The Diamond Sutra: The Perfection of Wisdom Paperback – 18 November 2002
by Red Pine (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars 187 ratings
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Zen Buddhism is often said to be a practice of mind-to-mind transmission without reliance on texts --in fact, some great teachers forbid their students to read or write. But Buddhism has also inspired some of the greatest philosophical writings of any religion, and two such works lie at the center of Zen- The Heart Sutra, which monks recite all over the world, and The Diamond Sutra, said to contain answers to all questions of delusion and dualism. This is the Buddhist teaching on the perfection of wisdom and cuts through all obstacles on the path of practice. As Red Pine explains- The Diamond Sutra may look like a book, but it's really the body of the Buddha. It's also your body, my body, all possible bodies. But it's a body with nothing inside and nothing outside. It doesn't exist in space or time. Nor is it a construct of the mind. It's no mind. And yet because it's no mind, it has room for compassion. This book is the offering of no mind, born of compassion for all suffering beings. Of all the sutras that teach this teaching, this is the diamond.
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480 pages
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Winner of the 2018 Thornton Wilder Prize for Translation
About the Author
Bill Porter (aka "Red Pine") is widely recognized as one of the world's preeminent translators of Chinese poetry and religious texts; he assumes the pen name "Red Pine" for his translations.
Writing as Red Pine, he was the first translator to ever translate the entirety of Han-shan's oeurve into English, published as The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain. Red Pine was also the first to translate into English the entirely of The Poems of the Masters. He has also translated several of the major Buddhist sutras, including the Heart Sutra, Diamond Sutra, and Platform Sutra.
Paperback : 480 pages
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Red Pine
Bill Porter (aka "Red Pine") is widely recognized as one of the world's preeminent translators of Chinese poetry and religious texts; he assumes the pen name "Red Pine" for his translations.
Bill Porter was born in Los Angeles in 1943 and grew up in the Idaho panhandle. He served a tour of duty in the U.S. Army (1964-67), graduated from the University of California with a degree in anthropology in 1970, and attended graduate school at Columbia University. Uninspired by the prospect of an academic career, he dropped out of Columbia and moved in 1972 to a Buddhist monastery in Taiwan. After four years with the monks and nuns, he struck out on his own and eventually found work at English-language radio stations in Taiwan and Hong Kong, where he produced over one thousand programs about his travels in China. In 1993 he returned to America with his family and has lived ever since near Seattle, Washington.
Writing as Bill Porter, he is the author of several travelogues, including Road to Heaven, which focuses on his interactions with Taoist hermits in the mountains of China; Zen Baggage; and his Guggenheim project, Finding Them Gone: Visiting China's Poets of the Past.
Writing as Red Pine, he was the first translator to ever translate the entirety of Han-shan's oeurve into English, published as The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain. Red Pine was also the first to translate into English the entirely of The Poems of the Masters. He has also translated several of the major Buddhist sutras, including the Heart Sutra, Diamond Sutra, and Platform Sutra.
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Matt Jenkins
5.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Red Pine Translation
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 January 2010
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The Diamond Sutra, along with The Heart Sutra (also available translated by Red Pine), are arguably the two most popular works of the Prajnaparamita group of Sutras. Indeed they are among the most popular Sutras within the Mahayana cannon as a whole.
I own a number of copies of the Diamond Sutra but this is my favourite. It is certainly the one I come back to the most. Red Pine, an award winning translator, always seems to take great care and give a good deal of thought to all his translations. I certainly value all the works of his that I own. I don't think that any translation of a text can be considered definitive but I think this one may come as close as any translation can.
Unlike most English translations of the Diamond Sutra, which are typically based on a single text, Red Pine has consulted a wide range of source texts. The texts consulted were the Sanskrit texts of Muller and Conze; two incomplete editions (the Stein and Gilgit editions); six Chinese translations and Tibetan and Khotanese translations. The result is an excellent rendering of the text. Included within the commentary is a comprehensive list of variant readings from the various sources used, for those who are interested. For those who are specifically after a translation of Kumarajiva's text, which is probably the most widely used single source for translations of the Diamond Sutra, I recommend Describing the Indescribable: A Commentary of the Diamond Sutra . Red Pine does, however, include Kumarajiva's variations, as this is one of the six Chinese translations consulted for this edition.
Not only do I like the translation of the core text but I find the introduction, extensive commentaries and glossary extremely helpful and interesting too. The commentary draws on the work of a number of Buddhist commentators on the Sutra, including Hui-neng (638-713), the sixth patriarch of Zen, who produced one of the most influential commentaries on the Diamond Sutra. In The Platform Sutra: The ZEN Teaching of Hui-Neng (Hui-neng's most well known work, which is also available in a fine translation by Red Pine), Hui-neng relates how it was upon first hearing this Sutra that he first left home and it was upon hearing this Sutra that he later became enlightened.
An excellent work. Thank you Red Pine.
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James Grimshaw
1.0 out of 5 stars hard read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 January 2019
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only for the dedicated
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Deimante
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 August 2020
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Very good and written very well.
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Tao
5.0 out of 5 stars Like all of Red Pines translations a great read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 January 2015
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Like all of Red Pines translations a great read, essential Diamond...read it this and his Heart Sutra essential reading
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originalisa
5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the best English translation of The Diamond Sutra,
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 October 2015
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Probably the best English translation of The Diamond Sutra, I would recommend this version.
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