Maka hannya haramitsu

It was written in Kyoto in the summer of 1233, the first year that Dōgen began occupying the temple that what would soon become Kōshōhōrin-ji.

Although Dōgen's writing usually references other Buddhist works with heavy frequency, Maka hannya haramitsu only references the Heart Sutra, the Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra, and a poem about a wind bell by his teacher, Tiantong Rujing.

The poem is from Record of the Words of Master Rujing and is as follows:The whole body is like a mouth hanging in empty space.

Not questioning the winds from east, west, south, or north, Equally all of them, speaking of prajñā: Ding-dong-a-ling ding-dong.

The last line is an onomatopoeia for the sound the bell makes, representing the expression of prajñā, wisdom of reality itself, as well as the interdependence of all things.