2022/06/02

The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra eBook : Hanh, Thich Nhat: Amazon.com.au: Books

The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajñaparamita Heart Sutra

The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajñaparamita Heart Sutra      Audio

Written by Thich Nhat Hanh

Narrated by Thich Nhat Hanh

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In this recording, Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh lectures on the Heart of the Prajñ?p?ramit? Sutra, which is regarded as the essence of Buddhist teachings. To this day, the Heart Sutra is recited daily in Mahayana temples and practice centers throughout the world. Thay, as his followers call him, offered this lecture at Green Gulch Farm in Muir Beach, California, on April 19, 1987.




The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra eBook : Hanh, Thich Nhat: Amazon.com.au: Books 2009

new version of this book, now titled 
The Other Shore: A New Translation of the Heart Sutra with Commentaries. 


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The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra Kindle Edition
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The heart of the Prajñaparamita Sutra is regarded as the essence of Buddhist teaching, offering subtle and profound teachings on non-duality and the letting go of all preconceived notions, opinions, and attachments, and so becoming open to all the wonders of our life.

The Heart Sutra is recited daily in Mahayana temples and practice centers throughout the world. Thich Nhat Hanh’s translation and commentary are the fruit of the author’s more than sixty years of monastic study and practice. He describes the sutra as “a precious gift to us, the gift of fearlessness.”

Based on a historic lecture at the Green Gulch Zen Center, Muir Beach, California on April 19, 1987, this is one of the most simple, clear, concise, and understandable commentaries on this very important Buddhist sutra. In the Heart Sutra, the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara describes how to train in the perfection of wisdom by seeing through the illusory nature of all things. The Heart Sutra is Buddhism in a nutshell, containing only 632 characters in the traditional Chinese translation. Despite its brevity, it covers more of the Buddha’s teachings than any other scripture and has had the most profound and wide-reaching influence of any text in Buddhism.

This revised edition celebrates the 20th anniversary of the initial release and features a new introduction by Peter Levitt and a new afterword by Thich Nhat Hanh. Edited by poet and Zen teacher Peter Levitt, author of Fingerpainting on the Moon.
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Print length  66 pages

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Exquisite teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh. As simple and powerful as it gets. Strongly recommended.-- "Inquiring Mind"



Studying the basics of Buddhism under Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh is like learning basketball from Michael Jordan.-- "Amazon.com, editorial review, on The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching"



Thich Nhat Hanh modernizes and frees the Buddha-a tiny book of gem-like words.-- "Book Reader" --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
About the Author


Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Zen master, poet, scholar, and peace activist who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He is the author of many bestselling books, including the classics The Miracle of Mindfulness, Peace Is Every Step, Anger, and The Art of Power. Thich Nhat Hanh lives in Plum Village, his meditation center in France, where his monastic and lay disciples assist him in leading retreats worldwide on the art of mindful living.



Peter Levitt is a poet, translator, and Zen teacher. He is the founder of the Salt Spring Zen Circle and has taught poetry and writing workshops around the world. He is currently an instructor at the University of British Columbia and lives with his wife and son on one of the nearby Gulf Islands.



Edoardo Ballerini is an actor, director, film producer, and Audie Award-winning narrator. His screen credits include the feature films Dinner Rush and Romeo Must Die, as well as the television series The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, and 24.--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005EFWU0E
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Parallax Press; Revised edition (10 November 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 254 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled

4.7 out of 5 stars 209 ratings




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Thich Nhat Hanh



Thich Nhat Hanh (1926–2022) was​ a Vietnamese Buddhist Zen Master, poet, and peace activist and one of the most revered and influential spiritual teachers in the world​. Born in 1926, he became a Zen Buddhist monk at the age of sixteen. His work for peace and reconciliation during the war in Vietnam moved Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. In Vietnam, Thich Nhat Hanh founded Van Hanh Buddhist University and the School of Youth for Social Service, a corps of Buddhist peace​ workers. Exiled as a result of his work for peace, he continued his humanitarian efforts, rescuing boat people and helping to resettle refugees. ​In 1982 he established Plum Village France, the largest Buddhist monastery in Europe​ and the hub of the international Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism​.​​ Over seven decades of teaching, he published a hundred books, which have been translated into more than forty languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide.

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Top reviews from Australia


KATARZYNA ADAMSON

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb, supreme...Reviewed in Australia on 10 August 2019
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Wonderful, wonderful read, one of the most transformational books I ever read. On reviewing it 20 years later - still the same beauty and brilliance in style, analogies, still as clear as it gets. Yummy 😊


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Andrew Osborne

5.0 out of 5 stars Emptiness in a nutshellReviewed in Australia on 22 July 2019
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If you’re struggling with the concept of emptiness this book is an essential read. Highly recommended.


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Jayarava
1.0 out of 5 stars Zen Buddhist talking about Zen BuddhismReviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 July 2018
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As with every other book on the text, Thich Nhat Hanh uses the Heart Sutra as a tabula rasa for talking about his beliefs. The book is not so much a commentary on the Heart Sutra as it is an exposition of Vietnamese Zen Buddhism. Which is fine if you are interested in Vietnamese Zen Buddhism or just like reading Thich Nhat Hanh (which a lot of people do).

Not much more can be expected since the Prajñāpāramitā tradition actually died out over a millennium ago, to be superceded by Madhyamaka (with which it really has little in common) and other Mahāyana ideologies. Zen is an amalgam of all these ideas, and the Heart Sutra is supposedly a reflection of this, but really none of these people understand it (partly because the text has become garbled in transmission and partly because Zen is what it is). Which is not to say that Thich Nhat Hanh is a bad person or talking nonsense. What he says is fine as far as it goes. Just not related to the Heart Sutra per se.

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Mark Bywater
5.0 out of 5 stars Buy it!Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 April 2019
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Great book! This is a great book! Someone lent me it to read and I’d ordered my own copy before half way through. It’s only short but it’s a blooming good book!
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Mr. D. J. Seymour
5.0 out of 5 stars Great translation with deep insights in the commentaryReviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 January 2016
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Great translation with deep insights in the commentary. To be read and re-read.
Thich Nhat Hanh is a true master and poet leading you deep into the sutras meaning. I thoroughly recommend this book although he recently updated his translation which is available online.
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Tao
4.0 out of 5 stars Its all HeartReviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 May 2014
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A great short book about the Heart sutra. Well written and well put together with clear explanations and some gentle moments. BUT occasionally you just get some political undertones here and there as you do with Thich. The book seems to go from heart to politics buts it quite subtle. I would recommend this book.

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Kane Doughty
5.0 out of 5 stars Simple yet profound.Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 September 2013
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I received this wonderful teaching on a saturday morning and due to it's small size was able to read the whole book in short sessions by the evening. Although it's short like the heart sutra itself, don't be fooled in thinking you "need" more to understand the complexity of the sutra, in fact it's quite the opposite. How you approach the simple yet extremely profound chapters in this book is the key to going deep into the teachings on emptiness and it's small size means you can take it with you anywhere.
A must have for anyone trying to understand emptiness. All that's needed now is to sit.

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The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra
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The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra
by Thich Nhat Hanh, Peter Levitt (Editor)
 4.40  ·   Rating details ·  2,732 ratings  ·  176 reviews
Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. In The Heart of Understanding, Thich Nhat Hanh offers a lucid and engaging interpretation of this core Buddhist text—The Heart Sutra—which is one of the most important sutras, offering subtle and profound teachings on nonduality.
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Paperback, 56 pages
Published October 1st 1988 by Parallax Press (first published May 31st 1987)
Original TitleThe Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra
ISBN0938077112  (ISBN13: 9780938077114)
Edition LanguageEnglish
Other Editions (22)
The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra 
The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra 
The Heart of Understanding: A New Translation of the Heart Sutra with Commentaries 
The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra 
Vorm Is Leegte, Leegte Is Vorm: Commentaar Op Het Prajñaparamita Hartsoetra
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 Average rating4.40  ·  Rating details ·  2,732 ratings  ·  176 reviews

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Bryan
Dec 19, 2008Bryan rated it it was amazing
my favorite book of last summer. it's short so read it three times in a week. it will help you realize that you are a tree! (less)
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Blaine Snow
Feb 21, 2017Blaine Snow rated it it was amazing
Shelves: buddhism
No one but Thay could make the Abhidharma technicalities and mind-bending paradoxes of emptiness of the Heart Sutra read like simple breathing while looking at clouds. The highest wisdom, prajnaparamita, in Thay's hands shows you its immediacy and practicality for everyday living. After reading and reviewing six different books on the Heart Sutra, his was the one I chose to teach from.

Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha!

September 2018 Update

Don't miss Thay's new version of this book, now titled The Other Shore: A New Translation of the Heart Sutra with Commentaries. In it Thay provides his new translation and explains why it is needed and how the standard translation (and its variations) has often been the source of misinterpretations and misunderstandings of the central teaching of emptiness. (less)
flag11 likes · Like  · comment · see review


Hannah Garden
Jan 07, 2009Hannah Garden rated it really liked it
Y0u can't really three-star a sweet little treatise 0n h0w t0 be m0re kind and m0re aware 0f the hearts 0f pe0ple ar0und y0u, s0 this gets f0ur stars, because Thich Nhat Hanh, I like y0u m0re in the0ry than in practice, y0u 0l' dry-t0ngued devil. (less)
flag7 likes · Like  · comment · see review
Phuong Vy Le
Aug 18, 2016Phuong Vy Le rated it really liked it
Shelves: buddism, philosophy
"What/ who you think you really know?"

Over the past one year, whenever encounter anyone who sounds wise and open, I always ask s/he that question. I wonder whether we ever truly know anything/ anyone in this world, since everything & everyone change every single second. And if we hardly know anyone/anything, why we even bother trying to get-to-know or to learn because mastery of something or truly knowing someone are all illusions. (This question arose from some personal experiences during my 24)

Throughout that time, I got different answers:
- One talked about the Known, The Unknown, The Unknow-able
- Some claim the only one person they know are themselves and the only thing they really know is what they want to do
- Some said we know nothing
- Some said they know their bff, their mother, their children.
- Some just didn't answer

And, I stopped questioning since I thought it was enough and it might go nowhere. Getting other's answer doesn't really help me clarify my own.

But Thay made it so simple & so clear. “Views, knowledge, and even wisdom are solid, and can block the way of understanding.” "Understanding flows"

If I keep trying to know things, I will never know them truly, as they change constantly, and I will feel frustrated. But if I try to understand something, it means that Im aware of the context where it is, be one with it to look deeply into its nature, but never assume that it would remain unchanged.

Reading this small book was a really liberating experience for me :)
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Thomas
Oct 02, 2009Thomas rated it it was amazing
Shelves: religion, eastern-classics, philosophy
The heart of Buddhism (with Zen leanings) is encapsulated in this slim and poetic volume, but this book is for everyone. If you don't know Buddha from butter, it won't matter. It's probably the best introduction to the fundamental concepts of dependent origination and emptiness I have come across, without the didacticism or defensiveness that often accompanies more scholarly "explanations." It's simple, the way it's supposed to be. The way it is! (less)
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Cheryl
Jul 10, 2014Cheryl rated it it was amazing
Oh my gosh. Profound. Everything contains everything else. When you really take the time to absorb the meaning of this book, it's quite life changing. (less)
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Annie
May 21, 2018Annie rated it liked it
“To be is to inter-be. You cannot just be by yourself alone, you have to inter-be with every other thing. This sheet of paper is, because everything else is.”

