Forthcoming . . . The publication of an entirely new scholarly translation of
The Śūraṅgama Sutra
A Major Mahayana Buddhist Scripture WITH EXCERPTS FROM THE COMMENTARY OF THE VEN. MASTER HSÜAN HUA, AN EXTENSIVE INTRODUCTION AND OVER 600 FOOTNOTES
Available Spring 2009 from the Buddhist Text Translation Society and the Institute for World Religions From the Introduction: For over a thousand years, the Śūraṅgama Sutra has been held in great esteem in the Buddhist countries of East Asia. In China the Sutra has generally been considered as important, and has been as popular, as the Lotus Sutra, the Avatamsaka Sutra, the Heart Sutra, and the Diamond Sutra. The Śūraṅgama Sutra’s appeal lies in the broad scope of its teachings and in the depth and clarity of its prescriptions for contemplative practice. Its wealth of theoretical and practical instruction in the spiritual life have often made it the first major text to be studied by newly ordained monks, particularly in the Chan school. To this day the Śūraṅgama continues to be the object of devout study, commentarial exegesis, recitation and memorization. Despite its importance in the history of Buddhism and its intrinsic value as a masterpiece of religious writing, the Śūraṅgama Sutra continues to be little known in the West. No Indic original for the text survives. It is preserved only in its eighth-century translation into Chinese, and this text is of unusual difficulty. The Chinese translation is often very tersely expressed, with frequent resort to rhetorical ambiguities, unexplained allusions, rare characters and transliterated Sanskrit terms, such that even devout and erudite Chinese readers are sometimes puzzled as to the meaning of the text. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that despite the Śūraṅgama’s central importance to the Mahayana tradition, relatively few attempts have been made to produce even a partial English translation. For this new English rendering, the translators’ first priority has been to ensure that the difficulties of the text are reduced as far as possible for the Western reader. Slipcase edition: $35 (with 50% student discounts available) ISSUE
8, OCTOBER 2008
133