Prajñāpāramitā

The book o
Menu rajñāpāramitā is a goddess of Wisdom. She is closely

home
P associated with the Perfection of Wisdom tradition,
and indeed her name is usually translated as
Visible Mantra
now on s
"Perfection of Wisdom". The Perfection of Wisdom tradition
mantras is one of the two great philosophical traditions of
bījas Mahāyana Buddhism. It is closely associated with
Nagārjuna who is said to have retrieved the texts from the
alphabet Nagas. Prajñāpāramitā is the personification of the prajñā.
words Vessantara calls her "the book that became a goddess", and
the tradition itself refers to her as the "Mother of all the
scripts
Buddhas". Support inde
learn publishing: Buy
There are several forms of Prajñāpāramitā although she is on Lulu
pronunciation
always portrayed as a mature woman, with full breasts. In
projects this four armed form her two main arms are held in the
reading meditation mudra. The upper right arm is lightly holding a Some of Sangha
vajra, while the upper left arm holds the Aṣṭasahaśrika lectures on
blog Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra - the Perfection of Wisdom in 8000 Prajñāpāramitā
Visible Mantra Press pra jñā pā ra mi tā lines. are collecte

contact/info
Seed Syllable
Art and text The seed syllable of Prajñāpāramitā, dhīḥ, is also
© 2007-11 Jayarava associated with Mañjuśrī.
except where noted
See also my essay The Seed Syllable of Perfect
Wisdom.
Wisdom Beyon
by Sanghara

The Bodhis
Prajñāpāramitā
in:
dhīḥ

Mantra
Siddhaṃ

Meeting the B
by Vessant

Perfection of W
Texts in tran
Tibetan - Uchen
Pañcaviṃśatisā
Prajñāpārami

Transliteration

oṃ āḥ dhīḥ hūṃ svā hā The Large Perf

Wisdom T
Clearly this mantra is not translatable into English as it is composed entirely of seed translated by E
syallables (taking svāhā as a bīja) Conze

To date I have not found any exegesis of this mantra - JR

The syllables individually: oṃ | āḥ | dhīḥ | hūṃ | svāhā Aṣṭasahaśr

Prajñāpārami
Perfection of W
 Comments Eight Thousand
Its Verse Sum
Because of interest in the Heart Sūtra mantra, which is also known as the "Prajñāpāramitā translated by E
mantra" this mantra is often overlooked. People are often surprised to discover that Conze
Prajñāpāramitā has her own mantra.

The text mentioned above, the Aṣṭasahaśrika Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, along with its verse
summary the Ratnaguṇasaṁcayagāthā, is the earliest of the Perfection of Wisdom text. It
was first translated into Chinese in 179 CE, which puts it amongst the the first Buddhist
texts to be translated in China. The Aṣṭasahaśrika is the archetypal Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra.

Another Prajñāpāramitā mantra

siddhaṃ

Transliteration

oṃ na mo bha ga va tyai ā rya pra jñā pā ra mi tā yai

oṃ namo bhagavatyai āryaprajñāpāramitāyai

translation

oṃ homage to the blessed noble perfection of wisdom

Comments

This homage is found at the beginning of Prajñāpāramitā sūtras, and Edward Conze often
quotes it in his translations of Prajñāpāramitā texts. Conze, in a poetic mood, has also
translated it as: Oṃ Homage to the Perfection of Wisdom the Lovely, the Holy!

Bhagava means "fortunate", or "blessed". It is one of the most common ways of referring to
the Buddha and is now frequently translated as the Blessed One. Ārya means "noble", and
originates from the word which the Vedic speaking tribes of Central Asia used to refer to
themselves in contradistinction to the indigenous tribes of India and Persia. The word Iran,
is a Persian version of the word Āryan.

Other Resources

Dharmacari Vishvapani has composed a pūja to Prajñāpāramitā which contains this

mantra and others.
Essay on the seed syllable of Prajñāpāramitā, dhīḥ on Jayarava Rave.
Talk six of six on the Buddhist Wisdom Teachings by Dharmacari Ratnaghosa mentions
the mantra with an extract from "Meeting the Buddhas"

Last updated: 16:55 30/08/2009