“There is no ignorance and there is no ending of ignorance through to no aging and death and no ending of aging and death.” The Heart Sutra

“Our fundamental ignorance is the progenitor of the 12 links of dependent origination…a temporal analysis, a process-oriented description of the ways in which we create suffering.” Guo Gu

Guo Gu deftly guides through the causes that lead to our selfing and othering, and subsequently our suffering. He does this from the temporal perspective of the 12 links of dependent origination, beginning with ignorance through to aging and death. On one level we are concerned with the links in our present life, but Guo Gu reminds us that the Heart Sutra was written by a bodhisattva, and dives into the perspective of continual birth and death, called Dependent Origination of the Three Times. This is the way of the bodhisattva, never leaving the cycle of birth and death in order to benefit all beings.

This video is a continuation of a series of commentaries by Guo Gu on "The Heart Sutra", one of the shortest Mahayana scriptures that expound the core message of Buddhism. The Heart Sutra is also one of the most important scriptures in the Chan/Zen tradition. The series will continue every first Monday of each month throughout 2024. Each talk will be independent, but we encourage you and your friends to attend all sessions. During these Monday sits, we will begin with a short period of meditation followed by the Dharma talk. There will be opportunity to ask questions and to socialize a bit after the talk.

More information can be found at: https://tallahasseechan.org/heart-sutra