“In the light of Buddhist meditation, love is impossible without understanding. You cannot love someone if you do not understand them. If you do not understand what you love, it is not love— it is something else.”
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Bob
Apr 05, 2010Bob rated it it was amazing
Short, simple, and deeply insightful commentary on the core sutra of mahayana Buddhism. The Heart Sutra is the heart of the prajna paramita literature, the great deepening of the Buddha's original teaching. This work demystifies the concept of "emptiness" by substituting the idea that we "inter-are." no one if us, no concept, nothing exists independent of the rest of us. You could read this book in an hour, and keep returning to it for a lifetime. (less)
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jen
Jan 23, 2022jen rated it really liked it
Shelves: buddhism, 2022
This was my first of Thich Nhat Hanh's many books, read last weekend just a few days before his death. I thought it might be challenging material but in fact was very understandable, and enjoyable. (less)
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Lon
Dec 31, 2020Lon rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Thich Nhat Hanh's gift as a poet illuminates what might otherwise be impenetrable and abstruse. Emptiness, the central insight of the sutra, is a key to freeing us from concepts that get us stuck in life, such as the notion of impermanence or the notion of an independent and enduring self.

This edition has been supplanted in the Plum Village community by The Other Shore, which treats the same subject matter but uses Hanh's 2014 translation of the Heart Sutra, retitled The Insight that Leads Us to the Other Shore. There's much to commend the new rephrased sutra and I appreciate the desire to use language less likely to be misapprehended, but I have misgivings about calling it a new translation. Where Hanh believes the sutra's lines could lead to misunderstanding, he takes the liberty of changing them. This pre-2014 rendering remains more faithful to the text of the Heart Sutra as it has come to us across the centuries and is known and chanted throughout much of the Mahayana Buddhist world.



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Trina
Feb 12, 2015Trina rated it really liked it
Shelves: creative-nonfiction, essays, nonfiction
It's possible to read this slim book in one hour, but not to assimilate it. Tich Nhat Hanh does his best to simplify the heart sutra for western readers. Maybe oversimplify is a better word. Some of his insights into Buddhist teaching are marvelous and clear; others are maddening. 'This is, because that is' does little to explain, e.g., how wealth consists of poverty and vice versa except in the grand sense of everything being part of everything else. Still, there are many lessons worth learning from the zen masters if we stay open and enter deeply into the things we want to understand. (less)
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Julie
Sep 04, 2017Julie rated it really liked it
I always read books like these and wish I could be more spiritual than I am. Or maybe not even more spiritual, but more able to harness these messages in my daily life. I love the ideas of Buddhism, but I'm pretty solidly enmeshed in my passions. :) In any case, it's good to keep reading and thinking and trying. This little book has a lot about emptiness and interbeing--how everything contains everything else within it and nothing could exist without everything else. I like it. (less)
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Levi Pierpont
Dec 03, 2020Levi Pierpont rated it it was amazing
Shelves: religion-buddhism
A short and thoughtful commentary on a sacred text that definitely needs commentary to be understood in any capacity as a modern reader with limited knowledge of Buddhist philosophy. Worth reading, as Thích Nhat Hanh's explanation and analogies are as poignant as ever in this little book.

*I listened to this book.* (less)
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Robbie Blair
Oct 06, 2014Robbie Blair rated it it was amazing
While not a flawless book, this rendition and discussion of the Heart Sutra is an accessible entry-point for some of Buddhism's key philosophies. For those who find those philosophies resonant, this work is also replenishing and profound. (less)
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Weathervane
Oct 07, 2015Weathervane rated it really liked it
Shelves: non-fiction
Key Buddhist text. Lovely.
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mia moraru
Dec 30, 2016mia moraru rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: important
simply incredible. quietly profound, changing.
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Sienna
Jul 15, 2018Sienna rated it liked it  ·  review of another edition
Recommended to Sienna by: Hoopla
Shelves: grief-death, read-2018, audio, love-communication
Lovely short meditation on indivisibility.
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J.
Apr 25, 2021J. rated it really liked it
To really understand what it means to be one with all things. To understand form is emptiness and emptiness is form...but emptiness is not nothing, it is everything. Empty of self, full of all. To be everything and nothing. True, deep, powerful. I'll be revisiting this over and over. (less)
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Lisa
Jul 17, 2020Lisa rated it it was ok
I'm mostly unfamiliar with Buddhism, and don't consider myself a philosopher, so maybe I didn't understand this book. I started out at three stars, and the more I wrote the more frustrated I became until I brought it down to two. But here are my thoughts (would love commentary if anyone reads this, any time):

If we were not empty (of a separate self, which makes us full of the combined elements of life such as perception, feeling, etc.) then we would be matter. Form is emptiness (of a separate self), and emptiness is form. So the wave is the ocean, the ocean the wave. But then what exactly is matter if not an inanimate object? He says if were not empty, we would be matter, incapable of thought or feeling. Yet we inter-be with all sorts of things that don't have that ability. Except of course, the leaf is capable of experiencing excitement as it hurtles to the ground to become a tree all over again. So I don't understand what matter is, apparently nothing is, and there are no inanimate objects. So I also have to ask, what DOES have separate self, because apparently nothing does?

Thich insists it is science, not philosophy, that we have been birds and rocks and clouds in past lives because if you go back far enough, we all evolved from something. We ARE these things, we inter-be with them, because we have some of them inside of us, and we couldn't all exist without one another. But I'm still not a water molecule, and haven't been for some time. Scientifically. I have water in me, and that may be my origin story, but what are we actually trying to get at here? I'm not a cloud no matter how much cloud I have in me.

In that same vein, he says we can never be born, because we existed in our mother and father "half" before we were born. Nah. I was not Lisa before I was born, there were two separate elements that combined to make something new. Yes, those elements have been around forever and so I am connected to everything, but I still wasn't Lisa until I was, potential does not equal existence. This version of those aspects has never existed before and never will again. In that sense I am born even if my being wasn't created from nothing. Over and over, there is the equating of having an origin to not being a separate or individual entity. I am not a fish, no matter if my ancestors were once fish and I still have fishy DNA.

He goes onto talk about how what is immaculate and reviled is just perception, with a rose and garbage. Roses become garbage, which is used as fertilizer, making more roses. One and the same! Let's change rose to just a normal pile of trash. It smells bad to us, not to raccoons. Why? Because there is a biological basis for keeping us away from the garbage, it can harm us. Disgust is not always about perception, and if you fill your vase with medical waste you might get sick, because it's not a damn rose.

Then there is the bit about people dying very happy, peaceful deaths because they know they're coming back as something new and ~exciting~. What about the pain of life and death? It's one thing to say existence in some form doesn't end, maybe that comforts some. But life, for humans, is often full of physical pain. Are you saying that there will not be physical pain when I'm a leaf? He says the ocean waves no feel no fear, that means they're not sentient. But the leaf can wave goodbye to the tree, happy it's going to be seen again soon? Unless that wasn't a real conversation he had with the leaf. Again, I have to ask is ANYTHING matter, or is everything sentient? If the leaf is sentient, it can feel pain, which means my existence as a leaf might not be free of pain, in which case I'm not drifting off peacefully. If it's not sentient, does it really matter that I get to "be" a leaf? I won't realize I'm a leaf. Which means this version of me, as I know it, is DEAD. No one KNOWS what happens when we die, and that's just the truth of it. Energy not being able to be destroyed doesn't mean we have a never ending consciousness.

I actually got angry at the part about the child prostitute. She will take comfort in knowing her suffering in life is reflective of the failings of other humans in more well off positions - and then feel no shame, because she is oppressed only because they created a system of success linked to her oppression, therefore their hands are not clean and ta-da!: they are the same. This sameness should erase her shame. Thich has never had to have sex with dudes for money before, because shame is the least of that kids problems. No, it's not comforting, and it doesn't fix anything, unless those who create the system take on the burden of fixing it upon hearing this amazing revelation.

But then, there is nothing to fix. Because he states, once you choose sides, you're trying to eliminate half of reality. Evil is about perception, man, and those we label as evil see us as evil. Everything is relative. In fact, when describing the pimp who makes the little girl a sex slave, he doesn't refer to him as evil, or bad, or even something as gentle as misguided. He calls him CLEVER. Oh yes, how smart of this older man to see the value in the flesh of someone else's suffering! Not like it's the oldest profession, nah, Mr. Pimp is super industrious over here. Are you for real right now? Well, put me firmly in the camp with those who want to erase the half of reality that thinks child prostitution is not evil. I'm dying on that hill.

And probably not peacefully, for the record. Is this why some monks set themselves on fire, to prove the point that once you stop assigning value judgements to things you're completely free of suffering, even physical pain? Get rid of good and evil, human and object, desire and attainment, and suddenly this all just becomes a little jaunt through the forest where we admire the scenery before becoming rocks again. Yeah, in that mindset, I can see why you'd be free of suffering.

In general, the idea that we're connected IS nice, and very real, and I think helps us be more empathetic. But I found his arguments supporting that sloppy, unless I'm just not getting it. (less)
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Nathan
Jul 31, 2011Nathan rated it liked it
Shelves: philosophy, spirituality
Tentatively three-starred since I am, at the moment, unable to agree with the author's writings. Or perhaps it is more of a matter of understanding.

I can see how a piece of paper encompass the sun, trees, a speck of dust. So can I see the farmer's toil, his time, her sweat, a bull's labour, the sun's energy, the rain, in every grain of rice I eat.

But I am unable to see me myself in others, others in me. Though this much I know: that I am defined by everything else in the universe - my siblings, friends, colleagues, family - as is the universe by me.

Maybe that is what the author meant.

P.S.: I have a nagging thought that the author may have read Derrida's writings. Or that Derrida had a Buddhist influence. I'll be damned if inter-be is not differance. (less)
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Mckinley
Mar 18, 2015Mckinley rated it really liked it
Shelves: favorite, non-fiction, book-group, buddhism
Accessible, easy to read commentary on the sutra. Poetic movement of ideas rather than following a logic path. Great short sections helpful to break into brief meditations. Re-reading for book group.
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Veena Gokhale
Sep 16, 2018Veena Gokhale rated it it was amazing
I was glad to read this book again after a gap of at least a decade. Thich Nhat Hanh, the renowned and revered Buddhist monk, teacher, peace activist and "engaged Buddhist" who combines various Buddhist traditions in his practice and teaching, illuminates here a foundational text.
This is a lucid, beautiful, deeply touching and wise work.
Inter-being, a central concept in this book, says that every thing is connected, intimately so. The example given is that of a single sheet of paper which is here because of clouds and rain and sunshine and trees and the logger who chopped the tree and the mother who fed him and so on.
This leads Hanh to talk about the concept of emptiness which essentially says that everything is empty of a separate self in that everything is co-existent and inter-dependent. Later in the book he takes the example of a prostiute who would not be if the "unsullied" young girl from a honourable family did not exist. Similarly right could not exist without left, and even though he does not explicitly say so, he is referring here to ideology. Later we arrive at the idea that the Buddha is made up of non Buddha elements (!) Purity cannot exist if we embrace inter-being as a fact.
The deep insight into and understanding of inter-being and emptiness (the wave in only water) will lead to a lack of fear, it is said, because birth and death cannot scare us as they are a rolling, ongoing process which stretches back and forward infinitely and we are always part of the universe, which, after all, will always go on (OK, OK, let's not split hairs here!) Conscious, peaceful living with ourselves and the world is the best contribution (only?!) we can make: that's how the book ends. Phew! (less)
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Ernie Truman
Sep 16, 2020Ernie Truman rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Short, simple and concise.

I have heard a couple people talk about how systematic Buddhist thought is, and reading a lot literature about it I began to agree. Then I read Thich Nhat Hanh, and although I didn't absorb his message fully with his other books, as my views have matured I have started seeing that everything in Buddhist practice is made of everything else. For example, I always thought that by following The Noble Eightfold Path you had to do things in a specific order, but now I see it in another way. One principle or practice of that path contains all the others. Fail at one and the whole thing doesn't work. You don't develop one practice on its own.

