“Turning the Dharma Wheel” means transmitting the Dharma from mind to mind, generation after generation. To accomplish this, we must listen to the Dharma before we share it with others.
The Matanga Sutra
Khenpo Sodargye offers an insightful and accessible teaching on The Matanga Sutra, skillfully adapting the ancient Buddhist wisdom into practical guidance for navigating the challenges of modern life, particularly those related to desire. With his characteristic clarity, Khenpo illuminates the nature of worldly love, explaining how emotional attachment can be both a source of suffering and an opportunity for spiritual growth. He encourages contemporary practitioners to reflect deeply on their own attachments and to apply appropriate methods of Dharma practice in daily life.
The sutra recounts the story of Venerable Ananda, who, while collecting alms, encountered a young woman known as Matanga’s Daughter. Struck by Ananda’s presence, she became deeply infatuated with him. With the help of her mother’s magic, she confined him in an attempt to win his affection. Ultimately, the Buddha intervened. When Matanga’s Daughter was brought before him, the Buddha asked her what she found so captivating about Ananda. As she described his physical features, the Buddha compassionately taught her about the impermanent and impure nature of the human body. Through contemplating this teaching, Matanga’s Daughter attained the realization of an arhat.
For monastics, frequently reciting The Matanga Sutra helps maintain their precepts pure. For lay practitioners who experience particularly strong desire, this teaching can also lead to a realization of the body’s true nature. Building on this foundation, one can gradually come to recognize the true nature of the mind as well. At this point, one realizes that desire is, in essence, the inseparability of clarity and emptiness. The desire in one’s mind stream is then completely transformed into wisdom, eradicating all suffering.
Audio Recording (with simultaneous English translation)
Video (with simultaneous English translation)
Now my mind has fully awakened, like a lamp lit in the darkness; like a shipwrecked person reaching the shore; like a blind person being guided; like an elder walking with a staff.
