Heart Sutra Chant
6 min. audio — original musical rendition, with translation
Prajnamaramita Mantra
Ga-te Ga-te
Pa-ra-Ga-te
Pa-ra-Sam-Ga-te
Bo-dhi Sva-ha
Maja’s Rhyming Translation
Moving on, moving on
to the other shore — beyond.
All together; all in flow.
Now, that’s Awakening. Way to go!
About This Mantra
The Prajnaparamita Mantra is also known as the Heart Sutra Mantra.
The title and the words of the chant have no accurate translation in English. If you care to look into it yourself, this link is a good place to start.
Here’s my take on it:
After occasional research over the years, I recently came across the idea that this mantra can be seen as outlining a path: It begins with going past limited viewpoints, to apprehending the ultimate Truth that lies beyond the limited viewpoints, and finally to the immersion in/as undivided Buddha nature.
With that frame of understanding, the mantra corresponds beautifully to famous 3-line teaching from the Hindu Advaita Vedanta tradition. (Brahman can be roughly translated as Ultimate Truth):
1 The world is illusory;
2 Brahman alone is real;
3 Brahman is the world. [+]
— Ramana Maharshi
Each line can only understood when the true meaning of the previous line is realized. Here’s how the various lines and translations correspond:
Gate gate
Moving on, moving on.
The world is illusoryParagate
To the shore that is beyond.
Brahman alone is real;Parasamgate
All together; all in flow.
Brahman is the world.Bodhi svaha
Now, that’s Awakening. Way to go!
Important Note:
The mantra includes the whole journey, from the beginning to the end. This is important because no part of the journey is valid if taken out of context of the whole thing. We can’t isolate, idealize, or skip over any part. If we do, we miss the vitality and reality of what actually is, in our present, authentic, real experience.
There is no moment holier than this one. Every moment, every step on the path is life itself God itself, right there-here unfolding as stillness in motion.
To know what I mean by all that read on. . . .
Detailed Line-By-Line Translation Notes
Here’s how I came to my rhyming translation, along with my never-before-conceived American Football Translation (below).
Prajnaparamita
ultimate wisdom, wisdom beyond all knowledge
Prajna: “Wisdom”
Paramita: “Crossing over” or “going beyond”
Gate Gate
moving on (from limited viewpoints toward wisdom)
Gate: “having gone,” “having departed”
This line corresponds to The world is illusory. This is part 1 of duality.
The first step in the progression of embodied awakening is to see beyond what appears to us as real — including fixed ideas, and false beliefs.
Another clue is the similarity of “gate gate” to the Advaita Vedanta practice of “neti neti.” Neti neti translates literally as “not this, not this” and is used a practice of directly encountering Truth by recognizing and rejecting what is not true.
Thus, I see Gate Gate reflecting the stage of awakening that involves seeing through the illusory nature of what appears objectively true. This is an intensive process calling on one-pointed determination to get to the bottom of things.
Football Translation:
Gate gate: I think of a running back in American football making his way toward the endzone. He plows past or dodges all the guys trying to knock him down. It takes focus and determination to recognize the false as false and get beyond the blockades.
Para-gate
having moved beyond limited viewpoints
Para: “Beyond”
Gate: “having gone,” “having departed”
This line corresponds to Brahman alone is real. This is part 2 of the ultimate duality. However, this stage is often mistaken for the ultimate nonduality because it is indeed a smaller fractal phenomenon of nonduality.
This is the stage of awakening where one is established in the absolute Truth (Brahman) that lies beyond the ever-changing world of appearances. This Truth remains unchanging and rock solid no matter what happens in our experience.
Football Translation:
Paragate: This is like when the runningback reaches the endzone, beyond all that was keeping him from the goal. Touchdown!
Para-sam-gate
including everyone and everything “all together” in the awakeness
Para: “Beyond”
Sam: “Together” “Altogether” — Related to the Sanskrit words sangha, samadhi (at one), and English word same. Usually translated as “altogether” I understand it in the sense of “all of us together.”
Gate: “having gone,” “having departed”
This line corresponds toBrahman is the world.This is the fundamental non-duality.
At the ParaSamGate stage, we go beyond the fixed position of “having gone beyond” to include the body and all the world. All people and all of life are included in this ultimate Vision-Being.
Additionally, I see a parallel between Brahman is the World and a famous line from the full text of the Heart Sutra: Form is emptiness; emptiness is form. These two lines are saying the exact same thing.
Football Translation:
Parasamgate: This is the experience of flow when both teams play in their zone of greatness. All together, the apparently opposing teams make the game unfold. The endzone doesn’t really exist or matter without the whole game existing.
Bodhi
acknowledging the Awakening,
Bodhi: “Awakened”
My sense of this word in this context is one of acknowledgment “Now, that’s awakening!”
Football Translation:
Bodhi: At the end of a great game: “Now that’s football!”
Svaha
Oh, yeah!
Svaha: A cry of joy or excitement that can mean “Well said!” or “Hallelujah!” or “Oh, Yeah!”. [++]
Football Translation:
The crowd cheers: “Woohoo!”
Summary - with Football Translation
Gate gate
Moving on, moving on.
The world is illusory
Runningback goes beyond the blockades.Paragate
To the shore that is beyond.
Brahman alone is real;
Touchdown!Parasamgate
All together; all in flow.
Brahman is the world.
Both teams together In Flow.Bodhi svaha
Now, that’s Awakening. Way to go!
Now, that’s Football! Woohoo!
❤ 2022-2023 | Maja Apolonia Rodé.
Audio recorded 2022 in Germany, with vocals by A.J. Bond and Sam Hinds.
Tags
1MBC-114
image + audio | 8 min | she has arrived