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This is a gem of a talk from Abhaya. With his customary dry wit and sharp eye he leads us on the crazy paving path through the Diamond Sutra - a text guaranteed to turn your world upside-down. Some very funny parts to this talk - and some excellent evocations of rigorous Dharma practice as part of the everyday business of life. Watch out too for an intriguing discussion of the sutra as Vajrapani and as a zen master... Great stuff!
Talk given at the Western Buddhist Order national Order weekend 2003
| 1. | The sword and the book of Manjughosha (2:30) | |
| 2. | Three phases of Perfection of Wisdom (Prajna Paramita); cutting - the Vajracchedika; the Diamond Sword and the ordinary; Enlightenment here and now - the post office in Brundle (5:35) | |
| 3. | Ordinariness in Dzogchen - self-liberation through seeing with naked awareness (rigpa); Padmasambhava's upadesha; wanting to escape; our perception (3:01) | |
| 4. | Subhuti and the Buddha's dialogue - nonsense and abrogated logic; losing page 4 of the talk; the sutra as 'our sutra'; not rejecting the text (5:41) | |
| 5. | Hooked by the sutra; 'Clouded Dragon' by Sangharakshita - the 'central silence'; text as zen master; text as Vajrapani (3:34) | |
| 6. | Jewel Ornament of Liberation; Vajrapani and the animitta samadhi - no labels in Reality; dana paramita - no giver, no gift; the challenge of generosity (3:49) | |
| 7. | Hui Neng on 'unsupported thought' - free of emotional dependency; Conze's 21 ways; Vajrapani as the Buddha's Daimon; association with Akshobya (6:51) | |
| 8. | Anutpattika-dharma-kshanti; a reading from the sutra - Irreversible Bodhisattvas; the 8th Bhumi - achala (immovable) (3:38) | |
| 9. | Life as a dream, a game - spontaneous expression of creativity; making the wrong kind of effort; the spirit of acceptance (3:27) | |
| 10. | Merit does not equal Insight - readings from the sutra (3:53) | |
| 11. | Human and poetic touches; remembered echoes of early Buddhism; images at the end of the sutra (3:34) |
Total running time: 45:33
