The Heart Sutra

by Red Pine

To distinguish this third level of prajna from mundane and metaphysical wisdom, it was called prajna-paramita. According to early commentators, there were two possible derivations, and thus meanings, for paramita. In Prajnaparamita scriptures like the Diamond Sutra, it is evident from usage elsewhere in the same text that the author derived paramita from parama, meaning “highest point,” and that paramita means “perfection.” Thus, prajna-paramita means “perfection of wisdom.” But we can also deduce from the use of para in the mantra at the end of the Heart Sutra that the author of this text interpreted the word paramita as a combination of para, meaning “beyond,” and ita, meaning “gone,” and read the m after para as an accusative case ending. Thus, according to this interpretation, paramita means “what has gone beyond” or “what is transcendent” or, according to Chinese translators and commentators, “what leads us to the other shore.” Also, because ita here is feminine, paramita means “she who has gone beyond” or “she who leads us to the other shore,” the “she” in this case referring to Prajnaparamita, the personified Goddess of Wisdom.