Through Prajna Paramita, the cause of suffering and its cessation can be realized, great freedom and the capacity to benefit sentient beings can be attained.
Cover of a precious copy of the Heart Sutra.
We next come to a mysterious part of the Sutra, where this teaching and its realization is described as a mantra – sacred syllables that have the power to uplift, illuminate, provide what we need, and help bring us to freedom.
Those who have studied Western Spiritual Traditions may already be familiar with what they call the power of the word. The Bible, as a sacred text, has power, to uplift, to illuminate our lives, to speak to us from the source of truth itself, its origin, and to guide us, even beyond the words on the page. Such is its power and potential.
It’s this way as well with the realization spoken of in the Heart Sutra, this Sutra itself, and the whole of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras. I had this experience when studying and reciting the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines. There is an inexplicable grace that accompanies these sacred texts that needs to be experienced to be known in full.
Not only is this teaching described then as a mantra, sacred sound, it is spoken of here as being exceptional even in this regard:
Therefore know the prajnaparamita mantra is the great transcendent mantra — it is coming from a place deeper than ego, deeper than thought. This realization, its power and the great qualities it holds within it comes from our whole nature. It’s said throughout the Perfection of Wisdom literature that the other five Perfections – Generosity, Morality, Patience, Joyful Effort and Meditation all come from this one insight – understanding, lived in our world, and throughout all worlds… This is the great bright mantra, is the utmost mantra, is the supreme mantra, which is able to relieve all suffering, and is true, not false; or because it is true, and not false, and this is verifiable, unerringly accurate, across time and cultures this is here to be known by us, and so proclaim the prajnaparamita mantra, practice so that your entire being, resonates with this realization proclaim the mantra that says