CARL JEROME, from North Shore Meditation & Dharma Center in Highland Park, Ill., is going to offer another one of his insightful teachings. This time he will present his scholarship of the DIAMOND SUTRA, one of the shorter Prajnaparamita Sutras.

“Indian tradition assumes that without a commentary a holy book is incomplete. In the case of The Diamond Sutra it is quite obvious that a bare translation cannot possibly convey its full meaning." (Carl Jerome)

“The use of the Diamond Sutra in practice has varied somewhat through time. With the appearance of written and printed scriptures, the sutra became one of the most important texts in the development of a ‘cult of the book,’ and the text of the Diamond certainly promotes this.

Today the sutra is mainly chanted in ritual, institutional contexts. In contemporary practice the chanting (intoning) of the words of the sutra are more important than thinking about the meaning of the words while chanting. In this practice chanting is a form of meditative concentration (and in this way the meaning of the sutra is absorbed).

In the West the sutra is increasingly treated as an essay whose study deepens one’s understanding of the Dharma and the path to liberation.”

(Edited Notes from the Minnesota Zen Center)

The workshop will be broadcast by zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3499053117?pwd=RWlleFJLM0NoTGRLY1JkWlN6QUllZz09

Please register for the workshop (if you come in person or attend by zoom) by email: info@mkzen.org

Fee: $40 (membership discounts apply). It incudes a light vegan lunch.
Teacher donations are encouraged!