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**TOD4wDTQ** · 04-02-2011, 08:37 PM

Thank you. "Essence of the Heart Sutra" by HH Dalai Lama is an excellent source for info here (of course, it is going to be biased towards Mahayana) and it is the book I too am using as a reference. Perhaps what is pertinent to this discussion, or to any discussion of Mahayana texts, is the role that myth plays in communicating something profound.

This brings to mind the series (book & video) "The Power Of Myth" by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers, in which it is suggested that the role of all these flowery elaborations is to convey something that the words alone do not. Maybe this is the principle by which poetry works. The sugary decor of The Heart Sutra is nothing compared to the Lotus Sutra, which just goes on and on and on and makes me think that some of the monks who wrote it down had way too much time on their hands. Yet, within this there is something perceivable that to a very still mind seems quite profound. It could be that in some areas in historical India this sort of elaboration was the style of writing which identified a teaching as highly worthy. I don't know.

None of that is really necessary in order to get to the message of the texts. My thought is that if all those clouds and rays of light and so forth are a distraction, ignore it, because they are always going to be there.

04-02-2011, 08:37 PM	#31
TOD4wDTQ Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 514 Senior Member	Thank you. "Essence of the Heart Sutra" by HH Dalai Lama is an excellent source for info here (of course, it is going to be biased towards Mahayana) and it is the book I too am using as a reference. Perhaps what is pertinent to this discussion, or to any discussion of Mahayana texts, is the role that myth plays in communicating something profound. This brings to mind the series (book & video) "The Power Of Myth" by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers, in which it is suggested that the role of all these flowery elaborations is to convey something that the words alone do not. Maybe this is the principle by which poetry works. The sugary decor of The Heart Sutra is nothing compared to the Lotus Sutra, which just goes on and on and on and makes me think that some of the monks who wrote it down had way too much time on their hands. Yet, within this there is something perceivable that to a very still mind seems quite profound. It could be that in some areas in historical India this sort of elaboration was the style of writing which identified a teaching as highly worthy. I don't know. None of that is really necessary in order to get to the message of the texts. My thought is that if all those clouds and rays of light and so forth are a distraction, ignore it, because they are always going to be there.
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