Prajnaparamita

The Prajnaparamita (“Perfection of Wisdom”) texts are foundational Mahayana sutras teaching sunyata (emptiness) - the absence of inherent existence in all phenomena.

Texts

• Diamond Sutra (Vajracchedika) - Subhuti’s dialogue with the Buddha; non-attachment; “form is not form”; the raft metaphor
• Heart Sutra (Prajnaparamita Hridaya) - Avalokiteshvara’s teaching; “form is emptiness, emptiness is form”; gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha

The Teaching of Emptiness

The Diamond Sutra repeatedly uses the formula:

“The Tathagata has taught that the possession of self-marks is not really the possession of self-marks.”

This dialectic dismantles all conceptual grasping, including attachment to Dharma itself.

Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. - Heart Sutra

Translated by F. Max Müller (Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 49, 1894). Public domain.