Seven-Day Retreat Held at Holy Vajrasana Temple

From February 7-14, 2020, students came to Sanger to hear and read a preliminary translation of Imparting the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra. They then continued for a class in Rosemead on February 15 at the Amitabha Temple of Compassion and Wisdom. Although the Sanger classes focused on the Buddha Master’s details of each word in the title of this sutra, the group also heard the discourse given at the end of that book that offered what needs to be done to realize the absolute truth of prajna. It is not enough just to hear or read these teachings, or even to be able to understand them, you must also practice the dharma to realize them in your everyday life to receive benefits from them.

Serving and receiving Oryoki lunch.
Serving and receiving Oryoki lunch.
Oryoki Lunch served at February 2020 retreat.
Oryoki Lunch served at February 2020 retreat.

Since many attending are or have been trained extensively in the Theravada tradition, the class also studied what the sutra said about the Four Noble Truths represented in the Heart Sutra as “…no suffering, no accumulation, no cessation, and no path…” and how they relate to the twelve links of conditioned origination and the Mahayana tradition.

While in Rosemead they listened to a bilingual recording of the recently released discourse by the Buddha Master on “Taking Refuge to Become a Buddhist Disciple and Practicing According to the Teachings of the Buddha Will Eradicate All Sins, Including the Retributions of Descending to Hell. You Can Naturally Become a Great Holy Person with Enormous Supernormal Power, Boundless Good Fortune, and Be Free from Birth, Aging, Sickness, and Death.” This discourse was listened to again at the Sunday class held on February 23 at the Sanger temple and will be repeated again at the class to be held the next Sunday, March 1 in Hesperia.

Chanting at Amitabha Temple of Compassion and Wisdom in Rosemead, California.
Chanting at Amitabha Temple of Compassion and Wisdom in Rosemead, California.

Later in the day, the retreatants and those joining the group in Rosemead were able to go to the Holy Miracles Temple in Pasadena to meet and receive another discourse from H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III. CLICK for article on that meeting. Many from that meeting adjourned to a nearby private temple to discuss their meeting and hear a reading of another preliminary translation of a discourse given by the Buddha Master.

Reading a preliminary translation of a Dharma Discourse in Pasadena, California.
Reading a preliminary translation of a Dharma Discourse in Pasadena, California.
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