Customer Reviews

The Diamond That Cuts Through Illusion: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Diamond Sutra

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The Diamond Sutra is a companion sutra, or sermon of the Buddha, to the more famous Heart Sutra. The Heart Sutra is said to be a summation of the Diamond Sutra. Suffice to say that the Diamond Sutra is pretty difficult to understand, let alone appreciate. Thich Nhat Hanh takes on this difficult sutra with patience and thorough explanations. The repetitous language of the sutra will put off most new Buddhists, but in this book, Thich Nhat Hanh breaks down explanations section by section, so you have time to digest what's being taught.

I think Thich Nhat Hanh makes a great effort in teaching such a challenging text, and having worked my way through this book a couple times, I have found the Diamond Sutra to be one of my most favorite sutras in Buddhism. Hopefully you will too.

Thich Nhat Hanh is one of my favorite authors. He is an exceptionally talented writer who has the ability to present information in a very visual manner. The subject matter of this book did not lend itself to the author's usual distinguished writing style. Rather, he translated, amplified and simplified Buddhist doctrine, the Varjracchedika Prajnaparmita Sutra, in this 115-page back pocket sized book.

Thich presents the 32 parts of the Sutra in the first 25 pages of the book and uses the remainder to repeat and provide commentary on each part. Thich Nhat Hanh is a Buddhist Monk who has spent a significant amount of time studying the Sutra. It is not an easy thing for a non-Buddhist layman to understand and buy into without serious study and contemplation.

The belief in this doctrine is that life, self, and things are not what they seem to be. The author states that "we must go beyond words and our concepts of reality to be in touch with the true nature of things."

This was not my favorite book by this author, but it was thought provoking and I do have a basic understanding of the doctrine after reading this book. I recommend it for open minded thinkers in search of virtue and happiness.

One of Thich Nhat Hanh's best!
This modern day Vietnamese Zen master opens the Diamond Sutra with his own diamond sharp insight. Besides Zen Keys, I think this is his most "Zen" like book. His commentary stays focused on the message of this Classic Prajna Paramita Sutra.

This is the Sutra that the legendary Sixth Ancestor of Zen, Hui-neng, recommended to everyone that wanted to awaken to the highest truths of Buddhism. Thich Nhat Hanh shows us that he is a true Dragon of Zen with his gentle, yet direct treatment of this classic text. If you want to get to the blood and guts of the Diamond Sutra, this is a great guide.

Everytime I think a concept is beyond my ability to comprehend, Thich makes the point loud and clear.

This work doesn't try to "hide any reference to our self nature", it tries to reveal that self is a delusion. As Master Hanshan says: "the bodhisattva should contemplate the nonexistence of a self," (from his commentary on the Diamond Sutra [Jin-gang Jing Jywe-yi]) so any attempt to ascribe to Hanshan the very non-Buddhist notion of any "self nature" would be (at best) a misrepresentation. Certainly this work does represent Thich Nhat Hanh's own interpretation of the tradition, but his "philosophy" is representative of mainstream Buddhism (to the extent anything ever is).

how do you put into words the indescribable? I appreciated this treatment of a very complicated concept (excuse me, of something that is beyond conceptualization). 'A' is 'A'. 'A' is not 'A'. 'A' is 'A', but this statement is not the same as the first... I really do not want to attempt to explain non-dualism here when Thich Nhat Hanh does so much better.
If this intrigues you, and you would like to investigate it from a different angle, I suggest looking into physics: non-locality (as demonstrated by the EPR paradox), holographic models of the universe, and the likelihood that a deeper level of reality contains more than the four dimensions in which we are embedded, offer possibilities as to how this sutra relates to us.

Thay is a wonderful Dharma teacher, of course, but he reads classical texts through his own philosophy and tries to hide any reference to our self nature, the very key of Zen.

In his commentary on _The Diamond That Cuts Through Illusion Sutra_, he is limited by his own approach. You can better read Ven. Master Hanshan's commentary, what a difference! This is not a Thay's worthy work. He can do it much better, only if he forgets his own philosophy for a second.