Summary: Episode Description: In this dharma talk, Sensei Kaz offers a detailed and fascinating exploration of the history of the Heart Sutra. However, before his history lesson he spends a few moments discussing how the sutra expresses the concepts of singularism and pluralism. Are they in opposition? Are the dual or non-dual? He then suggests that life can be seen as a dance with singularism on one foot and pluralism on the other. At first we dance mindfully, carefully trying not to misstep; however, if we continue our practice, we start to dance gracefully, both feet in concert, singularism and pluralism as one. Kaz then discusses the origins of the Heart Sutra indicating that there is a fair amount of debate regarding its source. There are two primary translators which are associated with the earliest versions of the sutra, Kumarajiva from the fifth century CE and Xuanzang from the seventh century CE. Sensei continues on to describe some of the archeological findings related to the Heart Sutra. He then expresses his belief that the original version came from Xuanzang in Chinese and was later translated into Sanskrit. This theory is supported by the findings of Dr. Jan Nattier and presented in her paper "A Chinese Apocryphal Text?" Kazuaki Tanahashi born and trained in Japan and active in the United States since 1977, has had solo exhibitions of his calligraphic paintings internationally. He has taught East Asian calligraphy at eight international conferences of calligraphy and lettering arts. Also a peace and environmental worker for decades, he is a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science.
