In short: the Heart Sutra is a short Mahayana text in which Avalokitesvara tells Shariputra that the five aggregates are empty: form is emptiness, emptiness is form. It ends with the mantra "gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha", often rendered "gone, gone, gone beyond, gone completely beyond, awakening, so be it." It is chanted daily in Zen, Tibetan and other Mahayana temples.
The key lines
- The five aggregates are empty. See the five aggregates.
- Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.
- No suffering, no cause, no path: from the standpoint of emptiness these are not fixed things.
In practice
Heart Sutra chanting is part of Zen services and many Mahayana temples; see first visit to a Zen center. Compare not-self and meditation on emptiness.
Related: Vajrayana · mala beads · Buddhist chanting · Mahayana
Questions people ask
What is the Heart Sutra about?
Emptiness: that the five aggregates and all things lack a fixed, independent self. It is among the shortest and most chanted Mahayana scriptures.
What does 'form is emptiness' mean?
Everything arises from conditions and has no fixed essence. Emptiness is not nothingness; it is the way things actually exist in dependence on one another.
What does gate gate paragate mean?
Roughly: gone, gone, gone beyond, gone completely beyond, awakening, so be it.