You may have noticed that not all the courses offered at Learning From Buddha College and Seminary (LFBCS) are the same size or are of equal complexity. The magnificent Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra is certainly no exception. This work is so dense and contains so many concepts and principles that must be understood that I have found it very difficult to develop courses that can even begin to penetrate the meaning of this awesome sutra. Adding to this is the difficulty you have in being able to study it in English, I believe this requires us to take a different approach. I will continue to develop “homework” or assignments, but believe they can only be considered as study guides. I am not qualified to do more, but I find the “mining” or seeking the jewels of truth by asking questions to be very useful and will share what I do with the Buddhist Studies and Xiuxing Seminary students. I suggest you might want to do something similar on your own. We will decide on how to follow the other requirements of the Seven Dharma System when enough students have an opportunity to study the text.
The following is the tentative outline of what is included in each of the six courses, each one covering around 100 of the almost 600 pages of the text: DCB21 covers the introductions and PART ONE whereby the Dharma is imparted through the title of the Sutra. DCB22-DCB25 cover PART TWO or the actual text of the Sutra, and DCB26 is a discourse given at the end on how to realize prajna and a concluding dharma. There are also several testimonials by students on what they learned from listening to this Sutra.
DCB21-FORWARDS, INTRODUCTIONS, & PART ONE: EXPOUNDING DHARMA THROUGH THE TITLE OF THE HEART SUTRA
Publisher’s Foreword, Foreword by Five Persons of Holy Virtue, & Editor’s Note; Note from the True Dharma Translation Group.
1-EXPOUNDING THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH THROUGH THE HEART SUTRA: HHDCBIII IMPARTS DHARMA-Introduction.
PRAJNA-PARAMITA HEART SUTRA. Translation of Dharma Master Xuanzang’s translation from the original Sanskrit.
PART ONE: EXPOUNDING DHARMA THROUGH THE TITLE OF THE SUTRA
Expounding Dharma through the Title of the Sutra: PRAJNA (Three Types of Prajna), PARAMI, TA, HEART, SUTRA, and History of Dharma Master Xuanzang with commentary by H H Dorje Chang Buddha III on three ancient schools of Buddhism.
DCB22-EXPOUNDING THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH THROUGH THE TEXT OF THE SUTRA-I
PART TWO: EXPOUNDING THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH THROUGH THE TEXT OF THE SUTRA
AVALOKITESHVARA BODHISATTVA, WHEN PRACTICING DEEPLY PRAJNA PARAMITA (Two Levels of Wisdom Based Insights), ILLUMINATED THE FIVE AGGREGATES, SAW THAT THEY ARE ALL EMPTY (Consciousness, Dual-use/Two-body Dharma (Yam-Yum), Four Great Elements, Time) AND CROSSED BEYOND ALL SUFFERING AND ADVERSITY.
DCB23-EXPOUNDING THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH THROUGH THE TEXT OF THE SUTRA-II
SARIPUTRA, FORM DOES NOT DIFFER FROM EMPTINESS; EMPTINESS DOES NOT DIFFER FROM FORM. FORM IS EMPTINESS; EMPTINESS IS FORM (Second-Phase Principles). THE SAME IS TRUE OF FEELING, CONCEPTUALIZATION, ACTION, AND CONSCIOUSNESS. SARIPUTRA, EMPTINESS IS THE CHARACTERISTIC OF ALL DHARMAS. THEY DO NOT ARISE OR PERISH, ARE NOT DEFILED OR PURE, DO NOT INCREASE OR DECREASE. THE SAME IS TRUE OF FEELING, CONCEPTUALIZATION, ACTION, AND CONSCIOUSNESS. THEREFORE, IN EMPTINESS THERE IS NO FORM, NO FEELING, CONCEPTUALIZATION, ACTION, OR CONSCIOUSNESS; NO EYES, EARS, NOSE, TONGUE, BODY, OR MIND; NO FORMS, SOUNDS, SMELLS, TASTES, TOUCHES, OR OBJECTS OF MIND; NO AVIDYA AND ALSO NO ENDING OF AVIDYA, UP TO AND INCLUDING NO AGING AND DEATH AND ALSO NO ENDING OF AGING AND DEATH (Twelve Links of Conditioned origination: Avidya, Action, Consciousness, Name & Form, Six Entrances, Contact, Feeling, Craving, Grasping, Existence, Birth, Aging & Death) . . .
DCB24: EXPOUNDING THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH THROUGH THE TEXT OF THE SUTRA-III
. . . NO SUFFERING, NO ACCUMULATION, NO CESSATION, AND NO PATH (The Four Noble Truths) . . . ; NO WISDOM, ALSO NO ATTAINMENT. WITH NOTHING TO ATTAIN, THEREFORE (Prajna is Unequaled Dharma, Qigong, the Five Vidyas, Repentance) . . . ,
DCB25-EXPOUNDING THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH THROUGH THE TEXT OF THE SUTRA-IV
. . . BODHISATTVAS RELY ON PRAJNA PARAMITA, AND THUS THEIR MINDS HAVE NO HINDRANCE. BECAUSE THERE IS NO HINDRANCE, THEY HAVE NO FEAR. HAVING FOREVER LEFT INVERTED DREAM-THINKING, THEY DWELL IN ULTIMATE NIRVANA (Different Levels of Nirvana). ALL BUDDHAS OF THE THREE TIMES RELY ON PRAJNA PARAMITA AND THEREBY ATTAIN ANUTTARA-SAMYAK-SAMBODHI (The Perfection of a Buddha). THEREFORE, KNOW THAT PRAJNA PARAMITA IS THE GREAT SUPERNORMAL MANTRA, THE SUPREME MANTRA, THE UNEQUALED MANTRA, WHICH CAN REMOVE ALL SUFFERING AND IS TRUE, NOT FALSE. SO, RECITE THE PRAJNA PARAMITA MANTRA, RECITE THE MANTRA THAT SAYS: GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA.
DCB26-How to Realize Prajna
H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III Imparts Buddha Dharma: Preliminary Practice Dharma, The Three Categories of Pure Precepts, Dharma to Pass Thru Barriers; Concluding Dharma.
Disciples report what they learned from listening to this Sutra.
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