Podcasts about Heart Sutra

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.00:00:01 Rinpoche tells about the meaning of negation in the Heart Sutra. "No" doesn't mean that things do not exist, it is negating the way phenomena appear - as truly existent from their own side. Understanding this point helps not to fall into extremes of nihilism and eternalism.00:10:05 How to avoid the mistake from the very beginning of your analysis by identifying the correct object of refutation - gak-cha.00:33:00 Phenomena exist, but they exist in mere name, merely imputed by mind. They do not exist from their own side.01:04:00 From the I down to the split seconds of consciousness, all phenomena exist in mere name, merely imputed by mind. Without mind labeling them, they cannot exist.01:27:00 When meditating on emptiness, if fear arises, that is a good sign - it means your meditation is harming the object of ignorance, the root of samsara. One should go through the fear, not stop the meditation.01:48:00 The word "Ah" in the Heart Sutra is like an atomic bomb that destroys the hallucination of true existence projected onto all phenomena by ignorance. It shows phenomena are empty of existing from their own side.02:24:00 When reciting the Heart Sutra, one should apply it to one's own problems and sufferings, meditating that they are empty of true existence. This becomes a powerful puja to pacify obstacles.02:30:00 Rinpoche explains that Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche used to recite Extensive Dispelling of Hindrances after the Heart Sutra as a way of pacifying all obstacles for the teachers, students, and Dharma centers due to sickness, spirit possession, unfavorable conditions, past karma, and immediate conditions.02:37:30 The group recites Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga and Rinpoche leads the extensive offerings practice and dedications.Find out more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, his teachings and projects at https://fpmt.org/

In this Dharma Discourse, given at the Buddhist Temple of Toledo on November 30th, 2025, Reverend Rinsen Roshi discusses the Heart Sutra and the importance of the intentional practice of wisdom and love.  

Using the Heart Sutra's teaching on the emptiness of the five aggregates as a guide, Jomin weaves together a daughter's struggle to let her mother make her own choices, a charged encounter at a farmers market, and the liberating practice of simply saying "I don't know." ★ Support this podcast ★

In this Best of Awake in the World episode about the Heart Sutra, Michael explores how it functions to counter what John Cage calls “the authoritarian structures” of our minds, including the tendency to create “frames” and contract around our sense of separateness. Recorded on March 31, 2009. The Awake in the World podcast is brought to you by the generosity of our amazing Patreon supporters, making it possible for us to keep Michael's archive of teachings available to the public. To become a patron, visit: patreon.com/michaelstone.

Claude AnShin Thomas - Zen Buddhist monk, combat veteran, and author - responds to questions in an inspiring manner based on his Zen practice and life experiences. He reminds the listener how to stay awake to life and understand more deeply the traps of a deluded mind. This episode was recorded during a weekly online meeting of questions & responses. For more information: https://www.zaltho.org If you want to ask Claude AnShin Thomas a question, please feel free to write to info@zaltho.org. Book recommendations: - AT HELL'S GATE - A Soldier's Journey from War to Peace (Shambhala Publications 2003, also as ebook and audiobook)  - Bringing Meditation to Life - 108 Teachings on the Path of Zen Practice (Oakwood Publishing 2021, also as ebook and audiobook) - On the Edges of Sleep: Poems of War and Memory (Oakwood Publishing 2024, also as ebook) - Applied Zen- A Short Guide to an Active Meditation Practice (Oakwood Publishing 2025, also as ebook)  https://www.zaltho.org/books/ To support, donate. If you are interested in a specific question, this is the list of questions that Claude AnShin responded to and the time stamps for those questions so that you can go directly to the topic that is of most interest to you. Questions and Time Stamps: 1:05 Do you believe it is important to live in solidarity with others? 2:50 Is it ever appropriate to break contact with a person? 6:05 In the Heart Sutra, it states that "Nirvana is already here." How is this true in the midst of war and violence? 9:20 What is the difference between compassion and enabling? 14:40 Do you ever find yourself at odds with people who are ideological? 17:35 Do you ever get stuck on an "idea" of a person? 27:45 If people commit unspeakable acts of violence, do you write them off? 29:30 Do we live in a bubble that we can break through with practice? 31:05 Do you think it's useful for German schools to prepare students for a shooting? 33:59 How can I create a connection with someone who has killed others? 39:12 Is it possible to be a police officer without a gun? 39:55 What is the value of life?

