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Meaning Of The Heart Sutra
In response to the request of students in Singapore, Lama Dondrup Dorje Rinpoche gave a three-hour discourse on the Meaning of the Heart Sutra in Singapore during his recent visit there. In spite of the short length of the sutra, which contains only 260 words in its Chinese version, Heart Sutra (Sherab Nyingpo) embodies the heart essence of the teaching contains within the 25,000 verses of the Sutra of the Great Perfection Of Wisdom. It was Lama Dondrup Dorje Rinpoche’s intention to give only a brief explanation on the meaning of this sutra due to the lack of time available and the vastness of the subject involved, but he succeeded in conveying to the students the message behind the sutra through a concise explanation that covered both the Tibetan version of the sutra as well as the much shorter Chinese version.
Lama Dondrup Dorje Rinpoche first gave a historical account on the origin of this sutra before directing the attention of the students methodically through the different levels of understanding which begin with the perspective from the human view points that habitually centre upon the fixation of the Relative Truth, which comes into being due to the presence of the five aggregates. This was followed by examining the sutra from the perspective of the Universal Law and the dynamics between the presence of sense organs and the objects of attention, and the reason why one who is not separated from the Ultimate Truth may attain liberation from the karmic conditions of worldly suffering. He then directed the students’ attention to the Law of Causes and Effects, which gives rise to the karmic conditions that are inter-dependently related through the past, the present and the future.
The final three sections of his discourse covered the Way of the Bodhisattva, the Attainment of Buddhahood and the concluding part, which sum up the message of the Heart Sutra. Lama Dondrup Dorje Rinpoche will return to Singapore in September to give further teaching on Buddhadharma and Classical Qigong.