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Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful Scripture
Review: Finding ones way around Buddhist scriptures can be a bit confusing. After much reading of introductions and notes in other books and many Amazon searches, I figured out that the Prajanaparamita Sutra in 8000 Lines is an older, basic precursor to the Heart Sutra. I bought the translation by Conze and began earnestly reading it. However, because of its density and quirky translation of certain terms, it is more academically inspiring than spiritually inspiring! Then I saw this book and splurged for another "translation." Don't be turned off because it is "only" a modern paraphrase. The transparency of modern language lets the true meaning of emptiness shine through and affect the way you see everything. Truly beautiful. Thank you, Bodhisattva Lex Hixon.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Scripture
Review: Finding ones way around Buddhist scriptures can be a bit confusing. After much reading of introductions and notes in other books and many Amazon searches, I figured out that the Prajanaparamita Sutra in 8000 Lines is an older, basic precursor to the Heart Sutra. I bought the translation by Conze and began earnestly reading it. However, because of its density and quirky translation of certain terms, it is more academically inspiring than spiritually inspiring! Then I saw this book and splurged for another "translation." Don't be turned off because it is "only" a modern paraphrase. The transparency of modern language lets the true meaning of emptiness shine through and affect the way you see everything. Truly beautiful. Thank you, Bodhisattva Lex Hixon.
Rating:
Summary: Requires Work - But Work It
Review: The Prajnaparamita sutra is a central text in Mahayana Buddhism and considered by some to be the foundation text.Lex Hixon has compiled a series of selections based on the 8,000 line version of the Sutra, drawing upon his background as an academic (Ph.D. in Comparative Religions, Columbia) and as a practicing mystic (Shaikh in the Havleti-Jerrahi Sufi order). The root message of the Sutra is non-duality - that is, there is no "me" and "you", no "object" and "observer", no "known" and no "knower". This fundamental unity of all being leads to a universal approach to enlightenment - working for the enlightenment of all beings not just one's own. Understanding this fundamental truth is in effect what enlightenment is about. And thus, the sobriquet, "Mother of the Buddhas" is well deserved. The text and arguments are dense in parts. This is not a quick read, nor a book for those looking for the sixty-second guide to enlightenment. It requires work and probably more than one reading. Is it worth it? Yes.
Rating:
Summary: All Pervading Source of Transcendant Wisdom: Dharma
Review: This exposition of the Prajnaparamita Sutra, by Lex Hixon, is Enlightening. Never have I experperienced the Dharma expounded so well. This book cultivates true understanding of emptiness, impermanence, and the illusory nature of our perception. This book empowers aspiring Bodhisattvas! And awakens the layperson! If one were to only meditate on the Prajnaparamita Sutra they would be sure to attain enlightenment--from this "Perfect Wisdom" of mother pranjaparamita.
Rating: 
Summary: Round and round we go ...
Review: This is in many ways my favorite of all books. I cannot heap enough praise upon it. Lex Hixon has taken forty of the best segments of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra in Eight Thousand Lines and translated them into sublime and ecstatic prose, resulting in forty "meditations" that instruct and uplift. This sutra is the seminal work of the Mahayana branch of Buddhism, and is so revered that it is often depicted sitting on a flower by the left ear of some of the Holy Beings associated with wisdom, such as Manjushri, Prajnaparamita (The Mother of the Buddhas of the title, whose picture adorns the cover), and the Tibetan master Je Tsongkhapa. An old translation of the complete sutra by the late scholar Edward Conze is once again in print, but it is very poorly written, and except for its completeness it pales miserably in comparison to Mother of the Buddhas. While I so wish that Lex Hixon had translated the entire sutra, what he has done is just so exquisite that I cannot complain. Sometimes upon reading it I just want to cry, my heart is so filled to overflowing by the shear beauty of these most holy words.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorites also
Review: This is one of the most poetically beautiful books written on the "Great Matter". The introduction is helpful to those who have not been exposed to the radical nature of these teachings. Don't be put off by the review that indicates that he got a little tired of hearing it over and over again for 210 pages. Some chapters resonate with such vibrancy that I have read them over and over--just for the beauty of revisiting them. However, as with most books of this nature, if it doesn't work for you it doesn't. It doesn't do any good to force it.
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