The Heart Sutra and Shakyō

The Heart Sutra, Hannya Shingyō (般若心経), distils the vast Perfection of Wisdom literature into a single page of under three hundred characters. Its famous line, form is emptiness and emptiness is form, is known to almost everyone in Japan, and it is chanted by most schools. Copying it by hand, shakyō (写経), is among the most popular devotional practices in the country.

The sutra

The bodhisattva Kannon, deep in meditation, sees that all things are empty of fixed self, and so passes beyond suffering. The sutra ends with a mantra, gyate gyate, gone, gone, gone beyond. It is recited at temples, funerals and in daily devotion by Zen, Shingon, Tendai and Nara schools, though not by Jōdo Shinshū or Nichiren schools.

Shakyō, copying the sutras

Before printing, sutras were multiplied by hand in great scriptoria, and copying was itself an act of merit. The practice never stopped. Today temples hold copying sessions in which participants trace or write the Heart Sutra with brush and ink and dedicate it to the temple; Yakushiji in Nara famously funded the rebuilding of its halls through millions of copied sutras.

Precious sutras

  • Gold ink on indigo. Sutras in gold or silver ink on dark blue paper, made for great patrons, are among the most beautiful.
  • Burnt sutra fragments. When the Nigatsudō at Tōdaiji burned in 1667, a set of Nara period sutras in silver ink on indigo was scorched. The charred fragments, yakekyō, are now treasured as calligraphy.
  • Sutra burial. In the late Heian period sutras were buried in bronze cylinders to survive into the age of Miroku.

Collecting notes

  • Sutra fragments, often mounted as hanging scrolls or in albums, allow collectors to own Nara and Heian calligraphy.
  • Handwritten Heart Sutras by notable priests and calligraphers are collected as works of art.

In the collection

Search the collection for sutras or browse hanging scrolls. Our collector concierge can search Japan for sutra fragments.

See also

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