Via The Tricycle Community \\ Three Teachings on the “Heart Sutra”

 

Browse our online courses » August 28, 2025 Emptiness and Compassion    Recited in temples around the world and chanted by millions of practitioners each day, the Heart Sutra is arguably the most important scripture in Mahayana Buddhism.  The Heart Sutra is said to contain the essence of the Buddha’s teachings and reveal the fundamental nature of reality. It’s a profound expression of the Buddhist doctrine of emptiness, shunyata—and the compassion that goes hand-in-hand with the realization of emptiness.  For many practitioners, this doctrine can be perplexing and difficult to grasp. What does it really mean to accept our bodies, sensory experiences, and all of reality as empty? How would this awareness change the way we live?  As the Buddha taught it, the principle of emptiness is anything but nihilistic. Instead, it is the very foundation of compassion and liberation. If we can recognize that all things are fundamentally boundless and devoid of a separate, fixed existence, we find the keys to free ourselves from all causes of suffering. This realization of emptiness is thus described as the “perfection of wisdom,” or as Thich Nhat Hanh translated it, “the insight that takes us to the other shore.”  Discover the profound wisdom of the Heart Sutra in this week’s Three Teachings, which provide three unique lenses on the text’s core teachings and enduring importance.  Forward today's teachings to a friend » The Heart Sutra: The Foundation of Understanding With Rev. Dosung Yoo The essence of the Heart Sutra is shunyata, emptiness. In this Dharma Talk series, Won Buddhist minister Rev. Dosung Yoo explores the doctrine of emptiness as the foundation of liberation and the ultimate antidote to suffering.   Watch now » Losing Ourselves in the Heart Sutra By Jayarava Attwood What does it mean when the Heart Sutra says that there is “no form”? New scholarship suggests that the text may be describing the results of a meditation practice known as the yoga of non-apprehension, which enables an experience of the absence of sense perceptions.  Read more » What’s in a Mantra? By Donald S. Lopez Jr.  The Heart Sutra culminates in the prajnaparamita mantra: gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha. Celebrated Buddhism scholar Donald Lopez takes a close look at the mantra of the perfection of wisdom—“the mantra that completely pacifies all suffering”—and its role in the sutra.  Read more » Follow Us