Diamond Sutra Explained

by Nan Huai-Chin

Master Nan Huai-Chin's discourses on the treasured Buddhist Diamond Sutra bring together a lifetime's personal cultivation experience that crosses into every single school of esoteric and spiritual practice. The great contemporary Master uses the Diamond Sutra as a tool to gauge the understanding that we must have when journeying towards understanding our true selves. The various passages from this beautiful Sutra are used to provide the student with a practical framework that combines understanding with practical cultivation. Master Nan's teachings are uniquely different compared with interpretations given by other contemporary and past teachers.

324 pages, Paperback

First published January 27, 2005

About the author

Master Nan Huai-Chin is one of the most renowned and revered lay Buddhist Masters in the Sinosphere. A great teacher in all three traditions of spiritual cultivation in China, namely the Confucian tradition, the Buddhist tradition and the Taoist tradition, he has written more than 30 books in these subjects.

His books are extremely popular in China and some of his more popular books went into 20th edition in Taiwan. There is no question that his teaching has transformed many young intellectuals and is one of the main forces of genuine Buddhist resurgence in China.

Reviews

[Tonny Mustika · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is actually very well written, with some of the endings a bit hard to read. Nan Huaijin is a capable and knowledgeable practitioner and teacher of Buddhadharma. The way he discusses the Diamond Sutra is very rich by referring to various stories in various range literature, from koans, classic novels, fairy tales, to historical records. The drawback of this book is that there are parts where it seems that the translator used the term incorrectly, for example replacing Sambhokaya with Rupakaya and Nirmanakaya with Sambhokaya. This results in confusion. The translator also omitted many parts of the original version, partly seemingly because the explanations were only meaningful in the context of Chinese culture, but partly because they were too difficult to be translated due to complexity of the terms. In general, however, this work should be appreciated as an effort to spread the Dharma. They dedication and loyalty of the translator in this matter is unquestionable.

[Livi Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have only read the Chinese (original) version of this book, which is fantastic, and it's very easy to read and understand if someone's new to the concept of "no-self". Teachings in the diamond sutra can never be understood fully through words or language, it must be experienced by those who want to learn. It will be great to read the book in Chinese.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good translation and enlightening coming from a very cursory understanding of Buddhism and Hindu culture. The teacher tells a lot of fun stories to vary things up.