Beginning with this segment of the UnMind podcast and DharmaByte column, I want to depart from commenting on the content of my Substack postings, which feature chapters from a manuscript we anticipate publishing in future, working title: "Speaking With One (Zen) Voice." It is subtitled: "25 Centuries of Buddha-Dharma; 3 Countries of Origin; 9 Dharma Masters; 2 Dozen Teachings; with Commentary by an American ZenElder." Long subtitle, but at least it lets you know what your are in for. Instead, in going forward, I want to introduce you to some of the most mysterious and compelling implications of Buddhism that I have come across in my studies, admittedly limited to those texts that are available in English translation. The first is the startling claim that Buddha enjoys an infinite life span throughout eternity, as testified to in the Lifespan Chapter of the Lotus Sutra, considered to be his last teaching. This use of "buddha" should, I think, be understood in both senses: as it relates to the historical "fully-awakened one," his teachings about reality and his place in it—Buddha with a capital "B"; as well as its application to human consciousness—buddha with a small "b." The latter, generalized as buddha-nature, true of all sentient beings. This message implies that in our conventional wisdom—philosophical and religious beliefs surrounding the "Great Matter" of birth and death—we are making a kind of category error as to first causes and final conclusions. Let's take a look at what a cursory bit of research online has to say about this phrase, consulting Master AI: AI Overview — category errorA category mistake (or category error) is a logical fallacy where an object, property, or concept is mistakenly assigned to a category to which it does not belong. Popularized by philosopher Gilbert Ryle, it often involves treating abstract concepts as if they were physical objects, or mixing up different logical levels, such as asking for the "location" of a team's "spirit" after seeing the players. Note that the fallacy is defined as "logical," calling into question all instances of the most basic category of intelligence: logic itself. Next, our friendly online AI assistant lists examples of various types of category mistakes, such as confusion between the abstract and the physical, mixing up parts and wholes, conflating mental and physical phenomena, as well as functional, linguistic, and scientific confusions. All conceptual. Then, we are treated to key characteristics of categorical errors, including rank absurdity or nonsense; nouns as subjects of verbs they cannot perform; using terms in the wrong syntactical context; or using inadequate data to support an analytical operation. Dutifully providing links for further study to various online sources such as Reddit, Philiosophy Stack Exchange, and YouTube, AI summarizes succinctly: Essentially, it is a way to make a philosophical argument cringe by treating a "concept" as a "thing." Glad we cleared that up! Speaking of "making a philosophical argument "cringe" is, in itself, intentionally or not, a kind of category error, is it not? Can an argument cringe? Do AIs have a sense of humor? However you feel about the current debate over AIs encroaching upon human territory—which may be another categorical error, just on a meta level—you have to admit that they can throw together a neat and comprehensive summary, saving this writer the time and effort it would take to track down all of those links. Good enough to support the point I am trying to make, anyway. My point being that Buddha seems to be saying, based on his own direct research in meditation, that we are grossly misinterpreting the phenomena of birth and death, making a "thing" of the concepts we have about them. If birth, as well as death, are not "things,"—that is, not real—in the sense we imagine, it begs the question, then what are they? They definitely denote a change, but what order of change? This seems to be the point of one of the standout assertions of the Hsinhsinming—Trust in Mind, from Sengcan, third patriarch of Ch'an Buddism: Change appearing to occur in the empty world we call "real" only because of our ignorance We can understand this claim on a universal level, I think. From the perspective of the solar system or the galaxy, change on this tiny planet does not seem all that dramatic. But on a proximate and personal scale, it takes on draconian dimensions. Matsuoka-roshi's suddenly cutting off one of his senior student's statement about dying is another finger pointing at this particular moon. He didn't qualify the assertion. He just said, matter-of-factly, "You don't die," correcting the assumption "Sensei, when I die" mid-expression. What it is that we refer to as "I" comes under intense scrutiny in Zen. We assume that this aggregation—of what are called the Five Skandhas: form, feeling, thought, impulse and consciousness; and the Six Senses: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and thinking—taken together, is what constitutes the "I" in question. This self-awareness is then assumed to have been born with the birth of the body-mind complex, developing along with the fetus in the womb, consciousness slowly emerging out of the growth of the brain and nervous system. This is common knowledge. Which is why it is callenged in Zen. Another reference to the kind of singular realization that Zen is pointing to comes from Tozan Ryokai, 200 years after Sengcan, in Hokyo Zammai—Precious Mirror Samadhi: Although it is not constructed it is not beyond wordsLike facing a precious mirror form and reflection behold each other You are not IT but in truth IT is you The first line refers to the unconstructed nature of what Master Muso Kokushi, a generation or two after Master Dogen in Japan, called the "uncreate" in his letters, or "Dream Conversations," to the two brothers who shared the shogunate at the time. Master Dogen also pointed a few fingers at this same moon, such as this excerpt from Fukanzazengi—Principles of Seated Meditation recently posted by Joan Halifax-roshi: Put aside the intellectual practice of investigating words and chasing phrases, and learn to take the backward step that turns the light around and shine it inward. Your body and mind will drop away of themselves, and your original face will manifest. If you want to get into touch with things as they are, you—right here and now—have to start being yourself, as you are. Approaching "things as they are," the singularity of Zen, then, requires a fundamental reversal, a 180-degree flip, of our usual approach to learning, engaging in un-learning. Not learning something new, but unlearning what we think we know, in order to return to the original state of not-knowing. Huineng, sixth patriarch in China, coined the phrase: Show me your original face before your father and mother were born Another teaching attributed to Hakuin Zenji asks, "What nostrils would there be on that face?" In other words, what was THIS—long before our body came into being? Whatever that was, it must also still be what it is after the body deconstructs into its components, as Master Dogen asserts in another teaching: Just as firewood does not become firewood again after it is ashYou do not return to birth after death This analogy refutes the common (mis)belief in reincarnation left over from early Hinduism—that there is an essence, entity, or spirit, the atman, a "thing"—believed to be reborn again and again, transmigrating from one lifetime to another. There is no "you" to return to birth, just as there is no "you" that can die. The body is the firewood. Buddha testified that he found no evidence of the existence of such a "thing" in his direct experience, likening the incarnated body to a chariot. When the chariot is taken apart, and the parts are laid out on the ground, where, he asked, is the chariot? The chariot (or any other thing) functions as a chariot only when assembled. There is no entity, no "there" there, between the parts somewhere. Likewise, the human body, which seems to be one thing, is more like a jellyfish, consisting of an unimaginably complex amalgam of many parts all functioning together to create the illusion of a single entity. This raises the question of what kind, or order, of experience Buddha can be talking about, if at the center of it there is no self, no soul, nothing but connectivity of the parts. How can that realization even be called an "experience"? This conundrum is hinted at in the Heart Sutra, after a long line of negations: "given emptiness...no seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching...no realm of sight, no realm of mind-consciousness," etc. Again, Zen wisdom from Master AI: The phrase "until we come to no consciousness also" refers to a specific passage in the Heart Sutra (Prajñāpāramitā Hṛdaya) that systematically negates the traditional Buddhist categories of experience to reveal their "emptiness" (śūnyatā). Which brings us to the functioning of zazen, or shikantaza, the objectless meditation of Zen. It is often misinterpreted as "emptying your mind of thought." But this is not the point of zazen, however, and in any case not really feasible. Thinking is not the problem; it is our over-reliance on thinking that gets in the way. It is not for nothing that Zen is called the meditation school of Buddhism. All other sects practice meditation to some degree, of course, but the singular emphasis upon upright seated meditation belongs to Zen, primarily Soto Zen, or what we refer to as "Dogen Zen," as illustrated by this line from his Jijuyu Zammai—Self-fulfilling Samadhi: From the first time you meet a master without engaging in incense offering chanting Buddha's name repentence or reading scriptureyou should just wholeheartedly sit and thus drop away body and mindWhen even for a moment you express the Buddha's sealby sitting upright in Samadhi the whole phenomenal world becomes the Buddha's seal and the entire sky turns into enlightenment Emphasis mine. One aspect of Dogen's particular genius was to recognize the centrality of this practice of upright seated meditation, referred to as the genuine transmission of realization from generation to generation of the lineage, going all the way back to Shakyamuni himself. And according to Buddha himself, even previous, "prehistoric buddhas." Like transmitting art or music, the method can be taught, but the essence of the practice cannot. Art and Zen have to be discovered by the student from their own experience. In the process, they have to set aside all they think they have learned. Zen and creativity are based on the process of unlearning what we have learned to the present. A current trope may make this point a bit more succinctly. In zazen, we are "reverse-engineering" consciousness itself, allowing it to manifest untrammeled by our ideas about it. Let's pick up the thread in the next segment. Meanwhile, practice-practice-practice: attention-attention-attention.

In this Best of Awake in the World podcast episode Michael explores the “post-negation” section of the Heart Sutra, focusing on the lines, “with no hindrance in the mind. No hindrance, therefore no fear.” He describes hindrances as mental barriers, the walls constructed by the mind, and introduces the idea of creating a “no landing zone,” a space where thoughts are not allowed to settle or take hold. He also discusses “horizontal transcendence,” the tendency of thoughts to become tangled or “knotty,” and the importance of making peace with the fears that can arise when one moves toward a more fluid, less fixed way of being. Recorded April 21, 2009. [ID: Background photo of a person standing beside and looking through a glass cylinder that is warping their face on the right side of the image, white box with black text reads "Awake in the World", white box outline with white text reads "A More Liquified Existence" followed by an equalizer graphic and the MST emblem] The Awake in the World podcast is brought to you by the generosity of our amazing Patreon supporters, making it possible for us to keep Michael's archive of teachings available to the public. To become a patron, visit: patreon.com/michaelstone.

Amy Chavez talks with Alex Kerr about his book Finding the Heart Sutra: Guided by a Magician, an Art Collector and Buddhist Sages from Tibet to Japan (Penguin U.K., 2020).  Kerr is the author of several books, including Lost Japan, Dogs and Demons, Another Kyoto (w/Kathy Arlyn Sokol), Another Bangkok and Hidden Japan.  The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press. Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.

