What the Buddha Taught Class 8: Emptiness and the Heart Sutra

The Heart Sutra is a central teaching in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. It is chanted in many Buddhist communities as a practice which leads to an understanding of the nature of emptiness.

In this class, we will study and chant the Heart Sutra and explore how we may glimpse emptiness in our meditation and in our daily lives. The emptiness we discover in the Heart Sutra is not the emptiness of despair; it is the emptiness of liberation. It is the essential basis of compassion.

Jean Plough started meditation in Shambhala in 1974. She is a visual artist, usually doing colorful abstract work. She taught at various public schools in Philadelphia for 34 years. She also taught online for University of Phoenix. Jean belongs to Muse Gallery in Old City, and manages a small gallery at Settlement Music School, Germantown. She enjoys hiking, visiting her sisters, and taking care of her dog and cat. Her teacher is Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.

Marilia Marien has been practicing meditation for over 20 years. She has been studying and practicing within the Shambhala community since 2008 where she is a teacher and meditation instructor.  Marilia’s passion for helping others learn and apply meditation and mindfulness to their everyday lives developed out of her personal interest and experiences with meditation and other contemplative practices.  Marilia is a certified teacher of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT).  She specializes in training and coaching mental health and allied healthcare professionals who want to learn mindfulness to enhance their well-being and/or integrate it into their professional work.