Mantra, meditation The Perfect Wisdom Sutra, called the "Heart Sutra”, was probably composed around the first century A.D. in the Kushan Empire of the ancient India territory. The original text was in Sanskrit while the Chinese version appeared between the II and the IVth centuries A.D.
It describes the experience of the illumination of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Avalokiteshvara, as the result of insight gained while practicing deep meditation to awaken the faculty of Prajna (Wisdom).
The Sutra refers to the fundamental emptiness of all phenomena, of the 5 elements (skandhas) of human existence: form, feeling, impulses, perception and consciousness. Avalokiteshvara addresses Shariputra who was one of the two principal disciples of the Buddha.
