0
    • Elementary Secondary Higher Ed Common Reads
    0 0
    Download high-resolution image

    The Heart Attack Sutra

    A New Commentary on the Heart Sutra

    Author Karl Brunnholzl
    Ebook
    Shambhala | Snow Lion
    On sale Dec 13, 2016 | 176 Pages | 9780834840386
    Add to cart Add to list Exam Copies

    See Additional Formats
    A guide to the famous Heart Sūtra that reveals the tenderness and compassion underlying the striking rhetoric of this popular Buddhist text

    The radical message of the Heart Sūtra, one of Buddhism’s most famous texts, is a sweeping attack on everything we hold most dear: our troubles, the world as we know it, even the teachings of the Buddha himself. Several of the Buddha’s followers are said to have suffered heart attacks and died when they first heard its assertion of the basic groundlessness of our existence—hence the title of this book.

    Overcoming fear, the Buddha teaches, is not to be accomplished by shutting down or building walls around oneself, but instead by opening up to understand the illusory nature of everything we fear—including ourselves. In this book of teachings, Karl Brunnhölzl guides practitioners through this ‘crazy’ sutra to the wisdom and compassion that lie at its core.
    Karl Brunnhölzl, MD, was trained as a physician and also studied Tibetology. He received his systematic training in Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy and practice at the Marpa Institute for Translators, founded by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. Since 1989 he has been a translator and interpreter from Tibetan and English. He is presently involved with the Nitartha Institute as a teacher and translator.
    Karl Brunnholzl View titles by Karl Brunnholzl
    "With lively humor and deep scholarly knowledge, Mitra Karl Brunnhölzl brilliantly unpacks the profundity of the Heart S ? tra here for modern readers. In practical and accessible ways, he invites us to join the great practitioners of India and Tibet in contemplating the Heart S?tra's wisdom. We are fortunate to have teachers of Karl's acumen among the growing body of inspiring Western Buddhist teachers."—Dzogchen Ponlop author of Rebel Buddha and Mind Beyond Death

    "When the Buddha revealed the Prajñaparamita sutras, teaches Karl Brunnhölzl, the arhats in attendance were so shocked by what they were hearing that they died on the spot. The Heart Attack Sutra seeks to preserve this same spiritual shock for Western minds (but perhaps without the grim consequences that Buddha’s earlier students had to face!) by presenting and commenting in detail on the Heart Sutra, arguably the most well-known sutra in the Mahayana tradition."—Mandala Magazine

    About

    A guide to the famous Heart Sūtra that reveals the tenderness and compassion underlying the striking rhetoric of this popular Buddhist text

    The radical message of the Heart Sūtra, one of Buddhism’s most famous texts, is a sweeping attack on everything we hold most dear: our troubles, the world as we know it, even the teachings of the Buddha himself. Several of the Buddha’s followers are said to have suffered heart attacks and died when they first heard its assertion of the basic groundlessness of our existence—hence the title of this book.

    Overcoming fear, the Buddha teaches, is not to be accomplished by shutting down or building walls around oneself, but instead by opening up to understand the illusory nature of everything we fear—including ourselves. In this book of teachings, Karl Brunnhölzl guides practitioners through this ‘crazy’ sutra to the wisdom and compassion that lie at its core.

    Author

    Karl Brunnhölzl, MD, was trained as a physician and also studied Tibetology. He received his systematic training in Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy and practice at the Marpa Institute for Translators, founded by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. Since 1989 he has been a translator and interpreter from Tibetan and English. He is presently involved with the Nitartha Institute as a teacher and translator.
    Karl Brunnholzl View titles by Karl Brunnholzl

    Praise

    "With lively humor and deep scholarly knowledge, Mitra Karl Brunnhölzl brilliantly unpacks the profundity of the Heart S ? tra here for modern readers. In practical and accessible ways, he invites us to join the great practitioners of India and Tibet in contemplating the Heart S?tra's wisdom. We are fortunate to have teachers of Karl's acumen among the growing body of inspiring Western Buddhist teachers."—Dzogchen Ponlop author of Rebel Buddha and Mind Beyond Death

    "When the Buddha revealed the Prajñaparamita sutras, teaches Karl Brunnhölzl, the arhats in attendance were so shocked by what they were hearing that they died on the spot. The Heart Attack Sutra seeks to preserve this same spiritual shock for Western minds (but perhaps without the grim consequences that Buddha’s earlier students had to face!) by presenting and commenting in detail on the Heart Sutra, arguably the most well-known sutra in the Mahayana tradition."—Mandala Magazine

    Additional formats

    Other Books by this Author

    • Mining for Wisdom within Delusion
      Mining for Wisdom within Delusion
      Maitreya's "Distinction between Phenomena and the Nature of Phenomena" and Its Indian and Tibetan Commentaries
      Karl Brunnholzl
      9781559393959
      $39.95 US
      Hardcover
      Snow Lion
      Jan 08, 2013
    • Groundless Paths
      Groundless Paths
      The Prajnaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Nyingma Tradition
      Karl Brunnholzl
      9781559393751
      $54.95 US
      Hardcover
      Snow Lion
      Aug 14, 2012
    • Gone Beyond (Volume 2)
      Gone Beyond (Volume 2)
      The Prajnaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyu Tradition
      9781559393577
      $44.95 US
      Hardcover
      Snow Lion
      May 16, 2012
    • The Center of the Sunlit Sky
      The Center of the Sunlit Sky
      Madhyamaka in the Kagyu Tradition
      Karl Brunnholzl
      9781559392181
      $78.00 US
      Hardcover
      Snow Lion
      Nov 02, 2004
    • Mining for Wisdom within Delusion
      Mining for Wisdom within Delusion
      Maitreya's "Distinction between Phenomena and the Nature of Phenomena" and Its Indian and Tibetan Commentaries
      Karl Brunnholzl
      9781559393959
      $39.95 US
      Hardcover
      Snow Lion
      Jan 08, 2013
    • Groundless Paths
      Groundless Paths
      The Prajnaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Nyingma Tradition
      Karl Brunnholzl
      9781559393751
      $54.95 US
      Hardcover
      Snow Lion
      Aug 14, 2012
    • Gone Beyond (Volume 2)
      Gone Beyond (Volume 2)
      The Prajnaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyu Tradition
      9781559393577
      $44.95 US
      Hardcover
      Snow Lion
      May 16, 2012
    • The Center of the Sunlit Sky
      The Center of the Sunlit Sky
      Madhyamaka in the Kagyu Tradition
      Karl Brunnholzl
      9781559392181
      $78.00 US
      Hardcover
      Snow Lion
      Nov 02, 2004

    Related Articles

    Books for Women's History Month Book Covers: We the Women 9780593727027 NIGHT FLYER 9780593491188 Undaunted 9780525659143 DEAR MISS PERKINS 9780806543178
    General

    Books for Women’s History Month

    In honor of Women’s History Month in March, we are sharing books by women who have shaped history and have fought for their communities. Our list includes books about women who fought for racial justice, abortion rights, equality in the workplace, and ranges in topics from women in politics and prominent women in history to

    Read more

    Books for Women’s History Month

    General
    Subscribe

    Penguin Random House Higher Education

    © 2026 Penguin Random House

    Back to Top
    0
    Wish List (0)