In this book Thich Nhat Hanh illustrates this by showing us a translation of the Heart Sutra and then gives some commentary on what the ideas point to in a way that is simple and easy to understand. I always struggled with the idea that emptiness is form and form is emptiness but now I have a good grasp on to see it. This book will take very little time to read but if you concentrate and look deeply into what he is saying I believe it will invite some great insight. It's affordable on Kindle but I do believe I will buy a physical copy if I can find one. A real treasure. I am also reading The Other Shore by Thich Nhat Hanh where he goes more in depth to this subject. However this one is less money and is a great presentation on how he views the Heart Sutra. If you're strapped for cash this will probably be more economical for you (when I bought it I think I spent 5.99 on Kindle). Enjoy! (less)
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Brian Wilcox
Jul 03, 2021Brian Wilcox rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Commenting on the Heart Sutra, Hanh applies it in a practical manner, clarifying section by section. He says understanding is the bedrock of world peace. Hanh prefers "understanding" to wisdom for the Buddhist term prajna, seeing wisdom - like knowledge - being static, while understanding is moves like flowing water. Understanding is deep seeing, or comprehending - a penetration. Hence, we can look and not see, while seeing - or understanding - is insight, or in-seeing, seeing within.

Key to these meditations is "inter-are" and "inter-being": this is for that is, that is for this is. We are in all things, all things are in us. Without Mara, there is no Buddha; without Buddha, there is no Mara. Buddha suffers for being Buddha; Mara suffers for being Mara.

So, in duality, we are responsible for all the good and evil from the perspective of nonduality: because you have plenty to eat, someone is dying of malnourishment; you have a house, so someone is homeless; one government is democratic, for one if authocratic. This insight into interdependence leads us to suffering for the suffering on earth, Hanh says. So, coming to peace within amid this duality, we can truly be peacemakers in the world without - but peace begins with each of us first in coming to peace within.

Hanh is gifted here, as elsewhere, in illustrating subtle, paradoxical truth with commonplace examples. Hearing Hanh here, one feels compassion, for these are words arising from understanding - that is, if our hearts are prepared to receive - be penetrated -, not just hear. (less)
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Harley Quinn
Aug 10, 2021Harley Quinn rated it really liked it
Shelves: non-fiction, philosophy, spirituality, religion, z-4-star, 2021
FABULOUS LISTEN TO CALM AN ANXIOUS MIND. I had something short of an anxiety attack yesterday after overdosing on COVID stories, news, and data. I listened to this book to wind down after my kids went to bed, and while attempting simple origami for the first time. It was only about an hour long, it was free through Audible's PLUS catalog (for members), and narrated by Edoardo Ballerini who had the perfect voice for it. This was my second Thich Nhat Hanh book, and I realized his last name is pronounced the same as my maiden name.

It earned 4★ since "I really liked it." It didn't earn a 5th star because it failed one of my litmus tests for non-fiction; the ideas weren't organized and/or sticky enough to remember. Whereas this author's Peace is Every Step (his most popular book, published in 1990) is written with a main theme with cohesive sections that support the theme, The Heart of Understanding (his 21st most popular book on GR, published in 1987) is just what the title says -- Commentaries. I'd say it's less cohesive, and that for me made it less memorable.

What I DID remember was the comparisons of roses to trash, this concept of "Interbeing" which I couldn't really wrap my mind around, and a discussion on emptiness (which was similar to Landmark Education). Since it is so short, I may try it again some day, or even use it to fall asleep!

In general I have found Buddhist ideas to be thought-provoking and sometimes even paradigm-shifting. The challenge I have is being able to access those ideas at my pace of life. (less)
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Richard Thompson
Jul 06, 2020Richard Thompson rated it really liked it
Shelves: religion-spiritual
There is nothing new here. It's all standard Buddhist thought that anyone with the most passing familiarity with Buddhism already knows. But that didn't make this book bad or too simple. There was beauty in its simplicity, and I was calmed by the familiarity of the message. I can't truly say that I have learned the lessons here in the way that this book says that I should in order to have true knowledge. I probably never will. But the very idea that there is nothing new and that most of us will never truly learn these teachings is a key part of what this book is all about. But the book also tells us that this should be grounds for joy, not despair.

One of the possible paths to learning these lessons is repetition and reinforcement. As I walked through the world today, I was seeing things in the world around me much more than I usually do as part of their context in the great flow of existence. I'll probably forget to do that tomorrow, but maybe with a little practice I can begin to cultivate it as more of a habit.

Apart from the content of the message, Thich Nhat Hanh delivers his teachings in a wonderfully calming voice and style that was enough by itself to pull me into a meditative state. This is a book that could be could be read again and again without losing its power. (less)
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Dan Nguyen
Feb 06, 2020Dan Nguyen rated it it was amazing
I have never thought that I will have another point of view in Buddhism. First thing first, I'm not Buddhist and i read this book due to talking world religion class.
The book is full of logical things in an advanced level. One of the point, Thay said "this is like this, because that is like that", which is so true. We live in a society, love to judge things, to differentiate things into 2 extremes. We want to define things good and bad, ugly and beautiful, pure and impure. Once asking human to give a definition of beauty or ugliness, who are able to do that?
As a person, we tend to like the best, the nicest, the most beautiful things whether it's a fresh rose or an delicious dish. We clings to the impermanent things in the earth.
We have a craving. Craving to be richer, to have more and more and more. It is never enough for us.
But once we realize things are interconnected, what you did today affect yourself and your generation, your children, your grandchildren later, once you realize things are impermanent, you will get older, sicker and once day you die. When you have a awareness of those above things, you can easily let go the unnecessary things, to live fullfilly, to laugh more, to appreciate the world and suddenly have a much wonderful life. (less)
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Bradley
Jun 10, 2019Bradley rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: philosophy
Hahaha, I'm guilted into not putting this below 4 stars. It touches the heart AND THUS BINDS IT.


Thich Nhat Hanh is the pocketbook version of ancient wisdom. Not literally the author himself. In a way one could say he was the words in the book, the pages and the mental formations while reading it. Most of Thich's books are short and easy. This does not betray the efforts of his translation as it is often very difficult to bridge certain gaps of understanding. Those of us in the West are notorious (mostly in theory) for lacking said understanding.


For me, perhaps it's a vision of nonduality, there is no version of wisdom that cannot be understood when plainly set. It's the shared humanity. The Heart of Understanding.

*mic drop for title drop*

Simple, overpriced read. I doubt the money is going directly to the author though. The wisdom is timeless and priceless so...Okay. This is a wrap. You already know if this stuff is your shindig. If you're on a journey, best of luck, and if you are just interested this is no where near a long read so give it a try.

See ya :D
(less)
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Caitlin Ball
Mar 04, 2021Caitlin Ball rated it it was amazing
While at first it seemed as if the writer was speaking in riddles to sound clever, the more I read the more sense it made. They spoke of the connectedness of life from a scientific standpoint. Comparing a rose to garbage and garbage to a rose. Explaining how they had equal value. I used to make a similar comparison as a child. Saying that we are no or less important than the smallest grain of sand. Though this book better explained the philosophy than I ever could. At first the science seemed reaching, but the more I read, the more it made sense. Science is one of my favorite areas of study and one of my favorite theories is that of the organic universe. Which this resonates with. Evil and good exist in tandem. The rich exist due to the poor and the poor exist due to the rich. It points out a balance in life and the interconnectedness of everything. The answer I was looking for was not fully here, but perhaps it was in part. (less)
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Andreea Ureche
Jun 15, 2018Andreea Ureche rated it really liked it
Small reminder of what we should think about as humans and how our heart needs to be healed with every breath we take. How we should take care of us and others, how we should spread love and kindness, how we should think before talk about others and how we should think that a rose indeed can come out of garbage and will go to garbage sooner or later and this makes garbage important too.
We should see the forest and what it is instead of checking up every tree.
An important lesson in simple and mindful words. (less)
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Commentary On The Heart Sutra | PDF | Śūnyatā | Bodhisattva

Comprehensive Commentary On The Heart Sutra | PDF | Śūnyatā | Bodhisattva

Comprehensive Commentary On The Heart Sutra

Original Title:

Comprehensive Commentary on the Heart Sutra


A Comprehensive Commentary on the Heart Sutra (Prajnaparamita-hyrdaya-sutra)(Hardback) - 2006 Edition Unknown Binding

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알라딘:최상의 행복에 이르는 지혜 Thich The other shore Heart Sutra

알라딘: [전자책] 최상의 행복에 이르는 지혜
Thich The other shore Heart Sutra




[eBook] 최상의 행복에 이르는 지혜 - 틱낫한 스님이 새로 읽고 해설한 반야심경 
틱낫한 (지은이),손명희 (옮긴이),선업 (감수)싱긋2020-06-24 
==
전자책정가
11,200원
종이책 페이지수 : 216쪽


책소개

불교의 기본 성전인 『반야심경』은 우리나라에서 가장 널리 독송되는 경전으로 누구나 한 번쯤 들어본 적이 있을 것이다. 『반야심경』은 정확히 『마하반야바라밀다심경』이라고 하며, 불교의 가장 심오한 가르침을 고도로 압축해 담고 있는 것으로, 우리를 참자유와 행복, 평화로 인도해줄 힘이 있는 중요한 경전이다.

『반야심경』의 정수는 “색(色)이 곧 공(空)이요 공이 곧 색이다”라는 유명한 문구에 담겨 있다. 또한 『반야심경』의 지혜는 우리가 탄생과 죽음, 존재와 비존재, 더러움과 순수함, 증가와 감소, 주체와 객체 등의 모든 대립쌍을 초월해 태어남도 죽음도 없고, 존재도 비존재도 없는 참다운 본성을 접할 수 있도록 도와주는 진리로서 이는 모든 현상의 본질이기도 하다.


