Buddhist Wisdom: The Diamond Sutra and The Heart Sutra [Paperback]

Edward Conze (Author), John F. Thornton (Author), Susan Varenne (Author), Judith Simmer-Brown (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (April 24, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375726004
• ISBN-13: 978-0375726002
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.4 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #418,252 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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57 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heart & Diamond reviewed, March 22, 2002

By 

Frank Anderton (Norman, Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Buddhist Wisdom: The Diamond Sutra and The Heart Sutra (Paperback)

I am familiar with Edward Conze's translations and comments on the Diamond and Heart Sutras primarily through the 1958 edition of this work. First of all, these are scholarly translations and commentaries. The commentaries are logical and precise, as they need to be to get at the heart of the teaching, in particular, of the Heart Sutra. Conze states, correctly, that to understand the Heart Sutra one has to understand something about Abhidharma concepts. The Abhidharma texts represent early schools of thought in India regarding consciousness and read like a Sears catalog of psychological elements put into a moral context and including conditioned and unconditioned dharmas. The Heart Sutra is in part a response to Abhidharma; one which goes beyond it. Abhidharma is considered the "dry bones" of Zen for good reason. Nevertheless, there are equally good reasons why Shunryu Suzuki told his students at San Francisco Zen Center to study with Conze (advice which was followed). The Heart Sutra is such a pure and intense condensation of wisdom that the effort to understand it is repaid tenfold by even small glimpses of its meaning. It is paradoxical that the teaching of "form is emptiness, emptiness is form,"etc., is amenable to a logical approach, yet Conze is very effective at demonstrating that, at least for those of us who have not attained wisdom-that-goes-beyond (prajna), this is precisely the path to take. His analysis of the Sanskrit in the context of Buddhist logic unlocks a very fruitful path for following the meaning of the Heart Sutra. An openminded approach to Conze's translation and commentaries, applied with some determination and perseverance, is well worth the effort, both with the Diamond and the Heart Sutras, though perhaps more so with the latter. What hits us in the face at first as flatly contradictory reveals itself to be something more than we can imagine. Shunryu Suzuki told us that the "No" in the Heart Sutra is far more positive than any "Yes" could ever be. I haven't seen another approach to the Heart Sutra in print that equals Edward Conze's.

41 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wisdom gone, gone beyond., June 11, 2001

By 

G. Merritt (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Buddhist Wisdom: The Diamond Sutra and The Heart Sutra (Paperback)

The Prajanparamita ("Perfection of Wisdom") consists of thirty-eight books composed between 100 B.C. and A.D. 600, including the Diamond and Heart Sutras, "two of the holiest of the holy" (p. xxviii) Buddhist scriptures. German translator Edward Conze first introduced these sutras to the English-speaking world in 1958. The Diamond and Heart Sutras "lead us to the very summit of existence," he writes. "Up there the air is rather rarified, and we are bound to feel somewhat dizzy at times" (p. 38). And like a raft allowing us to cross a great stretch of water, they carry us to a place of "No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; No forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touchables, or objects of mind" (p. 97).

The Diamond Sutra is said to cut "like a thunderbolt" (p. xxix), and the Heart Sutra is the "heart or essence of the Perfection of Wisdom" (p. xxi). They look deeply into "experience beyond the rigidity of concept," recognizing "the interdependence of all beings" (p. xix)and, at times, they will cause your head to reel as your mind does somersaults! Although Conze comments on these sutras phrase by phrase, he acknowledges his commentary is not intended to convey "the spiritual experience which a Sutra describes. These only reveal themselves to persistent meditation. A commentary must be content to explain words used" (p. 7). The realization of these teachings results in compassion (p. xix).

In her excellent Preface to this new edition of Conze's translation, Judith Simmer-Brown notes that "the wisdom of the Prajnaparamita sutras is mind expanding" (p. xv). I am not competent to comment on Conze's translation, and I do not presume to understand these sutras. However, I recommend this book for anyone interested in exploring the Buddhist concepts of emptiness and the absolute nature of reality, or for anyone interested in the pursuit of wisdom--"with the concern for the meaning of life, with its search for ends, purposes and values worthy of being pursued, with its desire to penetrate beyond the appearance of things to their true reality" (p. xxviiii).

G. Merritt

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An insightful read, May 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Buddhist Wisdom: The Diamond Sutra and The Heart Sutra (Paperback)

Two of the most well-known of Buddha's Sutras, the "Diamond Sutra" and "the Heart Sutra", are explained clearly and succintly in this concise volumne. Edward Conze translates directly from the original Sanskrit with care and insight, skillfully combining deeply obtuse concepts with a gentle, sensitive rye sense of humor. The piercing brevity of "The Heart Sutra" is an astonishingly remarkable 'tool' for helping us to change our behavior. It affords an opportunity for those seeking to return to their origin, to see and to understand their True Heart which is unsurpasssable, Perfected Wisdom.