Heart Attack Sutra: a new commentary on the Heart Sutra

The radical message of the Heart Sutra, 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.

"With lively humor and deep scholarly knowledge, Mitra Karl Brunnhölzl brilliantly unpacks the profundity of the Heart Sutra 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 Sutra'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.

Karl Brunnhölzl works as a translator and interpreter for the Tsadra Foundation, Nalandabodhi, and the Nitartha Institute, where he teaches and where the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche recently bestowed on him the title of khenpo. He is the author and translator of The Center of the Sunlit Sky, Luminous Heart, and Gone Beyond.