Buddhist Wisdom Books Containing the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra (1972)

Buddhist Wisdom Books Containing the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra (1972)

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

A landmark publication which offers Western readers a unique combination of what Buddhists worldwide consider the holiest of holy texts The Diamond Sutra and The Heart Sutra, two sutras, or scriptures, ascribed to the early centuries of the first millennium.

The Diamond Sutra, or the Perfection of Wisdom, which cuts like a thunderbolt, is one of the cornerstone texts of Mahayana Buddhism and provides a summary of the core concepts of the Buddha. The Heart Sutra, perhaps the most important of all Buddhist texts, sets out to formulate the very heart, or essence of perfect wisdom and is studied with special reverence in Zen monasteries and the Tibetan Buddhist lamaseries.

Edward Conze, who was until his death in 1979 a powerful force for introducing Buddhism and its sacred texts to the West, has provided these translated key texts with an extensive commentary for the easiest possible appreciation phrase by phrase. (Source Accessed Aug 16, 2021)

Citation

Conze, Edward, trans. Buddhist Wisdom Books Containing the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra. New York: Harper & Row, 1972. https://terebess.hu/english/diamond.pdf.

Texts Translated

1. Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra - Āryavajracchedikānāmaprajñāpāramitāmahāyānasūtra - ('Phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa rdo rje gcod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo). In Derge Kangyur D16, sher phyin, vol. 34, ka 121a1-132b7. See rKTs etexts, Columbia AIBS, ACIP etexts, .
2. Bhagavatīprajñāpāramitāhṛdaya - (Bcom ldan 'das ma shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i snying po). In Derge Kangyur D21, sher phyin, vol. 34, ka 144b6-146a3. See rKTs etexts, Columbia AIBS, ACIP etexts, .

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Translation of

 

Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtraའཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་གཅོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

One of the most revered and recited scriptures of the perfection of wisdom genre (prajñāpāramitāsūtras), perhaps second only to the Heart Sūtra, both of which became especially popular in the East Asian Buddhist traditions. It is a crucial source for Mahāyāna tenets of selflessness and the emptiness of phenomena, and its discourse is framed as an explanation of how to enter into the vehicle of the bodhisattvas by developing and sustaining their enlightened perspective.

Text

Other editions

 

Buddhist Wisdom Books Containing the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra (Conze 1958)

A landmark publication which offers Western readers a unique combination of what Buddhists worldwide consider the holiest of holy texts The Diamond Sutra and The Heart Sutra, two sutras, or scriptures, ascribed to the early centuries of the first millennium.

The Diamond Sutra, or the Perfection of Wisdom, which cuts like a thunderbolt, is one of the cornerstone texts of Mahayana Buddhism and provides a summary of the core concepts of the Buddha. The Heart Sutra, perhaps the most important of all Buddhist texts, sets out to formulate the very heart, or essence of perfect wisdom and is studied with special reverence in Zen monasteries and the Tibetan Buddhist lamaseries.

Edward Conze, who was until his death in 1979 a powerful force for introducing Buddhism and its sacred texts to the West, has provided these translated key texts with an extensive commentary for the easiest possible appreciation phrase by phrase. (Source Accessed Aug 16, 2021)

Book

Scholarship on

 

Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtraའཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་གཅོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

One of the most revered and recited scriptures of the perfection of wisdom genre (prajñāpāramitāsūtras), perhaps second only to the Heart Sūtra, both of which became especially popular in the East Asian Buddhist traditions. It is a crucial source for Mahāyāna tenets of selflessness and the emptiness of phenomena, and its discourse is framed as an explanation of how to enter into the vehicle of the bodhisattvas by developing and sustaining their enlightened perspective.