목차
한국어판 감수의 말
초판 추천사
새 번역 및 해설판 추천사
서문: 구름과 동굴
『반야심경』: 강 건너 참자유에 이르는 지혜

하나: 상호존재
둘: 무엇이 비었는가?
셋: 이해의 길
넷: 비어 있음이여, 만세!
다섯: 비어 있음의 표식
여섯: 행복한 지속
일곱: 해바라기가 보이는가?
여덟: 장미와 쓰레기
아홉: 달은 언제나 달일지니
열: 이름에는 무엇이 들어 있는가?
열하나: 별은 곧 의식이다
열둘: 모든 것은 형성되어진 것
열셋: 행복의 길
열넷: 나비를 쫓아서
열다섯: 자유
열여섯: 두려움 없는 경지
열일곱: 깨닫는 이는 누구인가?
열여덟: 만트라
맺는말: 감귤 파티

부록 1
산스크리트어 버전
영어 직역

부록 2
올바른 이해의 정수
역자 후기
틱낫한 스님 소개

접기


책속에서
첫문장
베트남의 산속에는 수천 마리의 새가 둥지를 튼 동굴이 있습니다.
마치 종소리를 듣듯이 이 책을 읽어주십시오. 일상의 부담을 잠시 내려놓고 자리에 앉아 몸과 마음을 편안히 하고, 경이로운 스승의 법문이 내면에 깊이 울리는 것을 느껴보십시오. 이렇게 책과 하나가 되어 읽다보면 마음챙김의 종소리를 분명 여러 번 듣게 될 것입니다. 종소리가 울리면 잠시 책을 내려놓고 내면 깊은 곳에서 울려퍼지는 그 소리에 가만히 귀를 기울여보십시오. _「초판 추천사」에서  접기
시간, 공간, 대지, 비, 흙속의 광물질, 햇살, 구름, 강, 열기, 심지어 의식에 이르기까지 세상 모든 것이 이 종이 한 장에 깃들어 있습니다. 삼라만상이 이 종이와 공존합니다. 존재한다는 뜻은 곧 상호존재한다는 뜻입니다. 당신은 홀로 존재할 수 없습니다. 당신은 다른 모든 것과 함께 존재할 수밖에 없습니다. _「둘: 무엇이 비었는가?」에서  접기
우리가 경험하는 불행은 공(空)이라는 본질을 들여다보는 통찰을 통해 완전히 다른 것으로 탈바꿈할 수 있습니다. 지적인 관점에서 『반야심경』을 철학으로 바라보고 아무리 연구한들 우리가 안고 있는 괴로움은 해결되지 않습니다. 그러나 『반야심경』의 모든 단어와 문구를 우리의 괴로움과 우리의 가장 깊은 열망에 비추어 읽을 수 있다면 경전은 의미를 갖게 됩니다. _「셋: 이해의 길」에서  접기
우리 몸이 분리된 자아가 아니라는 깨달음은 참으로 중요합니다. 우리 몸은 이 몸이 아닌 온갖 것으로 이루어져 있습니다. 우리 몸은 몸 바깥에서 계속 이어집니다. 이 몸과 태어남, 그리고 궁극적인 죽음의 본질을 확연히 보게 되면 몸의 오고감은 더이상 우리에게 영향을 미치지 못합니다. 두려움이 생긴다면 이 몸을 아직 제대로 보지 못했기 때문입니다. _「여섯: 행복한 지속」에서  접기
이것은 저것을 창조하고 저것은 이것을 창조해냅니다. 부와 가난, 풍요로운 사회와 빈곤한 사회는 더불어 존재합니다. 한 사회의 부는 다른 사회의 빈곤으로 이루어집니다. 부는 부가 아닌 요소로 이루어지며 가난은 가난이 아닌 요소로 이루어집니다. 우리는 우리 주위에서 일어나는 모든 일에 책임이 있습니다. _「여덟: 장미와 쓰레기」에서
우리는 아버지나 어머니가 죽었다고 생각할지 모르지만 사실 그분들은 언제나 우리 안에 살아 있습니다. 우리는 우리 몸의 모든 세포 하나하나에서 우리 부모님을 접할 수 있습니다. 우리 안의 아버지나 우리 안의 어머니에게 말을 걸 수도 있습니다. 어머니나 아버지를 익숙한 형상으로는 더이상 볼 수 없지만 부모 자식 간의 대화는 언제나 가... 더보기
당신이 지금 뒤쫓고 있는 것은 이미 당신 안에 모두 갖추어져 있습니다. 불성(佛性)은 사람의 본성 안에 오롯이 들어 있습니다. 굳이 무엇인가가 될 필요가 없습니다. 당신은 이미 당신이 되고 싶은 사람이기 때문입니다. _「열넷: 나비를 쫓아서」에서
분리된 자아라는 관념을 버리면 더이상 그 어떤 콤플렉스도 짊어질 필요가 없는 대자유가 찾아옵니다. 잘못된 인식을 떨쳐버릴수록 우리가 누리는 자유도 더욱 커집니다. _「자유」에서
깨달음은 일상 속 실천입니다. 마음챙김과 집중의 에너지 속에서 살아간다면 일상의 매 순간이 깨달음의 순간이 될 수 있습니다. _「열일곱: 깨닫는 이는 누구인가?」에서
지금 우리가 가는 길, 우리가 경험하는 이 순간이 곧 행복이고, 자유이며, 평화입니다. 번뇌가 끊어진 최상의 행복과 대자유의 세계는 바로 지금, 여기입니다. 이 책을 부디 머리가 아닌 가슴으로 받아들여 생생히 깨어나는 경험을 누리시길 바랍니다. _「역자 후기」에서
더보기

저자 및 역자소개
틱낫한 (Thich Nhat Hanh) (지은이) 

세계에서 가장 존경받는 영적 지도자이자 선불교의 스승, 그리고 사회 변화를 위한 행동가이다.1926년 베트남에서 출생, 열여섯 살이던 1942년에 선불교에 입문하여 승려가 되었다. 1961년 미국으로 건너가 프린스턴대학교와 컬럼비아대학교에서 비교종교학을 공부했으며, 불교사상의 사회적 실천과 사회 문제에 대한 적극적 참여를 기본 정신으로 하는 ‘참여 불교(Engaged Buddhism)’를 주창하며 다양한 사회 운동을 펼쳤다. 이후 베트남 전쟁이 발발하자 전 세계를 돌며 반전평화운동을 전개하다가 베트남 정권에 의해 귀국 금지 조치를 당하자 1973년 프랑스로 망명했다. 이러한 활동에 힘입어 1967년에는 마틴 루터 킹 목사의 추천으로 노벨평화상 후보에 오르기도 했다.
1982년에는 프랑스 보르도 근처에 명상 공동체 ‘플럼 빌리지(Plum Village)’를 세우고, 지금 이 순간에 집중하는 ‘마음다함(mindfulness)’의 수련을 통한 평화와 명상의 가르침을 전 세계에 전하기 시작했다. 또한 2008년부터는 ‘마음다함’을 여러 학교와 대학에 도입하기 위한 훈련 과정을 개발하여 많은 교육자와 청년에게 ‘마음다함’을 전할 수 있는 창의적이고 효율적인 수행법을 정립했다. 2014년 뇌출혈로 쓰러진 후 2018년 고향인 베트남으로 돌아와 생을 보내던 중 2022년 1월 향년 96세로 타계했다. 《화해》 《화》 《모든 발걸음마다 평화》 《이 순간이 나의 집입니다》 《마음에는 평화 얼굴에는 미소》 등 100여 권의 책을 집필했으며, 쉽고 간결한 글로 삶의 지혜와 평화의 가르침을 전하는 그의 책은 지금도 전 세계인들에게 큰 울림을 주고 있다. 접기
최근작 : <평화 되기>,<천천히 가라, 숨 쉬며 그리고 웃으며>,<틱낫한 지구별 모든 생명에게> … 총 1071종 (모두보기)

손명희 (옮긴이) 
연세대에서 인문학부와 이화여대 통역번역대학원을 졸업하고 전문번역가로 활동 중이다. 옮긴 책으로 『최상의 행복에 이르는 지혜』 『못 말리는 여자들』 『세계 역사 체험학습책』 『서양 문명의 열쇠 고대 그리스』 등을 번역했으며 출판 에이전시에서 세계 여러 나라 책을 소개하는 일을 했다.
최근작 : <내 친구 아시아!> … 총 17종 (모두보기)
선업 (감수) 

한국명상지도자협회 이사
대한불교조계종 불교상담개발원 원장

동국대학교 대학원에서 신문방송 전공, 상명대학교 대학원에서 가족치료학을 전공했다. 스님으로서는 드물게 상담전문가 1급 자격을 취득했고 대한불교 조계종 종교 교류 위원, 불교상담개발원연구위원, 서울가정법원상담위원, 뫔행복치유 센터 원장으로 활동하고 있다. 상담 이외에도 웰빙에서 웰다잉까지 지혜를 함께 나누는 교육도 진행한다.

또한 다양한 명상 기법을 활용한 마음 치료 기법 개발에 힘쓰는데 근래에는 차를 매개로 활용하여 상담 받는 사람들의 내면을 치유하는 ‘차담명상’을 개발해 보급하는 일에 매진하고 있다. 불교방송 <우리는 도반입니다>에서 행복한 인간관계 증진에 대한 해법을 전하는 인기 진행자이자 사랑 전문 상담가로 종교계뿐만 아니라 일반인들 사이에서도 커다란 공감과 파장을 일으키고 있다. 지은 책으로 <연>, <마음으로 하는 말>이 있다. 접기
최근작 : <차명상학 입문서>,<마음으로 하는 말>,<연 緣> … 총 6종 (모두보기)

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출판사 제공 책소개

불교 2천 년 최고의 가르침

날마다 전 세계의 사찰과 선원에서 독송하는 불경을
오늘날 불교의 대표적 스승이자 평화운동가인 틱낫한 스님을 통해 읽는다

불교의 가르침 중 가장 널리 알려져 있지만
가장 많은 오해를 샀던 『반야심경』
혼란의 원인을 제거하고, 영원한 고전의 위력을 드러낸다

“부처님의 가르침을 담은 대승의 핵심 경전을
누구나 쉽게 이해할 수 있도록 풀이한 책.
이 책이 바로 그런 책입니다.
필요한, 딱 맞춘 책.” _선업 스님

“강 건너 참자유에 이르는 지혜”
불교의 기본 성전인 『반야심경』은 우리나라에서 가장 널리 독송되는 경전으로 누구나 한 번쯤 들어본 적이 있을 것이다. 『반야심경』은 정확히 『마하반야바라밀다심경』이라고 하며, 불교의 가장 심오한 가르침을 고도로 압축해 담고 있는 것으로, 우리를 참자유와 행복, 평화로 인도해줄 힘이 있는 중요한 경전이다. 『반야심경』의 정수는 “색(色)이 곧 공(空)이요 공이 곧 색이다”라는 유명한 문구에 담겨 있다. 또한 『반야심경』의 지혜는 우리가 탄생과 죽음, 존재와 비존재, 더러움과 순수함, 증가와 감소, 주체와 객체 등의 모든 대립쌍을 초월해 태어남도 죽음도 없고, 존재도 비존재도 없는 참다운 본성을 접할 수 있도록 도와주는 진리로서 이는 모든 현상의 본질이기도 하다.

새로운 번역, 상세한 해설
이번에 출간하는 플럼빌리지 전통 선사인 틱낫한(Thich Nhat Hanh) 스님의 『반야심경』 해설서인 『최상의 행복에 이르는 지혜』는 전통적 번역인 산스크리트어 버전 및 현장(玄?) 스님의 한역과는 다른 새로운 번역서로, 상세한 해설을 함께 싣고 있다. 이 새로운 번역에서 틱낫한 스님은 『반야심경』이 허무주의를 가르치는 내용으로 오해하지 않도록 ‘공(空)’의 의미를 명확히 했다. 스님의 번역에 따르면 공은 아무것도 없는 ‘무(無)’를 뜻하는 것이 아니라 분리된 자아(separate self)가 비어 있다, 즉 따로 자아라고 부를 것이 없다는 뜻이다. 공은 오직 자아가 비어 있음을 의미할 뿐 자아의 비존재를 의미하지는 않는다는 것이다. 공에 대해 이해하고 일상생활에서 마주치는 많은 도전과 어려움에 공을 적용하면 괴로움을 극복하고 크나큰 안도와 행복을 경험할 수 있다면서 관세음보살의 예를 들었다.
관세음보살은 우리와 같은 인간이었고, 우리와 같이 괴로워한 나머지 자기 안을 깊이 들여다보아 모든 것의 본질이 텅 비어 있음을 깨달았다고 한다. 이렇듯 공이라는 본질을 꿰뚫는 깊은 통찰력을 갖게 되자 괴로움이 즉시 사라진 관세음보살처럼 우리도 그 심오한 진리를 깨달으면 평화와 자유, 행복은 물론이고 타인의 경험까지 도울 수 있다는 것이다.
또한 스님은 새 번역본인 이 책에 “강 건너 참자유에 이르는 지혜”라는 문구를 사용하면서 연기(緣起), 무아(無我), 중도(中道), 공성(空性), 무상(無相), 무원(無願)에 대한 『반야심경』의 가르침의 정수를 매우 명확하게 표현했다.

