Thus did I hear at one time.
The Bhagavan was dwelling on Mass of Vultures Mountain in Rajagriha
together with a great community of monks and a great community of bodhisattvas.
At that time, the Bhagavan was absorbed in the concentration on
the categories of phenomena called "Profound Perception."

Also, at that time, the bodhisattva
mahasattva arya Avalokiteshvara looked upon
the very practice of the profound perfection of wisdom
and beheld those five aggregates also as empty of inherent nature.
Then, through the power of Buddha, the venerable Shariputra said this
to the bodhisattva mahasattva arya Avalokiteshvara:

"How should any son of the lineage train who wishes to practice
the activity of the profound perfection of wisdom?"

He said that and the bodhisattva mahasattva arya Avalokiteshvara
said this to the venerable Sharadvatiputra.

"Shariputra, any son of the lineage or daughter of the lineage
who wishes to practice the activity of the profound perfection of wisdom
should look upon it like this, correctly and repeatedly
beholding those five aggregates also as empty of inherent nature."

"Form is empty.
Emptiness is form.
Emptiness is not other than form;
form is also not other than emptiness.
In the same way, feeling, discrimination, compositional factors,
and consciousness are empty."

"Shariputra, likewise, all phenomena are emptiness;
without characteristic; unproduced, unceased;
stainless, not without stain; not deficient, not fulfilled."

"Shariputra, therefore, in emptiness there is no form,
no feeling, no discrimination, no compositional factors, no consciousness;
no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind;
no visual form, no sound, no odor, no taste, no object of touch, and no phenomenon.
There is no eye element and so on up to and including
no mind element and no mental consciousness element.
There is no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance, and so on up to and including
no aging and death and no extinction of aging and death.
Similarly, there is no suffering, origination, cessation, and path;
there is no exalted wisdom, no attainment, and also no nonattainment."

"Shariputra, therefore, because there is no attainment,
bodhisattvas rely on and dwell in the perfection of wisdom,
the mind without obscuration and without fear.
Having completely passed beyond error, they reach the end-point of nirvana.
All the buddhas who dwell in the three times also manifestly,
completely awaken to unsurpassable, perfect,
complete enlightenment in reliance on the perfection of wisdom."

"Therefore, the mantra of the perfection of wisdom,
the mantra of great knowledge, the unsurpassed mantra,
the mantra equal to the unequaled,
the mantra that thoroughly pacifies all suffering,
should be known as truth since it is not false.
The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is declared:"

"TADYATHA [OM] GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA"

"Shariputra, the bodhisattva mahasattva should train
in the profound perfection of wisdom like that."

Then the Bhagavan arose from that concentration
and commended the bodhisattva mahasattva arya Avalokiteshvara saying:

"Well said, well said, son of the lineage, it is like that.
It is like that; one should practice the profound perfection of wisdom
just as you have indicated; even the tathagatas rejoice."

The Bhagavan having thus spoken,
the venerable Sharadvatiputra,
the bodhisattva mahasattva arya Avalokiteshvara,
those surrounding in their entirety
along with the world of gods, humans, asuras,
and gandharvas were overjoyed and highly praised
that spoken by the Bhagavan.

Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition

www.worldprayers.org