Hello Everyone. Tashi Delek.

I am very happy to be able to recite prayers together with all of you for the pandemic to subside. We will recite prayers for seven days starting from today. Today on the first day, we will recite the Heart Sutra and the Repulsion of Maras.

As all we know, the Heart Sutra is an important Mahayana Sutra, It teaches emptiness and interdependence. At this time, when the Coronavirus is spreading all over the world. We can clearly see the meaning of interdependence. We can see that we each dependent upon each other, and there is no such distance between us and others as we thought. If we had a deep understanding of interdependence, maybe the coronavirus would not spread so widely in the world. But we naturally have very solid ego clinging. We think each country are different and separated. And we are only concerned about the things which affect us, and don’t take other things seriously. Yet, every breath we take, connect us with everyone.

And this pandemic shows how much we are affecting each other, and how much we are connected. This is a situation that we will never forget in our entire life. So I think it will be very helpful if we reflect on our life experience, and the meaning of the Heart Sutra together. The shorter we make the distance between the Dharma and our lives, the more we will see that there is no difference between the person and the Dharma they practice. The Dharma and the individual will become one, and we will become what we call the Dharma practitioners.

Next, we will recite the Heart Sutra together. I will recite it slowly. If you can recite it along with me that is fine, or else recite it however you wish. The main thing is do not get distracted. It is important to think about the meaning. Thank you.

Prayers for Pandemic to Subside Day 1: The Heart Sutra with the Repulsion of Maras