Indestructible Heart Essence
Summary: A student on the Discovering the Heart of Buddhism distance learning course finds the first coursebook rather facile. Lama Shenpen explains that the purpose of the seemingly simple exercises is not to define terms but to get the student to explore their own experience, which will be the basis for the whole course and indeed a lifetime of practice.
A Student asks:
The first coursebook asks me to define terms like ‘heart’ but I already know what they mean. Why do I have to do this? It feels very elementary.
Lama Shenpen replies:
The first coursebook isn’t really about defining terms. It is about exploring what language we are going to choose to use for talking about the essential point of the path. It is often referred to as the Indestructible Heart Essence or the True Nature of Mind. But such expressions are mere terms. The question is what is it in ourselves that we are seeking to discover. What happens when we say ‘heart’ to ourselves: What does it evoke? That is not about a definition but pointing each person to something in their own experience, whatever that is, absolutely honestly. What happens when you let that word trigger a response in you? It is that response that I am getting you to explore and be as honest about as you can whether that response is positive or negative, simple or complex, strong or weak. Only you know. It is nothing about definitions.
It’s not about learning anything. It is about homing in on your experience, whatever it be. There is no difference here between a great meditation master or anybody else under the sun – their experience is their experience and always will be.
Student:
I have tried to be open minded, and have carefully read the text and exercises, but I haven’t completed any of them.
Lama Shenpen:
I am not sure there is any such thing as completing any of the exercises. They are pointers and nudges in a certain direction that you might find helpful. They are carefully structured to follow the way most of us think, but there is no right answer to any of them. They are leading somewhere but only somewhere in yourself – they are not really exercises that one could ever complete.