불교 수행의 목적은 해방과 자유입니다.
수행한다는 말은 우리를 속박하고 괴롭히는 매듭을 풀어서
우리 자신을 자유롭게 한다는 뜻입니다. _163쪽

“열반의 자유를 누리다”
불교 수행의 목적은 해방과 자유이다. 우리를 속박하는 모든 매듭을 우리 손으로 풀 수 있다면 우리는 열반이라고 불리는 자유를 누릴 수 있을 것이다. 번뇌와 지식이라는 장애를 조금이라도 내려놓을 수 있다면 작게나마 지금 이 순간 열반을 누릴 수 있다. 오직 내려놓아야만 자유를 누릴 수 있는 것이다. 열반은 우리가 내려놓을 준비가 되어 있고 지식과 번뇌라는 장애를 떨쳐버리는 즉시 찾아들기 때문이다.
지금 이 순간의 삶은 이미 더없이 멋지다. 인생의 모든 경이로움은 지금 이 순간에 누릴 수 있다. 이런 경이로움에 눈뜨는 것만으로도 이미 자유와 평화, 기쁨이 충만하다. 삶이 힘들고 괴롭다면 이 책을 읽어보기를 권한다. 머리가 아닌 가슴으로 읽다보면 당신의 생각과 일상, 그리고 삶이 지금 당장 변화할 것이다. 접기
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평점분포 9.0
구매자 (1)
전체 (1)
공감순 
     
대승 불교의 경전인 반야심경에 대한 틱낫한 스님의 새 해석이다. 책 자체는 이쁘고 번역도 좋은데 내용이 썩 내 마음에 들지는 않는다.  구매
종이연필 2020-08-15 공감 (0) 댓글 (0)
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마이리뷰
깨우침의 일별

가르침에서 얻은 깨우침이 단편적인 일별들이라 하나하나 적기에는 그렇고 본서에서 인상 깊었던 문장들을 옮기며 리뷰를 대신하려 합니다.
이하라 2020-07-03 공감(24) 댓글(0)
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최상의 행복에 이르는 지혜 새창으로 보기
색즉시공(色卽是空) 공즉시색(空卽是色)무슨 뜻인지 아시나요?『반야심경』이라는 불교 경전에 나오는 말이라고 해요.이 문구의 의미를 처음 들었을 때, 고개를 갸웃 했어요. 마치 암호 같아서.그런데 바로 이 문구가 『반야심경』의 정수라고 하니, 너무 어려워서 감히 더 들여다볼 시도조차 못했어요.<최상의 행복에 이르는 지혜>는 틱낫한 스님의『반야심경』해설서예요.불교 신자는 아니지만 틱낫한 스님의 책들을 읽으면서 마음의 평화를 느꼈던 터라, 이 책에 관심을 갖게 되었어요.왜 틱낫한 스님이 『반야심경』을 새롭게 번역했는지, 그 이유... + 더보기
오즐 2020-07-12 공감(4) 댓글(0)
Thanks to
 
공감
     
반야심경에 담긴 지혜를 틱낫한표 해석으로 잘 가르쳐주는 책 새창으로 보기
틱낫한 스님의 책은 '화'와 '틱낫한의 평화로움', '소음으로 둘러싸인 세상에서의 침묵'을 읽어봤는데

불교적인 관점에서 누구나 할 수 있는 삶의 지혜를 가르쳐주었다. 이번에는 불교의 가장 기본적인 

경전이라 할 수 있는 반야심경의 의미를 새롭게 해석하여 들려주는데, 전에 페이융의 '평생 걱정 없이

사는 법'이란 책을 통해 반야심경의 의미는 대략 배운 적이 있지만 틱낫한 스님은 과연 어떻게 해석하고

있을지 궁금했다.



이 책에서 틱낫한 스님은 반야심경의 내용을 총 18장에 걸쳐 풀이한다. 새 번역본에 스님은 '강 건너 

참자유에 이르는 지혜'라는 이름을 붙였는데, 반야심경의 핵심사상을 담고 있는 누구나 들어본 적 있는

'색즉시공'의 의미를 새롭게 해석했다. 보통 '공'을 아무것도 없는 '무'를 뜻한다고 해석하는 경우가 

많은데, 스님은 '분리된 자아가 비어 있다', 즉 따로 자아라고 부를 것이 없다는 뜻이라고 해석한다. 반야바라밀다의 가장 심오한 가르침은 자아의 공함과 모든 현상의 공함이지 자아와 현상의 부재나 

비존재가 아니라는 취지로 새로운 번역을 선보였다고 하는데 솔직히 새로운 해석으로도 쉽다고 할 순

없었다. 반야바라밀다의 지혜는 기존의 모든 관습적 진리를 초월하여 꿰뚫는 궁극적인 진리로 우리가 

탄생과 죽음, 존재와 비존재, 더러움과 순수함, 증가와 감소, 주체와 객체 등의 모든 대립 쌍을 초월해

태어남도 죽음도 없고, 존재도 비존재도 없는 참다운 본성을 접할 수 있도록 도와준다는데 이것이 바로

모든 현상의 본질로 차분하고 평화로우며 두려움 없는 상태인 열반의 경지라고 말한다. 종이를 예로

들면 종이에는 햇살, 벌목꾼, 밀, 벌목꾼의 부모 등 종이가 존재하기 위해서는 무수한 존재들이 관여

되어 있어 삼라만상이 종이와 공존한다고 얘기하는데, 모든 존재가 홀로 존재할 수 없고 더불어 존재하며

분리된 자아가 비어 있는 동시에 모든 것으로 가득차 있다고 말한다. 비어 있다는 것이 곧 살아 있다는

뜻이며, 비어 있음은 무상, 즉 덧없음이자 변화로 비어 있음의 진리를 깨달을 때 두려움에서 벗어날 

수 있다고 얘기한다. 이렇게 '비어 있음'의 핵심 사상을 여러 예시를 들면서 최대한 알게 쉽게 설명

하는데 아무래도 추상적인 얘기라 바로바로 이해가 되는 건 아니었지만 차근차근 생각하면서 읽다

보면 그 의미를 깨달을 수 있었다. 불교 수행의 목적은 해방과 자유로 수행한다는 것은 우리를 속박하고

괴롭히는 매듭을 풀어서 우리 자신을 자유롭게 한다는 뜻인데, 다른 종교들이 은총에 의한 해탈이나

구원을 얘기하는 것과 달리 불교는 통찰에 의한 해탈이나 구원으로 스스로 깨달아야 함을 다시 한 번

확실하게 가르쳐주었다. 반야심경 속에 이렇게 깊은 뜻과 지혜가 담겨 있음을 새삼 깨닫게 해준 책이었는데 이 책에서 가르쳐주는 깨달음의 경지에 이를 수 있도록 항상 노력해야 할 것 같다.

- 접기
sunny 2020-07-18 공감(3) 댓글(0)
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최상의 행복에 이르는 지혜. 새창으로 보기
최상의 행복에 이르는 지혜와 반야심경이 도대체 무슨 관계가 있을까 하는 의문이 먼저 들었다.

틱낫한 스님의 명성이야 많이 들어왔으며 저서 또한 몇몇권은 소장해두고 있을 정도로 읽었지만 반야심경에 대한 책은 읽은 적이 없었다.

'최상의 행복의 이르는 지혜'라는 제목을 본 친구도 읽고 싶다고 하다가 반야심경의 해설이라는 설명에 이내 손사래를 쳤다.


가끔 중국 사극이나 불교 관련 다큐에서 반야심경에 대한 부분을 본 적은 있지만 정확한 내용을 알지 못했다.

괘 오래전 불교의 기본 교리나 역사에 대한 책을 읽은 적도 있고 금강경에 대한 책은 조금 읽은 기억이 있지만 반야심경은 이름만 많이 들아왔을 뿐 그 내용을 알지 못했는데 이 책을 읽으면서 조금은 알게 된 거 같았다

"아제아제 바라아제~" 아주 오래된 영화 제목으로 의미조차도 모르고 중얼거린 이 말이 반야심경에 나오는 말이라는 것도 '갔네 갔네 건너갔네' 라는 그 의미도 처음으로 알게 되었다.


반야심경의 풀 네임은 '마하반야바라밀다심경'이며 이 반야바라밀다는 '완전한 이해' 즉 완전한 깨달음을 의미한다고 한다.

반야심경은 우리를 두려움과 폭력이 없는 곳으로 인도해 주는 본질적인 가르침을 담고 있는 경전이라고 하니 반야심경의 의미를 이제야 알게 된 것이 아쉽기도 했다.

틱낫한 스님은 자신의 반야심경 새 번역본을 '강 건너 참자유에 이르는 지혜'라는 이름으로 불렀다고 한다.


불교에서 '공 空'은 중요시하지만 이는 허무주의가 아닐뿐더러 오히려 불교에서 허무주의는 괴로움을 초래할 수 있는 극단적인 견해라고 여겨진다고 한다.


더 이상 마음에 아무런 걸림이 없으며,

마음에 아무런 걸림이 없으매

모든 두려움을 극복하고

그릇된 인식을 타파하여

완전한 열반을 실현할 수 있느니라.


'관세음보살'은 많은 보살님들 중에 한 명이라고만 알았는데 '세상의 울부짖음을 듣는 이'라는 말에서 유래된 말이라고 하니 나무아비타불 관세음보살' 이라는 인사말의 의미에 대해서 궁금해진다.

물을 따라 낸 컵을 보고 '아무것도 비어 있는 않은 상태일 수는 없다'라고 하는데 그 의미에 대해 한참이나 책 읽기를 멈추고 몇 번이나 다시 생각해봤던 거 같다.


'반야심경을 공부하면 우리가 실제로 처한 상황을 꿰뚫어보는 지혜를 발견하게 되어 번뇌와 괴로움과 두려움으로부터 자유로워질 수 있습니다.'


부처님을 모신다고 요란한 사원과 불단, 공물들을 보면 제자들이 자신들의 배를 불리려고 하는 짓이라며 한탄하는 부처님이 지금의 형상을 보시며 부처 노릇을 하고 싶지는 않으실 거라는 생각에 웃음도 나왔다.

예나 지금이나 마찬가지구나 부처님에게 악마는 마라가 아니라 자신의 의도의 멋대로 해석하고 이용하고 있는 제자들이었을 것이다.

부처님은 두려움의 본질과 당면한 위험의 본질을 깊이 들여다보라고 조언하신다는 글에 지금 내가 느끼고 있는 두려움에 대한 제대로 된 생각을 해보는 것이 중요하다는 것을 알 수 있었다.


불교는 불멸의 영혼이 존재한다고 주장하지 않는다는 글을 읽으면서 흔히 알고 있는 윤회사상과의 차이에 대해서도 알 수 있었다.

행복으로 가는 길 자체가 '행복'이라는 글에서 도대체 행복이 뭘까 하는 근본적인 의문이 들기도 했다.

불교 수행의 목적이 열반이나 해탈이 아닌 통찰에 의한 해방과 자유라는 글에 의아하기도 했지만 그 행방과 자유의 진정한 의미를 알고 나니 이해가 되었다.


'반야심경'은 우리 마음의 밭을 가꾸도록 주어진 관세음보살의 선물이라고 한다.

불교와 부처님에 대해 가지고 있는 막연한 믿음과 신앙을 자신을 위한 무기로 사용할 수도 있겠지만 자신의 안위만을 위해서가 아닌 자신을 수양하여 남에게 베풀 수 있는 마음을 가진 사람이 될 수 있다면 그 길에서 자신 또한 더없이 행복한 마음의 수양을 할 수 있을 것이다.

오랜만에 읽은 틱낫한 스님의 새로운 책은 코로나로 어수선하고 날카로워진 마음에 여유를 찾아주었다.

