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Buddhist Wisdom: The Diamond Sutra and The Heart Sutra

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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.

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

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.

The work of translation is notoriously difficult. Especially if the translator intends to make the work unreadable by adding sommentary after virutally every line. As a Buddhist, I was really hoping to see the work itself, and then read the commentary to explain points that were less than clear. Unfortunately, this work is almost a line by line back and forth between the actual work and the commentary. It was almost unreadable due to the proximity of the commentary to the text and definitely lacking, in terms of the actual translation. There was also way too much of a focus on apologetics to the western (Christian) world. The work would have been better if it had not gone out of its way to make sure it did not offend Christian sensibilites, and make itself into nothing more than a treatise on eastern philosophy. There are better translations out there (for free) on the internet. Don't waste your money on this one, unless you really like commentary.

The Diamond Sutra and The Heart Sutra are highly condensed and extremely profound Mahayana Buddhist texts that are by no means easy to understand. In attempting to read them it soon becomes apparent that the author or authors of these texts were scholastics thoroughly schooled in the intricacies of Indian Buddhist thought.

It also becomes clear that they must have been spiritual aristocrats, persons who had in fact achieved Enlightenment and who, though scholars, were writing from the point-of-view of the Enlightened. Given this, the texts present us with certain problems.

Edward Conze (1904-1979) has been called "the foremost Western scholar of the Prajnaparamita literature" and it seems to me that he has in this edition gone as far as it is possible for a scholar to go in explaining these difficult sutras to a modern audience. I also feel that his translations far surpass most others in their beauty.

Conze, however, although a brilliant linguist and scholar and one who had actually practiced meditation, tells us himself that he was never able to reach Enlightenment. In his edition, although he has certainly been able to help us penetrate the technical meaning of the sutras, their deep spiritual significance that only a truly Enlightened one could make us powerfully feel had to be left to another to convey.

I first acquired Conze's 'Buddhist Wisdom Books' many years ago, have always loved it, and have often returned to it. It is a magical book, but to fully bring out its magic requires a different kind of teacher, one who could breathe life into it simply because it reflected his own experience. Happily just such a teacher appeared recently.

I would strongly urge readers of these texts to watch Steven Norquist's SIG 2010 Conference Video Presentation on Enlightenment (stevennorquist.com). Norquist, who is the author of Haunted Universe: The True Knowledge of Enlightenment, nowhere mentions the sutras in his talk. He doesn't need to since he has experienced their truths for himself. But despite never once referring to the sutras, the story he recounts of his own experience adds a new and startling dimension of significance to them.

The sutras and Norquist are in fact complementary. Whereas the sutras will help you to better understand Norquist as a true Master, Norquist himself serves, albeit perhaps unwittingly, to open up the sutras for us in a way that a scholarly approach alone could never do. Personally I was blown away by how beautifully the sutras and Norquist dovetail and thereby serve to mutually illuminate each other. I think you may be blown away too.

Manual of Zen Buddhism has a better translation of both these Sutras. I am also very appreciative of the Shambhala translations by Price and Mou-lam that doesn't have the Heart Sutra but has a translation of the Platform Sutra coupled with the Diamond Sutra. The problem I have with this translation is that after very much enjoying the Price/Mou-lam translation I thought it might be worth while to have a translation of the
Heart and Diamond in one volume. I had seen this translation so decided to look into it and felt immediately uncomfortable by the decision to venerate the Buddha. The Buddha of course was an average wealthy householder who became enlightened. In other words,he was a somewhat regular human being. In this translation he is usually translated as "The
Lord."In both the Suzuki and Price/Mou-lam translations he is usually referred to as "The Buddha" or "The World-Honored One" or the "Tathagata" (thus-come, or thus-gone). Also, this is the only one of the three translations that has someone else, as a servant, arrange the Buddha's seat after he returns from begging for his meal. A small point, but it
is very touching to think of the Buddha as being humble. This is just the beginning of my problems with this translation. For instance, the Diamond Sutra is relatively short, so why not have the complete Sutra and then have the Sutra with commentary like Sheng-yen does with the translation of the Sutra of Complete Enlightenment.