Taking the Heart Sutra to Heart

Non-residential retreat

One of the best known pieces of Buddhist scripture is probably the Heart Sutra. Along with a few other major books, it is part of what is known as the Pranjaparamita or Perfection of Wisdom literature in Buddhism. All of these Perfection of Wisdom texts are pithy and direct teachings on the nature of Reality. They were intended for personal reflection practise, and were never meant to make sense to your logical mind. But in order to fruitfully use these words and thoughts in our reflections, it is essential that we are familiar with them and have some sense of where they are pointing us. And the primary aim of this weekend is to create a greater familiarity and understanding of where the Heart Sutra is pointing you.

Once you know what the words are pointing at, reciting the The Heart Sutra in the Triratna Buddhist community's Seven-Fold Puja will have more meaning for you. You might even decide that you want to memorise it to help further, which many people over the centuries have done.

On this non-residential weekend retreat we will be exploring what the Heart Sutra says. We will be looking at different translations, reciting it in the shrine room and forming our own personal connection with the material. We will even go so far as to use all the different translations, some of which are very inspired, to compile our own version of the Heart Sutra to help us connect with it more personally.