Bright on Buddhism - Episode 134 - Revisit - What are the fundamental beliefs of Buddhism? Does Buddhism have an afterlife? Does Buddhism have a bible like Christianity?Resources:Kevin Trainor: Buddhism: An Illustrated GuideDonald Lopez: Norton Anthology of World Religions: BuddhismChan Master Sheng Yen: Orthodox Chinese BuddhismNagarjuna: Verses of The Middle Way (The Madhyamakarika)Conze, Edward, trans. The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines and Its Verse Summary. Bolinas, CA: Four Seasons Foundation, 1973.Lopez, Donald S., Jr. Elaborations on Emptiness: Uses of the Heart Sutra. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996.Stearns, Cyrus. The Buddha from Dolpo: A Study of the Life and Thought of the Tibetan Master Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999.Streng, Frederick. Emptiness: A Study in Religious Meaning. Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1967.Robert E Buswell: Encyclopedia of Buddhism: Death, Mark L. Blum. Nirvana, Luis O. Gómez. Samsara, Bryan J. Cuevas_________________________________If you like our show and would like to support us, we encourage you to give your money or resources to a worthy cause. We can get through this. Our strongest weapon is solidarity. Stay strong and help where you can. Thank you.Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by emailing us at Bright.On.Buddhism@gmail.com.Credits:Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-HostProven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host

In this Best of episode Michael explores the magic mantra that concludes the Heart Sutra, one of the most famous teachings in the Buddhist tradition. In this one-hour talk, he reflects on how this ancient mantra points to a profound shift in the way we meet our lives. Through stories, reflections, and practical insights, Michael discusses how the teachings of the Heart Sutra help us transform fear into openness, and how the practice of cultivating compassion can change the way we relate to ourselves and others. He also looks at the often overlooked power of not-knowing, the willingness to step beyond fixed ideas and meet experience with curiosity and humility. Along the way, Michael explains how mantras work, why they have been used for centuries as tools for awakening, and how the closing mantra of the Heart Sutra can serve as a reminder to keep moving beyond our limitations and into greater freedom. Recorded in London, England. The Awake in the World podcast is brought to you by the generosity of our amazing Patreon supporters, making it possible for us to keep Michael's archive of teachings available to the public. To become a patron, visit: patreon.com/michaelstone.

Claude AnShin Thomas - Zen Buddhist monk, combat veteran, and author - responds to questions in an inspiring manner based on his Zen practice and life experiences. He reminds the listener how to stay awake to life and understand more deeply the traps of a deluded mind. This episode was recorded during a weekly online meeting of questions & responses. For more information: https://www.zaltho.org If you want to ask Claude AnShin Thomas a question, please feel free to write to info@zaltho.org. Book recommendations:https://www.zaltho.org/books/ To support our efforts, please donate. If you are interested in a specific question, this is the list of questions that Claude AnShin responded to and the time stamps for those questions so that you can go directly to the topic that is of most interest to you. Questions and Time Stamps: 1:15 In what way is it important for you not to take yourself too seriously? 5:39 When I am deeply concentrated, I sometimes lose awareness of my body. How can I best work with this 8:28 Would you recommend preparing for war or a breakdown of infrastructure? If so, what would you suggest doing? 12:22 Have you ever researched near-death experiences 14:09 Would you share your perspective on parenting 18:22 I once heard from someone working in hospice that life is never more vibrant than in places where people are dying. What has been your experience? 20:40 Have you ever had a supernatural experience? 22:03 My previous question referred to your experience accompanying others while they were dying. Could you speak more about that? 25:43 What can I do with this feeling of pain in my chest when facing disease, decay, death, and ultimately saying goodbye? 30:48 How do you work with feelings of resentment and cultivate compassion for those who cause suffering and destruction on a large scale? 35:37 In the Heart Sutra it states, "no suffering, no cause, and no end to suffering." Does this contradict the Four Noble Truths? 40:42 In your experience, is it easier to live your commitments openly as you grow older than it was when you were younger?

Thich Nhat Hahn's revision of the Heart Sutra by Ordinary Mind Zen School

One of the last days of the 6 month Precepts course. Following chanting the Heart Sutra, five students present on the five ethical values of the course, and then Michael discusses three ways of thinking about ethics. And how to look at a flower and smile. Recorded on April 7, 2011. This episode is an excerpt from Michael's online course, "Embodying Ethics & Vows in Modern Life," which transforms Buddhist and yogic ethics into practical guidelines for aligning your actions with your values. If you're interested in taking the full course, visit: https://edu-michaelstone.com/product/embodying-ethics-vows-in-modern-life/

A talk given at Berkeley Zen Center on Saturday February 14, 2026 by Mark Copithorne.

Host Michael Taft speaks with Stephen Snyder Sensei about the two “missing” brahmaviharas, Innate Goodness practice, heart wisdom vs. mind wisdom, the magic of the “group heart”, the paradox of the Heart Sutra, learning to become receptive, God and the nondual, entities, bodhisattvas, deities, the three types of forgiveness, and the “terrible importance” of heart-based practice.Stephen Mugen Snyder, Sensei began practicing daily meditation in 1976. Since then, he has studied Buddhism extensively—investigating and engaging in Zen, Tibetan, Theravada, and Western non-dual traditions. He was authorized to teach in the Theravada Buddhist tradition in 2007 and the Zen Buddhist schools of Soto and Rinzai in 2022. Stephen is a senior student of Roshi Mark Sando Mininberg and a transmitted teacher in the White Plum Asanga—the body of teachers in the Maezumi-roshi lineage. Stephen is the author of many books, including Trust in Awakening, Demystifying Awakening and Buddha's Heart. You can support the creation of future episodes of this podcast by contributing through Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It is extremely important to reflect, to meditate, to think deeply about karma so that it does not become just a word. -Lama Zopa Rinpoche Lama Zopa Rinpoche leads a recitation of the Heart Sutra, the Foundation of All Good Qualities by Lama Tsong Khapa, and Shakyamuni Buddha’s mantra, before describing the importance of karma in everyday life. These teachings were given during a lamrim course led by Rinpoche at Maitreya Instituut, the Netherlands, in August 1990. You can also listen along with the transcript on our website.

ADZG 1265 An exploration of how this important Zen sutra makes the case for the underlying emptiness of all phenomenon — including some earlier Buddhist teachings. ADZG Sunday Morning Dharma […] The post Unpacking the Heart Sutra first appeared on Ancient Dragon Zen Gate.