에르피스 2020-07-19 공감(1) 댓글(0)
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틱낫한 「최상의 행복에 이르는 지혜」 (싱긋, 2020)

대승 불교의 심오한 가르침을 압축해 담은 <반야심경>을 제대로 이해하는 일은 나에게 너무나 어렵게 느껴졌습니다. 경전의 완전한 명칭부터 어렵습니다. ‘마하반야바라밀다심경’(摩訶般若波羅蜜多心經), 산스크리트어로는 ‘프라즈냐파라미타 흐리다야 수트람’(Prajnāpāramitā hrdaya sūtram)라고 하는데, ‘건너편 기슭, 통찰, 핵심, 경전’이라는 의미가 다 담겨 있다고 합니다. “우리를 건너편 기슭으로 데려다 주는 지혜”(The insight that brings us to the other shore)라고 번역할 수 있을 것입니다. 이 책에서는 “강 건너 참자유에 이르는 지혜”라고 번역했습니다. 이런 설명만으로도 <반야심경>이 조금은 친근하게 여겨집니다. 건너편 기슭은 열반(涅槃)을 상징하는 것으로, 결국 이 경전을 통해 참된 행복과 평화에 이를 수 있다고 말하는 셈입니다.

<반야심경>하면 두 문장이 떠오릅니다. 하나는 “색즉시공 공즉시색”(色卽是空 空卽是色, 색이 곧 공이요 공이 곧 색이다)입니다. 무슨 뜻인지 이해하기 어려웠는데, 꽃을 예로 들어 설명하니 어렴풋하게 의미를 깨달을 수 있습니다. 꽃은 오직 꽃이 아닌 요소로 이루어져 있습니다. 꽃은 분리된 존재가 비어있지만, 꽃이 아예 존재하지 않는다는 뜻은 아닙니다. 모든 것이 비어있다는 것은 허무(虛無)를 말하는 것이 아닙니다. 이 세상에 존재하는 모든 것은 연기(緣起)의 산물입니다. 틱낫한 스님의 표현대로 하면, ‘상호존재’(inter-being)하는 것입니다. 이런 불교의 핵심사상은 현대인들에게 큰 울림을 줍니다. 코로나 19사태로 우리는 나와 타인, 인간과 지구, 이 땅의 모든 생명과 물체가 서로 밀접히 연결되어 있음을 깊이 느낍니다. 이로써 먼지 한 톨은 온 우주를 품고 있다고 대담하게 말할 수 있을 것입니다. <반야심경>의 가르침을 잘 이해하면, 태어남과 죽음의 두려움을 뛰어넘을 수 있습니다. 스님은 내면에서 우러나는 미소와 깨어 있는 호흡과 내딛는 한 걸음으로도 내면의 평화뿐 아니라 세상의 평화도 이룰 수 있다고 말합니다. 참 인상적인 가르침입니다.

또 다른 문장은 “아제 아제 바라아제 바라승아제 모지 사바하”입니다. 반야심경의 이 마지막 문장은 ‘가자. 가자. 건너가자. 모두 건너가 한없는 깨달음을 이루자’라고 번역할 수도 있고, 틱낫한 스님처럼 ‘갔네. 갔네. 건너갔네. 모두 건너가서 한없는 깨달음을 이루었네.’라고 번역할 수도 있답니다. 어쨌든 <반야심경>은 내면을 성찰하고 세상의 모든 것이 연결되어 있음을 인식하여 연대와 자비 베품을 통해 최상의 행복(열반)에 이르는 새로운 길로 들어간다고 역설합니다. 이 책 덕분에 불교의 정수(精髓)를 조금은 이해할 수 있었습니다. 이 책에는 <반야심경>의 틱낫한 새번역(2014년 8월)과 영문판(The Heart Sutra), 산스크리트어 버전과 플럼빌리지 새번역이 함께 수록되어 있습니다. 틱낫한 스님에 관해서도 잘 소개되어 있습니다. 틱낫한 스님의 <반야심경> 해설서를 통해 독자들은 불교의 세계관을 제대로 이해할 수 있을 것입니다. ‘싱긋 출판사’에서 단아하게 책을 잘 만들어 냈습니다. 마음에 듭니다. 

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The Other Shore: A New Translation of the Heart Sutra with Commentaries Paperback – 19 June 2017
by Thich Nhat Hanh (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars 338 ratings




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Product description
Book Description
This new translation of the Buddha's most important, most studied teaching offers a radical new interpretation.
About the Author
THICH NHAT HANH is one of the most revered and influential spiritual teachers in the world today. Born in Vietnam in 1926, he became a Zen Buddhist monk at the age of sixteen. Over seven decades of teaching, he has published more than 100 books, which have sold more than five million copies in the United States alone. Exiled from Vietnam in 1966 for promoting peace, his teachings on Buddhism as a path to social and political transformation are responsible for bringing mindfulness to the West. In 1982 he established the international Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism in France, now the largest Buddhist monastery in Europe. He lives in Hue in Central Vietnam.
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Product details
Publisher ‏ : ‎ PARALLAX; Revised ed. edition (19 June 2017)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 196 pages
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From Australia
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Will read again
Reviewed in Australia on 11 April 2018
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I read this to try to understand a lived experience of the concept of emptyness. Its dificult for me and on completion i dont have that goal. I do have a sence that the teaching within is a good teaching and worth rereading. I am aware that the 4 weeks it took to read this book i was enjoying life. That enjoyment increase came from a process that is dificult to discribe. A awareness of more incluson into a subtle change of being more a part of (envronment and my actions) than
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Hung Truong
5.0 out of 5 stars Understanding of the sutra
Reviewed in Australia on 18 March 2021
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I like the way the sutra was explained in plain English, using day to day experiences.
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From other countries
Holly "Ragdoll Reads" Hodson
4.0 out of 5 stars A new interpretation of an ancient text.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 September 2018
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TL;DR – A skillful breakdown of the Heart Sutra, making an important piece of Buddhist scripture more accessible.

4 Button

RAGDOLL RATING: 4/5 BUTTONS

Why I read it…

I love Thich Nhat Hanh’s work, I find the man totally inspiring, so I’ll read basically anything of his. I read this specifically because I wanted to start reading Buddhist scriptures, and not just commentaries.

The Book…

The book is broken down into several parts. First up, we have introductions to the book and a very brief background to the Heart Sutra itself. Next we have what I suppose technically needs to be classified as a re-interpretation of the text. It’s more or less a translation but with some sections tidied up for better clarity. What follows is a series of chapters, each focusing on a few lines of the sutra, explaining what the text means and how we are to understand it. Then to finish up we have the original text in romanised sanskrit, and then a literal English translation and finally an English version of the text that was used for chanting at Plum Village from the 1980’s to 2014.

What I liked…

This book has Thich Nhat Hanh’s typical easy-to-read style of presentation. The concepts presented in the sutra are difficult and on their own, really confusing. But the text is broken down into sections, never more than a few short lines, and it’s content is fully explained clearly and carefully and allow even a novice reader to take away some important understanding from this text.

The purpose of this book was to clear up some confusion about the common interpretations of this sutra.

This rewording is needed because to say “in emptiness there is no form, no feelings, no mental formations, no consciousness…” is not in accord with the ultimate truth. Emptiness means only the emptiness of self, not the nonbeing of self, just as when a balloon is empty inside it doesn’t mean the balloon doesn’t exists.” Extract, p20

Apparently it is very common to get hung up on the sutra’s wording and get the wrong idea, and frankly having read it for myself I can absolutely see why people would get confused, it is a tough one. However, Thich Nhat Hanh has altered the wording of his translation (hence calling it a reinterpretation) to help clarify some of the finer points. It can get a little repetitive but it the commentaries are extremely helpful in aiding understanding of the text.

What I disliked…

The inclusion of 3 different English translations/transliterations/interpretations or whatever is a little peculiar. The commentaries focus exclusively on the first interpretation, which makes life easier, but I don’t fully understand why the others have been included and unless I missed it, I can’t find any explanation for it either. It’s nice to have more information of course, but 3 slightly different versions of the same text seemed a little unnecessary.

Final thoughts…

This is definitely a book I will come back to over time. I’m sure there are countless things I have missed and not quite understood fully. This book is, as far as I am aware, an excellent introduction to the Heart Sutra and a great jumping off point for the Buddhist canon in general.

___________________________________________
Please note: I am in no way affiliated with the author or publishers. I bought this book with my own money for my own reasons. The opinions contained within are my own and have not been influenced by any external entity!
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Stephen
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5.0 out of 5 stars The Heart Sutra
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 November 2020
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I bought the earlier version of this work many years ago when reading for my degree. Although it was not a set text for the Buddhism course, I was entranced by the text and the writing style. Years later - and still remembering the book fondly - I tried to buy another copy but failed (one day, maybe).
By chance, I came across this volume, which is an "updated" version of the book I had used during studies. And I have not been disappointed. The same clear text, the same way of explaining everything in such a perceptive way - it is a real gem.
Book quality is very good, a nice size to hold, quality paper used and a good spacing between the lines making the whole thing easy to read and easy on the eye.
When the book was delivered I felt that a missing part of me had been returned.
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Ian Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars Not just a new edition of a previous work
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 September 2017
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Here, Thich Nhat Hanh revisits a text that he has made earlier commentaries on. In this book he provides an extremely insightful and inspiring re-interpretation of the sutra in question completed just before he suffered a serious stroke in November 2014. As a reading experience is completely new and fresh and deserves careful study in its own right.
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D J O'DRISCOLL
5.0 out of 5 stars this slim volume brings some wonderful insights into the Heart Sutra
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 August 2018
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In one sense when you have read one Thich Nhat Hanh book you have read them all. Nevertheless, this slim volume brings some wonderful insights into the Heart Sutra. It is not the only translation/ commentary I would want to have of this text, but it is one I wouldn't want to be without.
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Brian Olley
5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 December 2017
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This is a lovely book. It clearly, and simply explains the Heart Sutra. I highly recommend this book.
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David Verney
5.0 out of 5 stars Masterful
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 May 2019
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An interesting new translation of the Sutra followed by a clear and detailed discussion of its meaning. This has already proved useful to me in my meditation. Warmly recommended.
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Alexaria
5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 April 2020
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Probably the best and most concise translations and unfolding of this sutra I have read and understood to-date.
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Michael Jarvis
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 November 2017
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Simply beautiful....
4 people found this helpful
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This new translation of the Buddha's most important, most studied teaching offers a radical new interpretation.

This new translation of the Buddha's most important, most studied teaching offers a radical new interpretation.

In September, 2014 Thich Nhat Hanh completed a profound and beautiful new English translation of the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra, one of the most important and well-known sutras in Buddhism.

The Heart Sutra is recited daily in Mahayana temples and practice centers throughout the world. This new translation came about because Thich Nhat Hanh believes that the patriarch who originally compiled the Heart Sutra was not sufficiently skillful with his use of language to capture the intention of the Buddha's teachings-and has resulted in fundamental misunderstandings of the central tenets of Buddhism for almost 2,000 years.

In The Other Shore- A New Translation of the Heart Sutra with Commentaries, Thich Nhat Hanh provides the new translation with commentaries based on his interpretation. Revealing the Buddha's original intention and insight makes clear what it means to transcend duality and pairs of opposites, such as birth and death, and to touch the ultimate reality and the wisdom of nondiscrimination. By helping to demystify the term "emptiness," the Heart Sutra is made more accessible and understandable.

