Belgium, 27 Jan 2017 - 29 Jan 2017

The Heart Sutra is one of the most famous and powerful of the Buddhist teachings. It describes how to plant the seed for enlightenment for the wellbeing of all sentient beings.

The Heart Sutra is one of the most famous and powerful of the Buddhist teachings. It describes how to plant the seed for enlightenment through the perfection of wisdom. By learning the Heart Sutra we have the chance to develop deep wisdom about the fundamental nature of ourselves and of reality.

The Heart Sutra is literally called “The Heart of the Perfection of Transcendent Wisdom.” It explains how to achieve liberation through meditations by awakening wisdom. The Heart Sutra contains main concepts of Buddhist philosophy. We learn from the Heart Sutra that our conditioned way of thinking—our habits of judging, separating, labeling of aspects and aggregates—prevents us from recognizing the true nature of phenomena as empty. Even our concepts of “birth” and “death” stem from a dualistic and limited perspective.

Once we recognize this through deep meditation it becomes possible to eliminate our suffering and free ourselves from the cycle of samsara. We will become free of concepts and illusions. When we cultivate the perfection of wisdom, we can remain—for the benefit of all sentient beings—for an endless time in the cycle of samsara. Only with these realizations can we move beyond all deluded states of mind and achieve the perfection of wisdom, the state of the complete enlightenment.