The Other Shore: A New Translation of the Heart Sutra with Commentaries

This book is a revised and enlarged version of the Heart of Understanding, 1988, which is a commentaries on the Heart Sutra. Emptiness, as generally understood, is one of basic doctrines of Buddhism, and yet many confused with nothingness which may lead to nihilism. Based on the author's revised version of English translation of the Heart Sutra, he placed emphasis on clarifying emptiness even citing modern scientific knowledge.I was, in particular, impressed his concentration and insight in writing this book soon after recovering from his serious stroke in 2014. The author attached specifically importance on those basic matters as emptiness, impermanence, interrelations, and courses and conditions in relation to our daily life and happiness. In so doing, he used full of similes and precedents for helping readers' better understanding.

As a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism focused into study and practice the Prajnaparamita, I have several comentarys to the Heart Sutra and I felt compelled to get this book too. Instead of a direct explanation of Emptiness Thay unfolds the Dependent Origination teaching and reasoning. He manages to touche the very heart of the student using tender words and beautiful poetry, introducing progressively the student to the key points of the text that leads to the state of Wisdom (see the Life of a Leaf chapter). His approach is to point out again and again the interdependent and non-dual ground of reality like a finger pointing to the moon. Thay also explains that he felt the need to write this comentary in order to dispel the danger of missundertand the Sutra as a nihlistic view, and I believe he does it succesfully.Nevertheless Thay makes some odd and wrong ascertions like, "Buddha Nature is the nature of plants and minerals". From where he get this??? In any Sutra such claim is made, on the contrary it is explained that Sugathagarbha in is not present in such unanimated things.I also disagree with his explanation of the Four Noble Truths in page 95, to me he misses a key word in his coment; what we call suffering is just a mere empty appearence that arises as such due to our ignorance and karma. Suffering has the the same quality of the suffering in a dream; it's totally Illusory. It's not Real.In page 119 - 120, Thay makes another strange claim associating tantrik practitioners of the Mantrayana in ancient India with "superstition and magical thinking". He doesn't explain from where he gets this idea, but who does explain it is Red Pine in his own book. Thay has tremendous and deep qualitys as a spiritual Master and leader, but I believe schoolastism is not one of them. In time, one can see this comentary as a first step in a long journey to access the wide open space of Prajña, and for those devotes students of Chan/Zen tradition I recommend you also to study the Red Pine's comentary, more detailed and accurate.From my heart thank, you Thay for have written this work that brings us closer to the Awakening.

A have read several translations and commentaries on the Heart Sutra. Different translations serve different purposes, but this is the best I have found for illuminating the meaning for a Western audience.

I am not a fan of Thich Nhat Hanh or the cult of personality that has sprung up around him, however, this is the best english translation of the Prajnaparamita. Direct translations have always been a problem because we westerners lack the cultural context to intuitively understand the intended meanings and implications of the original author's word choices. Thich cuts through this with subtle rephrasing that makes the text much less ambiguous. He also goes on to not only justify these alterations, but to provide parables that go a long way to illustrate the ideas they convey. Afterwards it becomes quite obvious what the original authors intended to convey.I highly recommend it for anyone interested in deepening the understanding of buddhist philosophies.

Over the last decade or so I've read Thich Nhat Hanh's translation & commentary of the Heart Sutra in "The Heart of Understanding" over a dozen times (if I were to guess).I usually give the book away when I'm done, so I've bought the book many times. When I went to get another copy I was shocked when it wasn't in print anymore! I was even more surprised to find a new version with a "new" translation and even a new title.The new translation gets rid of lots of liguistic baggage, and makes it more understandable to a western audience. The word "emptiness" used in buddhism is often lost in translation, and this translation mitigates that some. It's really crazy how different yet more clear the translation is, albeit it's still cryptic on many levels!For context, the original translation was 2 pages & book was 49 pages total. New version the translation is 3 pages & entire book is 133 pages. "The Other Shore" is quite a substantial update! Thich Nhat Hanh is definitely my most influential teacher (outside mt engineering professors 😉), and he's literally on his death bed, so this was a surprising book at a pivotal point in my life...In any case, this copy will definitely be given away!⚡☸️⚡

Clarifying the depth of “emptiness” as interconnection and communion rather than the Westernized sense of nothingness is essential for understanding the Heart Sutra. This exposition opens that door in such a beautiful way. Thank you, thank you.

