The Heart Sutra is familiar to Buddhists everywhere. What makes this volume special are the standless verses composed by the late Venerable Master Hsuan Hua to annotate each section of the sutra. The verses take their name from the line of the verse of the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng that say, "The bright mirror has no stand." These standless verses, filled with the flavor of Chan meditation, delve into the deeper meanings of the sutra. The commentary of the Master, which covers both the sutra text proper and the standless verses, is rich in classic definitions of terms and concepts and sprinkled with stories and illustrations that both appeal to the people and the world of today and tomorrow.

The Venerable Master Hsuan Hua (Xuanhua, 1918-95) was one of the most eminent Chinese Buddhist masters of the twentieth century. Born in Manchuria, he resolved to become a monk at the age of eleven, and at the age of nineteen, while meditating at his mother's grave, he had a vision of the Sixth Chan Buddhist Patriarch Huineng (638-713 C.E.), who gave him the mission of bringing Buddhism to the Western world. Master Hua came to San Francisco in 1962. He taught there for more than thirty years, emphasizing the primacy of the monastic tradition, the essential role of moral education, the need for Buddhists to ground themselves in traditional spiritual practice and authentic scripture, and the importance of respect and understanding among religions.

Contents: The Heart of Prajna Parmamita Sutra: Verses Without A Stand And Prose Commentary by Venerable Master Hsuan Hua
Introduction One	vii
Introduction Two	xviii
Introduction Three	xxii
Eight Guidelines of BTTS	xxv
Part I. The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra	1
Part II. A General Explanation of the Title	3
The Five Categories of Recondite Meaning	6
The Five Periods of the Buddha's Teaching	14
The Meaning of "Sutra"	16
The Translator	20
Part III. Explanation of the Meaning of the Text	23
Prajna and Emptiness	29
The Conditioned Body	35
The Kinds of Suffering	40
Shariputra	47
Form Does Not Differ From Emptiness	51
Feeling, Cognition, Formation & Consciousness	62
The Emptiness of the Eighteen Fields	78
The Twelve Conditioned Causes	84
Emptying the Four Truths	91
No Understanding and No Attaining	119
The Meaning of Bodhisattva	125
Nirvana	138
The Mantra	144
Part IV. Index	159