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Li Sen's Drifting Skandhas is a poetic testimony to an ancient practice essential to our life and times. He writes; We are offered a synthesis of academic, philosophic, anti-philosophic (Lacan), artistic, literary and poetic modes. The great Buddhist classic, the Heart Sutra, seeks to transcend the constraints of academicism. The walls between written forms are illusory. It is not argument that transports us through the paradoxically named Gateless Gate, where 'form is emptiness, emptiness is form', but the wings of imagery.
The text, like that of the ancient Chinese sage-poets, is rich with the author's poetry, in which metaphors take us as far as language can go before it touches silence and enters the inexpressible.
- The cock crows, drinking in the remnants of the sun.
- The cock coos, drinking in fleeting time.
- Its crows are chained together like the peaks of mountains,
- as swarms of incipient rainclouds hanging in the sky. (Li Sen)
From the perspective of contemporary philosophy, art and literature, the author tributes the Heart Sutra, one of the most profound sutras in Buddhism. Le Sen has more than thirty years experience in culture and research into Buddhist philosophy.
Li Sen created "drift" language as the theoretical framework and writing style, with philosophy of poetic prose.
Drifting Skandhas: A Philosophical, Artistic and Literary Commentary on the Heart Sutra, Li Sen, Heartspace Publications, Paperback, 300 pages, $25.95
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CONTENTS: Drifting Skandhas
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Testimonial, by Dorian Haarhoff
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v
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Translator's Preface
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1
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Author's Preface
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7
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Chapter 1
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Chanting and Knocking
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5
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Chapter 2
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Call and Response
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25
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Chapter 3
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A Hero Poem
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37
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Chapter 4
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Dialogue and Enlightenment
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49
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Chapter 5
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The Beauty of Vyaavolokayati
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65
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Chapter 6
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The Language of Skandhas
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75
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Chapter 7
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Emptiness is Wind
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85
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Chapter 8
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The Prayer Wheel of Language
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97
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Chapter 9
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All Dharmas are Empty
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107
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Chapter 10
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Thus Have I Said
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121
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Chapter 11
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The Way the Five Skandhas Exist
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133
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Chapter 12
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Rupa-Skandha is the 'Line in the Magic Horn'
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141
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Chapter 13
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The Tidal Force of Spiritual Liberation
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153
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Chapter 14
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The Form-Emptiness Wheel
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163
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Chapter 15
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Harmony within Skandhas of the Subjective Mind
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175
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Chapter 16
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The Drifting and Turning of Skandhas
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193
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Chapter 17
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Skandhas Adrift under Provisional Names
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205
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Chapter 18
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An Unobstructed Mind
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219
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Chapter 19
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The Twelve Links of Dependent Arising,
the Four Noble Truths and 'That Person'
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231
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Chapter 20
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Nirvana and the Mantra Flow
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245
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The Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra in Sanskrit (Transliteration)
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259
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The Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra in Chinese (Xuanzang translation)
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263
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The Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra in English (based on Red Pine Translation)
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265
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Notes on The Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra
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267
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About the Author
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285
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