Jack Kornfield and Prof. Rajiv S. Joshi explore how facing suffering with love can awaken the courage to heal our world.Today's podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.Jack's new book hits shelves on 11/11: All in This Together: Stories and Teachings for Loving Each Other and Our World – Preorder your copy today!“Love is this unbelievable, inexplicable force. When there's love it's almost that anything is possible. It's love that binds all things.” –Prof. Rajiv S. JoshiIn this episode, Jack and Rajiv mindfully explore:Living Fully in a Time of Change: Joanna Macy's funeral as a teaching on joy, love, and the beauty of a life well-lived.Facing Suffering with Courage: The two kinds of suffering—what we run from and what we open to with compassion.Meditation as Refuge: Expanding the heart's window of tolerance to hold fear, grief, and love all at once.The Sweet Way of the Dharma: Remembering peace, joy, and humor even in the midst of difficulty.Smiling as Practice: Softening the heart through simple, embodied gestures of kindness.The Great Regeneration: Redefining the pandemic as a moment to reimagine our world with wisdom and care.The Interbeing of All Things: Thich Nhat Hanh's Heart Sutra and the recognition that we already hold the solutions we seek.Love in Action: Ram Dass's reminder to feed people, love people, and organize from the heart.Sacred Reciprocity: Healing inequality and climate change through generosity, reverence, and balance.The Middle Way in a Polarized World: Meeting conflict with understanding, presence, and possibility.Inner Climate Change: Transforming the heart to transform the earth—awakening compassion as the root of renewal.“The world is as it is—it has suffering and beauty in unbelievable measure. So the real question is: how are you going to tend your heart?” –Jack KornfieldThis Dharma Talk originally took place on 9/8/25 for Spirit Rock Meditation Center's Monday Night Dharma Talk and Guided Meditation.About Prof. Rajiv S. Joshi: Professor Joshi is the Founder of Bridging Ventures and former Associate Dean for Climate Action at Columbia University. He helped launch Columbia's Climate School with President Obama, and has led groundbreaking work in global collaboration, climate technology, and regenerative entrepreneurship.About Jack Kornfield:Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India, and Burma, studying as a monk under the Buddhist master Ven. Ajahn Chah, as well as the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with fellow meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein and the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. His books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than a million copies.Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack's entire course library. If you would like a year's worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield.Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.“There are two kinds of suffering. The first is the kind you run away, and that follows you everywhere. The second is the kind you're willing to turn, face, and go through, and that becomes our gateway to liberation.” –Jack KornfieldSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

From a downloaded document from one of my online dharma dialogs — dated June 8, 2016, but otherwise unidentified — we find the following definitions of the Four Immeasurables of Buddhism: Metta (loving kindness) Karuna (compassion)Mudita (sympathetic joy or empathy) Upekkha (equanimity) I have always felt that the immeasurables of Zen practice are more important than those aspects subject to measurement. For example, it is more important in doing meditation, zazen, to never give up, as MatsuokaRoshi would often encourage us, than how long we sit when we do, how often, how frequently, how regularly, etc. More important than the quantitative dimension is the qualitative.Folks bring this up in dokusan frequently, saying they know they need to “sit more.” I ask them when do they think they can do that. You cannot sit more in the past — it's too late. You cannot sit more in the future, because it is not yet here, though you can plan to do so — and possibly set yourself up fordiscouragement by failing to live up to your own expectations — been there, done that. The only time you can do more zazen is when you are doing it. You can do zazen more by refraining from doing anything else while you are on the cushion. Such as daydreaming, worrying, planning, ruminating, regretting, and so on. Turn up the intensity knob. The list is followed by an extension of the definitions: The ease of equanimity, the full-heartedness of love, the tenderness of compassion, the radiance of joy. There follows a brief “prayer,” a term we do not often see in Buddhist teachings, a “short version” attributed to H.H. the Dali Lama:The Four immeasurables are found in one brief and beautiful prayer: May all sentient beings have happiness and its causes,May all sentient beings be free of suffering and its causes, May all sentient beings notbe separated from sorrowless bliss, May all sentient beings abide in equanimity, free of bias,attachment and anger.This sounds very similar to the familiar Metta Sutta, or Loving Kindness Sutra, from the Soto Zen liturgychanted often in Zen temples, though finding our “bliss” is not a term I would use as a goal or objective of Zen practice. While human beings are included in the panoply of sentient beings that we pray may be happy, it is also acknowledged that human beings can be a significant part of the problem, the cause of unhappiness and sorrow in their fellow sentient beings. Needless to say, we “pray” in the sense of earnestness — not to a god, to Buddha, nor to a specific bodhisattva. Our basic prayer is that we wake up, as soon as possible.It should be equally needless to point out that the prayer, or wish, for all beings to be happy does not imply a rose-colored, magical-thinking belief that somehow just because we pray for it, it shall come to pass that all beings will suddenly become happy, via some “spooky action at a distance” — thank you, Zen Master Einstein.We “transfer merit” at the end of our service because we don't want to suggest that we actually believe we personally accumulate any real merit owing to our devotional activities. Whatever merit there maybe, it must already finitely exist, and can be neither increased or decreased by what we do.Likewise, the practical worldview of Buddhism and Zen dictates that if and when all beings actually do become happy, it will be happy with the causes and conditions of existence just as they are, or in spite ofthem: the unsatisfactory nature of life, being subject to aging, sickness and death, etc ad infinitum. Zen isnothing if not realistic.“Things as it is” is an expression David Chadwick attributes to Shunryu Suzuki Roshi in his charming book, “Crooked Cucumber,” as his condensed expression of one of the central truths of Zen. It does notmean “things as they are.” If it did, there would be no reason to engage in all the necessary discipline andwork of Zen, if it were only to result in things staying the way they are. That is, if our own perception and conception of our own reality did not undergo some kind of meaningful change as a result of our efforts, what would be the point of practicing? Which begs another central question, What kind of change is that?The kind of change that can come about through the practice and study of Zen, particularly itsmeditation, is pointed to in the Heart Sutra, chanted ubiquitously in Zen centers all over the world. The linethat declares, “Given Emptiness, there is no suffering, no end of suffering.” This Emptiness is capitalized tostress the unique meaning of the Sanskrit shunyatta. It is not voidness of existence, or devoid of meaning, but the dynamic nature of change that underlies all existence, the operative meaning of dukkha, usually translated as “suffering.” The suffering that can change through our coming to this insight that Buddha experienced and coached others to find, is of the unnecessary sort — that needless suffering that we heedlessly inflict upon ourselves and others. The suffering that does not — indeed cannot — change is that of the natural type, e.g. sickness, aging and death.Metta, nonetheless, is a worthy and worthwhile aspiration to a frame of mind that, while embracing the universal givens — impermanence, imperfection and insubstantiality — continues to encourage a hopeful mindset, and an engagement in compassionate action for all, toward that ideal of all beings being as happy as is practicable, under the circumstances.However, kindness — and likewise the other three immeasurables — is not at all separable from the immediate circumstances of life. Suffering fools gladly, or humoring others in their delusions or neuroses, is not an act of kindness, but of uncaring, a kind of cop-out. Treating others in ways that may not be helpful, butthat allow one to sustain a false sense that one is being kind, is not truly kind.In Zen, we recognize that the kindest thing to do, with and for others, is sharing the dharma assets, including those aspects that are most adaptable by others, such as the unsurpassably simple method of Zen meditation. But we also recognize that, even then, the effect of Zen training upon their lives is entirely up to them. You can lead a horse to water, et cetera. It requires a sense of modesty and humility to accept that we can actually do very little to help anyone else. And that what we suppose to be the most important kind of help they need may not be so. The most we can do is to expose them to the practice and teachings of Zen — sanzen and zazen — in the midst of the universal, ongoing, relentless pandemic of ignorance. Whether the inoculation against this virus takes, or not, depends upon them.

