IN THE HEART OF A DIAMOND

The Teachings of the Heart and the Diamond Sutra

The Way of the Bodhisattva is our way, our own path of pathlessness.

We are all joined in Bodhi which is awake and sattva which is living being some of the time.

So at times we are very awake, meaning being very conscious and aware, and then we are Bodhisattvas.

As you read this something in you may wake up.

At that moment you are a Bodhisattva.

If you could keep that presence, that light, alive in you every moment, you would be a Bodhisattva, just like Our Blessed Mother, Guan Yin, bringing love and compassion in every moment to every living being.

There, you see, you felt it in the moment your mind and heart became very still reading this, acknowledging this.

You already see in yourself the potential for a Bodhisattva here and now.

Guan Yin in Chinese, Quan Am in Vietnamese, Gwaneum in Korean and Kannon in Japanese is Avalokiteshvara in India and Tibet.

His/Her Name means the One who hears the cries of the world and acts to help. The gift She gave to help is the Heart Sutra also known as the Prajnaparamita Sutra which means the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra.

It is one of most widely chanted, read and discussed sutras in monastic and lay communities throughout the world.

Both the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh have written and spoken extensively on its understanding.

What is something simple we can do to work with the Heart?

Developing a simple skill like compassionate listening.

Being a compassionate listener means listening with an open heart, the whole heart, as often as you can.

Divine Mother hears the cries of the world and acts to help, to alleviate suffering.

She helps through compassionate listening. This means to listen with only one purpose. To help another empty their heart of all suffering.

We can do the same. Here is the ABCDE of compassionate listening to help guide you.

All – all interactions with others can be learned from, both the effective listening times and the ones where you weren’t listening. All can bring wisdom.

Body – check in with your body to see if you are present. Just for an instant. Where are you? Somewhere else in your mind or very awake and alert and listening?

Clarity – clarifying questions like “Do I understand what you are saying correctly?” or similar helps us to give feedback that we are present and confirms whether we have heard the other person correctly.

Depth – try to understand why someone is connecting with you on a deeper level. Are they asking for advice or do they just need to share? Are they connected or somewhere else?

Eye – eye contact helps you connect, rather than gazing around at other things which doesn’t.

Keep a note of when you really listened effectively and also other times when you were not present. Don’t judge yourself. Learn. Both kinds of interactions invite wisdom. Wisdom arises when learning occurs. Everything you experience is part of your own path to learning and wisdom.

The Diamond Sutra is also a Prajnaparamita Sutra called Vajracchedika Prajnaparmita, a gift from the Blessed Mother guiding us in meditation so that we can cut through illusion, the veil, like a diamond, vajra or thunderbolt. With the consciousness of a diamond.

What is something simple we can do to work with the consciousness of a Diamond?

Developing a simple skill like surrender.

Let Divine Mother breathe

Let Divine Mother walk

I am a lazy monk.

When I surrender everything to Divine Mother, She is doing everything.

In the beginning we see ourselves and Divine Mother quite differently.

As we grow, we stop seeing ourselves like the waves, which are form, the separate self, and we realize we are the water, immersed in the ocean of Divine Mother’s Love. She is in us every moment.

How do we work with this?

The simplest is Deity Yoga, where you visualize yourself as the deity, master, angel, saint, guru of your choosing and walk and breathe as them throughout your day.

Let Divine Mother breathe

Let Divine Mother walk

The kaleidoscope of your reality will be revealed to you. You are cloud, lotus, deer, eagle, wave, ocean, god and goddess, all this and much much more. The infinite potential of your being is secretly hidden in the simplest way – by opening the heart of a lotus and the mind of a diamond.

You are wrapped in Divine Mother’s blanket.

She is there through all your births and ever will be.

You are Her Child.

She and you have always had the greatest kindness, tenderness and gentleness towards each other.

Be that unto yourself.

Be that unto others.

You carry the golden flame of enlightenment within you.

Let it shine.

This is the mantra of the Heart Sutra, the Prajnaparamita Sutra, the Sutra of the Blessed Mother.

ག༌ཏེ༌ག༌ཏེ༌པཱ༌ར༌ག༌ཏེ༌པཱ༌ར༌སཾ༌ག༌ཏེ༌བོ༌དྷི༌སྭཱ༌ཧཱ།

Gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi swāhā

Go beyond your self, go beyond what you know, go beyond the breath, empty yourself, bathe yourself in Divinity.

This is the consciousness of the Diamond Sutra, the Vajracchedika Prajnaparmita Sutra, the Sutra of the Blessed Mother.

All composed things are like a dream,

a phantom, a drop of dew, a flash of lightning.

That is how to meditate on them,

that is how to observe them.

The Buddha himself stated that just knowing these four lines of the Diamond Sutra or the mantra of the Heart Sutra in your heart would bring enlightenment and was better than if you filled the entire world full of gifts and treasure.

Christ gave the same promise when he said “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

And Krishna said “The ultimate treasure lies buried within your heart.”

This will help you transcend the illusion, the veil, and transport yourself to the shore of liberation and beyond.

Love and Blessings

Altair and Mother