Emptiness and the

Heart Sutra

A Home Retreat with Tejananda

and Friends

Visit the dedicated website

🧘 🧘 Seven days of meditation, lively exploration,
and strong, supportive friendship: a space to
explore why the wisdom of emptiness is, precisely,
compassion.
Led by Tejananda and friends
Friday November 4th till Thursday November
10th 2022
The Heart Sutra is one of the most familiar of all
Buddhist texts and, inevitably, there are
innumerable takes on ‘what it means’. How do we
square the opening statement that the skandhas
(our psycho–physical constituents) are ‘empty’ with
the following one that ‘in emptiness’ there are no
skandhas, no senses, no conditioned–arising? Early
western commentators saw the sutra as full of
paradox – but what if it is not an attempt to
bamboozle our minds, but a hands–on method of
practice and realisation?
What to expect
These are some of the questions that we’ll be
exploring on this retreat:
• We’ll see how our belief in an intrinsic, substantial
‘me’, separate from the rest of the world, has no
basis in actual experience and is the underlying
cause of suffering.
• We’ll see how and why the wisdom of emptiness
is, precisely, compassion.
• And we’ll approach emptiness not as a topic of
‘Buddhist philosophy’, but as a direct way of
realising our deepest nature, from which we are
never apart.
 oin Tejananda and friends for a deep dive into the
nature of reality and love.
Please note, the clocks in the US and Canada go
back in the middle of this retreat. The session times
are as follows (changes marked in bold):

November 4-5
First daily session (2 hrs): USA PST 01:00 |
México 02:00 | USA EST 04:00 | IE & UK 08:00 |
Europe CET 09:00 | India 13:30 | Australia AEST
19:00 | New Zealand NZST 21:00
Second daily session (1.5 hrs): USA PST 08:00
| México 09:00 | USA EST 11:00 | IE & UK 15:00 |
Europe CET 16:00 | India 20:30 | Australia AEST
02.00 (next day) | New Zealand NZST 04.00 (next
day)
Third daily session (1.5 hrs): USA PST 12:00 |
México 13:00 | USA EST 15:00 | IE & UK 19:00 |
Europe CET 20:00 | India 00:30 (next day) |
Australia AEST 06.00 (next day) | New Zealand
NZST 08.00 (next day)

November 6
First daily session (2 hrs): USA PST 01:00 |
México 02:00 | USA EST 03:00 | IE & UK 08:00 |
Europe CET 09:00 | India 13:30 | Australia AEST
19:00 | New Zealand NZST 21:00
Second daily session (1.5 hrs): USA PST
07:00 | México 09:00 | USA EST 10:00 | IE & UK
15:00 | Europe CET 16:00 | India 20:30 | Australia
J
AEST 02.00 (next day) | New Zealand NZST 04.00
(next day)
Third daily session (1.5 hrs): USA PST 11:00 |
México 13:00 | USA EST 14:00 | IE & UK 19:00 |
Europe CET 20:00 | India 00:30 (next day) |
Australia AEST 06.00 (next day) | New Zealand
NZST 08.00 (next day)

November 7-10
First daily session (2 hrs): USA PST 00:00 |
México 02:00 | USA EST 03:00 | IE & UK 08:00 |
Europe CET 09:00 | India 13:30 | Australia AEST
19:00 | New Zealand NZST 21:00
Second daily session (1.5 hrs): USA PST 07:00
| México 09:00 | USA EST 10:00 | IE & UK 15:00 |
Europe CET 16:00 | India 20:30 | Australia AEST
02.00 (next day) | New Zealand NZST 04.00 (next
day)
Third daily session (1.5 hrs): USA PST 11:00 |
México 13:00 | USA EST 14:00 | IE & UK 19:00 |
Europe CET 20:00 | India 00:30 (next day) |
Australia AEST 06.00 (next day) | New Zealand
NZST 08.00 (next day)
Parallel versions of the Heart Sutra
(from the Triratna Puja book)

From the Chinese version, tr. Bodhin Kjolhede

The Bodhisattva of Compassion,

When he meditated deeply,
Saw the emptiness of all five skandhas
And sundered the bonds that caused him suffering.

Here then,
Form is no other than emptiness,
Emptiness no other than form,
Form is only emptiness,
Emptiness only form.
Feeling, thought, and choice,
Consciousness itself,
Are the same as this.

All things are by nature void,

They are not born or destroyed;
Nor are they stained or pure,
Nor do they wax or wane.

So, in emptiness, no form,

No feeling, thought, or choice,
Nor is there consciousness.
No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind;
No colour, sound, smell, taste, touch,
Or what the mind takes hold of,
Nor even act of sensing.
No ignorance or end of it,
Nor all that comes of ignorance;
No withering, no death,
No end of them.
Nor is there pain, or cause of pain,
Or cease in pain, or noble path
To lead from pain;
Not even wisdom to attain.
Attainment too is emptiness.

So know that the Bodhisattva

Holding to nothing whatever,
But dwelling in Prajna wisdom,
Is freed of delusive hindrance,
Rid of the fear bred by it,
And reaches clearest Nirvana.

All Buddhas of past and present,

Buddhas of future time,
Using this Prajna wisdom,
Come to full and perfect vision.

Hear then the great dharani,

The radiant peerless mantra,
The Prajnaparamita
Whose words allay all pain;
Hear and believe its truth:
gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha
From the Sanskrit version as edited by E. Conze

OM homage to the Illustrious Noble Perfection of

Wisdom

Noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva, practising

the profound way of the perfection of wisdom,
observed with penetrating analysis and saw five
skandhas empty of intrinsic existence.

Regarding these [skandhas], Shariputra: form is

emptiness, emptiness itself is form. Emptiness does
not exist separately from form; form does not exist
separately from emptiness, That which is form is
emptiness; that which is emptiness is form.
Likewise: feeling, determinative perception, volition
and consciousness.

In these [skandhas], Shariputra, all phenomena

(dharmas) are characterised by emptiness. They
are not arisen, not ceased; not stained, not
stainless; not deficient, not complete.

Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness, form does not

exist, nor feeling, nor determinative perception, nor
volition, nor consciousness. There is no eye, ear,
nose, tongue, body, mind. No form, sound, smell,
taste, touchable, or mental object. No eye-element,
up to and including no mind-consciousness
element. No ignorance, no destruction of ignorance,
up to and including no old age-and-death, no
destruction of old age-and-death. No suffering, no
cause, no cessation, no path. No Knowledge. No
attainment, no non-attainment.

Therefore, Shariputra, because Bodhisattvas have

no attainment, they rely on the perfection of
wisdom and dwell without mind-obscurations.
Because their minds are without obscurations, they
are unafraid. Going beyond confused views, they
attain complete nirvana.

All Buddhas of the three times, relying on the

perfection of wisdom, are fully awakened to the
utmost, perfect awakening.

Therefore, one should know the perfection of

wisdom to be the great mantra, the mantra of great
knowledge, the unsurpassed mantra, the most
unequalled mantra, the mantra that calms all
suffering; one should know it to be real because it
is not false. In the perfection of wisdom, the
mantra is recited thus: gate gate paragate
parasamgate bodhi svaha.
Some Resources

🎧 Listen to talks on the theme of the Heart

Sutra.

📖 Read "The Complete Works of

Sangharakshita Volume 14: The Eternal
Legacy / Wisdom Beyond Words" (containing
Sangharakshita's much-loved commentary on
several Perfection of Wisdom texts)

📺 Catch up on all the live sessions from the

retreat.

🎨 Join our Padlet board and share with

other fellow retreatants!

🖥 Join us on more live events from The

Buddhist Centre Online