This week’s meditation session is led by Kimberly Brown and the theme is Open-Mindedness. The guided meditation begins at 09:44.

The Perfection of Wisdom Sutra is one of the earliest recorded and most important sutras. It presents the means to comprehend and perfect the essential Buddhist wisdom—namely that the self is a construct. The Perfection of Wisdom Sutra developed concepts that later became known as the Greater Vehicle, or Mahayana movement. This sutra is a quintessential expression of open-mindedness, teaching that the self is a construct rather than a fixed reality.

The Buddha’s oral teachings were recorded as sutras and envisioned as images. The practice of reciting sutras is intended to help practitioners forge a sense of wisdom. At the time of their writing, the sutras represented the latest development in Buddhist philosophy and practice.

With the intention of generating merit, wealthy patrons commissioned artists and scribes to create decorative manuscripts such as this one. These remarkable works serve as objects of devotion. Reciting sutras is associated with purifying spaces, and generating well-being and prosperity. Most importantly, hearing the sutras is said to deepen one’s connection with the teachings.