Text

• PREFACEpage 9
• THE DIAMOND SUTRA
• Introductory Note17

• Translation and Commentary21
• 1. Introduction21
  • a. The Convocation of the Assembly (1)
  • b. Subhuti makes a request (2)

• 2. The Bodhisattva's Career24
  • a. The Vow of a Bodhisattva (3)
  • b. The Practice of the Perfections (4)
  • c. Buddhahood and the thirty-two Marks (5)
  • d. Buddhahood and the Dharmabody
    • da. The Dharmabody as the body of teachings (6)
    • db. The Dharmabody as the result of Gnosis (7)
    • dc. The Dharmabody as the result of Merit (8)

• 3. The range of the spiritual life42
  • a. The four Great Saints (9)
  • b. The Bodhisattva's thought of enlightenment (10a)
  • c. The Bodhisattva and his Pure Land (106)
  • d. The Bodhisattva's final Nirvana (10c)
  • e. The merit derived from Perfect Wisdom (n, 12)
  • 4. The first ending (13a) 51

• 5. Transcendentality52
  • a. The dialectical nature of reality (13a-d)
  • b. The supreme excellence of this teaching (13e-14d)
  • c. Selfless patience and perfect inner freedom (14e)
  • d. The existence and non-existence of beings (14f)
  • e. Truth and falsehood (14g)
  • f. The merit acquired, its presuppositions and results (14h-16c)

• 6. The Bodhisattvas57
  • a. The Bodhisattva's Vow (17a)
  • b. His state of mind when he met Dipankara (17b)
  • c. The Bodhisattva at the end of his career [17c-e)
  • d. The Bodhisattva's attitude to his tasks (17f-h)

• 7. The Buddhas59
  • a. The Buddha's Five Eyes (iSa)
  • b. The Buddha's superknowledge of others' thoughts (186)
  • c. The Buddha's Merit is no Merit (19)
  • d. The Buddha's physical body (20)
  • e. The Buddha's teaching (21)
  • f. The Buddha's Dharma (22, 23)
  • g. Once more about the Buddha's Merit (24)
  • h. The Buddha as a saviour, and the nature of emancipation (25)
  • i. The true nature of a Buddha (26)
  • k. The effectiveness of meritorious deeds (27-29)

• 8. Advice to the imperfect64
  • a. The material world (30)
  • b. Views and attitudes (31)
  • c. The key to supreme knowledge (32a)

• 9. The second conclusion (32b)71

• APPENDIX: The Frontispiece to the Tun Huang Print72

• THE HEART SUTRA
• Sanskrit text, translation and commentary
  • I. The Invocation77
  • II. The Prologue77
  • III. The Dialectics of Emptiness. First Stage81
  • IV. The Dialectics of Emptiness. Second Stage85
  • V. The Dialectics of Emptiness. Third Stage89
  • VI. The concrete embodiment of Full Emptiness, and its practical basis93
  • VII. Full Emptiness is the basis also of Buddhahood98
  • VIII. The teaching brought within the reach of the comparatively unenlightened101

• LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS108
• INDEX OF TERMS109

Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra [वज्रच्छेदिकाप्रज्ञापारमितासूत्र]. 'phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa rdo rje gcod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་གཅོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Sūtra on the Perfection of Wisdom "The Diamond Cutter" (84000)]. Translated by Bodhiruci, Śīlendrabodhi, Ye shes sde, Kumārajīva, Paramārtha, Dharmagupta, Yijing, Xuanzang. Kangyur, RKTSK 16 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=16&typ=1.

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Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra [वज्रच्छेदिकाप्रज्ञापारमितासूत्र]. 'phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa rdo rje gcod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་གཅོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Sūtra on the Perfection of Wisdom "The Diamond Cutter" (84000)]. Translated by Bodhiruci, Śīlendrabodhi, Ye shes sde, Kumārajīva, Paramārtha, Dharmagupta, Yijing, Xuanzang. Kangyur, RKTSK 16 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=16&typ=1.

Go to the page with the definition of 'འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་གཅོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

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Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt महायान  Tib ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།  Ch 大乘  

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Anātman - The nonexistence of the self as a permanent, unchanging entity. Skt अनात्मन्  Tib བདག་མེད་པ་  Ch 无我  

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Śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt शून्यता  Tib སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་  Ch 空 and 空門  

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Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

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Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhisattvas'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhisattvas'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattva'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattva'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

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Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

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Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattvas'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

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