Selected Sayings from The Perfection of Wisdom (Edward Conze)
A Mind-Bending Read
[My 4-star Amazon review (NDA) of “Selected Sayings from The Perfection of Wisdom: Chosen, Arranged and Translated by Edward Conze.”]
I am no longer a fan of the Prajnaparamita Sutras (and I can deconstruct them until Nagarjuna’s bones turn to dust)—but they are still worth a read by students of Zen. And this book, chosen, arranged, and translated by the renowned Buddhist scholar Edward Conze, is a mind-bending read for all but the most astute Bodhisattvas. The text is nicely laid out and is an appropriate length to avoid constant repetition—I mean, how many times, and in how many contexts, does one need to hear that all things are empty?
I bought this book forty years ago because Baba Ram Dass had it on his Highly Recommended Spiritual Reading List in his “Be Here Now” classic—and for a year or two it became my “ Buddhist Bible”—until I began to deconstruct and transcend Zen and move on to higher Dharmas. Eventually, I created my own Dharma, which subsumes and accounts for the “evolution” and “devolution” of Zen.
I recently purchased and have reviewed Red Pine’s The Heart Sutra, and I do not recommend it. (See my Amazon.com review.). Conze’s translation of The Heart Sutra, included in this book, is superior. In fact, Conze’s writings dwarf Red Pine’s, and Red Pine knows this, because he, almost ad nauseum, resorts to quoting Conze.
[My 4-star Amazon review (NDA) of “Selected Sayings from The Perfection of Wisdom: Chosen, Arranged and Translated by Edward Conze.”]
I am no longer a fan of the Prajnaparamita Sutras (and I can deconstruct them until Nagarjuna’s bones turn to dust)—but they are still worth a read by students of Zen. And this book, chosen, arranged, and translated by the renowned Buddhist scholar Edward Conze, is a mind-bending read for all but the most astute Bodhisattvas. The text is nicely laid out and is an appropriate length to avoid constant repetition—I mean, how many times, and in how many contexts, does one need to hear that all things are empty?
I bought this book forty years ago because Baba Ram Dass had it on his Highly Recommended Spiritual Reading List in his “Be Here Now” classic—and for a year or two it became my “ Buddhist Bible”—until I began to deconstruct and transcend Zen and move on to higher Dharmas. Eventually, I created my own Dharma, which subsumes and accounts for the “evolution” and “devolution” of Zen.
I recently purchased and have reviewed Red Pine’s The Heart Sutra, and I do not recommend it. (See my Amazon.com review.). Conze’s translation of The Heart Sutra, included in this book, is superior. In fact, Conze’s writings dwarf Red Pine’s, and Red Pine knows this, because he, almost ad nauseum, resorts to quoting Conze.
