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Heart Sūtra

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Cloud and mist reflected in a still mountain lake.

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Bibliography

Tibetan Canonical Texts

bcom ldan ’das ma shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i snying po bam po gcig go. Toh 21, Degé Kangyur vol. 34 (sher phyin, ka), folios 144b–146a.

bcom ldan ’das ma shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i snying po bam po gcig go. Toh 531, Degé Kangyur vol. 88 (rgyud, na), folios 77b–78b.

’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i snying po. Stok no. 28, Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 51 (sras sna tshogs, ka), folios 277a–278b.

Denkarma (pho brang stod thang ldan [/ lhan] dkar gyi chos ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag). Degé Tengyur vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), folios 294b–310a.

Secondary Sources

Attwood, Jayarava. “Heart Murmurs: Some Problems with Conze’s Prajñāpāramitā-hṛdaya.” Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies 8 (2015): 28–48. http://jocbs.org/index.php/jocbs/article/view/104.

Attwood, Jayarava. “Epithets of the Mantra in the Heart Sutra.” Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies 12 (2017a): 26–57. http://jocbs.org/index.php/jocbs/article/view/155.

Attwood, Jayarava. “Form is (Not) Emptiness: The Enigma at the Heart of the Heart Sutra.” Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies 13 (2017b): 52–80. http://www.jocbs.org/index.php/jocbs/article/view/164.

Attwood, Jayarava. “The Buddhas of the Three Times and the Chinese Origins of the Heart Sutra.” Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies 15 (2018): 9–27. http://jocbs.org/index.php/jocbs/article/view/184.

Attwood, Jayarava. “Xuanzang’s Relationship to the Heart Sūtra in Light of the Fangshan Stele.” Journal of Chinese Buddhist Studies 32 (2019): 1–30. http://chinesebuddhiststudies.org/previous_issues/jcbs3201_Attwood(1-30).pdf.

Attwood, Jayarava. “The History of the Heart Sutra as a Palimpsest.” Pacific World, Series Four, no. 1 (2020): 155–82.

Attwood, Jayarava. “Preliminary Notes on the Extended Heart Sutra in Chinese.” Asian Literature and Translation 8 (1) (2021): 63–85. https://alt.cardiffuniversitypress.org/articles/abstract/10.18573/alt.53/.

Conze, Edward. “The Prajñāpāramitā-Hṛdaya Sūtra.” In Thirty Years of Buddhist Studies: Selected Essays, 147–67. Bruno Cassirer, 1967.

Dalai Lama. Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama’s Heart of Wisdom Teachings. Translated and edited by Geshe Thupten Jinpa. Sommerville: Wisdom Publications, 2015.

Herrmann-Pfandt, Adelheid. Die lHan kar ma: ein früher Katalog der ins Tibetische übersetzten buddhistischen Texte. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2008.

Horiuchi, Toshio. “Revisiting the ‘Indian’ Commentaries on the Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya: Vimalamitra’s Interpretation of the ‘Eight Aspects.’ ” Acta Asiatica 121 (2021): 53–81.

Shi, Huifeng. “Apocryphal Treatment for Conze’s Heart Problems: ‘Non-attainment,’ ‘Apprehension,’ and ‘Mental Hanging’ in the Prajñāpāramitā.” Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies 6 (2014): 72–105. http://jocbs.org/index.php/jocbs/article/view/75.

Ishii, Kōsei (石井 公成). 『般若心経』をめぐる諸問題 : ジャン・ナティエ氏の玄奘創作説を疑う [Issues Surrounding the Prajñāpāramitā-hṛdaya: Doubts Concerning Jan Nattier’s Theory of a Composition by Xuanzang]. Indogaku Bukkyōgaku kenkyū 印度學佛教學研究 64 (2015): 499–92. Translated by Jeffrey Kotyk.

Kotyk, Jeffrey. “Chinese State and Buddhist Historical Sources on Xuanzang: Historicity and the Daci’en si sanzang fashi zhuan 大慈恩寺三藏法師傳.” T’oung Pao 105 (2019): 513–44.