Taranita explores the historic and mythic origins of the Heart Sutra, the emergence of the Mahayana in the context of a Buddhist orthodoxy, emptiness, and our relationship to Buddhist concepts. Excerpted from the talk entitled An Introduction to the Heart Sutra given at Bristol Buddhist Centre 2019. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Ratnaprabha takes us through this great, but short, Buddhist text, using his own re-rendering, and inspired by Han Shan's commentary. This talk was given at West London Buddhist Centre, 2012. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Carried by a discourse on The Heart Sutra, teacher and author Susan Piver joins Raghu to explore the truth of emptiness.Grab your copy of Susan's book: Inexplicable Joy: On the Heart SutraThis week on Mindrolling, Raghu and Susan chat about:Practicing The Heart Sutra with only one syllable: ahhThe truth of emptiness through recitation of non-truths Understanding emptiness as bliss, not as voidnessThe commitment to self interest that many westerners experienceReleasing the ego as the first step towards embracing emptiness Being both empty and luminous at the same timeThinking of emptiness as complete interconnection and fullnessSusan's psychedelic experience: staying in the present, being in the womb of blissThe six transcendent actions and how they all spring from generosity Check out this free, downloadable translation of The Heart Sutra from Plum Village“You're empty of separate existence. Your parents, their parents, their parents, if someone ate a different sandwich a thousand years ago, you wouldn't be here. Emptiness could just as easily be called fullness, completely connected.” –Susan PiverAbout Susan Piver:Susan Piver has an international reputation as an exceptionally skillful meditation teacher. She teaches workshops and speaks on mindfulness, innovation, communication, relationships, and creativity. Susan has been a student of Buddhism since 1995, graduated from a Buddhist seminary in 2004, and was authorized to teach meditation in 2005. In 2012, she founded The Open Heart Project, the world's largest online-only meditation center. Susan is also a New York Times bestselling author. Her most recent book, Inexplicable Joy: On the Heart Sutra, is now available. You can keep up with Susan on Instagram or on her website.Join Susan for a 5-day Kripalu meditation retreat this NovemberSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche continues his oral transmission and commentary of the Praise to Buddha Shakyamuni. He explains how the second last verse of this prayer shows how all causative phenomena are transitory and they do not exist in the way they appear. He emphasizes that they do exist, just not in the way they appear.Rinpoche says that it's a very good meditation to continuously practice mindfulness by looking at life as like a dream. Similarly, when we recite the Heart Sutra, we use the word “no” on the merely labeled aggregates, form, feeling, cognition, consciousness. We use the word “no” like an atomic bomb thrown over the object of ignorance, which is the I appearing as a real one existing from its own side.Rinpoche explains how Lama Atisha used the word “AH” instead of “no” when reciting the Heart Sutra. He would say “AH form, AH sound” instead of “no form, no sound”. The reason is because AH is one syllable of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra, which encompasses the heart of the 84,000 teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha. “AH” is a negative word, the same as “no”; it negates the hallucination of true existence.Rinpoche states that Buddha liberates us by revealing the truth, and it's only the wisdom realizing emptiness that can directly remove our delusions. So, it's important to be continually mindful of looking at the hallucination as a hallucination. Rinpoche says that we should use the dream in the place of no or AH and put the dream over the hallucination. When you practice mindfulness of this continuously, it brings you to the point of realizing emptiness (or at least reducing anger and attachment).From April 10 to May 10, 2004, Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave extensive teachings during the Mahamudra Retreat at Buddha House in Australia. While the retreat focused on Mahamudra, Rinpoche also taught on a wide range of Lamrim topics. This retreat marked the beginning of a series of month-long retreats in Australia. Subsequent retreats were held in 2011, 2014, and 2018, hosted by the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Bendigo.Find out more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, his teachings and projects at https://fpmt.org/

Prabu Gikon Vasan, Senior Lay Student - ZMM - 8/21/25 - Understanding the many negations in the Heart Sutra, and the concept of “emptiness,” requires effort and faith. It asks us to examine what we take as true, and to verify that through practice. Buddhism does not limit this inquiry to abstract concepts; it directly engages our lived experiences and beliefs in order to ease suffering. If there is no value put on something--like a coin before it's stamped--then what is it worth? Senior lay student Gikon takes up the path of practice, clarifying the essential teachings of form and emptiness.

In this episode, Susan Piver discusses the path to inexplicable joy and how self-friendship can change everything. She shares this powerful statement, “I can't defeat my enemies, but I can strengthen my friends,” which offers a different kind of hope that shifts our focus from fighting battles we can't win, to caring for the people and communities closest to us. Susan shares what real power looks like, not dominance, but care, and also shares five practical ways to cultivate personal power in everyday life. This is an episode about moving from overwhelm to meaningful action. One friendship, one moment of care at a time.Feeling overwhelmed, even by the good things in your life?Check out Overwhelm is Optional — a 4-week email course that helps you feel calmer and more grounded without needing to do less. In under 10 minutes a day, you'll learn simple mindset shifts (called “Still Points”) you can use right inside the life you already have. Sign up here for only $29!Key Takeaways:Personal empowerment and its significance in daily life.The practice of mindfulness and its role in self-awareness.Exploration of Buddhist teachings, particularly the Heart Sutra.The concept of interconnectedness and its implications for personal and communal well-being.The parable of the two wolves and its relevance to nurturing positive qualities.The importance of self-care and creating a supportive physical environment.Practical steps for cultivating personal power and confidence.The relationship between meditation and self-acceptance.The distinction between relative and absolute views in understanding existence.The role of compassion in personal growth and community connection.If you enjoyed this conversation with Susan Piver, check out these other episodes:How to Discover Your Way of Being Through the Enneagram with Susan PiverThe Four Noble Truths of Love with Susan Piver (2021)Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Life: Finding Ease and Clarity with Charlie GilkeyFor full show notes, click here!Connect with the show:Follow us on YouTube: @TheOneYouFeedPodSubscribe on Apple Podcasts or SpotifyFollow us on InstagramSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Taranita discusses the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path and the Twelve Nidanas; relating them to our own experience. Excerpted from the talk entitled Heart Sutra 5 - The Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Nidanas given at Bristol Buddhist Centre, 2007. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967  

There are sutras like the Heart Sutra that are chanted in temples and are a part of practice handed down from long years ago.  For those of us who don't have a temple to attend or a teacher to train with, we seek out forms and practices that sustain us. 

Unlock profound joy through the paradoxical wisdom of the Heart Sutra, one of Buddhism's most revered ancient texts.Join bestselling author Susan Piver as she shares over 30 years of insight into this enigmatic scripture's teachings on emptiness, impermanence, and the art of letting go - revealed through her powerful encounters like a 95-year-old calligraphy master. Hear how chanting the Heart Sutra and her book "Inexplicable Joy: On the Heart Sutra" can open you to an awakened presence amid life's ceaseless change.You can find Susan at: Website | Instagram | Episode TranscriptIf you LOVED this episode, you'll also love the conversations we had with Tara Brach about making peace with the truth about our lives.Check out our offerings & partners: Join My New Writing Project: Awake at the WheelVisit Our Sponsor Page For Great Resources & Discount Codes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this final episode of Through the Visionary Lens, we return to the Chandogya Upanishad to explore the powerful teaching of the Lotus of the Heart (Sutra 8). Drawing from the Chandogya course on Sattva Connect, this episode dives into heart - centered awareness, intuitive understanding, and the mystery of cosmic consciousness — where all things exist and don't exist, held in stillness and love.Discover an understanding where the creator sees through the created in awe, where the Self rejoices in itself, and where the heart is the seat of a divine, ever-unfolding creation.To experience and dive deep into the whole Chandogya course visit Sattva Connect at the following link : www.sattvaconnect.comor for further wisdom and knowledge visit : www.sattvayogaacademy.com www.instagram.com/theanandmehrotra #AnandMehrotra #meditation #self-realisation #awakening   #heartcentered #upanishad #wisdom #consciousness #mind #intelligence #growth #unity #sattvayogaacademy #sattvaconnect   #knowledge #yoga #chandogya  

Danica Shoan Ankele, Osho - ZMM - 5/23/25 - Gates of entry are enticing and sometimes overwhelming to enter, but we can gather our courage and bring ourselves forward to experience the world which is revealed there. Drawing on teachings from the Lankavatara Sutra and the Heart Sutra, Shoan Osho tells the story of “Enid in Zendoland,” whereby Enid becomes adept at distinguishing the perceptions of their own mind, and enters a marvelous gate of ease and joy.

