The Platform Sutra: The Zen Teaching of Hui-neng [Hardcover]

Red Pine (Translator, Commentary)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 6, 2006

The Platform Sutra occupies a central place in Zen (Ch'an) Buddhist instruction for students and spiritual seekers worldwide. It is often linked with The Heart Sutra and The Diamond Sutra to form a trio of texts that have been revered and studied for centuries. However, unlike the other sutras, which transcribe the teachings of the Buddha himself, The Platform Sutra presents the autobiography of Hui-neng, the controversial 6th Patriarch of Zen, and his understanding of the fundamentals of a spiritual and practical life. Hui-neng's instruction still matters — the 7th-century school of Sudden Awakening that he founded survives today, continuing to influence the Rinzai and Soto schools of contemporary Zen.
Red Pine, whose translations of The Heart Sutra and The Diamond Sutra have been celebrated and widely received, now provides a sensitive and assured treatment of the third and final sutra of the classic triumvirate. He adds remarkable commentary to a translation that, combined with the full Chinese text, a glossary, and notes, results in a Mahayana masterpiece sure to become the standard edition for students and seekers alike.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[A] meticulous line-by-line interpretation that will radically deepen readers' understanding of not only the sutra but also Buddhism's underlying structure, Abhidharma, or the Matrix of Reality... Red Pine then proceeds to explicate The Heart Sutra in its concentrated entirety, including its most cited pronouncement, 'from is emptiness, emptiness is form, ' a feat that will engage and enlighten every serious student of the Dharma."

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Counterpoint; First edition (November 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593760868
• ISBN-13: 978-1593760861
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #965,429 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At last a good translation of the Platform Sutra!, December 4, 2006

By 

Bill Butler (Altadena, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Platform Sutra: The Zen Teaching of Hui-neng (Hardcover)

I eagerly anticipate any new book from Red Pine (Bill Porter), and this is another wonderful achievement from this great translator and seasoned Zen practitioner.

The text of the master Hui-neng's teaching is clear and straightforward, and Red Pine's notes bring great value as in his past books. He's a master of translation, but also of interpreting ancient Chinese culture, as he's shown in his brilliant translations of ancient Chinese poems.

Hui-neng's teaching on thoughts and thinking during meditation (section 17) are particularly helpful, in a time when Zen meditation is so often misunderstood as an escape from thoughts.

This will easily replace Yampolsky's translation both in clarity and, at least to this non-scholar, in accuracy, since it's based on a more ancient and reliable source text.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another masterwork, January 17, 2007

By 

Gareth Young (Atlanta, GA, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Platform Sutra: The Zen Teaching of Hui-neng (Hardcover)

Red Pine is simply the best translator of and commentator on Chinese Buddhist texts that I have encountered. I heard him describe his translation process in the following terms (though my paraphrase from faulty memory will only do it faint justice): "I dance with the original text: I need to know it intimately, to move and breathe with it, but if I get too close, try to control it, I step on its toes and we fall over."

His translation is always exquisite, his commentary clear, and he always brings a fresh and challenging perspective top the text. Wonderful - keep it up!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Mahayana reference enthusiastically recommended for Zen Buddhism reference shelves, May 12, 2007

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Platform Sutra: The Zen Teaching of Hui-neng (Hardcover)

Award-winning translator Red Pine has rendered the work of the controversial Sixth Patriarch of Zen into English in The Platform Sutra: The Zen Teaching of Hui-Neng. Red Pine's commentary illuminates this classic; unlike other sutras, which transcribe the teachings of Buddha himself, The Platform Sutra transcribes the spiritual and practical teachings of Hui-Neng, whose seventh-century school of Direct Awakening still thrives today and whose wisdom continues to influence the Rinzai and Soto schools of modern Zen. The full, original Chinese text with an accompanying list of Chinese names for texts, places and the like along with extensive notes enhances this essential Mahayana reference enthusiastically recommended for Zen Buddhism reference shelves. "Fellow students of the Way, be careful. Don't think that meditation comes first and then gives rise to wisdom or that wisdom comes first and then gives rise to meditation or that meditation and wisdom are separate. For those who hold such views, the Dharma is dualistic: If the mouth speaks of goodness, but the mind doesn't think of goodness, meditation and wisdom aren't the same. But if goodness pervades both the mouth and the mind, if what is external and internal are alike, then meditation and wisdom are the same."