Zen Buddhism is often said to be a practice of "mind-to-mind transmission" without reliance on texts - in fact, some great teachers forbid their students to read or write. But Buddhism has also inspired and accumulated some of the greatest philosophical texts of any religion. Two works lie at the center of Zen: The Heart Sutra, which monks recite all over the world, and The Diamond Sutra, which teaches the "perfection of wisdom" and cuts through all obstacles on the path of practice. It is perhaps the most studied of all the sutras, and by one count more than twenty thousand commentaries are noted.
Red Pine, as he begins his preface, explains: "The Diamond may look like a book, but it's really the body of the Buddha. It's also your body, my body, all possible bodies. But it's a body with nothing inside and nothing outside. It doesn't exist in space or time. Nor it is a construct of the mind. It's no mind. And yet because it's no mind, it has room for compassion. This book is the offering of no mind, born of compassion for all suffering beings. Of all the sutras that teach this teaching, this is the diamond. It cuts through all delusions, illuminates what is real, and cannot be destroyed. It is the path on which all buddhas stand and walk. And to read it is to stand and walk with buddhas."
Red Pine, the translator and Buddhist scholar, has worked with this text for many years. He has consulted dozens of commentaries, in Chinese and in Sanskrit, to offer this brilliant new translation together with extensive commentary intended to present this sacred text in a new light. The result is a work of inspiration and guidance, a text of spiritual practice for all seekers.