Danica Shoan Ankele, Osho - ZMM - 5/23/25 - Gates of entry are enticing and sometimes overwhelming to enter, but we can gather our courage and bring ourselves forward to experience the world which is revealed there. Drawing on teachings from the Lankavatara Sutra and the Heart Sutra, Shoan Osho tells the story of “Enid in Zendoland,” whereby Enid becomes adept at distinguishing the perceptions of their own mind, and enters a marvelous gate of ease and joy.

This talk was given at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center (Zenshinji) by Shoren Heather Iarusso. Shoren discusses how we get stuck in concepts and cause our own suffering. Recorded on May 21, 2025.

Mushim Patricia Ikeda is an internationally-known secular mindfulness and Buddhist teacher working primarily with justice activists and Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) meditation practitioners and with people with disabilities and chronic illnesses. A core teacher at East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, California, she is an author whose writing has been published in Lion's Roar, Tricycle, Buddhadharma and various anthologies. Mushim was selected by Lion's Roar Buddhist media magazine as one of twenty-six "Great Buddhist Teachers" in the January 2022 issue. Connect with Mushim at:Website:  www.mushimikeda.comFacebook:  www.facebook.com/mushim.ikedaBluesky:  mushimikedaX / Twitter:  @MushimCA1Instagram:  mushimikedaLinkedIn:  www.linkedin.com/in/mushim-patricia-ikeda-5307279/

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Joining us on the show this week is author, meditation teacher, and founder of the Open Heart Project, Susan Piver! For this conversation we explore the the most famous Sutra in Buddhism, The Heart Sutra. This is the focus of her newest book, 'Inexplicable Joy' in which she details how to turn this incredible and mysterious teaching into a workable practice that can transform your life.  You can stay in touch with Susan's offerings by checking out openheartproject.com or following her on all of the social media channels.  Show Topics  - Brett's Reading of the Heart Sutra  - What is the Heart Sutra?  - Exploring the Setting of the Heart Sutra  - The Practice of Buddhist Chanting  - What are the Skandhas?   - The Mantra That Calms All Suffering  - Trust and Devotion  - Emptiness in Buddhism  - Engaging With the World

In conversation with Buddhist nun, scholar, and activist Ven. Karma Lekshe Tsomo, tracing her remarkable arc from surfing in 1950s Malibu to ordination under the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. On hitchhiking through Southeast Asia, surf contests in 1960s Japan, Zen and copying the Heart Sutra. On women's traditions within Buddhist orders, surfing as meditation. On Vipassana, near fatal snake bites, to living with 348 percepts. On navigating the importance of ethics, on consciousness, a critique of secular mindfulness commodification. The importance of debate within Buddhism. On being kind, on Dharamsala, on grief and death, on supernormal powers, advice for finding a teacher, on comparative philosophy, on the current discourse revolving the struggle for Tibet. On the Holiness the Dalai Lama, on perseverance, on the listening to birds, on the current moment. On insight, on death, on the importance of ultimately living for others.Excerpts On SurfingI found surfing quite spiritual because, you're alone out in the ocean. It's quiet. You get a totally different perspective on life because you're not one of the little ants running around. You've got a sort of meta view of human society, which is, quite instructive.On Peace and LoveI'm still trying to figure that out. Especially in the current climate. How do you account for that? It seemed to me that peace and love were the answer and that everyone. If everyone were full of peace and love, then we would have a happy world. And so why? And then, of course, Buddhism was very helpful because it pointed out that it's our self cherishing, it's our obsession with our ourself that messes everything up. People are struggling, clawing and scraping to get their own advantage. And of course, that interferes with all their relationships and destroys their personal happiness. And very few people really figure it out.On FreedomAnd when one of the monks cut my hair, it was the most freeing experience of my life. I saw my hair drop into my lap and I thought, whoa, free at last.On the Dangers of Mindfulness without EthicsYou can kill someone very mindfully. You can rob a bank very mindfully. If you don't have any ethical foundations for your mindfulness practice, it can go all wrong.On ActionBelief is cheap. You can say anything you want and even some of the greatest religious leaders have had doubts apparently, including up to and including Mother Teresa. But how do we live our lives? That's the important thing. How do we try to create happiness for ourselves and others?How do we avoid harming ourselves and others? These are the questions that Buddhism takes up.On Supernormal Powers and Ethical ConductSuper normal powers are no surprise if we train our minds well. Our minds are capable of so much more than we credit them for.These are not the aim of Buddhist practice, but they are, there are many records legends and also texts that document attainments. The descriptions of supernormal powers occur in the very earliest strata.On RealityWe take things to exist as they appear, but we all know that's false.It's an illusion, this desk, it looks so solid. One match it's history, right? It's toast. So the Buddhists are very good at questioning the question, things like appearance and reality.On AwarenessConsciousness is a string of conscious moments, from the moment of conception, it's only one moment back to the last moment of our previous lifetime. If we meditate we can track it back. Every moment is precious. Listen to the birds - remember that human life is impermanent. That our time on this precious planet is limited. That every moment is precious and we should do, try to make the most not waste even a moment. We can gain insight, awakening in this present moment. Time Stamps00:00 Introduction to Consciousness and Meditation01:10 A Personal Journey into Buddhism02:39 Early Encounters with Zen and Surfing07:20 Exploring Buddhism in Asia25:16 The Path to Ordination31:38 Finding Teachers and the Tibetan Tradition34:59 Advice on Choosing a Teacher37:19 The Importance of Choosing the Right Teacher38:41 Navigating Political and Cultural Challenges39:45 The Ongoing Struggle for Tibetan Freedom41:52 Balancing Political and Spiritual Perseverance44:20 Western vs. Eastern Buddhism48:59 Gender Disparities and Feminism in Buddhism56:06 The Role of Mindfulness and The Importance of Ethical Foundations01:00:31 Belief Systems and the Concept of God in Buddhism01:04:33 Supporting Buddhist Nonprofits and Education01:07:23 Supernormal Powers and Ethical Conduct01:12:18 Final Reflections and AdviceAbout Ven. Karma Lekshe TsomoKarma Lekshe Tsomo is a Buddhist nun, scholar, and activist. She has been a professor at the University of San Diego (USD) since 2000, teaching topics like Buddhism, World Religions, and Dying, Death, and Social Justice. She co-founded the Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women (Sakyadhiata means daughters of Buddha) and is the founding director of the Jamyang Foundation, which supports the education of women and girls in areas of the Himalayas, Bangladesh, and elsewhere. After studying at Dharamasala for 15 years, Dr. Tsomo completed her postgraduate work at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, obtaining a PhD in Comparative Philosophy in 2000. She has published in topics including women in Buddhism, death and dying, Buddhist philosophy, and Buddhist ethics.LinksJamyang FoundationSakyadhitaPhoto Credit: Sakyadhita International Association Get full access to Leafbox at leafbox.substack.com/subscribe

