Dear Friends,

You are warmly welcomed to join Judy, Maggie and Rose for our dharma sharing and meditation session together.Usually, the facilitator will open and introduce the session, and provide a question to be a point of reflection and discussion in small group sharings. After this will be a guided meditation to close.
Our theme for February is "The Insight That Brings Us To The Other Shore". Let’s begin by reminding ourselves that it’s not unusual to not understand the teachings the first time we hear them. Thay tells us that when we listen to a Dharma talk we just allow the Dharma (teachings) to penetrate the soil of our consciousness. We try not to think too much. We don’t compare or argue in our minds about the topic. Playing with words is like trying to catch rain in buckets. Just allow your consciousness to receive the rain and the seeds buried deep within will have a chance to be watered (Cultivating the Mind of Love Ch1).There are many teachings in this Prajnaparamita Sutra - The Insight That Brings Us to the Other Shore. Let’s take our time. Let’s not pressure ourselves but enjoy the music of the words. If we hear one thing that we feel will be helpful for our daily practice, that’s enough.What is the insight that brings us to the Other Shore?We have insight when we understand that everything is empty of a separate self. Thus we can’t describe anything as permanent, pure or having a self. And they also cannot be characterized as being impermanent, impure or lacking a self. This is considered to be the highest wisdom, it has gone beyond conventional wisdom and thus is called ‘prajnaparamita’ and leads us to the other shore (Red Pine, The Heart Sutra, pp30-31). Or, as Thich Nhat Hanh would teach, to be or not to be, that is no longer the question. The question is one of interbeing (The Other Shore, p28).