Prajñaparamita mantra

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha

If you have a diacritic font installed this mantra is transliterated thus: Gate gate pāragate pārasamgate bodhi svāhā

This mantra represents a class of Mahayana scriptures known as the Prajñaparamita (perfection of Wisdom) Sutras. These include such famous teachings as the Heart Sutra and the Diamond Sutra. These texts were the subject of worship in Mahayana Buddhism, in much the same way that devotional figures were.

Prajñaparamita eventually became personified as a goddess, but this is not her mantra. This one is associated with the Perfection of Wisdom texts themselves.

The words here do have a literal meaning:

"Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone utterly beyond, Enlightenment hail!"

Click here for the chant in RealAudio

Or click below to listen to an MP3 version:

Pronunciation notes:

o is pronounced like o in ore
a is pronounced as u in cut
ā is like a in father
i in speech is pronounced like i in mill, but in chanting is often pronounced like ee in bee when it comes at the end of a word
m in parasamgate is pronounced like ng in long

Comments

Comment from Dan Dorta
Time: August 28, 2007, 2:39 am

This, of all buddhist Sutras I know, is my favourite, since it’s central to the Zen teachings. Regards, Dan.