Kangyur. We have made Recension A our primary focus in order to present in English one important version of The Heart Sūtra as it has been transmitted in Tibet since the early ninth century, rather than attempting to edit this version in search of an elusive urtext. However, to give the reader a taste of the differences between the two Tibetan recensions—differences that the Tibetans found worthy of preservation in their Kangyurs—we have included in the form of notes the most significant variations between the Degé text and the version of Recension B that is included in the Perfection of Wisdom section in the Stok Palace Kangyur.32 We have also attempted, whenever possible, to let our translation be informed by the published Sanskrit editions of The Heart Sūtra, the eight commentaries on the text in the Tengyur collections, and the growing scholarly literature on The Heart Sūtra.