Prior to the publication of The Other Shore, Thich Nhat Hanh's translation and commentaries of the Heart Sutra, called The Heart of Understanding, sold more than 120,000 copies in various editions and is one of the most beloved commentaries of this critical teaching. This new book, The Other Shore, supersedes all prior translations.
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The Other Shore: A New Translation of the Heart Sutra with Commentaries
by Thich Nhat Hanh
 4.67  ·   Rating details ·  487 ratings  ·  57 reviews
This new translation of the Buddha's most important, most studied teaching offers a radical new interpretation.
 
In September, 2014 Thich Nhat Hanh completed a profound and beautiful new English translation of the Prajñaparamita Heart Sutra, one of the most important and well-known sutras in Buddhism.
 
The Heart Sutra is recited daily in Mahayana temples and practice centers throughout the world. This new translation came about because Thich Nhat Hanh believes that the patriarch who originally compiled the Heart Sutra was not sufficiently skillful with his use of language to capture the intention of the Buddha's teachings—and has resulted in fundamental misunderstandings of the central tenets of Buddhism for almost 2,000 years.
 
In The Other Shore: A New Translation of the Heart Sutra with Commentaries, Thich Nhat Hanh provides the new translation with commentaries based on his interpretation. Revealing the Buddha's original intention and insight makes clear what it means to transcend duality and pairs of opposites, such as birth and death, and to touch the ultimate reality and the wisdom of nondiscrimination. By helping to demystify the term "emptiness," the Heart Sutra is made more accessible and understandable.
 
Prior to the publication of The Other Shore, Thich Nhat Hanh's translation and commentaries of the Heart Sutra, called The Heart of Understanding, sold more than 120,000 copies in various editions and is one of the most beloved commentaries of this critical teaching. This new book, The Other Shore, supersedes all prior translations. (less)
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Feb 06, 2017Karen rated it it was amazing
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. THE OTHER SHORE: A NEW TRANSLATION OF THE HEART SUTRA WITH COMMENTARIES
WRITTEN BY THICH NHAT HANH

Thank you to Net Galley, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Parallex Press for my digital copy for a fair and honest review.

At the heart of the Buddhist teaching is the Prajnaparamita. Throughout the world in monastic and lay communities it is recited daily. I love and have many of Thich Nhat Hanh works. I find tranquillity and peace in every one of his publications. His commentaries that appear in his books are a basic teachings of Buddhism. Prajnaparamita means Perfect Understanding go all of the way back in time 2500 years ago.

Thay (an informal title) for teacher pronounced "Tie" During the retreats Thay encouraged participants to give calm, clear seeing and intimate attention to each daily activity, whether eating a a meal, or just walking quietly being aware of the sound or feel as we walk and our foot makes contact with the earth that supports it. In order to reach this kind of mindfulness a bell is rung or it is called a bodhisattva. Thay will say wake up and keep in mind to bring your attention back to yourself for a moment taking deep breaths and notice those around us. Anything can be used to bring yourself to the present moment. For that is what it takes for us to reach mindfulness. To be present in the here and the now.

In our lives there are things that block our way, causing confusion and preventing us from finding our true home. Not only obstacles and suffering cause us to lose our true way, sometimes.
I enjoyed this peaceful teaching very much. It was transcending. I need to learn the basics again. (less)
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Leanne
Mar 28, 2020Leanne rated it it was amazing
Like probably everyone else in the world, I am a huge fan of Thich Nhat Hanh. A great teacher, a beautiful human being. This is my favorite of his books I've read so far. I am glad I came to it late--after reading Red Pine, Brunnholzl and the best of all Tanahashi's -- and of their unique translations and commentaries on the Heart Sutra. For me, Tanahashi's text is the one to start with as it is so thorough and engaging, after which seeing the different and varying ways each of the thinkers, TNH, Red Pine and Brunnholzl-- interpret and translate the sutra is absolutely fascinating. I personally love TNH's the best. The book is a jewel. Like a lot of the reviewers said below, I will treasure this one and plan to re-read it again and again. "Chasing Butterflies" was especially moving. I feel like I have only cracked the surface and a hundred readings still wouldn't be enough to really understand the heart sutra! (less)
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Luke
Aug 28, 2017Luke rated it really liked it
Shelves: philosophy
Clearly articulated focus for a new translation, replacing "emptiness" with "no separate self", with short essay commentary on the application of each phrase to life today - footnotes for language and canon, but the focus is practical understanding of the Heart Sutra's message. Conze's translation was a ground for me when I first became interested in Buddhism, this is a solid alternative. (less)
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Forest Tong
Apr 01, 2018Forest Tong rated it it was amazing
I hadn't really resonated with Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings before reading this book--but whether it was the ripening of conditions in my mind, or whether it was the intellect and sensitivity in his writing, this book touched me. (less)
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Sherry Seymour
Jan 07, 2018Sherry Seymour rated it it was amazing
I have read other interpretations of the Heart Sutra before, but I now feel like I'm finally starting to understand it after reading this book. I also became more aware of the differences between Buddhism and ancient Indian beliefs (where things like karma and reincarnation often get wrongly associated with Buddhism). One of the most beautiful aftereffects of reading came from his explanation of death, which has given me a feeling of peace through the dismissal of nihilism. His examples of interbeing are not only poetic, but they also help me feel a sense of connection to nature. The cloud is in the tea (p. 76).

As a computer technology and language teacher, I benefited from the reminder that "out of compassion... a good teacher knows that no matter how careful they are, some people will inevitably become confused, and yet they must still try their best to help guide their students out of suffering" (p. 15). I know that sometimes I get impatient with students who need me to go through instructions slowly or lay them out extra clearly, and I forget that what may seem obvious to me is not common sense to everyone. I have to make more of a conscious effort to see things from their perspective in order to try to relieve their suffering.

Another useful reminder was that "everything is impermanent, including insight and compassion" (p. 112). He cautions us that if we do not put our new awareness into practice, we will regress. I know that I have regressed over the years in certain aspects of my life, and this was a needed nudge to show me the right path again.

This is a book I will re-read, as I am sure there is more wisdom to gain from it. (less)
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Susan Oleksiw
Apr 07, 2018Susan Oleksiw rated it really liked it
Shelves: nonfiction
The Heart Sutra, a short prose prayer in Buddhism, holds a central place in all branches. Known for his writings and work to bring Buddhism more fully to the West, Thich That Hanh has produced a new translation with some slight additions to bring clarity and deeper understanding to the essentials of Buddhism. The full translation is followed by chapters focused on each discrete section. These chapters are followed by the Sanskrit text, a literal English translation, and an alternate translation also used in Plum Village.

An effort is made to make the text about suffering, etc., more relevant to contemporary readers, but the stories or parables are those of earlier Buddhist works and continue the sensibility of an earlier mode of perceiving and understanding. Some chapters are more successful than others in conveying the sense of the original text, but all reward effort at patient rereading.

The translator spends time introducing the text and its history, as well as how he came to make this translation. The entire book is short, only 133 pages with front matter, in a well-designed format designed to appeal to western readers. (less)
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Phil
Jun 30, 2017Phil rated it really liked it
Shelves: netgalley, non-fiction, read-in-2017
Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Going into this book, I felt a little out of place because I had no familiarity with the Heart Sutra. It seemed like I should have known more about it to truly appreciate this book.

Yet, this book does a wonderful job of providing the new translation, an explanation of why this differs from previous translations, and connects it to Buddhist precepts. As I went through the book, I found it possible to follow the ideas that connect to the new translation. They made a lot of sense to me. The amount of detail used to explain the concepts from the Heart Sutra is awesome.

These build on each other, so it may be necessary to reread sections, most of which are short enough to make it easy to do. I really like that each section takes a short portion of the Heart Sutra and breaks it down, and then the translation is provided in its entirety at the end. It makes it possible to read it as a whole and to focus down on individual portions. Worth picking up for anyone interested in Zen practices. (less)
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Leland
Sep 18, 2019Leland rated it it was amazing
In this thin book, Thich Nhat Hanh not only provides a new translation and commentaries on the Heart sutra, he gives the reader an understanding of the meaning of emptiness in this beautiful and important Mahayana text.

"If you know that the 'self' that you speak about is not an immortal soul, but only a manifestation, a coming together of many causes and conditions, then you are safe. It is the awareness, not the name, that is most important."

I have never wanted to chant the mantra that finishes the Heart sutra before, but now I do, with the understanding and insight gained from Thich Nhat Hanh's book.

Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi svaha. (less)
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Jocelyn
Aug 02, 2018Jocelyn rated it really liked it
Shelves: 2018-reads, favourites-to-return-to-again, non-fiction
I took this book slowly, at times a difficult read even with Thich Nhat Hanh's enlightened commentary. The emptiness / nothingness concepts are hard to grasp. I really like the idea of inter-being. So, now I'm ready to return to the beginning and read The Other Shore again. Slowly and mindfully, a continuing study of The Heart Sutra. (less)
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Jared
May 23, 2018Jared rated it it was amazing
An insightful and useful text. His new translation of the heart sutra helps to move beyond both pessimistic and dualistic readings of the sutra. Very helpful as a meditator and a teacher of meditation.
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ananan
Mar 03, 2022ananan rated it it was amazing
This is my favorite Buddhism book I've read so far. Highly recommend this one for anyone who wants to read and learn more about Buddhism, through this wonderful commentary of the Heart Sutra, a text that condenses the deepest teachings of Buddhism. The writing is very clear and easy to understand, presented in such a logical, scientific, and philosophical way with beautiful but simple examples. I recommend reading this slowly, one chapter a day, really developing deep understanding on each sentence, in order to get the most insight from the teaching. It's also definitely one to re-read again and again, which is exactly what I'm planning to do. (less)
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Holly
Sep 17, 2018Holly rated it really liked it
Originally posted at ragdollreads.co.uk

A new interpretation of an ancient text.

TL;DR – A skillful breakdown of the Heart Sutra, making an important piece of Buddhist scripture more accessible.

RAGDOLL RATING: 4/5 BUTTONS

Why I read it…

I love Thich Nhat Hanh’s work, I find the man totally inspiring, so I’ll read basically anything of his. I read this specifically because I wanted to start reading Buddhist scriptures, and not just commentaries.

The Book…

The book is broken down into several parts. First up, we have introductions to the book and a very brief background to the Heart Sutra itself. Next we have what I suppose technically needs to be classified as a re-interpretation of the text. It’s more or less a translation but with some sections tidied up for better clarity. What follows is a series of chapters, each focusing on a few lines of the sutra, explaining what the text means and how we are to understand it. Then to finish up we have the original text in romanised sanskrit, and then a literal English translation and finally an English version of the text that was used for chanting at Plum Village from the 1980’s to 2014.

What I liked…

This book has Thich Nhat Hanh’s typical easy-to-read style of presentation. The concepts presented in the sutra are difficult and on their own, really confusing. But the text is broken down into sections, never more than a few short lines, and it’s content is fully explained clearly and carefully and allow even a novice reader to take away some important understanding from this text.

The purpose of this book was to clear up some confusion about the common interpretations of this sutra.

This rewording is needed because to say “in emptiness there is no form, no feelings, no mental formations, no consciousness…” is not in accord with the ultimate truth. Emptiness means only the emptiness of self, not the nonbeing of self, just as when a balloon is empty inside it doesn’t mean the balloon doesn’t exists.” Extract, p20

Apparently it is very common to get hung up on the sutra’s wording and get the wrong idea, and frankly having read it for myself I can absolutely see why people would get confused, it is a tough one. However, Thich Nhat Hanh has altered the wording of his translation (hence calling it a reinterpretation) to help clarify some of the finer points. It can get a little repetitive but it the commentaries are extremely helpful in aiding understanding of the text.

