Emoji Heart Sutra

From the Library of Congress International Collections FB page (Saturday 7/17/21):

Click on "See More" for additional information about how the symbols function. I myself do not really understand exactly how they work in this particular text, so I would welcome explanations from any and all readers who think they can explain some aspect of how to read this most unusual writing system.

 

Suggested readings

• "Ornamental Manchu: the lengths to which a forger will go" (4/24/21)
• "Faux Manchu: Ornamental Manchu II" (6/23/21)
• Diana Shuheng Zhang, "The Reins of Language: The Mantra of the Heart Sutra in The Journey to the West," Sino-Platonic Papers, 286 (June, 2019), 1-61 (free pdf)
• Jan Nattier, "The Heart Sūtra: a Chinese apocryphal text?" Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, 15.2 (1992), 153-223. (online)
• Victor H. Mair, "The Heart Sūtra and The Journey to the West", in Wang Gungwu, Rafe de Crespigny, and Igor de Rachewiltz, eds., Sino-Asiatica: Papers dedicated to Professor Liu Ts’un-yan on the occasion of his Eighty-fifth Birthday. Canberra:  Faculty of Asian Studies, The Australian National University, 2002), pp. 120-149.  Detailed study and complete translation of the preface to the Heart Sūtra on Dunhuang manuscript S2464 which shows, inter alia, that it constituted a prototype for Journey to the West, the earliest kernel of the great Ming Dynasty novel.  Also featured in this paper are Liang Wudi, Xuanzang, Avalokiteśvara, and Amoghavajra.  In addition, the paper accounts for the narrative elaboration and fictionalization of Xuanzang's pilgrimage to India and demonstrates clearly how the Heart Sūtra ultimately lies at the core of the novel.
• "Heart Sutra" (Wikipedia)

 

[Thanks to Nathan Hopson]