Join Kazuaki Tanahashi and Roshi Joan Halifax
in discovering the boundless nature of reality.

The Heart Sutra:
An Online Course Exploring Wisdom Beyond Wisdom

One of the most beloved scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism, the Heart Sutra is chanted daily around the world in dozens of languages by millions of practitioners. For Zen Buddhists—and many others—the sutra expresses the nature of reality in ways both profound and paradoxical. In this online course, Kazuaki Tanahashi and Roshi Joan Halifax collaboratively explore the depths of the sutra’s teaching through talks, chanting, readings, and group discussions.

Using Kaz’s book The Heart Sutra: A Comprehensive Guide to the Classic of Mahayana Buddhism as its text, this course delves deep into the history and lived experience of the Heart Sutra, posing questions and drawing connections to help you integrate this precious teaching into your daily life and awareness, whether you are encountering the sutra for the first time or have chanted it for decades. We invite you to join these two remarkable and wise teachers in exploring the boundless nature of all existence through this core text.

The Heart Sutra: Exploring Wisdom Beyond Wisdom from Shambhala Publications on Vimeo.

In this course you will have the opportunity to:

• Engage with a new translation of the Heart Sutra and explore the enigma presented by this classic text
• Consider the process of translation and the challenges of translating across languages, time, and cultures
• Explore Sanskrit terms used in the Heart Sutra and compare them to their English translations
• Examine the concepts of “wisdom beyond wisdom” and shunyata, or “zeroness”
• Study the historical context of the Heart Sutra
•  Experience the Heart Sutra from a scholarly perspective and explore the limits of this scholarly approach
• Deepen your experience of the Heart Sutra by chanting it as part of your regular practice
• Explore a new interpretation and application of the mantra found at the end of the Heart Sutra

The course includes:

• Six video talks by Kazuaki Tanahashi and Roshi Joan Halifax—each about 45 minutes­­ to 2 hours in length—with transcripts and audio versions available
• Guided reading assignments for each lesson and a 50% discount off The Heart Sutra by Kazuaki Tanahashi
• Practices and contemplations to help you integrate the teachings into your daily life
• Unlimited access on your computer, mobile device, or tablet—learn at your own pace wherever and whenever works best for you

Register for this course through Prajna Studios