清 十八世紀

The inscription contains the Prajnaparamita sutra, or the 'Heart Sutra', also known as 'Xin Jing' in Chinese. This sutra advocates that one could achieve Enlightenment through realising the true emptiness of this world. As one of the most widely known Buddhist texts, it is a principal scripture of the Madhyamika school of Buddhism, which was founded by the great philosopher Nagarjuna (c. 100-200 BC). During the 7th century, the Emperor Gaozong (r. 649-683 AD) ordered the pilgrim monk Xuanzang to translate this sutra into Chinese.