The Heart Sutra - Wisdom of the Buddha

This class provides a brief introduction to The Heart Sutra and explains why the teaching of Emptiness is so highly regarded in Buddhist practice. By understanding the context surrounding the Sutra, one is better able to relate its teachings to everyday life.

In the first section of the Heart Sutra, Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara explains how one is able to overcome all suffering by realizing the emptiness of the five skandhas. I give a detailed explanation of emptiness as well as the five skandhas and how we perceive our sense of self through it.

In the second section of the Heart Sutra, Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara introduces all the fundamental Buddhist practices such as the Five Skandhas (Sense of Self), Eighteen consciousnesses (18 Realms of Experience), 12 Links of Dependent Origination (How one comes to be), Four Noble Truths (Truth about Suffering), Eightfold Noble Path (Living as Practice).

Despite requiring to practice these teachings to perfection, Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara reminds us to maintain emptiness of them in mind so as not to attach to the teachings.

In the final section of the Heart Sutra, Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara describes the Buddha state as well as introduces the mantra of the Heart Sutra. We consolidate our understanding of emptiness and how to apply it in our everyday lives.

In this section, I summarize the meaning of the Heart Sutra and reaffirm the teaching of Emptiness.

In the final lecture, please apply what you've learned from the course into the Three Acts of Goodness Framework.

Think deeply and write at least 5 daily actionable practices you can incorporate into your daily life related to the three areas: Good Deeds, Good Speech, Good Thoughts.

This is the most important part of the course as everything you've learned is now tested by seeing how much of it is useful to you and how well you can bring the Teachings of Emptiness into life.