Serious students gathered to continue and start their study of the Buddha Master’s sutra based on the Heart Sutra. Others joined the group for the long week end. Although I was able to read much of the text, I had to make an unexpected but very eventful and productive trip to Pasadena and retreat to my computer for the later part of the retreat when I returned. But that may have been for the best, as the remaining students were very dedicated to reading and rereading the rest of the text on our new kindles. That technique seemed to work very well and allowed everyone to proceed at their own pace. I think that some of the students who knew they could not make the December retreat proceeded to the final section that explained the preliminary practices and what you need to do to realize prajna in ordinary life.
We started Friday night with the first lesson (there are around 50–CLICK for revised Table of Contents) where the Buddha Master provides His view and approach to imparting this dharma including the historical framework for the sutra and chanting the translation of the Heart Sutra used in this book. We then had two to three classes each day that explained the meaning and function of both the “Twelve Links of Conditioned Origination” and the “Four Noble Truths.” The rest of the week was spent studying what was meant by the lines “No Wisdom, Also No Attainment. With Nothing to Be Attained, Therefore The 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;” and “All Buddhas of the Three Times Rely on Prajna Paramita and thereby Attain Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi.” The profundity and depth of these sessions cannot be underestimated. The Buddha Master very skillfully and with great clarity led us with simple language and many examples and stories to explain these difficult concepts that make up the core principles of the Buddha’s teachings and to transmitthat dharma to us so that we may become enlightened.
CLICK for BLOG article on future retreats on Imparting the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra.
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