I practice Zen regularly in the International Zen Temple. This Zen Temple has recently released a very beautiful book edition of the Diamond Sutra, which I like to bestow upon you.

The Diamond Sutra is the record of an instructive dialogue between the historical Buddha and Subbhuti, one of his most imortant disciples, in front of the more than one thousand monks who were attending. In this conversation, the Buddha deals with the ultimate question of existene affecting all human beings, no matter what religious affiliation, personal philosophy or way of life they might have.

The contents of this profound sutra can hardly be fully fathomed or comprehended. This, of course, os also true for myself, although I now understand this text maybe a little bit better than I did earlier, at the beginning after having studied it for quite a long time with much joy and much benefit.

In Asia, this opus has been extraordinarily well-known and widespread throughout many centuries. A Chinese copy of the Sutra from 868 AD, the so-called Tun Huang Print, is one of the most ancient printed books that presently exist in the world. In Mahayana Buddhism, which is prevalent expecially in China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, this Sutra is one of the very Hiliest Scriptures existing. It is believed that there is a mysterious protective power emeneting from it towards those people who study and venerate it.

In the West, in contrast, the Sutra is rather less well known. Therefore, around ten years ago, the Abbot of the International Zen Temple, the Korean monk and Ven. Zen Master Young San Seong Do, prepared an English translation in order to make it more easily accessible for us Europeans. His profound experience in meditation and the thirty years he had spent studying teh Diamond Sutra flew into the translation. Sice then over the ten following years, the Ven. Zen Master has continuously worked on perfecting the translation.

The Zen Master has recently allowed this work to be released as a printed book. This really wonderfully designed edition contains the Zen Master's English translation, a German translation which was elaborated under his guidance and explanatory notes in English and German. It also contains as a facsimile, the Chinese text by Kumarajiva, dating from around 400 AD, which served as the source text for the Mahayana tradition. Hence, the German translation is the first one based an the Kumarajiva text.

This edition of the Diamond Sutra is not to be sold commercially. Its preparation and printing were funded solely through donations from the members of the International Zen Temple. If you are interested, please inform us and with great plesure we will send you a copy of the book.