DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Debating origins of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism

**Paul Bunyan** · 08-29-2010, 12:23 AM

I don't think the Heart Sutra describes

From Wikipedia:

Conze estimates the sutra's date of origin to be 350 CE; some others consider it to be two centuries older than that.[8] Recent scholarship is unable to verify any date earlier than the 7th century CE.[9]

The Chinese version is frequently chanted (in the local pronunciation) by the Chan (Zen/Seon/Thiền) sects during ceremonies in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam respectively. It is also significant to the Shingon Buddhist school in Japan, whose founder Kūkai wrote a commentary on it, and to the various Tibetan Buddhist schools, where it is studied extensively.

The sūtra is in a small class of sūtras not attributed to the Buddha.

Why would one who calls himself "Buddhist" bother with a clearly inauthentic text, known to be not from the Buddha, when there are so many out there that are known to be authentic?

08-29-2010, 12:23 AM	#22
Paul Bunyan Join Date Jul 2007 Age 58 Posts 4,495 Senior Member	I don't think the Heart Sutra describes From Wikipedia: Conze estimates the sutra's date of origin to be 350 CE; some others consider it to be two centuries older than that.[8] Recent scholarship is unable to verify any date earlier than the 7th century CE.[9] The Chinese version is frequently chanted (in the local pronunciation) by the Chan (Zen/Seon/Thiền) sects during ceremonies in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam respectively. It is also significant to the Shingon Buddhist school in Japan, whose founder Kūkai wrote a commentary on it, and to the various Tibetan Buddhist schools, where it is studied extensively. The sūtra is in a small class of sūtras not attributed to the Buddha. Why would one who calls himself "Buddhist" bother with a clearly inauthentic text, known to be not from the Buddha, when there are so many out there that are known to be authentic?
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