Zen Monk and the Heart Sutra (Translation)
坐禪圖 般若波羅密多心經 近現代 黃鼎萍 紙本設色 (Primary Title)
Huang Kan 黄侃, Chinese, 1890 - 1976 (Artist)
The painting depicts a monk sitting cross-legged in meditation atop a giant leaf. Inscribed on the upper scroll is the Heart Sutra, a Buddhist Mahayana scripture, supposedly brought from India to China by the Chinese scholar-monk Xuanzang (ca. 602-664). The sutra describes the essence of the Buddha’s teachings to his disciples about emptiness, offering the path to enlightenment. The seminal phrase, “Form is emptiness, emptiness is form,” expresses Bodhisattva Guanyin’s insight into perceiving reality with meditation and wisdom.
Modern period (1912-present)
Painting: 鼎苹 Dingping; Calligraphy: 鼎苹黄侃 Dingping Huang Kan
Painting: 黄侃 Huang Kan; Calligraphy: 鼎苹黄侃 Dingping Huang Kan
般若波羅密多心經 (Heart Sutra)
觀自在菩薩, 行深般若波羅密多時, 照見五蘊皆空, 度一切苦厄. 舍利子, 色不異空, 空不異色, 色即是空, 空即是色; 受想行識, 亦復如是. 舍利子, 是諸法空相: 不生不滅, 不垢不淨, 不增不減.
是故空中無色, 無受想行識, 無眼耳鼻舌身意, 無色聲香味觸法, 無眼界乃至無意識界, 無無明, 亦無無明盡; 乃至無老死, 亦無老死盡. 無苦集滅道, 無智亦無得. 以無所得故, 菩提薩埵, 依般若波羅密多故, 心無罣礙, 無罣礙故, 無有恐怖; 遠離顛倒夢想, 究竟涅槃. 三世諸佛, 依般若波羅密多故, 得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提. 故知般若波羅密多, 是大神咒, 是大明咒, 是無上咒, 是無等等咒, 能除一切苦, 真實不虛. 故說般若波羅密多咒, 即說咒曰: 揭諦, 揭諦, 波羅揭諦, 波羅僧揭諦, 菩提, 薩婆訶。
Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Endowment and partial gift of Y.T. Bay 裴元俊 Collection
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC
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