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Zen and the Art of Insight
The Prajnaparamita ("perfection of wisdom") sutras are one of the great legacies of Mahayana Buddhism, giving eloquent expression to some of that school's central the perception of shunyata , the essential emptiness of all phenomena; and the ideal of the bodhisattva, one who postpones his or her own enlightenment in order to work for the salvation of all beings.
The Prajnaparamita literature consists of a number of texts composed in Buddhist India between 100 BCE and 100 CE. Originally written in Sanskrit, but surviving today mostly in their Chinese versions, the texts are concerned with the experience of profound insight that cannot be conveyed by concepts or in intellectual terms. The material remains important today in Mahayana Buddhism and Zen.
Key selections from the Prajnaparamita literature are presented here, along with Thomas Cleary's illuminating commentary, as a means of demonstrating the intrinsic limitations of discursive thought, and of pointing to the profound wisdom that lies beyond it.
Included selections
• The Scripture on Perfect Insight Awakening to Essence
• The Essentials of the Great Scripture on Perfect Insight
• Treatise on the Great Scripture on Perfect Insight
• The Scripture on Perfect Insight for Benevolent Rulers
• Key Teachings on the Great Scripture of Perfect Insight
• The Questions of Suvikrantavikramin
The Prajnaparamita literature consists of a number of texts composed in Buddhist India between 100 BCE and 100 CE. Originally written in Sanskrit, but surviving today mostly in their Chinese versions, the texts are concerned with the experience of profound insight that cannot be conveyed by concepts or in intellectual terms. The material remains important today in Mahayana Buddhism and Zen.
Key selections from the Prajnaparamita literature are presented here, along with Thomas Cleary's illuminating commentary, as a means of demonstrating the intrinsic limitations of discursive thought, and of pointing to the profound wisdom that lies beyond it.
Included selections
• The Scripture on Perfect Insight Awakening to Essence
• The Essentials of the Great Scripture on Perfect Insight
• Treatise on the Great Scripture on Perfect Insight
• The Scripture on Perfect Insight for Benevolent Rulers
• Key Teachings on the Great Scripture of Perfect Insight
• The Questions of Suvikrantavikramin
- GenresPhilosophy
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
About the author
Thomas Cleary
257 books291 followersDr. Thomas Francis Cleary, Ph.D. (East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University; J.D., Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley), was a prolific translator of Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and Muslim classics, with a particular emphasis on popular translations of Mahāyāna works relevant to the Chan, Zen, and Soen systems.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
October 31, 2022
Zen and the Art of Insight Selected and translated by Thomas Cleary.
This book is full of excellent material, I can read only a few selections at a time, because they demand time and attention to “cook” in my being.
The commentaries by Thomas Cleary on each piece are very useful.
Page 34. Section 6 on use of salt:
Suppose a bumpkin who does not know what salt is sees people putting salt on various meats and vegetables and eating them. He asks why they do that, and they tell him that salt can enhance the flavor of foods. Now the man thinks that if salt can make other things taste better, then its own flavor must be great. So he scoops up all the salt and eats a whole mouthful of it. The salty bitterness hurts his mouth, so he asks, “Why did you say salt improves flavor?”
The people say to him, “Fool! You have to adjust the amount and addition it to food to enhance the flavor — how can you eat pure salt?!”
Ignorant people who hear of the door of liberation through emptiness do not practice virtues, they only eat to attain emptiness. This is a false view that cuts off all roots of goodness.
The commentary following this story ends with the sentence: “The great Buddhist master Nagarjuna, known for his words on emptiness and insight, and to whom this treatise is attributed, also wrote, “Emptiness wrongly viewed destroys the weak-minded, like a snake wrongly held or a mystic spell wrongly performed.”
Page 12 2. Five kinds of insight, and the associated commentary.
Page 22. Cessation of thought does not hinder reason. The commentary was critical for appreciating the four lines of the treatise.
This book is full of excellent material, I can read only a few selections at a time, because they demand time and attention to “cook” in my being.
The commentaries by Thomas Cleary on each piece are very useful.
Page 34. Section 6 on use of salt:
Suppose a bumpkin who does not know what salt is sees people putting salt on various meats and vegetables and eating them. He asks why they do that, and they tell him that salt can enhance the flavor of foods. Now the man thinks that if salt can make other things taste better, then its own flavor must be great. So he scoops up all the salt and eats a whole mouthful of it. The salty bitterness hurts his mouth, so he asks, “Why did you say salt improves flavor?”
The people say to him, “Fool! You have to adjust the amount and addition it to food to enhance the flavor — how can you eat pure salt?!”
Ignorant people who hear of the door of liberation through emptiness do not practice virtues, they only eat to attain emptiness. This is a false view that cuts off all roots of goodness.
The commentary following this story ends with the sentence: “The great Buddhist master Nagarjuna, known for his words on emptiness and insight, and to whom this treatise is attributed, also wrote, “Emptiness wrongly viewed destroys the weak-minded, like a snake wrongly held or a mystic spell wrongly performed.”
Page 12 2. Five kinds of insight, and the associated commentary.
Page 22. Cessation of thought does not hinder reason. The commentary was critical for appreciating the four lines of the treatise.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review