There is a beautiful hush in the Temple, as many people try to observe silence before the sessions. There is time to settle our minds and let go of distractions. As we are trying to gain experience of the perfection of wisdom, Gen Rabten guides us in an initial powerful meditation on compassion. This is followed by the Heart Sutra to dispel obstacles and receive blessings and the actual meditation on the emptiness of the body. Finally, as we arise from meditation, we listen to the profound advice from Venerable Geshe-la given in Portugal on how to practice in the meditation break with respect to our body. "We are seeing or perceiving just an appearance, but we do not believe that it exists."

There is something so incredibly unique about what we are doing: over a thousand people in person, together with thousands online, meditating together on the "mere absence of the body that we normally see."