"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough," --Albert Einstein "The nature of our mind is "great bliss" and full of awakened qualities, this is like a very "positive" view of emptiness." Two views of emptiness "in a nutshell" Recently I created two new reels (see below) on the two views… Continue reading THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SHINING SUN AND PASSING CLOUDS: The Empty-of-Self vs Empty-of-Other views compared and contrasted in plain English terms (and two new reels)
Tag: heart sutra
“NEVER JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER”: Review of new published commentary “On the Heart Sutra” by the 17th Karmapa produced by an unknown translator and the Hwayue Foundation, Taiwan
"The “secret” in secret mantra entails many layers of meaning. The buddhas and bodhisattvas themselves do not have the intention of keeping something secret, so the difference between exotericism and esotericism depends on the practitioner instead of the teaching itself. The same teaching might be understood by some people but not by others. To those… Continue reading “NEVER JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER”: Review of new published commentary “On the Heart Sutra” by the 17th Karmapa produced by an unknown translator and the Hwayue Foundation, Taiwan
‘AWAKENING WISDOM’ NEW ONLINE COURSE: Read, study and understand the Heart Sutra in Tibetan (September 2023)
Read and Understand the Heart Sutra in Tibetan with Adele Tomlin, scholar-translator and founder of Dakini Translations Ever wanted to read and understand a well-known text in Tibetan? But lack of time and guidance? Well here is your chance! At the beginning of the Autumn season this September 2023, due to requests for Tibetan language… Continue reading ‘AWAKENING WISDOM’ NEW ONLINE COURSE: Read, study and understand the Heart Sutra in Tibetan (September 2023)
THE MOTHER OF ALL TATHĀGATAS: THE SOUND OF ĀH. Vulture’s Peak, its surrounding caves, the place where the Buddha taught the Heart Sūtra and Prajñāpāramitā (Bodh Gaya pilgrimage: Part II)
“Merely to praise those supreme places in whichThe Bhagavān resided yields boundless merit.”So it is said, and, in accordance with this,I praise this site of his sacred Dharma teaching. It was here that Buddha's excellent speech was compiledA place as even as a palm, and abundantly auspicious. In the centre, surrounded by lesser hills,Is this… Continue reading THE MOTHER OF ALL TATHĀGATAS: THE SOUND OF ĀH. Vulture’s Peak, its surrounding caves, the place where the Buddha taught the Heart Sūtra and Prajñāpāramitā (Bodh Gaya pilgrimage: Part II)
MELTING THE HEART AND LETTING IT BE: REALISING THE PERFECTION OF WISDOM. Teaching on the Heart Sutra by 8th Garchen Rinpoche (July 2022)
“At the ‘understanding’ of one’s hidden afflictions,There is nothing other than ‘primordial awareness’If you practice meaningfully, it is like thatSounds of empty words are of trivial value.”ཉོན་མོངས་རང་མཚང་རིག་པ་ན། །ཡེ་ཤེས་བྱ་བ་ལོགས་ན་མེད། །དོན་ཉམས་སུ་ལེན་ན་དེ་ལྟར་ཡིན། །ཚིག་སྟོང་པའི་སྒྲ་ལ་དགོས་པ་ཆུང་། །--Excerpt from Je Milarepa's Ten Paramitas Song (tr. Adele Tomlin) “It is just like you have a crystal ball and all the qualities are included within… Continue reading MELTING THE HEART AND LETTING IT BE: REALISING THE PERFECTION OF WISDOM. Teaching on the Heart Sutra by 8th Garchen Rinpoche (July 2022)
MOTHER OF ALL THE BUDDHAS: PRAJNAPARAMITA AND THE ULTIMATE HEART ESSENCE
"Empty does not mean completely empty but primordial awareness empty of dualistic appearances." "[The Heart Sutra] teaches that the ultimate perfectly established [nature] is empty of apparent samsara and nirvana. The primordial awareness of the perfectly established ultimate nature pervades all of samsara and nirvana but is not contaminated by either samsara or nirvana. Since… Continue reading MOTHER OF ALL THE BUDDHAS: PRAJNAPARAMITA AND THE ULTIMATE HEART ESSENCE
Translation Note: The difference between ‘prajñā’ (sherab) and ‘jñāna’ (yeshe) and their role in understanding the Buddhist ‘view’
As an homage and offering to the great mother prajñāpāramitā, on this new moon day, I offer this short translation and research note of what the term prajñā means, how it differs from the other important term jñāna and thus how it is best translated. It is 'knowing' but 'knowing' what? In many Buddhist texts,… Continue reading Translation Note: The difference between ‘prajñā’ (sherab) and ‘jñāna’ (yeshe) and their role in understanding the Buddhist ‘view’
Public Lecture on ‘Tāranātha’s Commentary on Heart Sutra’ by Adele Tomlin (available online)
Happy to announce that, despite some technical difficulties with the sound recording on the day, the public lecture on Tāranātha's Commentary on the Heart Sūtra, an Empty-of-Other Shentong commentary on the Heart Sūtra is now available to listen to on the Rangjung Yeshe Institute website here. Any questions or feedback please let me know. May… Continue reading Public Lecture on ‘Tāranātha’s Commentary on Heart Sutra’ by Adele Tomlin (available online)