Hymn To the Prajnaparamita, Blessed Mother (from Chap 7 of the Prajnaparamita Sutra in Eight Thousand Lines-- Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita)
translation: JW
The prajnaparamita, the luminous!
Homage to the prajnaparamita, Holy Mother--
most worthy of adoration!
Mother of the Tathagatas!
Unblemished, no world can touch her;
light source, all beings touched by her;
darkness-breaker, she takes the hand of all beings--
she guides all beings through the world's shadow of
ignorance and taint.
In her, we take refuge.
Holy Mother, most remarkable!
She calls her children to find shelter in the wings of her enlightenment. All-embracing is her power!
Take heed-- entangled beings!
She is the hidden luminousness shining.
To those cast down in fear and trembling-- she is the light of love and mercy; she is the five eyes-- the organ of vision-- all-embracing power, who turns inside out the shadows, revealing the ancient path to all beings. And for those who fall away from the path, her torch will not go out!
Take heed-- she is our guide through the desolation. Ignorance destroyer! She-- the (all)knowing; she--
the emptiness of all dharmas.
In her, no dharma is created, no dharma destroyed-- therefore no coverup-- void of thought-coverings, void of hindrance; she is no beginning without end-- inapprehensible, prajnaparamita!
Through the emptiness of her own-being, she is the Mother of Bodhisattvas flowing;
through the the emptiness of her own-being, she gives space to the jewels of all Buddhadharmas-- revealing the the ten powers of the Buddhas, from which she is insurmountable and cannot be defeated;
she is fearlessness--
the protector of the unprotected;
the pharmakon of samsara;
the gnosis of the (all)knowing.
Take heed-- never lose heart! She will never abandon her children!
Love all-pervading, wisdom all-pervading-- Inconceivable!
Inapprehensible prajnaparamita! Holy Mother--most blessed, most pure-- supreme enlightenment!
Listen! She is the one who sets in motion the Dharma Wheel!