What is true wisdom? It’s not what you think.
July 28, 2025 | 13 CommentsAudio only version is here
Meditation practice begins at 15:42
Hello, wonderful Open Heart Project. I hope you are well and I send you my love.
In the last 6 weeks, I’ve been sharing thoughts with you about the six paramitas or transcendent actions. Today we come to the sixth: transcendent wisdom. (If you want to review the previous paramitas, you may do so here, although it’s not necessary:
Generosity
Discipline
Patience
Exertion
Meditative Absorption
It is very easy in the current climate to forget that wisdom is real and completely available to you. Please have a listen to this short talk about it all.
Many thanks for your attention to the paramitas. How was the series? Did it benefit you? I hope so! Let me know in the comments.
With love,
Susan
PS: I know we are all wondering WTF and how can we create more goodness in this chaotic world. I have one suggestion: learn to teach meditation. For real. When you teach meditation, you are also teaching clear-seeing, compassion for others and for this world, and courage to take potent action. Don’t take my word for that, btw.
Our 8-week Meditation Teacher Training begins on January 27. Stay tuned for more details. And if you have any questions about it, hit reply to this email and we are happy to answer them. xo, S
categorized in: dharma, meditation, teaching
13 Comments
These short, steady posts are of tremendous benefit to me…I am a sangha member and enjoy the deeper dives, but at times they are too deep for me. I do miss the 10-15 minute talks that precede these meditations. Are these chats being saved? It might be nice to hear them once in a while before you begin the daily 10 minute segments. Thanks for everything. Eileen Burns
Hi Eileen. Glad they’re helpful. Not sure what you mean about saving chats? Please clarify so I can respond in a helpful way! <3 S
The 10-15 minute talks…explanations…explorations …into the basics of Buddhist dharma, such as the one you do here in this post. I find the daily recorded 10 minute meditations, that are available via email from the Sangha, to be helpful and I enjoy doing them. But none of them include the 10-15 minute …explorations?….that these weekly videos do. I hope this helps! THANKS! Eileen Burns
aha! i get it now. thanks. all these 10-15 minute talks are on my site in the “blog” section. the daily 10-minute meditations are just meant to help you practice for the day. i thought it would be easiest if they were just meditations. but thanks for clarifying! love, s
OH! Thank you. I will check the blog section! Eileen
Very helpful for me today! Thanks
Glad to hear it! <3 S
I just finished a second reading of On Becoming An Alchemist, after throwing it down in frustration last year. This time, albeit cautiously, I stuck with the concept of magic. What I found is that it basically puts words to an indescribable feeling that I have had for years framed here most skillfully by Catherine McCoun. I admit to being a born skeptic, wary of “magic” that seeks to fool or trick. This sort of transcendent magic, however, doesn’t seem to be anything like that. Instead of obscuring, it flings open, expands and is delightful in the very bottomlessness beyond the words. No, I don’t understand it, and sometimes feel a little dazzled and helpless. But also amazed, grateful and freed.
I’ve participated in walks through the six paramitas several times over the years, and each time there is fresh nuance – thank you for sharing your own wisdom.
Sue May! How wonderful to read this. I have so much respect for your commitment to understanding–and your trust in yourself and in wisdom itself. These are keys to the journey.
I so relate to “puts words to an indescribable feeling…” — that is exactly how I felt reading this book. You can’t point to it exactly, but it offers some kind of a missing link, a connection to what has been felt but can’t be identified at the same time. Understandable that anyone would become frustrated; much more unusual to become frustrated but keep on going anyway.
A joy to read your words, thank you. xo S
I needed to hear this today. I very much appreciate your authentic and deeply honest way of sharing wisdom. Thank you🙏♥️
So glad it was useful. <3 Susan
These sessions are invaluable, challenging and cleansing in this time of organized demise.
Thank you so much, Susan.
You are very welcome, Tom. Hang in there. Organized demise can be followed by something…new. Here’s hoping.