The further shore

for saxophone and six-channel live electronics
2021, rev. 2022

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The Bodhisattva of Compassion
from the depths of prajñā wisdom
saw the emptiness of all five skandhas
and sundered the bonds that cause all suffering.

Know then:
Form here is only emptiness;
emptiness only form.
Form is no other than emptiness;
emptiness no other than form.
Feeling, thought, and choice—
consciousness itself—
are the same as this.

Dharmas here are empty;
all are the primal void.
None are born or die,
nor are they stained or pure,
nor do they wax or wane.

So in emptiness no form,
no feeling, thought, or choice,
nor is there consciousness.
No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind,
no color, sound, smell, taste, touch,
or what the mind takes hold of,
nor even act of sensing.
No ignorance or end of it,
nor all that comes of ignorance:
No withering, no death, no end of them.
Nor is there pain, or cause of pain,
or cease in pain,
or noble path to lead from pain;
not even wisdom to attain:
Attainment too is emptiness.

So know that the Bodhisattva,
holding to nothing whatever,
but dwelling in prajñā wisdom,
is freed of delusive hindrance,
rid of the fear bred by it,
and reaches clearest nirvana.

All buddhas of past and present,
buddhas of future time,
through faith in prajñā wisdom,
come to full enlightenment.
Know then the great dharani,
the radiant, peerless mantra,
the supreme, unfailing mantra,
the Prajñā Pāramitā,
whose words allay all pain.
This is highest wisdom,
true beyond all doubt;
know and proclaim its truth:

Gate, gate           (Gone, gone
pāragate              Gone beyond
pārasamgate   Gone fully to the further shore
bodhi, svāhā!      Awakening, hurrah!)

—Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya (Heart of Perfect Wisdom), Buddhist sūtra

PERFORMANCE HISTORY

April 7, 2022: performed on Eastman Audio Research Studio concert “OUTPUT~” (Rochester, NY) by Antonio Jarvey, saxophone, and Justin Zeitlinger, electronics