The upcoming retreat to continue studying the preliminary translation of Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra will start on Friday evening at 7:00 pm with my reading an introduction to the Sutra by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III. The rest of the retreat will focus on seven lines from the sutra that explain core concepts or principles of the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha and provide the Buddha Master’s dharma on prajna.
The comments provided below are to help you understand what will be covered in each of the classes that will be held on the Buddha Master’s text. These comments are provided only for reference and should not be considered an adequate or accurate summary of the preliminary translation of concepts and principles provided by the Buddha. You must read or listen to this magnificent text to understand for yourself. The book is based on transcripts of audio recordings given in China from February 4-18, 1992.
Friday, October 11 |
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| Introduction | |||
| 7:00 pm | H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III provides His view and approach to impart dharma using the historical framework for the sutra and chanting the translation of the Heart Sutra used in this book. | ||
Saturday, October12 |
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| “No Ignorance and Also No Ending of Ignorance, Up to and Including No Old Age and Death and Also No Ending of Old Age and Death;” | |||
| 9:00 amPart I | This line from the Heart Sutra summarizing the teachings on “The Twelve Links of Conditioned Origination” can be marvelously applied to realize emptiness on the level of one in the Pratyeka-buddha holy dharma realm or any of the six ordinary dharma realms of humans, hell beings, hungry ghosts, asuras, celestials, and even animals. This class will also look at what happens in the other three holy dharma realms of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Arhats. The first three of the Twelve Links are discussed: ignorance, volitional action, and consciousness. | ||
| 2:00 pmPart II
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Discussion of the “Twelve Links” continues with name and form, the six sense bases, contact, feeling, and craving. Craving is the condition for grasping or clinging. It is the foremost of all karmas. This class also discusses the seven emotions and six desires that keep us in Samsara. | ||
| 7:00 pm Part III
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The remaining “Twelve Links” are discussed: grasping, existence, birth, and old age and death. The twelve links of conditioned origination (or dependent arising) mainly explain how living beings undergo change during the three times of past, present, and future as they transmigrate in the six paths. This class also includes the two ways you can contemplate conditioned origination, correct cultivation, black and white karma, and holy dharma protectors. | ||
Sunday, October 13 |
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| “…No Suffering, No Accumulation, No Cessation, and No Path;” | |||
| 10:00 amPart I
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This line from the Heart Sutra summarizes the teachings on the “Four Noble Truths,” in which the two truths of suffering and accumulation correspond to the gateway to transmigration as laid out in the twelve links of conditioned origination and the two truths of cessation and path correspond to the gateway back (or reverse order) to extinguishment. This section also includes a classic Chan/Zen story of the thumbless little sramanera and comparison of the different schools of Buddhism. | ||
| 7:00 pmPart II | Continues the discussion of the “Four Truths” and the “37 Factors of Enlightenment.” Also discusses “Clay Bodhisattvas” and how to become a Buddha in this lifetime. This is all from the Mahayana perspective. | ||
Monday, October 14 |
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| “…No Wisdom, Also No Attainment. With Nothing to Be Attained, Therefore…” | |||
| 9:00 am Part I | Discusses views of various sects and discusses the World of Ultimate Bliss. Reminds us that no person is perfect and although a Buddha is perfect, a Buddha must rely upon the karmic conditions of living beings. Only then can a Buddha begin to save them. Discusses differences between dharma-body Buddhas and incarnate Buddhas. | ||
| 7:00 pm Part II | Prajna is unequaled dharma, but you need to also practice other dharmas even after you understand prajna like “Pure Land” or “Phowa” dharma. You must not slander any dharma method taught by the Buddhas. All living beings will need to learn the Supreme and Unsurpassable Mahamudra of Liberation (SAUMOL) to realize the xianlinang (directly verified) state. Many erroneous views exist about esoteric dharma. Also discusses lack of understanding of orthodox Buddha-dharma by monks and nuns today. Rely on the teachings, not the teacher. True esoteric Buddhism is a higher-level practice that is established on the foundation of exoteric Buddhism. Vajra Masters must be conversant in both exoteric and esoteric Buddhism, be proficient in all five vidyas or, at an even higher level, must have marvelous mastery of the five vidyas. Other aspects of esoteric Buddhism are discussed including opening of the crown, and various specific dharmas. | ||
Tuesday, October 15 |
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| “…No Wisdom, Also No Attainment. With Nothing to Be Attained, Therefore…” | |||
| 9:00 am Part III | All that qigong practitioners can do is solve some minor physical or mental ailments. Their effect is produced from the concentration power of the mind consciousness. Warning about becoming attached to superstitious things or heretically induced phenomena. Merely Buddhist studies and Buddhism are totally ineffective without Buddha-dharma and cultivation. | ||
| 7:00 pm Part IV | A vajra master’s abilities in the five vidyas cannot be lower than the abilities of worldly experts in any of the vidyas to be called proficient in all five vidyas. He or she must also be conversant in both exoteric and esoteric Buddhism, be well versed in the doctrines of the Tripitaka; be awakened to the reality of the absolute truth of prajna; and have mastered the five classic commentaries of esoteric Buddhism and more. The five vidyas include sound, artistry and craftsmanship, healing, causality, and inner realization. We should not differentiate among the various sects of Buddhism. | ||