Loved the writing and how gently to the sutras are present in common language for greater understanding. Thank you

This new translation of the Heart Sutra and its accompanying commentary is an expansion of an earlier work by Thich Nhat Hanh. It goes into greater depth and is quite inspiring, especially since it is perhaps his last book before his stroke.

TL;DR – A skillful breakdown of the Heart Sutra, making an important piece of Buddhist scripture more accessible.4 ButtonRAGDOLL RATING: 4/5 BUTTONSWhy I read it…I love Thich Nhat Hanh’s work, I find the man totally inspiring, so I’ll read basically anything of his. I read this specifically because I wanted to start reading Buddhist scriptures, and not just commentaries.The Book…The book is broken down into several parts. First up, we have introductions to the book and a very brief background to the Heart Sutra itself. Next we have what I suppose technically needs to be classified as a re-interpretation of the text. It’s more or less a translation but with some sections tidied up for better clarity. What follows is a series of chapters, each focusing on a few lines of the sutra, explaining what the text means and how we are to understand it. Then to finish up we have the original text in romanised sanskrit, and then a literal English translation and finally an English version of the text that was used for chanting at Plum Village from the 1980’s to 2014.What I liked…This book has Thich Nhat Hanh’s typical easy-to-read style of presentation. The concepts presented in the sutra are difficult and on their own, really confusing. But the text is broken down into sections, never more than a few short lines, and it’s content is fully explained clearly and carefully and allow even a novice reader to take away some important understanding from this text.The purpose of this book was to clear up some confusion about the common interpretations of this sutra.This rewording is needed because to say “in emptiness there is no form, no feelings, no mental formations, no consciousness…” is not in accord with the ultimate truth. Emptiness means only the emptiness of self, not the nonbeing of self, just as when a balloon is empty inside it doesn’t mean the balloon doesn’t exists.” Extract, p20Apparently it is very common to get hung up on the sutra’s wording and get the wrong idea, and frankly having read it for myself I can absolutely see why people would get confused, it is a tough one. However, Thich Nhat Hanh has altered the wording of his translation (hence calling it a reinterpretation) to help clarify some of the finer points. It can get a little repetitive but it the commentaries are extremely helpful in aiding understanding of the text.What I disliked…The inclusion of 3 different English translations/transliterations/interpretations or whatever is a little peculiar. The commentaries focus exclusively on the first interpretation, which makes life easier, but I don’t fully understand why the others have been included and unless I missed it, I can’t find any explanation for it either. It’s nice to have more information of course, but 3 slightly different versions of the same text seemed a little unnecessary.Final thoughts…This is definitely a book I will come back to over time. I’m sure there are countless things I have missed and not quite understood fully. This book is, as far as I am aware, an excellent introduction to the Heart Sutra and a great jumping off point for the Buddhist canon in general.___________________________________________Please note: I am in no way affiliated with the author or publishers. I bought this book with my own money for my own reasons. The opinions contained within are my own and have not been influenced by any external entity!

I bought the earlier version of this work many years ago when reading for my degree. Although it was not a set text for the Buddhism course, I was entranced by the text and the writing style. Years later - and still remembering the book fondly - I tried to buy another copy but failed (one day, maybe).By chance, I came across this volume, which is an "updated" version of the book I had used during studies. And I have not been disappointed. The same clear text, the same way of explaining everything in such a perceptive way - it is a real gem.Book quality is very good, a nice size to hold, quality paper used and a good spacing between the lines making the whole thing easy to read and easy on the eye.When the book was delivered I felt that a missing part of me had been returned.

Here, Thich Nhat Hanh revisits a text that he has made earlier commentaries on. In this book he provides an extremely insightful and inspiring re-interpretation of the sutra in question completed just before he suffered a serious stroke in November 2014. As a reading experience is completely new and fresh and deserves careful study in its own right.

In one sense when you have read one Thich Nhat Hanh book you have read them all. Nevertheless, this slim volume brings some wonderful insights into the Heart Sutra. It is not the only translation/ commentary I would want to have of this text, but it is one I wouldn't want to be without.

This is a lovely book. It clearly, and simply explains the Heart Sutra. I highly recommend this book.