You may have noticed, but we have added a schedule of upcoming events to each of the BLOG articles. You may see the whole monthly schedules by clicking any of the events listed to the right of any article and then clicking “View full calendar” to get each month. You can then either select a GRID, which gives you a monthly calendar (if you have enough space to see it) or a LIST. The list gives you every date we have something going on and if you click the date you will get a description of the events. The same thing happpens if you click the individual dates on the calindar or grid version. It is still a little awkward to get to a full calendar, but I am hoping we will be able to simplify the process. With so much happening this month, I wanted you to have a calendar that shows it all. Thanks to Reba for researching the software and getting it set up. In the “grid” or calendar mode, it shows in RED the LFBS course ZOOM sessions and any other classes I may be having at the temple or elsewhere like Hesperia at the Holy Heavenly Lake Xuanfa Dharma Center (HHLXDC). Reba has provided the chanting schedule for the Virtual Holy Vajrasana Temple Mission in BLUE. Other events related to the Buddha Master are in ROYAL PURPLE.
You may note that we now have a virtual 5:00 pm Monday through Friday Evening Service that features chanting the 21 Verses to Tara. You can use the same access codes you use to join the morning chanting. I have also modified the article on “Green Tara as the Yidam” to clarify some issues that have come up and also link in our Evening Service chanting and a link to Gongjue Tuji’s excellent English website which features more about Tara practice, including a beautiful set of all 21 images. His website is also available in German.
We will continue discussing G36-Dharma that Every Buddhist Must Follow on June 13 at 9:00-11:00 am Pacific Time. If you want to join these Saturday discussions of the Dharma, you will need to both be enrolled in G36 and register for the ZOOM session to receive the link for the discussion. Everyone signing up who is enrolled in and attends the class may be given homework questions to discuss. You may also watch the videos of our discussions once you enroll in G36
We continued our 2026 series of Hesperia on June 7, 2026 with a review of what we had covered to date at these classes. We also covered Lessons Nine and Ten continuing to discuss the “Three Kinds of Prajna”. The following is a brief summary of that discussion. The large bold blue quotes are from a preliminary translation of Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III.
What do you rely upon to go from delusion to awakening?
‘To go from delusion to awakening, one should rely upon contemplative-illumination prajna, illuminate the five aggregates and see that they are all empty, get rid of the double attached views, and leave the two types of events—birth and death.”
“Those double attached views are attachment to the self and attachment to dharmas.”
How do you cause your original nature to emerge?
“If you want to cause your original nature to emerge, you must know specific methods. These methods are the 84,000 Dharma methods that the Buddha expounded. The Chan school has its methods. The Pure Land school has its methods. The esoteric school has its methods. The Huayan school has its methods of practicing contemplation. The Consciousness Only—Dharma Characteristics school has specific methods of studying theories to progress and advance. And so on and so forth.”
Even though the different schools and sect have different dharmas or methods to cause your original nature to emerge what do they all have in common?
“However, no method can be divorced from precept observance, dhyana, and wisdom, from faith, vows, and practice, from the myriad practices subsumed in the Six Paramitas, and from other Buddhist cultivation and study. All of these are at least a foundation.”
What will enable you to end the cycle of birth and death and where do you find it?
“In short, as long as it is the true Dharma of the Tathagatas that will enable you to end the cycle of birth and death, it is the same no matter whom you learn it from. In the Buddha Dharma, there is no discriminating mind. Those methods include the practice of contemplation, continual mantra chanting, rituals and mantras to remove karmic hindrances, hand mudras of the three secrets—body, speech, and mind, and so on. . . These are specific methods. Without methods one cannot remove karmic hindrances. Without continual practice, one’s karmic forces and causality cannot be turned around.”
What is the problem that must be solved before moving on?
[It] “is the problem of not being attached to the false combinations of the four great elements, not regarding as real provisionally combined external phenomena, and not thinking that any particular thing is yours. They are not yours!”
What does the word “delusion” mean in this context?
“The word delusion refers to differentiation by your mind consciousness of an ordinary person as well as everything that the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind are attached to. That is what is called delusion. If you regard the delusion as true, you will certainly descend. You should remove delusion and pursue truth but not be attached to the truth. In pursuing the truth, pursuit itself is an attachment. However, after one acquires it, one is not attached to it. Only then is it the real truth.”
What are the eight kinds of suffering?
There are several ways of listing them given, but the translator gives us the following footnote: “The eight kinds of suffering are birth, aging, sickness, death, not getting what one seeks, separation from what one loves, association with what one hates, and the suffering inherent in the five aggregates.”
The Buddha Master also used two mirrors–one clean and one covered with dust–to explain the difference between the original appearance of a Buddha and an ordinary being. He also told the story of how Monk Jigong discovered truth after he was 83 years old. There was also extensive discussion of just where the mind consciousness resides.
CLICK for a list of available classes in each of the programs: Auditing, Buddhist Studies, and Xiuxing Seminary. Those with membership in the Xiuxing Seminary Program who are only interested in their own serious practice may also elect to follow the Xiuxing Practice Program and take a seven or thirty-day Solitary Retreat.
Next
You will need to enroll in G36 to be able to watch the video recordings of the classes, download study materials, or study the related questions and register with ZOOM to receive a link to attend the classes.
The next class in Hesperia will finish our discussion of prajna at our July 12, 2026 meeting at 10:00 am.
LINKS TO DATE: C41-Three Principal Stages & Paths of Buddhist Practice including DCB35, DCB21-26, P10 and other related Learning from Buddha Seminary Classes
The recording of the May 30, 2026 G36 class is now available.
All of the recordings and summary of ZOOM discussions for DCB35, DCB21, DCB22, DCB23, DCB24, DCB25, and DCB26-Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra are also available. You must be enrolled in each of these classes in one of the full membership programs at the LFBS to access the course materials, questions covered (in parenthesis), and/or the class recordings. Please note that these links will only work if you are logged into LFBS with your membership identification number AND are enrolled in this class. CLICK for information on LFBS class P10 or CLICK for Hesperia classes on major concepts or principles contained in the title of Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra. The next Hesperia class will be held on July 12 starting at 10:00 am.
May 30, 2026: G36-Dharma That Every Buddhist Must Follow, Part I-Introduction-Lesson One (Questions 1-3) and (HERE) for recording of class.
CLICK for article on last class held on DCB35-Learning from Buddha, and links to videos of all ZOOM class discussions on this course held from February 14 to May 23, 2026. Also has links to ZOOM class discussions for DCB21-26-Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra, P10-The Great Dharma of Zen Practice and others.
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