ABOUT THE BOOK
The Diamond Sutra, composed in India in the fourth century CE, is one of the most treasured works of Buddhist literature and is the oldest existing printed book in the world. It is known as the Diamond Sutra because its teachings are said to be like diamonds that cut away all dualistic thought, releasing one from the attachment to objects and bringing one to the further shore of enlightenment. The format of this important sutra is presented as a conversation between the Buddha and one of his disciples. The Sutra of Hui-neng, also known as the Platform Sutra, contains the autobiography of a pivotal figure in Zen history and some of the most profound passages of Zen literature. Hui-neng (638–713) was the sixth patriarch of Zen in China, but is often regarded as the true father of the Zen tradition. He was a poor, illiterate woodcutter who is said to have attained enlightenment upon hearing a recitation of the Diamond Sutra. Together, these two scriptures present the central teaching of the Zen Buddhist tradition and are essential reading for all students of Buddhism.
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Cover art: The Sixth Patriarch Tearing Up a Sutra, by Liang K’ai (active first half of the 13th century), hanging scroll, ink on paper, 73 x 31.7 cm. Courtesy of Mitsui Bunko Foundation, Tokyo.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
The Library of Congress catalogues the previous edition of this book as follows:
The Diamond sutra and the Sutra of Hui Neng. Translated by A. F. Price and Wong Mou-lam. With forewords by W. Y. Evans-Wentz, J. Miller, and C. Humphreys.
The Sutra of Hui Neng is a translation of Liu tsu ta shih fa pao t’an ching includes bibliographical references.
eISBN 978-0-8348-2609-0
ISBN 0-87773-005-9 (pbk., Dragon Edition)
ISBN 1-59030-137-4 (pbk., Shambhala Classics)
I. Hui-neng, 683–713. Liu tsu ta shih fa pao t’an ching. English. 1969. II. Price, A. E, tr. III. Wong, Mou-lam, tr. IV. Title.
294.3’85—dc19
78-237407
MARC
Contents
THE DIAMOND SŪTRA
Foreword by W. Y. Evans-Wentz
Translator’s Preface
1. The Convocation of the Assembly
2. Subhūti Makes a Request
3. The Real Teaching of the Great Way
4. Even the Most Beneficent Practices Are Relative
5. Understanding the Ultimate Principle of Reality
6. Rare Is True Faith
7. Great Ones, Perfect Beyond Learning, Utter No Words of Teaching
8. The Fruits of Meritorious Action
9. Real Designation Is Undesignate
10. Setting Forth Pure Lands
11. The Superiority of Unformulated Truth
12. Veneration of the True Doctrine
13. How This Teaching Should Be Received and Retained
14. Perfect Peace Lies in Freedom from Characteristic Distinctions
15. The Incomparable Value of This Teaching
16. Purgation through Suffering the Retribution for Past Sins
17. No One Attains Transcendental Wisdom
18. All Modes of Mind Are Really Only Mind
19. Absolute Reality Is the Only Foundation
20. The Unreality of Phenomenal Distinctions
21. Words Cannot Express Truth; That Which Words Express Is Not Truth
22. It Cannot Be Said That Anything Is Attainable
23. The Practice of Good Works Purifies the Mind
24. The Incomparable Merit of This Teaching
25. The Illusion of Ego
26. The Body of Truth Has No Marks
27. It Is Erroneous to Affirm That All Things Are Ever Extinguished
28. Attachment to Rewards of Merit
29. Perfect Tranquillity
30. The Integral Principle
31. Conventional Truth Should Be Cut Off
32. The Delusion of Appearances
THE SŪTRA OF HUI-NENG
Foreword by Dih Ping-tsze
Forewords by Christmas Humphreys
Foreword by Joe Miller
1. Autobiography
2. On Prajñā
3. Questions and Answers
4. Samādhi and Prajñā
5. Dhyāna
6. On Repentance
7. Temperament and Circumstances
8. The Sudden School and the Gradual School
9. Royal Patronage
10. His Final Instructions
Appendix by Ling-t’ao, the Stūpa Keeper
Notes
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Come, Blessed One, we pray Thee, roll the wheel of the dew-sweet Law—which is excellent in the beginning, excellent in the middle, and excellent in the end!
—LOTUS SŪTRA
Foreword
It is great joy to realize that the path to freedom that all the buddhas have trodden is ever existent, ever unchanged, and ever open to those who are prepared to enter upon it.
—Precepts of the Gurus
The Rendering, the History, and the Significance of the Text
In presenting to the West this rendering of the Jewel of Transcendental Wisdom, Mr. Price reveals himself to be one of that noble band of translators and transmitters who in our time have added fresh effulgence to the light born of the East.
From India, the guru of the world, and the land wherein they first took written form, in Sanskrit, the Prajñāpāramitā scriptures were carried into China, and from the Chinese version of one of their various epitomes issues this English version here before us, which is characterized by praiseworthy simplicity of phraseology and diction, clarity of exposition, and unusually valuable notes that serve as a quite necessary commentary.
In my own presentation of a still more epitomized version of the Transcendental Wisdom, contained in book 7 of Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines, I have set forth a brief account of the history and esotericism of the Prajñāpāramitā scriptures, which form a part of the third division of the Tibetan canon of Northern Buddhism, corresponding to the Abhidharma of the Pali canon of Southern Buddhism. In the Tibetan block print editions, the Prajñāpāramitā scriptures ordinarily comprise twenty-one books, contained in one hundred volumes of approximately one thousand pages each. Of these voluminous texts there are numerous epitomes in various oriental languages, ranging from the original Sanskrit to Mongolian and Japanese. For Northern, or Mahayanist, Buddhists, the Prajñāpāramitā scriptures are the most precious and sacred of their canonical writings. Nāgārjuna, the fourteenth of the Buddhist patriarchs, who flourished during the first half of the second century C.E., is credited with having been the first teacher publicly to teach the supreme doctrine of...
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