Intensive reflectionretreat on the Diamondsutra

The Diamond Sutra: Listening, Reflecting, and Meditating

On this retreat, we will immerse ourselves in a key Mahāyāna text, the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramita. This is commonly known in English as the Diamond Sutra or, in Śraddhāpa’s translation, The Piercing Thunderbolt of the Perfection of Wisdom. The Diamond Sutra is an extremely popular text, revered and recited daily by thousands of Buddhists across the world, but it is also dense, repetitive, and at times confusing. Śraddhāpa will guide participants through his translation of the sutra from Sanskrit in a series of talks.

The structure of the retreat will be based on the teaching of the three levels of wisdom: listening, reflecting, and meditating. Śraddhāpa will give a talk on a section of the sutra each morning, with ample opportunity to ask questions and gain intellectual clarity about what the text is saying. In the afternoons there will be time to reflect on…