Lopez, Donald S. Elaborations on Emptiness: Uses of the Heart Sūtra. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996.

Lusthaus, Dan. “The Heart Sūtra in Chinese Yogācāra: Some Comparative Comments on the Heart Sūtra Commentaries of Wŏnch’ŭk and K’uei-chi.” International Journal of Buddhist Thought and Culture 3 (2003): 59–103.

Nālandā Translation Committee. The Sūtra of the Heart of Transcendent Knowledge. 1980. Online publication. https://www.nalandatranslation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Heart-Sutra-for-website.pdf.

Nattier, Jan. “The Heart Sūtra: A Chinese Apocryphal Text?” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 15, no. 2 (1992): 153–223.

Padmakara Translation Group, trans. The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-five Thousand Lines (Pañca­viṃśati­sāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitā, Toh 9). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023.

Silk, Jonathan. The Heart Sutra in Tibetan: A Critical Edition of the Two Recensions Contained in the Kanjur. Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde, vol. 34. Vienna: Arbeitskreis fur Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien, Universitat Wien, 1994. https://openphilology.eu/media/pages/publications-jonathan-silk/3568398551-1639738170/authored_1994_heart.pdf.

Sparham, Gareth (2021). “The Heart Sūtra as Dhāraṇī.” Acta Asiatica 121 (2021): 99–125.

Sparham, Gareth, trans. (2022). The Transcendent Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines (Aṣṭa­daśa­sāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitā, Toh 10). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2022.

Sparham, Gareth, trans. (2024). The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines (Śata­sāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitā, Toh 8). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024.

Translations & sourcesEditions & translators
Source edition · 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha ↗84000.co
Original linked edition · lotsawahouse.org ↗

These are the editions cited elsewhere in the Atlas; wording and numbering may differ from the reading shown here.

Original linked edition · plumvillage.org ↗

These are the editions cited elsewhere in the Atlas; wording and numbering may differ from the reading shown here.

Original linked edition · plumvillage.org ↗

These are the editions cited elsewhere in the Atlas; wording and numbering may differ from the reading shown here.

The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom ↗

Read 84000’s translation from the Tibetan canon, with an introduction and notes.

Translator’s introduction & reference material

Edition & attribution

84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha

First published 2022

Current version v 1.0.16

84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha is a global non-profit initiative to translate all the Buddha’s words into modern languages, and to make them available to everyone.

This work is provided under the protection of a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution - Non-commercial - No-derivatives) 4.0 copyright. It may be copied or printed for fair use, but only with full attribution, and not for commercial advantage or personal compensation. For full details, see the Creative Commons license.

· Toh 21 ·

Degé Kangyur, vol. 34 (sher phyin, ka), folios 144b–146a
For referencing Tibetan sources, please see our Scholar’s Edition

TRANSLATED INTO TIBETAN BY

Gelo · Namkha · Rinchen Dé · Vimalamitra

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Introductions, reflection questions and added section headings are editorial material, separate from the attributed translation.

The opening image is AI-generated nature artwork created for Buddhist Atlas. It is an evocative companion, not a depiction of the text’s historical setting.

The linked publisher provides the text and its usage terms.

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TalksIndexed references to this text85MeditationsIndexed references to this text1
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  • Madhyamaka

    Related philosophical context: reasoning about emptiness.

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  • Translation into Chinese

    Transmission context for the sūtra’s East Asian reception.

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  • Mahāyāna

    Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Mahāyāna.

  • Chinese Chan

    Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Chinese Chan.

  • Plum Village

    Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Plum Village.

  • Japanese Zen

    Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Japanese Zen.

  • Sōtō

    Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Sōtō.

  • Ōbaku

    Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Ōbaku.

  • Newar Buddhism

    Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Newar Buddhism.

  • Philosophical traditions

    Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Philosophical traditions.

  • Madhyamaka

    Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Madhyamaka.

  • East Asian traditions

    Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to East Asian traditions.

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The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom, the Blessed Mother

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