Finding the Heart Sutra Guided by a Magician, an Art Collector and Buddhist Sages from Tibet to Japan

An introduction to the essential Buddhist text from the author of Lost Japan

Forty years ago, after learning of the Heart Sutra in Japan, Alex Kerr set out on a quest to seek the wisdom that lies at the heart of this ancient Buddhist scripture. Guided by Zen abbots in Kyoto, Tibetan monks, a French writer, an American art collector, a magician, and the writings of Chinese scholars over the centuries, he came to see how this brief poem on emptiness is a storehouse of a universe of thought.

Traveling from Japan, Korea, and China, to India, Mongolia, Tibet, and Vietnam, this intimate book weaves together memory, history, and calligraphy. Alex reveals us to the many ways the Heart Sutra continues to influence the culture of Japan - and the world - today.
 

Alex Kerr is an American writer and Japanologist whose previous books include Lost Japan, Living in Japan, and Another Kyoto. He was the first foreigner to be awarded the Shincho Gakugei Literature Prize for the best work of non-fiction published in Japan.