What I disliked…

The inclusion of 3 different English translations/transliterations/interpretations or whatever is a little peculiar. The commentaries focus exclusively on the first interpretation, which makes life easier, but I don’t fully understand why the others have been included and unless I missed it, I can’t find any explanation for it either. It’s nice to have more information of course, but 3 slightly different versions of the same text seemed a little unnecessary.

Final thoughts…

This is definitely a book I will come back to over time. I’m sure there are countless things I have missed and not quite understood fully. This book is, as far as I am aware, an excellent introduction to the Heart Sutra and a great jumping off point for the Buddhist canon in general.

___________________________________________
Please note: I am in no way affiliated with the author or publishers. I bought this book with my own money for my own reasons. The opinions contained within are my own and have not been influenced by any external entity! (less)
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Maria Barcelo
Jun 30, 2021Maria Barcelo rated it it was amazing
Shelves: buddhism
A beautiful, insightful translation of the Heart Sutra. It might be a little too mind bending for brand new students of Buddhism, but for more experienced students and practitioners this should be essential reading. “The Other Shore” really expanded my understanding of the prajnaparamitra sutra (as much as I could ever really actually “understand” the sutra) and gave me new ways of looking at inter-being and non-duality. I cherish and honor Thich Nhat Hahn as a teacher and writer more and more every year. His ability to convey very complex Buddhist teachings in simple, accessible and yet elegant language for a lay audience is impressive. (less)
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Sally Isabel
Mar 16, 2021Sally Isabel rated it it was amazing
In this guided reading of the Heart Sutra, Thich Nhat Hanh explains the message of non-duality. He demonstrates through logic and science that what we conceive of as opposites often are simply different ends of a spectrum and that there is no hard break between them, for example between life and death:

"When we think about matter or form, we tend to distinguish between living and inanimate matter, but modern sciences tells us that the distinction between animate and inanimate is not very precise. What we call inert matter may not be as inert as we think; it could be full of life. Matter is not something solid and unchanging. Two thousand years ago, it was written in the Prajnaparamita Sutra [...] that if you look deeply into matter you only see something insubstantial and full of holes, like foam." (pp37-8)

He also wrote much about interconnectivity of all things: "No one among us has clean hands. None of us can claim that the situation is not our responsibility. The child who is forced to work as a prostitute is that way because of the way we are. The refugees who are forced to live in camps have to live like that because of the way we live. The arms dealers do their business so that our economies can continue to grow and they can benefit. This helps to create that, and that helps to create this. Wealth and poverty, the affluent society and the poor society, inter-are. The wealth of one society is made of the poverty of the other. Wealth is made of non-wealth elements and poverty is made of non-poverty elements." (p65)

As a vegan, I was especially happy to read how he promotes a vegetarian diet: "Almost eighty percent of our agricultural land is now used to raise animals for food or to grow grain to feed them--about thirty percent of the Earth's total land mass. By destroying the forests, and by producing ever-increasing quantities of greenhouse gases, we endanger our civilization. Because of our greed, we risk destroying ourselves." (p70) and " According to the United Nations report released on November 29, 2006, just reducing our consumption of meat by fifty percent could already be enough to save our civilization, and that is something we can all easily do." (p71)

Finally, he ends the book with a reminder to stop grasping for enlightenment (p99) and the importance of letting go of "releasing our knowledge" (p 103) as part of this process. On the path itself, during the mundane moments of our lives, we can be happy. It's not something we have to wait for or even really work for. We just have to let it be. (less)
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Ulrike
Sep 19, 2019Ulrike rated it it was ok
Shelves: religion-spiritual, epluspaper
Interesting to read, but I found the theory rather confusing.
He says that (if we look deep enough) we can see the sun, the rain, the forest, the logger, the logger's daily bread etc. in the sheet of paper . This is rather banal, all these are just the conditions which - if met - lead to the existence of a sheet of paper, there's nothing spiritual in this, also it is rather unusual to say the conditions that lead to the existence of something are "in" it. Of course, all these things are related - we usually call this kind of relation "causation" and not "interbeing".
He also claims that there is no birth no death and explains it by pointing to the fact, that nothing comes from nothing and no thing changes into nothing. This of course means everything is somehow (how???) already there and stays there but constantly changes into something else - this seems to be a very similar idea to the idea that nothing ever "dies", because its atoms and energies do not vanish, but (as far as we know) will stay in the universe forever. Nothing spiritual (or specifically buddhist) here as well.
He says there is no separate self anywhere - on the other hand he says that everyone and everything (even minerals) have the seed of enlightenment - so no self anywhere but, but seeds everywhere? What does that mean?
Many philosophers and theologians think, that any theory that goes contrary to our sound intuitions is not a very reasonable theory. That said: if someone tells me my body is real but my sense of some inner self is an illusion, but I still have a seed of enlightenment in me, which I must make grow, to me that not very reasonable.
If he just wanted to say, that we should not pay too much attention to our selves (= not be egoistic), because we must be aware that we are deeply connected to everything in the world, he is absolutely right, but for that there is no need of a theory about self or seeds or enlightenment .... (less)
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Elaine
May 22, 2020Elaine rated it it was amazing
The Heart Sutra has appeared a lot ever since I started reading up on Buddhism. To me, it seemed a very impactful sutra in the Buddhist world. For a time, I was very interested in it, until I wasn't, because it was very difficult to find out more about it. I was reminded of it not too long ago when I finally decided to take the step to talk about this religion with one of my relatives. When I decided to look further into the English version, I found this book. I honestly have no idea how I could have missed this previously when I first heard about this sutra.

Every single time I chose to pick up a book related to Buddhism, there are periods of time that I'm able to feel at ease, which is why I'm always going back to reading one. This book is no exception. The Heart Sutra, to me, explains a lot about what Buddha himself have taught. The concept of being and non-being; the concept of separate self and inter-being; the concept of no birth and no death, etc, really brought my awareness to another level. To learn about the history of the English translation of this sutra was also very interesting, and I'm very glad that I'm living in an era where it's available.

If you're interested in learning about the Heart Sutra, this is for you. Thich Nhat Hanh explains every concept that Avalokiteśvara saw, every line of the sutra. I'm not too sure if it's considered in-depth, but it is enough for one to have enough knowledge to contemplate. Finally, after so many years, I've learnt a little more about Guanyin, a bodhisattva that I grew up with — and that I had absolutely no knowledge of. (less)
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Sean
May 02, 2021Sean rated it really liked it
Shelves: recommended-nonfiction, reviewed
"The Other Shore" by Thich Nhat Hanh is the last book he completed before he suffered a massive stroke in 2014. I feel like it one of the best gifts he could have given. It is an insightful, lucid translation of the Heart Sutra that tries to capture its nuances for a 21st century audience. The commentary is excellent and I felt like I understood many of its concepts much more deeply from his teachings. While I really like his other books like The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation, I feel like this one is more focused and encapsulates many of the themes that he has been teaching for his entire career. (less)
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Andrew
Sep 08, 2018Andrew rated it really liked it
definitely your above-average book on emptiness. thich nhat hanh's inter-be and inter-areare tremendous, built to snap everyday people from the malaise of today's banal nihilism and solipsism. a masterful use of zen-style upaya. he really shines in his parables and stories (which are nested between his kinda boring (sorry) metaphysical diatribes (sorry). many things in this book could use improvement like his prose (sorry). but). all and all still a very much underrated book among serious students of buddhist metapraxis (less)
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Aadesh
Apr 01, 2021Aadesh rated it really liked it
This is my first book for hardcore Buddhist philosophy. The heart sutra is unique to chant. I really enjoyed the commentaries from Zen guru Hanh and how he interprets emptiness as inter-being. The concept of inter-being is not new or unexplored. But it felt so natural to understand Heart Sutra with the concept of inter-being. Since everything exists because it co-exists with others, I was not fully content with the heart sutra being the most important teachings. Based on the book itself, heart sutra co-exists with other sutras so every sutra is as important as Heart Sutra. (less)
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Jojo
Jan 05, 2019Jojo rated it it was amazing
Shelves: buddhism, spirituality
1 highlight
I don't really do New Year's resolutions, but I'm working on making meditation a daily practice in 2019 and have been thinking about the Heart Sutra recently, so this was a good one to be the first read of the year. Some concepts here that can be a bit brain-breaking (at least for my brain), but presented in an engaging and easy to understand way. Like, I got to the end and feel like I have a much better grasp of what the Heart Sutra is about now. So yay! (less)
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Meg Pasnik
Jul 08, 2018Meg Pasnik rated it it was amazing
Thich Nhat Hanh has a simple yet beautiful way of explaining and shining light on what he's touching on. In his new translation of The Heart Sutra, he breaks it down bit by bit in each chapter, illustrating each verse with his words. Read it very easily in about a couple hours. Great read for people getting into Buddhism! (less)
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Lily
Jan 22, 2018Lily rated it really liked it
Shelves: 2018
How lovely. As usual, the mixture of history and philosophy in his simple and clear voice is rich and deep. Thich Nhat Hanh explores the Heart Sutra, getting to the depths of what "nothingness" actually means and the false binaries of conceptualization and language that prevent people from accessing reality. The heart sutra reminds me a lot of the beginning of the tao te ching. (less)
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Jen
Jul 05, 2020Jen rated it really liked it
The Heart Sutra has always been comforting to me. Thich Nhat Hanh's explanation of emptiness is simple and easy to understand, and I would often reread the words because of how much they spoke to me in these uncertain times. It's never been more important for me to realise how we are all in this together. (less)
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Brent
Dec 04, 2017Brent rated it it was amazing
An illuminating translation

A have read several translations and commentaries on the Heart Sutra. Different translations serve different purposes, but this is the best I have found for illuminating the meaning for a Western audience.
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MJKF
Feb 18, 2017MJKF rated it really liked it
Shelves: religion-eastern-and-mindfulness
Some of the things discussed in this book can be found in Tich Nhat Hahn's other books. Still a fascinating and wonderful book worth that is worth reading if interested in Buddhism. (less)
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Geoff
Mar 18, 2021Geoff rated it it was amazing
Shelves: 2021, buddhism
'The Heart Sutra is a deep and important text, which has the capacity to bring us to the shore of liberation, happiness, and peace, and yet it has also caused much misunderstanding for more than 1,500 years. I believe that these misunderstandings have come about because the patriarch who compiled the Heart Sutra made an unskillful choice of wording.'


The Heart Sutra belongs to the Prajnaparamita collection of sutras. In particular, the Heart Sutra is the most frequently used and recited text in t ...more
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Stephen Durrant
Mar 30, 2022Stephen Durrant rated it liked it
Once again I feel a bit apologetic about my reaction. I have always disliked reviews that wanted a different kind of book than the one the reviewer chose to read, but that's basically where I am in this case. The Heart Sutra is a provocative and, I believe, difficult text. I was looking for serious exegesis, and what I got was engaging, to be sure, but a rather popularized presentation that struck me as trying to update the Sutra for contemporary seekers of truth. I should have known. Thich Nhat Hanh spent much of his life as a "missionary" of Buddhism and was highly successful in that endeavor. He has a big audience for what he writes, and he writes with clarity and persuasiveness. But, I was looking for something that elucidated rather than adapted the original. Once I have properly digested something like that, maybe I'll feel better prepared to go on to more daring revisions of the text such as those of Thich Nhat Hanh. (less)
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Lisa November
May 13, 2020Lisa November rated it it was amazing
This is a sublime, deceptively deep little book full of wisdom. I recommend reading it very slowly, practicing what you read, and maybe, reading the book with a small group or at least one other person.
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Thich Nhat Hanh - The Heart of Understanding | PDF | Thích Nhất Hạnh | Śūnyatā

Thich Nhat Hanh - The Heart of Understanding | PDF | Thích Nhất Hạnh | Śūnyatā

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