This year, I'm turning Buddhist, meditating with a sangha (a community of Buddhist practitioners), bowing in the morning, and taking lessons from Buddhist teachers. This happened because I started reading Billy Seol's Substack (https://substack.com/@julylifecoach), which he writes every single day (impressive!) I've come to consider Billy as a kind of spiritual god brother. In this deep dive into the intersection of Buddhism, coaching, and personal growth, Billy takes us through his journey of: Early experiences with depression Career in tech companies (Apple, Disney) Searching for a comprehensive approach to understanding life and ending sufferingEmbracing Buddhism as a practical life approach And we have a brainy debate about applying Buddhist principles to real-life workplace challenges for women and people of marginalized identities: Dealing with discrimination and marginalization Finding agency under challenging situations Doing hard things on purpose as a path to growth Mentioned in the podcast: Billy's website: https://www.julylifecoach.com/Zen And The Art of Dealing with Office Politics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcmoJuGwm4oHOME with Simone Seol (Billy's sister): https://www.simonegraceseol.com/come-homeText me your thoughts on this episode!Enjoy the show? Don't miss an episode, listen and subscribe via Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Leave me a review in Apple Podcasts. Connect with me Book a free hour-long consultation with me. You'll leave with your custom blueprint to confidence, and we'll ensure it's a slam-dunk fit for you before you commit to working with me 1:1. Connect with me on LinkedIn Email me at jamie@jamieleecoach.com

This year, we're using the framework of Buddhism's Six Perfections to guide most of our episodes. Our last one with returning guest and activist Kazu Haga, focused on patience or not returning harm. This week, another favorite of the podcast is back, Susan Piver. She and I talk and riff on her new book, Inexplicable Joy, which explores one of Buddhism's most famous and mysterious texts, the heart sutra. This profound text is all about the perfection of wisdom, emptiness, and the ultimate interdependent nature of reality. Fully realizing this is said to lead to the inexplicable joy that gives Susan's book its name. Join us to hear her unique take on a text she's been reciting for 30 years and discover her fresh, modern, and sometimes surprising ways of understanding words written nearly 2,000 years ago. Episode 188: Inexplicable Joy—On the Heart Sutra & Buddhism Without Belief with Susan PiverSupport the show

The Heart Sutra invites us to discover our true home, right here in our own being. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Heart Sutra is a guide for discovering what is most true in the midst of chaos! ★ Support this podcast ★

Ethan welcomes bestselling author and Dharma teacher Susan Piver for a discussion of the groundlessness of our current world framed through her new book Inexplicable Joy: On The Heart Sutra. If you'd like to read a translation of this classic Buddhist text, you can find that on Ethan's Substack. Susan Piver is the New York Times bestselling author of many books, including The Four Noble Truths of Love: Buddhist Wisdom for Modern Relationships and The Buddhist Enneagram: Nine Paths to Warriorship. Her most recent book is Inexplicable Joy: On the Heart Sutra. Susan has been a student of Buddhism since 1993, graduated from a Buddhist seminary in 2004 and began to teach meditation in 2005. In 2014, she founded The Open Heart Project, an online dharma center with nearly 20000 members. Please support the podcast via Substack and subscribe for free or with small monthly contributions. Paid subscribers will receive occasional extras like guided meditations, extra podcast episodes and more! Check out all the cool offerings at our sponsor Dharma Moon, including the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training, starting March 21. Free video courses, such as The Three Marks of Existence, are also available for download. 

Eiheiji monks chant the Heart Sutra. Shunryu Suzuki's basic meaning of the  kanji from the Sokoji chant care. I play it for a bed-ridden Japanese man raised Soto-shu  in a retirement home.

