Photo credit: Aura Glaser
 

The Alphabet Heart Sutra came to me whole, arriving with the light of morning. I followed an inner prompting and immediately wrote it down. Never having composed poetry or prayer in acrostic form before, I was quite surprised by the structure it took. Upon reflection, I wondered if perhaps impressions from childhood, reciting acrostic Hebrew prayers and passages, filtered into the Alphabet Heart Sutra that early morning.

 

It is said that the essence of the Heart Sutra, and the entire voluminous Perfection of Wisdom Sutras to which it belongs, is contained and expressed in one syllable: Ah.  Knowing this, I also refer to the Alphabet Heart Sutra as the AH Sutra.

 

I have lived with, breathed with, recited, and loved the Heart Sutra in a more traditional form for many years. I offer this poem prayer with joyful appreciation for the ever-evolving fearless proclamations of timeless truths. May it inspire and illuminate.

 

Alphabet Heart Sutra

 

To the Great Mother,

everywhere present,

nowhere found, I bow.

 

To the Great Mother,

in your endless, luminous,

empty guises, I bow.

 

To the Great Mother,

essence of my heart, I bow.

 

Ah

Boundless

Compassionate

Dharmakaya,

Everpresent

Formless

Ground.

Holy

Immanence,

Joyful

Kinship,

Loving

Manifestation

Nondual.

Ordinary

Presence

Quickens

Radiant,

Spontaneous,

Truth,

Unceasing.

Vivid

Wisdom

Xpressions,

Yet

Zero.

 

Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Soha

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