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Mahāyāna Vipaśyanā Thirteen: A Guided Tour of the Avataṃsaka
Thầy is our tour guide of the fantastical Avataṃsaka Sūtra, leading our exploration of the vast, interconnectedness nature of the universe. Avataṃsaka is the sutra that teaches “…that every thought, every feeling, every word, and every act of ours has a strong, deep effect on every other living being and non-living being in the cosmos.”
Adopting the fanciful and mysterious style of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, Thầy begins with a teaching on the empty nature of bowing—the one who is bowing and the one who is bowed to are both empty, which is why true communion, true communication is possible.
Thầy introduces us to Indra’s Net—a holographic metaphor of light and jewels—that explains how every element of reality contains every other element.
He takes us on a mind-boggling journey to the Vairocana Tower where the notions of time and space and light, the notions of big and small, in and out all vanish.
Using both ancient and modern tales, Thầy, the gifted storyteller, invites us to embrace the teachings of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra in order to help us recognize interconnectedness and transcend illusions. He ends his talk with the teaching of The Wonderful Ten Doors that open to magical land of Avataṃsaka.
This is the tenth talk in a series of thirteen giving during the Looking Deeply in the Mahāyāna Tradition, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 1992. Thầy offered this talk at the Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France.
These teachings later appear in the book Cultivating the Mind of Love.
Part of the following collection
Mahāyāna Vipaśyanā Fifteen: To Be Loved, You Have To Be Lovely