Wednesday, October 16 |
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| “…No Wisdom, Also No Attainment. With Nothing to Be Attained, Therefore…” | |||
| 9:00 am Part V | You should make yourself into a pure dharma vessel that is truly capable of holding great dharma. No matter which dharma-gate one practices, whoever wants to end the cycle of birth and death must rely on prajna to realize the path to nirvana and diligently cultivate the three disciplines of precept observance, samadhi or concentration, and wisdom. It also depends on your spiritual capacity, predispositions, and temperament. Nothing in the universe is predestined. Rather, all phenomena arise from causes and conditions. You should not think that your spiritual capacity is inferior. You are completely capable of becoming a great Bodhisattva. | ||
| 7:00 pm Part VI | This great bliss of the state of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas is millions of times better than the bliss of the World of Ultimate Bliss. It is greater than sexual bliss. If you experience meditative bliss you should not talk about it or be attached to it. Just forget it. Great utilization and great bliss are the fruits of enlightenment. Tells stories of the miraculous powers of Virmalakirti, Milarepa, Ksitigarbha, Geluk Master Dongben, and others. | ||
Thursday, October 17 |
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| “…The Bodhisattvas Rely on Prajna Paramita, and Thus Their Minds Have No Hindrance. Because There Is No Hindrance, They Have No Fear.” | |||
| 9:00 am Part I | Only by following prajna do the Bodhisattvas realize the concentration of non-arising. On the other hand, ordinary living beings differentiate the myriad conditioned phenomena based on emotion and conceptual thought based on delusive thinking and do not understand that all worldly phenomena are fundamentally empty. Talks about the two branches, six paths, and four methods of reincarnation. Explains difference between Hinayana and Mahayana paths and the Daoist celestials and the state of unimpeded mastery reached by Bodhisattvas. Hindrances arise from the two attachments, attachment to self and attachment to phenomena that are based on the arising of hindrance of the known. | ||
| 7:00 pm Part II | When one has no hindrances, one thus has no fear. Beginners in the Bodhisattva way have five fears: the fear of 1) having no livelihood; 2) a bad reputation; 3) death; 4) descending into one of the evil or lower paths of existence; and 5) speaking to an assembly in which there are those of respect-inspiring virtue. | ||
Friday, October 18 |
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| “Having Forever Left Inverted Dream-thinking, They Dwell in Ultimate Nirvana.” | |||
| 9:00 am Part I | The four kinds of dreaming minds that are produced from the internal consciousness are arising, abiding, changing, and delusion. When your mind is devoid of hindrances and fear, you can break away from that which is false and realize that which is true. Story of a man who tried to find the answer to the issue of life and death after a friend suddenly died on the battlefield. He went to Christian and Daoist teachers, but did not find an answer. A Buddhist master set him in a cave and told him to wait and then he would be told. He waited and awakened. He did not need to be told. The Sixth Patriarch Master said, “When I am deluded, my master saves me. When I awaken, I save myself.” | ||
| 7:00 pm Part II | Ultimate nirvana means becoming a Buddha when one leaves the four kinds of dreaming minds and ends the five entrenchments of affliction: 1) mistaken views; 2) craving in the desire sphere; 3) craving in the form sphere; 4) craving in the formless sphere; and 5) ignorance, which is the root of all afflictions. After entering such a state, a Bodhisattva naturally enters the four virtues of permanence, joy, self, and purity. Class discusses the differences among the various levels of nirvana. | ||
Saturday, Oct 19 |
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| “All Buddhas of the Three Times Rely on Prajna Paramita and thereby Attain Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi.” | |||
| 9:00 am Part I | Prajna is the mother of all Buddhas. Mentions Buddhas of past, present, and future times, with Shakyamuni Buddha being the supreme leader of our saha world. “Annutara” is a Sanskrit term for supreme or unsurpassed. | ||
| 2:00 pm Part II | The principle is that there is no second road that returns to the origin, but there are many skillful methods. Practicing austerities is a kind of cultivation. However, the key is cultivating the causal stage, cultivating one’s conduct, and cultivating one’s mental state. It is not a matter of being poor or rich. | ||
| 7:00 pm Part III | A Buddha is one with truly supreme and correct enlightenment to a perfect degree. A Buddha transforms the eight consciousnesses into the four wisdoms which produce marvelous utilizations and ultimately into the five wisdoms. Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi is supreme, correct, equal-minded, perfect enlightenment. All people who do not understand prajna are non-Buddhists, not to mention those who do not learn Buddha-dharma. Even though they may do good deeds and have some correct understanding, they lack correct enlightenment. Even the truth that Arhats have realized cannot be called the correct, equal-minded, perfect enlightenment. Bodhisattvas also have not realized anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. | ||
Sunday, October 20 |
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| “Therefore, know that Prajna Paramita is the Great Supernormal mantra,…” | |||
| 10:00 am | The supreme and wonderful wisdom of prajna is the summit of absolute truth. It is the absolute truth of the universe and human life. It is the truth that is the eternal law. This is the four sentence mantra of 1) gate gate, 2) paragate, 3) parasamgate, and 4) bodhi svaha. Discusses speech karma (mantras), body karma (mudras), and visualization (mind karma). | ||
CLICK for detailed provisional Table of Contents for entire Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra.
CLICK for article on Labor Day Weekend Classes that covered part of PART ONE of Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra..
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