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I was at a meeting with practitioners of several spiritual traditions where a Muslim asked me what was my text? He assumed there must be something comparable to the Koran<\/em> or the Bible<\/em> in either its traditional Jewish form or its expanded Christian version.<\/p>\n As a Buddhist<\/a> of a rational turn I was at a loss as to what to say. In the moment I replied that while there is a voluminous sacred literature within Buddhism<\/a> and while texts are important to us, we within the Zen traditions have nothing comparable to the Koran<\/em> or Bible<\/em> in either version.<\/p>\n Then with those gigantic caveats\u00a0named two, the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Ancestor<\/a><\/em>, and the Heart Sutra<\/em>.\u00a0There are many others, of course. But, those were the two that were the closest I could come to in that moment for some primary spiritual text thing. At least for me.<\/p>\n And of all the possibilities within that question, it is the Heart Sutra<\/a> that most touches my heart and serves as a textual touchstone for my spiritual life. It is in fact the text that if there were to be only one for me as a Zen Buddhist that fits the bill.\u00a0I believe it isn\u2019t possible to understand the Zen way without some reference to the Prajnaparamita<\/a> cycle, and in particular to the Heart Sutra.<\/em><\/p>\n Its full title is Prajnaparamitahrdaya<\/em>, or The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom<\/em>. It is one of about forty books in the cycle, and together with the Diamond Sutra<\/a><\/em> has had a considerable influence on the Mahayana, and in particular on Zen Buddhism<\/a>. The writing\u00a0of the cycle begins about a hundred years before the common era and concludes as late as the sixth century. The Heart Sutra itself is difficult to date. Edward Conze puts it\u2019s composition at approximately 350 CE, although this is disputed and arguments are made for it being as early as the first century of the common era.<\/p>\n There are two versions, a shorter and a longer one. The consensus view is that the shorter is the older of the two, and is the text mostly commonly referenced. The versions reproduced below are all of that shorter version.<\/p>\n Here are some reflections on that primary text\u2026<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Eleven Talks by Zen Teachers on the Heart Sutra<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Domyo Burk on the Heart Sutra, Part one<\/a>\u00a0and Part two<\/a><\/p>\n James Ford & Josh Bartok on the Heart Sutra<\/a><\/p>\n James Ford on the Heart Sutra<\/a><\/p>\n Joan Halifax on the Heart Sutra<\/a><\/p>\n Enkyo Pat O\u2019Hara Ten Talks on the Heart Sutra<\/a><\/p>\n Seung Sahn on the Heart Sutra<\/a><\/p>\n Sheng Yen on the Heart Sutra<\/a><\/p>\n Jisho Warner on the Heart Sutra<\/a><\/p>\n Glenn Taylor Webb on the Heart Sutra<\/a><\/p>\n Sojun Mel Weitsman on the Heart Sutra<\/a><\/p>\n Michael Mugaku Zimmerman on the Heart Sutra, Part one<\/a> and Part two<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n