12 Feb
2015
Posted in: Chanting
By    Comments Off on OMG!

OMG!

During the last week of the retreat at Dharmagiri, we focused on traditional Chan practices (Chinese Zen), which include contemplations and recitations of the well-known (but little understood) Heart Sutra with its famous mantra:
gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi svaha!

(To hear an incredibly beautiful 2-minute recording of this mantra sung by Thanissara and friends, click here.)

Traditional translations of the mantra go something like this:

Gone,
Gone,
Gone beyond,
Gone far 
beyond,
What an awakening,
(Untranslatable Exclamation!!!!)

Kittisaro offered this alternative translation, attributed to his friend and fellow former-monk Paul Breiter:

Everything’s changing,
Everything’s changing,
Everything’s always changing,
And there’s nothing you can do about it,
That’s the way it is,
OH MY GOD!!!!!

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