His Holiness begins three-days teaching on ‘The Heart Sutra’
DHARAMSALA, 4 Nov: His Holiness the Dalai Lama began three-day teaching today at Tsug-lag-Khang, the main temple in McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala.
The Dalai Lama began by greeting and welcoming all the devotees who have braced all the odds and came from different parts of the world to attend his three days discourse on ‘The Heart Sutra’ (sherab nyingpo).
Addressing specifically to his Korean devotees on whose request the teaching is being held, the Dalai Lama said, “You Koreans have come again to listen to teachings and I thought we could look at the ‘Heart Sutra’, which is both simple and difficult.”
“Today, since we have three days, I’ll give an introduction to the teachings and I’ll see if we can begin the ‘Heart Sutra’. Tomorrow, I’ll also explain the ‘Three Principal Aspects of the Path’, which is short and has been translated into Korean.” the Dalai Lama added.
Ahead of his actual discourse on ‘The Heart Sutra,’ the Tibetan Nobel Laureate said that as we’ve made great material progress in the 21 century, we might caution what is the benefit of the religion but having said that every major religious tradition irrespective of whether they believe in the creator god or not they carry the same message of love and compassion.
The Dalai Lama also encouraged making the rich and profound knowledge of Buddhism on mind into an academic subject rather than confining it to a mere religious text.
He further stressed on the Buddha’s message to his every devotee that encourages them not to blindly follow his teaching but instead conduct an investigation and examine it.
Further, highlighting that everyone seeks happiness and not suffering, His Holiness added, “If you want to avoid suffering, you should seek out its causes and examine whether they can be eliminated. Similarly, once you recognise the causes of happiness you should cultivate them, much as we plant seeds in the earth and nurture them with water and manure until they bear fruit.
The morning teachings from 4-6 Nov. is being held at the request of the Tibetan spiritual leader’s devotees from Korean. While the Dalai Lama conducted the teaching in Tibetan, translations are available in English, Chinese, Hindi, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Mongolian Spanish, German and French.
Over six thousand devotees in total, of which 2000 had come from 60 countries around the world have gathered to attend the first day of teaching at Tsug-lag-Khang.
