Overview

The Heart Sutra is the most widely read, chanted, and copied text in East Asian Buddhism. Here Frederik L. Schodt explores his lifelong fascination with the sutra: its mesmerizing mantra, its ancient history, the ""emptiness theory, and the way it is used around the world as a metaphysical tool to overcome chaos and confusion and reach a new understanding of reality--a perfection of wisdom. Schodt's journey takes him to caves in China, American beats declaiming poetry, speculations into the sutra's true origins, and even a robot Avalokitesvara at a Kyoto temple.

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9781611720624

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Reviews

Unique...an engaging read to anyone with the slightest interest in the subject. -Nikkei Asia Schodt's obsession with the sutra and expertise as a translator shows in his ability to decode academic conversations and practical religious concerns into accessible language. -Publishers Weekly The very personal nature of My Heart Sutra is what gives this book its readability, especially to the uninitiated. -Books on Asia This is not merely a book about the Heart Sutra. It's about the stories that grew up around it, its journey through human civilization like a self-replicating meme, a scrap of wisdom whispering in temples, shopping malls, and movies. -Jonathan Clements, author of A Brief History of China Frederik Schodt has created a magical weaving of two stories of wonder: how the Heart Sutra arose from somewhat fantastic origins to become the most recognizable Buddhist scripture in China and Japan today through new forms of expression, and how the enigmatic teachings of this sutra concerned with negating everything has served as a kind of moving goalpost within the author, challenging, inspiring, and guiding him as his religious consciousness unfolds. -Mark L. Blum, professor of Buddhist Studies and Shinjo Ito distinguished chair in Japanese Studies, University of California, Berkeley; editor of Cultivating Spirituality, Rennyo and the Roots of Modern Japanese Buddhism, translator of The Nirvana Sutra, vol. 1 Frederik L. Schodt skillfully weaves together personal anecdotes, details of Buddhist teaching and history, and many other facts and stories, giving readers a compelling reason to study the Heart Sutra and make the wisdom of Emptiness part of their lives. -Daigaku Rumme, Soto Zen priest at the Confluence Zen Center STL and translator most recently (with Keiko Ohmae) of A Blueprint of Enlightenment by Gien Inoue. Reading My Heart Sutra, I imagined pulling a loose thread at the end of a one-page sutra and unraveling enough yarn to weave together a life, with enough left to make a new robe for the Buddha. -Red Pine, author of The Heart Sutra: The Womb of Buddhas

This is not merely a book about the Heart Sutra. It's about the stories that grew up around it, its journey through human civilization like a self-replicating meme, a scrap of wisdom whispering in temples, shopping malls, and movies. -Jonathan Clements, author of A Brief History of China Frederik Schodt has created a magical weaving of two stories of wonder: how the Heart Sutra arose from somewhat fantastic origins to become the most recognizable Buddhist scripture in China and Japan today through new forms of expression, and how the enigmatic teachings of this sutra concerned with negating everything has served as a kind of moving goalpost within the author, challenging, inspiring, and guiding him as his religious consciousness unfolds. -Mark L. Blum, professor of Buddhist Studies and Shinjo Ito distinguished chair in Japanese Studies, University of California, Berkeley; editor of Cultivating Spirituality, Rennyo and the Roots of Modern Japanese Buddhism, translator of The Nirvana Sutra, vol. 1 Frederik L. Schodt skillfully weaves together personal anecdotes, details of Buddhist teaching and history, and many other facts and stories, giving readers a compelling reason to study the Heart Sutra and make the wisdom of Emptiness part of their lives. -Daigaku Rumme, Soto Zen priest at the Confluence Zen Center STL and translator most recently (with Keiko Ohmae) of A Blueprint of Enlightenment by Gien Inoue. Reading My Heart Sutra, I imagined pulling a loose thread at the end of a one-page sutra and unraveling enough yarn to weave together a life, with enough left to make a new robe for the Buddha. -Red Pine, author of The Heart Sutra: The Womb of Buddhas

Selected praise for books by Frederik L. Schodt Professor Risley and the Imperial Japanese Troupe Professor Risley and the Imperial Japanese Troupe is the best book I have read on Japanese history. Period. In fact... this is perhaps the best book I have ever read about Japan. - Andrew Joseph, Japan-It's a Wonderful Rife blogsite. Native American in the Land of the Shogun What a gem! Readable and meticulously researched, this book presents a colorful character in his complex cultural context. After 150 years MacDonald finally has his story told fully and accurately. --Stephen Kohl, Associate Professor of Japanese Literature, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, University of Oregon Dreamland Japan No one knows more about this world and conveys it with greater warmth and unpretentious insight than Frederik L. Schodt. --Roland Kelts, author of Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the US America and the Four Japans Frederik Schodt's work is well known to anyone interested in Japanese popular culture. In this book, as in his legendary Manga! Manga!, he shows his deep command of the nuance of Japanese life. America and the Four Japans offers fresh, subtle, and often funny insights on the interaction between Japan and America, and provides valuable ideas about how and where the United States might apply lessons from Japan --James Fallows Manga Manga! It's an excellent history of manga. It catalogues manga's most important genres, creators, and characters. Fred Schodt really, really knows his stuff. --Professor Susan J. Napier on The Best Books on Manga and Anime, at Five Books, 2018.

Author Information

Frederik L. Schodt, one of the first American original comic books; graphic novelist Will Eisner called the book ""a treasure [that] belongs in every library."" In 2009, Schodt was awarded the prestigious Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, by the Japanese emperor for his contribution ""to the introduction and promotion of Japanese contemporary popular culture in the United States of America. He is also a recipient of the Japan Foundation Award for 2017. Schodt has lectured at venues worldwide, including San Francisco's Asian Art Museum, the Smithsonian Institution's Freer Art Gallery, Temple University Japan, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Tokyo University, Stanford University, and the University of California, Berkeley. He lives in San Francisco.

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