Elaborations on Emptiness

Uses of the Heart S¿tra
Erscheinungsjahr 1998
ISBN: 978-0-691-00188-3
Verlag: Princeton University Press

Buch, Englisch, 280 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 459 g

The Heart Sutra is perhaps the most famous Buddhist text, traditionally regarded as a potent expression of emptiness and of the Buddha's perfect wisdom. This brief, seemingly simple work was the subject of more commentaries in Asia than any other sutra. In Elaborations on Emptiness, Donald Lopez explores for the first time the elaborate philosophical and ritual uses of the Heart Sutra in India, Tibet, and the West.Included here are full translations of the eight extant Indian commentaries. Interspersed with the translations are six essays that examine the unusual roles the Heart Sutra has played: it has been used as a mantra, an exorcism text, a tantric meditation guide, and as the material for comparative philosophy. Taken together, the translations and essays that form Elaborations on Emptiness demonstrate why commentary is as central to modern scholarship on Buddhism as it was for ancient Buddhists. Lopez reveals unexpected points of instability and contradiction in the Heart Sutra, which, in the end, turns out to be the most malleable of texts, where the logic of commentary serves as a tool of both tradition and transgression.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lopez, Donald S., Jr.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Buddhismus
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Nicht-Westliche Philosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Technical Note and AcknowledgmentsIntroduction31Who Heard the Heart Sutra?192The Commentaries of Vimalamitra and Atisa473The Heart Sutra as Tantra784The Commentaries of Kamalasila and Srisimha1055The Heart Sutra as Sadhana1166The Commentaries of Jnanamitra and Prasastrasena1417The Heart Sutra's Mantra1658The Commentaries of Mahajana and Vajrapani1879The Heart Sutra as Exorcism21610Commentators Ancient and Postmodern239Index261