Mantra · Buddhist practice
Gate Gate Pāragate
Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond — awakening — so be it
गते गते पारगते पारसंगते बोधि स्वाहा
Gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā
The mantra that closes the Heart Sūtra, a short and widely recited Perfection of Wisdom text. The sūtra teaches the emptiness of inherent existence; its closing mantra is understood through the commentaries and practices of different Mahāyāna traditions.
Source: Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya
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गते गते पारगते पारसंगते बोधि स्वाहा
Gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā
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What the words say
Gate is 'gone'. Pāragate is 'gone to the far shore', pārasaṃgate 'gone altogether to the far shore'. Bodhi is awakening, and svāhā is the old Vedic exclamation that seals an offering — closer to 'so be it' than to any word with a meaning of its own. The line is usually left in Sanskrit wherever it is chanted, which is why a Japanese or Korean reciter says a transliteration rather than a translation.
Where it comes from
The Heart Sūtra circulated in Sanskrit and in Chinese translation from at least the seventh century, Xuanzang's version being the one East Asia inherited. The mantra is chanted daily in Zen, Chan, Sŏn and Thiền monasteries, in Tibetan practice, and across Mahāyāna lay devotion.
How it is practised
Usually chanted at the end of a recitation of the whole sūtra rather than on its own, though it is also counted on a mala as a practice in itself.
References
- Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya (Heart Sūtra)
- Edward Conze, Buddhist Wisdom Books (Allen & Unwin, 1958)
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