We should finish our review of Part One of Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra (DCB21) at our next zoom session on February 3, 2024 and start our class on Part Two the following week. If you are enrolled in C41(A)-Three Principal Stages & Paths of Buddhist Practice, you can use that zoom link to access the Saturday morning group discussions on the text of that sutra–DCB22, DCB23, DCB24, and DCB25. However, you will need to enroll in each of these classes to have access to the questions we will be discussing and the recordings of these discussions. CLICK for link to course and to register for the Zoom sessions. Classes are scheduled for every Saturday morning from 9-11 am Pacific Time except for the month of May.
I concluded that there is only one way we can study the “Wisdom Path of the Right View of Emptiness”–the other part of the Great or Mahayana Stage of the Lam Rim and that is to continue our discussions of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III’s sutra on Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra. Those of you who would like to join us for this part of C41(A) will find that we will start where we left off with Part Two and study the Buddha Master’s wonderful teachings that use the text of the Heart Sutra in classes DCB22, 23, 24, & 25. If you want to do this you should enroll first in DCB21 and listen to the discussions on the “Introductions” and “Title” with special attention to Part One where the foundation for this is laid out with a very detailed discussion of each word in the title. You really need to hear and understand the basic instructions on “prajna”, “parami,” and “ta” as well as the last part of Lesson 7 that provides insight into the different views of emptiness to be able to go deeper into the Heart Sutra itself. Again, I am just telling you this now so you can be ready. I hope that many of you join our discussion as it may be a long time before you will be able to read this incredible work in English. CLICK for a summary of Lesson 7 of DCB21 and an index to the other classes and ZOOM discussions of the entire course that started in November 2022 and finished April 2023. CLICK for a general introduction to this course and background on the Buddha Master’s text. You do need to be enrolled in this course to have access to the ZOOM videos and questions asked.
You can also hear an abridged version of DCB21 at Hua Zang Si on January 27 and 28, 2024 in San Francisco. I will also read the “parami” and “ta” and other parts related to the first five of the six paramitas as part of Lesson Five of C41(A) and “prajna” as part of Lesson Six during our ongoing ZOOM class discussions. CLICK to enroll in C41(A) and for more information on these classes. Anyone enrolled in C41(A) will be able to join the Saturday ZOOM discussions on the Heart Sutra, but you will need to be enrolled in DCB21-26 to have access to all the recordings and questions pertaining to Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra. I have started posting the questions for those classes that will start after the Hua Zang Si readings. You may also come to the Holy Vajrasana Temple and read the most recent translation of the text on kindles. Please call in advance to make sure the temple is available.
Earlier version of this announcement posted December 20, 2023.
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