For more than two thousand years, the Heart Sutra has been part of the daily life of millions of Buddhists. This concise text, so rich and laden with meaning, concentrates the very heart of Buddhism into a powerful and evocative teaching on the interdependence of all reality. In Essence of the Heart Sutra, the Dalai Lama masterfully unpacks the Heart Sutra so that any reader can benefit from its teachings - teachings meant to help us release ourselves from suffering and live with true compassion. Comprised of his ""Heart of Wisdom"" talks, originally delivered to thousands of listeners in 2001, the book offers the Dalai Lama's commentary as well as his easy-to-follow overview of Buddhist philosophy that places the sutra within its historical and philosophical context. With additional contributions by scholar and translator Thupten Jinpa, Essence of the Heart Sutra is the authoritative presentation of a text seminal to the world's religious heritage.

An illuminating in-depth study of one of the most well-known and recited Buddhist texts, by a renowned modern translator The Prajna Paramita Hridaya Sutra is among the best known of all the Buddhist scriptures. Chanted daily by many Zen practitioners, it is also studied extensively in the Tibetan tradition, and it has been regarded with interest more recently in the West in various fields of study—from philosophy to quantum physics. In just a few lines, it expresses the truth of impermanence and the release of suffering that results from the understanding of that truth with a breathtaking economy of language. Kazuaki Tanahashi’s guide to the Heart Sutra is the result of a life spent working with it and living it. He outlines the history and meaning of the text and then analyzes it line by line in its various forms (Sanskrit, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, Mongolian, and various key English translations), providing a deeper understanding of the history and etymology of the elusive words than is generally available to the non-specialist—yet with a clear emphasis on the relevance of the text to practice. This book includes a fresh and meticulous new translation of the text by the author and Roshi Joan Halifax.

Heart of Wisdom is based on an oral commentary to the Essence of Wisdom Sutra (the Heart Sutra), which was given by the author at Manjushri Mahayana buddhist Centre in England. The Heart Sutra, one of the best known and most popular of Mahayana Buddhist scriptures, contains the essence of Buddha`s teachings on emptiness and the methods to develop the wisdom that understands this ultimate reality. In this highly acclaimed explanation of the Sutra, Geshe Kelsang reveals its explicit and implicit meanings with both clarity and authority, and relates them to the five Mahayana paths that lead to full enlightenment. Seen in modern light, Buddha had been able to perceive, even see the vast spatial distances between atoms and between sub-atomic particles filled with electrons and even sub-eletrons in a state of high vibration. This atomic condition corresponds to a similar pattern in the brains of living beings and to interstellar and interplanetary gaps. The subject of emptiness as the author explains deals with perceptions leading to concept of formation and creation of a world of sense ideas which is merely a random arranging of material resources in an otherwise empty space filled with vibrations of these very particles. This is a rather difficult subject handled facilely by the author.

A guide to the famous Heart Sūtra that reveals the tenderness and compassion underlying the striking rhetoric of this popular Buddhist text The radical message of the Heart Sūtra, one of Buddhism’s most famous texts, is a sweeping attack on everything we hold most dear: our troubles, the world as we know it, even the teachings of the Buddha himself. Several of the Buddha’s followers are said to have suffered heart attacks and died when they first heard its assertion of the basic groundlessness of our existence—hence the title of this book. Overcoming fear, the Buddha teaches, is not to be accomplished by shutting down or building walls around oneself, but instead by opening up to understand the illusory nature of everything we fear—including ourselves. In this book of teachings, Karl Brunnhölzl guides practitioners through this ‘crazy’ sutra to the wisdom and compassion that lie at its core.

Thunderous Silence throws light on the Heart Sutra--a pithy encapsulation of the essence of Perfection of Wisdom literature--using stop-by-step analysis and an easy, conversational voice. Dosung Yoo examines the sutra phrase by phrase, using rich explanations and metaphors drawn from Korean folklore, quantum physics, Charles Dickens, and everything in between to clarify subtle concepts for the reader. This book invites us to examine the fundamentals of Buddhism--the Four Noble Truths, emptiness, enlightenment--through the prism of the Heart Sutra. Both those new to Buddhism and longtime practitioners looking to revisit a core text from a fresh perspective will find this work appealing.

This text is regarded as the essence of Buddhist teaching, offering subtle and profound teachings on non-duality; the letting go of all preconceived notions, opinions, and attachments, and so become open to all the wonders of our life. This book features a translation and commentary by Thich Nhat Hanh.

Essence of Ambrosia is a guide to Buddhist meditation, composed by the prolific and eclectic Tibetan scholar and practitioner Taranatha (1575-1634). Following the lead of Atisha, Taranatha expounds a graduated approach (known as lam rim) to cognitive and meditative development designed to address the needs of three types of person: the person of lesser, average and greater capacity. Taranatha's innovative contribution to this genre is to instruct the student in "contemplation sessions", that specifically guide a beginning Buddhist practitioner through the traditional practices of meditation, beginning with devotional reflection up to the apex of Buddhist meditation, insight (vipassana) meditation. The result is a remarkably accessible and concise insider's guide to the Mahayana Buddhist path.

This short gem of a book shows how distorted perceptions and disturbing emotions—arising from our misunderstanding of reality—can be completely uprooted, resulting in freedom from suffering.

The Heart Sutra is one of the most well-known texts in all of Buddhism. It is also one of the most elegant expressions of the essence of the Buddha's teachings. In less than 250 words (English translation), one can read the account of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara's experience of profound meditation (Prajnaparamita). His words echo the teachings that the Buddha had formulated in The Four Noble Truths, The Noble Eightfold Path and The Doctrine of Dependent Arising, and are a confirmation of these teachings. The Heart Sutra is more than just a record of the Prajnaparamita experience of the Bodhisattva. If we so choose, it can serve as a guide, a "finger pointing at the moon," for us, as we struggle to make sense of the senselessness of today's society. The Bodhisattva is telling us that we can do the same as he did. It is said: "We are all, in essence, Buddhas. We only need to wake up to that fact." The Heart Sutra can be our wake-up call.