In the previous segment of UnMind, titled "the least important thing," I closed with a call for submissions; quoting myself: If you have any topics or areas of interest in Zen that you would like me to explore in 2025, please let me know. You know where I live. Having received little response, I can only assume that this podcast is not gaining much traction out there, in spite of near-weekly continuity for the past three or so years. Or that those of you who are following it don't have any topics of interest related to Zen, at least none that you would like me to take up. Or some combination of both. In this segment, the last one of the year, let me start with the obvious: the fact that actually, you do not know where I live. That is, none of us really knows what the rest of us are going through, on a year-in-year-out, day-to-day, hour-by-hour, moment-to-moment, basis, except in the most general sense. And that's okay. But we have to wonder whether everyone else is dealing with the same kinds of issues, such as anxiety over aging, sickness, and death, those personal dimensions of dukkha that Buddha taught we all face. Anxiety stems from the unsatisfactory nature of living in the face of impermanence, imperfection, and insubstantiality, universal aspects of the koan of existence. Are you feeling the angst? Can you remember when it first dawned on you that this life — which seems so substantial, so perfect in so many ways, and that we once took to be permanent — is insidiously deceptive in that regard? That the causes and conditions of it are not part of what you bargained for, opting into birth? Assuming you had any choice in the matter. Few of us would credit a claim of any real intentionality on our part that preceded birth. But in fact Buddha does, explicitly — or at least implicitly — in his explication of the Twelvefold Chain of Interdependent Origination. It is his model of how things got to be the way they are — including, most crucially, our own presence in this world of sentient being. According to this cogent analysis, we come into being owing to our very desire to exist — the desire for knowing, or consciousness itself. Considered dispassionately, how could there be any simpler explanation for life? Upholders of theism would have us believe that there is a separate intent to life, an intelligent "designer" operating behind the scenes, as author and director of its creation. The adherents of deism hold that the creator god is not directly involved, but simply got the ball rolling, perhaps by means of the Big Bang. Atheists deny outright any possibility of such disembodied intent, and agnostics try to walk the tightrope between belief and disbelief, according reality to the limitations of their senses and intellectual understanding. No woo-woo, in other words. Most religious thinkers are resistant to the idea that we are simply a fluke of some kind, the result of a secular-reductionist chain of events beginning with material elements combining physically in a random process; yielding organic chemistry; leading to one-celled organisms; finally culminating in human beings, the absolute apex of evolution, or God's greatest creation. In our human opinion, anyway. Most rationalist thinkers would probably push back on the equally simplistic notion that some creator god is to be given credit, or to be blamed, for our being here, and its corollary, that we have to pass the test of Her intent. On the one hand, this doctrine conveniently relieves us of the burden of accepting responsibility for our own existence; on the other, it tasks us with noodling out exactly what that intent might prescribe for the behaviors and attitude adjustments necessary to pass muster. One logical consequence of this notion is that we assume that our reward will be in heaven, if anywhere, but certainly not on this earth. But we cannot escape or postpone the inevitable onset or aging, sickness and death, simply because we hold to a belief, however compelling. Unless you believe in a scientific possibility of eternal life as suggested by sci-fi speculations such as technologically-enhanced consciousness, uploaded to digital hardware and/or downloaded to new bodies, or the same old carcass rejiggered with endlessly replaceable parts, grown in tanks from genetic sources. With apologies for that discursive ramble into weirder pastures, let us return to the focus of Zen on the present reality of the moment, devoid of any beliefs — religious, scientific or fantastical — that we may tend to turn to for comfort. The Heart Sutra of Buddhist liturgy — a central, condensed summary of Buddha's teaching chanted on a frequent basis in Zen centers, temples and monasteries around the world — takes us through a long litany of what might appear to the uninitiated to be a thoroughgoing denial of reality as we know it. Testimony as to what the iconic "Bodhisattva of Compassion" (Skt. Avalokiteshvara; Ch. Quanyin; J. Kannon) realized through meditation begins with the cryptic statement that s/he "clearly saw that all five aggregates are empty and thus relieved all suffering." Remember that this model of the "five aggregates" (Skt. skandhas) represented the best science of the times as to what, precisely, sentient existence consists of, in its ultimate finality. Today we would paint a much more complex picture, but Buddha had to work with the sum total of information available at the time. Then he goes on to reduce all of reality to one fundamental dyad, which, like all dual pairs, cannot be separated: Form does not differ from emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form; form itself is emptiness,emptiness itself form; sensations, perceptions, formations, and consciousness are also like this. Form, or appearance (Skt. rupa), constitutes our normal cognizance of the material world, with its near-infinite variations — the "myriad things," or "ten-thousand things" — and the names we give to them (Skt. nama), taken together as "name and form" (Skt. namarupa), "the one and the many," for short. This would be roughly equivalent to current terms such as phenomena and noumenon: particular things, and unitary sameness as their essence. This is a thread running through Zen teachings, indicating the nonduality of duality, or the "Harmony of Difference and Equality," as the famous Ch'an poem, "Sandokai," would have it. In our modern idiom, we would speak of the interchangeability of matter and energy. The other four skandhas — Sensation, Perception, Impulse, and Consciousness itself — are similarly subject to deconstruction, though their position on the spectrum of energy and the psychological plane makes for a more convoluted analysis. Suffice it to say that the prefatory phrase, "given Emptiness" (Skt. sunyatta) indicates that all five are not what they seem to be, just as solid, liquid or gaseous matter is permeated with space, as we know today. The monolog then goes on to negate all of the familiar dimensions of consciousness, including the Six Senses or realms (Skt. dhatus) of the Buddhist model of awareness: Therefore given emptiness there is no form; no sensation; no perception;no formation; no consciousness — no eyes; no ears; no nose; no tongue; no body; no mind — no sight; no sound; no smell; no taste; no touch; no object of mind; no realm of sight; no realm of mind-consciousness. That last, the non-reality of "mind-consciousness" itself, indicates that the various findings, conclusions, and recommendations for practice, as well as all broader implications of insight into reality deriving from it, must also be set aside: There is neither ignorance nor extinction of ignorance; neither old age and death nor extinction of old age and death; no suffering; no cause; no cessation; no Path; no knowledge; and no attainment. So where, we might be forgiven for asking, does that leave us? According to Zen, right back where we started. Nothing has changed; nothing that is not already real and true can be revealed by our meditation. Sitting still enough, upright enough, and long enough will simply allow us to see the delusionary aspect of our own interpretation of our own consciousness. "Until we come to no consciousness also," as the first translation that we recited at the Zen Buddhist Temple of Chicago expressed it. Let that percolate for a moment. If indeed Buddha, or Avalokiteshvara, or any one else, can come to a state of "no consciousness" — and come back from it, alive and well — what are we to make of that? This ultimate finality is what I like to call the "singularity of consciousness" —"That of which there is no whicher," as Alan Watts, my brother's favorite commentator on all things Zen, put it. The AI summary leading off the search results (which may be the go-to virtual Zen master, or "buddha of the future," otherwise known as Maitreya) paraphrased: to describe something beyond comparison, an ultimate reality or absolute that cannot be measured or ranked against anything else Which is eerily similar to a concluding section of the longest Ch'an poem in Soto liturgy, the Hsinhsinming—Trust in Mind: No comparisons or analogies are possible in this causeless, relation-less state; take motion in stillness and stillness in motion; both movement and stillness disappear; to this ultimate finality no law or description applies. So there you have it. All things are like this, to cadge another repeat Dogenism. Let me close with best wishes for a happy new year; a happy new month; week, and/or day; happy morning, afternoon and evening; a happy hour or half; a happy minute, second, or moment. They are all equally empty. As the same poem reminds us in closing: The Way is beyond language for in it there is no yesterday no tomorrow no today.

When considering what to offer for her ODA practice, Lisa considered chanting or reading from a more traditional Buddhist text such as the Heart Sutra. She found, instead, that reading the words of Audre Lorde resonated more deeply in her body at this time. And co-host Dana Takagi offers some context on Lorde from Lisa before she reads.  Please enjoy, Lisa Nakamura reading an excerpt from "Learning from the 60s", a talk given by Audre Lorde as part of the February 1982 celebration of Malcolm X Weekend at Harvard University. LISA NAKAMURA (she/her) is the Gwendolyn Calvert Baker Collegiate Professor of American Culture and Digital Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is also a core faculty member of the Asian American Studies Program, the Film, Television and Media department, and the English department at Michigan. Lisa is the author of four books on racism, sexism, and the Internet and her book “The Inattention Economy: Women of Color and the Internet” is forthcoming in Fall 2025 from University of Minnesota Press. She has published research on Asian stereotypes in massively multiplayer online games, the connections between virtual reality, empathy, and racial and disability justice, the overlooked role of indigenous women in postwar electronics manufacture, and on cross-racial and cross-gender role play in anonymous digital environments like chatrooms and games. lisanakamura.net

[This episode originally aired on October 18, 2022]  In continuing our exploration of the prajna paramita, I'd like to focus on the inseparable trio of prajna (knowledge or wisdom), shunyata (emptiness), and compassion (karuna)  •  according to Trungpa Rinpoche, the freshness of prajna insight and the warmth of compassion are always connected  •  this challenges some common assumptions: that intelligence or sharpness of mind is harsh and aggressive; that compassion and love are fuzzy, soft, and weak; and that both compassion and sharpness of mind are solid and fixed  •  in the famous teaching called “The Heart Sutra,” the three main characters embody this inseparable trio  •  there is the Buddha, who is sitting in meditation; there is Avalokiteshvara, who is the embodiment of compassion; and there is Shariputra, who is the student asking questions  •  to embody and practice the prajna paramita, we need to empty ourselves of our preconceptions, and we also need to let go of our sense of attainment in having done so. 

On activating compassion through our simplest offerings of forgiveness, care, gratitude and respect. (0:30) - Japanese rituals for beauty, harmony, and love. (10:00) - Cleaning and its connection to healing and mindfulness. (16:36) - Organizing and decluttering, with a focus on the importance of forgiveness and creating more space in life. (24:49) - Healing, self-care, and relationships. (31:48) - Buddhist teachings, suffering, and healing through interconnectedness and self-reflection. Paula Ara was raised in Detroit by a Japanese mother, and did Zen training in Japan. She obtained her Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from Harvard University in 1993 and is now the Eshinni & Kakushinni Professor of Women and Buddhist Studies at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California. She is the author of Bringing Zen Home: The Healing Heart of Japanese Women's Rituals, Women Living Zen: Japanese Soto Buddhist Nuns, and Painting Enlightenment: Healing Visions of the Heart Sutra. Her work has been a tremendous force in my own spiritual formation.