The Way of Chan with Guo Gu

“There is no suffering, no cause of suffering, no cessation of suffering and no path.”The Heart Sutra “Suffering can be experienced as possibilities, change, or even new beginnings. “Guo Gu The Heart Sutra, a key text in the Prajnaparamita genre, offers profound teachings on the nature of things. Guo Gu has often emphasized throughout his series of talks that the Heart Sutra critiques the early Bu...

“There is no ignorance and there is no ending of ignorance through to no aging and death and no ending of aging and death.” The Heart Sutra “Our fundamental ignorance is the progenitor of the 12 links of dependent origination…a temporal analysis, a process-oriented description of the ways in which we create suffering.” Guo Gu Guo Gu deftly guides through the causes that lead to our selfing and oth...

"In voidness there is no form, and no sensation, perception, volition or consciousness; no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; no sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, thought; there is no realm of the eye all the way up to no realm of mental cognition” The Heart Sutra “We need to experience the world through relationships.” Guo Gu Guo Gu elaborates on the 18 Realms of Consciousness, consisting...

Guo Gu on The Heart Sutra “Form is not other than emptiness and emptiness not other than form.” — The Heart Sutra “The whole Buddhist project is about building new relationships with the world.” — Guo Gu This video is a continuation of a series of commentaries by Guo Gu on "The Heart Sutra" , one of the shortest Mahayana scriptures that expound the core message of Buddhism. The Heart Sut...

Guo Gu on The Heart Sutra “The juncture at which the sense organ connects to the sense object is where practice happens.” — Guo Gu Much like Avalokiteśvara awakened through the contemplation of sound, Śāriputra awakened through the contemplation of sight. Guo Gu provides us with a simple practice upon which to build this contemplation. Since 2023, GuoGu has been offering a series of talks on the H...

“The whole point of the Heart Sutra is freedom.” — Guo Gu This video is a continuation of a series of commentaries by Guo Gu on "The Heart Sutra" , one of the shortest Mahayana scriptures that expound the core message of Buddhism. The Heart Sutra is also one of the most important scriptures in the Chan/Zen tradition. The series will continue every first Monday of each month and will last...

Guo Gu on The Heart Sutra Guo Gu on The Heart Sutra “What is it like when the Five Skandhas are empty? We are no longer disturbed by vexations … and can reside in the miraculous functioning of conditions.” — Guo Gu This video is a continuation of a series of commentaries by Guo Gu on "The Heart Sutra" , one of the shortest Mahayana scriptures that expound the core message of Buddhism. The Heart Su...

Guo Gu on The Heart Sutra “Suffering only exists because of me, I, mine. Contemplation of the Five Skandhas reveals the emptiness of self.” — Guo Gu This video is a continuation of a series of commentaries by Guo Gu on "The Heart Sutra" , one of the shortest Mahayana scriptures that expound the core message of Buddhism. The Heart Sutra is also one of the most important scriptures in the...

Guo Gu on the Five Skandhas “Liberation is to be free of the Five Skandhas.” — Guo Gu This is the first of several talks on the Five Skandhas that Guo Gu will give as part of his series of commentaries on The Heart Sutra . The Heart Sutra is one of the shortest Mahayana scriptures that expound the core message of Buddhism. The Heart Sutra is also one of the most important scriptures in the Chan/Ze...

Guo Gu explains how our attachment to fixed identities and possessions can lead to suffering, and how understanding the interdependent and impermanent nature of existence can lead to liberation. Guo Gu also touches on the concept of emptiness, a key tenet found in early Prajnaparamita literature, which recognizes that nothing has a fixed or independent existence. This video opened a series of comm...

The Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara reached enlightenment by “perceiving the sounds of the world.” Guo Gu introduces two methods for contemplating sound. The first is to use a particular sound as an object of meditation. The second is to be aware of the sounds during daily life. In both instances it is important to put most of our attention on relaxing and grounding the body. This video is the second i...

Guo Gu explains how our attachment to fixed identities and possessions can lead to suffering, and how understanding the interdependent and impermanent nature of existence can lead to liberation. Guo Gu also touches on the concept of emptiness, a key tenet found in early Prajnaparamita literature, which recognizes that nothing has a fixed or independent existence. This video opened a series of comm...