A Day in the Life: the Empty Bowl & Diamond Sutras

by Red Pine (Translator)

Literary Nonfiction. Asian & Asian American Studies. Religion and Spirituality. Buddhism. Translated by Red Pine. Empty Bowl is proud to present Red Pine's newest two sutras that record a day in the life of the Buddha when the Buddha was teaching the Prajnaparamita, the teaching that formed the basis of Buddhism's Mahayana path. Not only are they among the shortest Prajnaparamita texts, they're connected and read as if they span the events of a single day. In the "Empty Bowl Sutra," which appears here in English for the first time, the Buddha's disciples' question Manjusri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, on his way to town to beg for food, and he responds with the teaching of emptiness--that anything we might think of as real is illusory and its "thingness" based on nothing more than our own projections. In the "Diamond Sutra," the translation of which has benefitted from recently discovered Sanskrit copies, the Buddha returns from his own begging round and tells his disciples what results when they combine this teaching with the vow to liberate others. In using the most significant events in his own career as an example, the Buddha presents one of the earliest accounts of how buddhas become buddhas.

Both sutras are presented together in a 5"X7" chapbook, saddle stitched, with an introduction but minimum of notes so that readers can experience the force of these texts uninterrupted and in a convenient hand-held, open-page format.

Genres: Buddhism

53 pages, Paperback

Published December 15, 2018

About the author

Pen name of Bill Porter

Reviews

[Marc · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first of these two sutras is about the teaching of emptiness. The second, the Diamond Sutra, is about "what results when they combine (the teaching of emptiness) with the vow to liberate others, all others." Both sutras are, per Red Pine, possibly reporting discourses given the same day to the same monks -- by Manjusri in the morning and by the Buddha after lunch. There is a minimum of commentary, so the chapbook is a great one to carry around, like a medieval pilgrim headed for enlightenment or at least for a good day. As usual, Red Pine's translations are clear and readable. I'm quite enthralled with this holy little book.

[Eric Shaffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, as many of you know, I've recently been excavating my office, and have located actual scads of books I either started reading, finished reading, or lost in the middle of reading beneath the detritus of the past six years of unmitigated "distractions," if I may call them that (Actually, it was worse.).

Well, this is one I had finished, but I never reviewed on GR, so I decided to read again because--fullest disclosure--Bill Porter is a good pal of mine and better than most. We even did a PacNW Reading Tour together (four cities!).

Bill speaks and translates Chinese, but fortunately, on the road in his Jeep, we sang every Neil Young song (played on actual cassettes!) in the lesser vehicle together loudly and in English.

Bill, a.k.a. Red Pine, has the best Chinese poetry and sutra in translation list anywhere. Look him up. I first and foremost recommend all of his careful, detailed, footnoted, and contextualized work, starting with Collected Songs of Cold Mountain. He also writes non-fiction about his travels in China, like Zen Baggage, which, if I do say so myself, is both hefty, substantial, and effervescent.

Okay, okay, I'm getting to this book. Bill makes sutras read like the conversations they were. His words are accessible, clear, and reading both was fun and informative, if I do say so myself, "this would be the practice of attainment." The texts are welcoming, and the gems are easy to find. Additionally, Bill is a scholar of ancient Chinese texts and places these two in context and elaborates their significance in an exceptional translator's preface, which is not too long and not too short (see what I did there?).

Have some fun! Read some fundamental Chinese sutras for your edification and entertainment. I did, and I'm glad.

[Marc Mannheimer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took a really long time to finish this, and am glad I did. Some things can't be understood until you go through things, and some get deeper as you do. There is no end to the depths you can go with the diamond sutra, in my opinion, and this translation laid things out wonderfully.