Gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā

If you have a diacritic font installed this mantra is transliterated like this: Gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā. Without diacritics, it’s Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha.

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!”

Incidentally, the Diamond Sutra (shown above) is the world’s earliest complete survival of a dated printed book, made in AD 868.

Recordings of the Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha mantra

Click below to listen to an audio recording of the mantra being chanted by Bodhipaksa:

How to pronounce the “Gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā” mantra:

Here’s a pronunciation guide to the mantra.

  • a is short, pronounced as u in cut
  • e is pronounced like the ey in English hey
  • ā is long, like the a in father
  • ṃ in parasaṃgate is pronounced like ng in long
  • o is pronounced like o in ore
  • i (in normal speech) is pronounced like i in mill, but in chanted speech it is often pronounced like ee in bee when it comes at the end of a word
  • v in “svāhā” is roughly pronounced like an English w

The Heart Sutra

The Prajñaparamita Mantra famously concludes the shorter version of the Heart Sutra (Prajnaparamita Hridaya).

Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva,
when pursuing the deep prajñaparamita,
recognized the five skandhas as completely empty
and passed beyond all vexations and distress.

Shariputra, appearances are not different from emptiness,
emptiness is not different to appearances.
Appearances are emptiness,
emptiness is an appearance.

Impressions, thoughts, associations
and knowing too, are also like this.
Shariputra, all dharmas are empty of appearances,
are not created, are not extinguished,
are not defiled, are not pure;
do not increase, do not decrease.

For this reason, amidst emptiness there are no appearances,
nor are there any impressions, thoughts, associations and knowing,
There is no eye, ear, nose, tongue, touch, ideas.
There are no colors, sounds, smells,
tastes and touch dharmas.
There is no eye-element up to no imagining nor knowledge element.
Neither is any non-understanding,
nor is there any end to non-understanding up to no old-age and death.
Neither is there any end to old-age and death.
There is no suffering, cause, extinction or path.
There is no knowledge nor anything to find.

Because there isn’t anything to find,
the bodhisattva is free because of relying upon prajñaparamita:
a heart without any obstruction.

Because there are no obstructions, there is no fear.
Abandoning, overturning dreams and concepts,
finally reaches nirvana.

Because all the Buddhas of the three times have relied upon prajñaparamita, they have found anuttarasamyaksambodhi.

For this reason, know prajñaparamita is the great spiritual mantra.
The great understanding mantra.
The supreme mantra.
The unequaled mantra, able to cut through all vexation
because in reality there is no emptiness.

Speak the prajñaparamita mantra, speak the mantra’s words:

gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā.

(Chinese to English translation, by Willam J. Giddings, 2003)

View Comments

  • This is a wonderful help! Do you have any advice on accentuation (pitch not stress accent in Sanskrit, right?) I've asked elsewhere and been pointed to Tibetan recordings, which…does not quite allay doubt.

  • Hi!
    The Prajnaparamita mantra recording sounds interesting.
    I have been using it without the same rising and falling tones (notes), liking low monotone sound and find it healing- my question is where do the "notes" originate, and the "song" can have same "meaning" with different "melody" or "no melody" right?!
    Where the Sutra says "the mantra in Prajnaparamita spoken thus"
    I take that literally and like single tone (and silent) repetition. I can do that right? peace, and thanks!

  • Please email me the MP3 file. I would like to listen to it for my personal use.

    Thank you,

    Michael

  • Your comment about the mantra "gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi soha" not being the same as the mantra of the goddess is really confusing me. I just received a Prajnaparamita empowerment from a Tibetan lama at Sakya monastary in Seattle, and we meditated on the goddess as an embodiment of the teaching and this was the mantra we used. Is it different in Tantric Buddhism with deity yoga versus other forms? Or is my understanding completely off?

    • I'm passing on what I've been taught, which may of course be incorrect. Miranda Eberle Shaw says in Buddhist Goddesses of India that the mantra of the goddess Prajnaparamita is praised in the 8000-Line Perfect Wisdom Scripture but isn't found in that scripture. And she says that there's no way to know if the mantra being discussed is the same as the one in the Heart Sutra. Jayarava has oṃ āḥ dhīḥ hūṃ svāhā and oṃ namo bhagavatyai āryaprajñāpāramitāyai as the mantras of the goddess, as distinct from the mantra of the Heart Sutra. Bear in mind that he practices in the same tradition as I do.

      It's possible that different traditions have made different associations. The separation of the goddess from the HS mantra may be an error, or perhaps the association of the two is an error. But once an error has gone on long enough, it becomes a tradition, so I suggest you just go along with what you've been taught in this instance.

  • You think Batman ever chants the Heart Sutra mantra when he is patrolling the streets of Gotham? I know he is really into Tibetan Buddhism.

  • Is the suggestion in this sutra that enlightenment or awakening can be attained by the practice of changing this mantra?

  • Hi thanks for the article and MP3 version. Shall I hold only this mantra for enlightenment? Please Email me Audio version for my personal practicing.

    • Hi, Senthil.

      It's best not to treat mantras as if they're magical tools that can bring about enlightenment all by themselves. At best they are supports. The Buddha encouraged a rounded life of spiritual friendship, spiritual community, living ethically, developing love and compassion, and cultivating insight. We need to bring mindfulness and kindness into every aspect of our lives. At the same time as we're doing that, a mantra can help provide a thread of mindfulness and help keep us aware of the potential for awakening. But it's not enough on its own.

  • It is close to the truth. It is probably as close to the truth as one can get. "What can't be said can't be whistled, either." The Sutra of Hui Neng is recommended reading.

1 2 3 4
Leave a Comment