Title:  The Diamond Sutra, 

           The Heart Sutra. 

 

Category:	Holy Scripture: The Major Buddhist Canon (2)
Total pages:	About 158
EnglishTranslator:	Venerable Cheng Kuan
Publication- Initiators:	AmericanaBuddhistTemple(USA), Maha-VairocanaTemple(Taiwan)
Printing House:	Sunrise Printing Co., Ltd.
Edition:	Third Edition
ISBN:	957-9373-20-5
Way of Circulation:	Not for sale. Free Gift. (You pay shipping cost only)
Availability:
Place of Free Distribution:	AmericanaBuddhistTemple(USA), Maha-VairocanaTemple(Taiwan)
How to get a free copy:	By letter
Preface of the Book:	See below

 

A Preface to the Third Edition

 

Ever since the publication of this Sutra in 2005, it has been about four years now, and it has undergone a revision for the Second Edition wherein some minor improvement in the diction has been made.  Now, as necessitated by occasions, a typographically totally new edition is being released, in that the original Chinese Text and the English translation will interpose each other for the bilingual reader’s easy reference and comparison, whereby some abstruse meanings might be elicited and rendered palpable.

 

In addition to this rearrangement of the printing, and some more minor improvements, the reader can find that there is a major addition in the English Text:  that is, the subtitle for each Segment has been provided.  The reason why this was not done in previous editions is that these Subtitles are not the Original Texts, either the Chinese translation or the Sanskrit original—they were composed and inserted therein by some unidentifiable great master in the past.  On account of this, I did not deem it fit to translate it in the English Text, for fear that they may be considered as an “official” portion of the Sutra itself by future readers, or by contemporary readers unawares.  Nevertheless, now that both the Texts of the original and translation are juxtaposed, it might elicit doubts as to why the Subtitles fail to be translated, for this reason the English renditions are attached.  If the reader is aware that this part is actually an adventitious addition, not only would it not do any harm, but it would also enhance the comprehension about the gist of the Segment in question, for the dictions and meanings of the Subtitles themselves are very succinct pertinent to depict the major imports of each Segment.

 

Finally, it is beyond doubt that The Diamond Sutra is by far one of the most powerful and the most popular—most read, most chanted, most propounded, most commented and most meditated upon—Holy Scriptures in Mahayana Buddhism.  And its significance is even much more elevated by the fact that it is the most predominant Sutra for Ch’an Buddhism, which is widely acknowledged as a major contribution of Chinese Buddhism to the Chinese culture as a whole, as well as the same to the culture world-wide.  And, with the publication of this edition, I hope it will enhance the wisdom and peace and property to all men and all nations on this pain-afflicted globe.

 

                                                    At MVT, 12-25-2009