This content was created by Satya Robyn. This content was uploaded by Satya Robyn. This is a YouTube recording titled "Autumn Equinox: change, loss and acceptance" (recorded 2021-09-22) of a guided Buddhist/Zen service or group meditation held in a shrine room with a few in-person participants and at least one Zoom attendee. SPEAKER A leads the session, offering reflections on the autumn equinox, change, loss and grief (including a Taoist story about Chang Tzu and a personal reference to a father‑in‑law in hospital), then guiding a period of quiet breath meditation, chanting the name Amitābha with other participants (SPEAKER B, C, D) and reciting refuges and precepts. The leader also cites a short phrase attributed to Satya Robyn’s Zen‑priest friend Terry Keenan. The content is instructional/spiritual rather than a conversational interview or multi‑party discussion.
Chapters
Welcome everybody. So we are joined by one person on Zoom at the moment, and there are 7 of us here in the shrine room, so a little bit quieter than last week. It's the autumn equinox today. Halfway between the longest day in the summer and the longest night at winter. So today the daylight hours and the nighttime hours are exactly the same length. So it's a time of change, and it's a time of moving into autumn. And autumn is a time of dying in the natural world. Leaves fall from trees, most flowers Finished. Slowly the natural world becomes bare and cold. Life continues underground, but the most obvious change is of decay. And I've also been thinking about change and death and dying because my father-in-law is in hospital. He's actually feeling brighter today, but these ideas around loss and grief and how we are with change, how we process Grief has been with me, and today I've been remembering an old Taoist story. I think— I didn't look it up, and maybe I should have done. I think it's a story about Chang Tzu, and when his wife died In the evening, his friend came to see him, and Cheng Tzu was completely calm and at ease and quite light-hearted. And his friend says to him, why aren't you crying? Why aren't you upset? Your wife has just died. And Cheng Satsang to replies. This morning I was really tearful and upset and grieving, and now I feel peaceful. There's a time for being upset, and there's a time for being grounded and calm and at ease. And he said, Everything has its time. Every person has their time. Like a leaf falling from a tree, it's a natural process. And what I really like about this story is that it includes two really important things. One, that we do feel the feelings. He's not blanking out his emotion. And two, this much broader perspective of time where everything lives and dies, and there's a sense of ease with that. I do wonder if this really happened in the course of a single day, or if the story has changed. In the telling. Like Romeo and Juliet, in the original Italian takes place over many weeks and months, and Shakespeare set it over just a few days because it makes for a more exciting story. For most of us, the grieving process is something that takes time, not just one morning. But understanding that it is part of a natural cycle can bring a sense of ease with that, if we are also acknowledging the very real loss at the same time. So for me, both of these things are really important: permission to feel the feelings and feel the loss, and permission to, to take a step back and understand that it's part of a larger cycle, and that as well as living and dying, we are always connected to each other even though the form our lives take may change from lifetime to lifetime. When a leaf falls from a tree, it doesn't disappear but becomes part of the soil, part of the humus, and those nutrients go back into the earth and feed other plants and feed the trees again. And there is a cycle. Of rebirth. And although I've been thinking of losing people and what that is like, we experience small griefs all the time, and the process is the same even if the scale is different. We go to a restaurant and they're out of the dish that we were really hoping to have that evening. We come to a town and the temple is closed when we expected it to be open. All of these things create a little grief, a little mix of feelings. And it's important in all of these different situations, large, medium, and small, to acknowledge, oh, this is how that's affected me, and I can also see the bigger picture. Namamitabodhi. So now we'll go into a time of quiet meditation together, and the invitation is to follow the breath which is always changing. Not trying to breathe in any particular way, just noticing how it is moment to moment, long or short, deep or shallow. Noticing the pause between breaths. And when other thoughts and feelings come to interfere or distract will bring us news, gently asking them to step back and returning awareness to the breath. In a moment, we'll recite the name of Amitabha Buddha together. Amitabha is the Buddha of infinite light. Who loves us just as we are. So we can receive the blessing of the Buddha without needing to do or be anything in particular. And the word of the chant is simply the Buddha's name, Amitābha. Amitābha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Let's sit quietly together. For 3 or 4 minutes. Thank you, everybody. So in a moment, we will recite the refuges and precepts together, which are on the piece of paper. We are adding in an extra 3 lines after the precepts: be kind, no blame, be kind and love everything, which come from Satya Robyn's Zen priest friend Terry Keenan, and I think sum up the whole of the spiritual path very nicely. And I probably didn't need to say any other words this evening if I said those 6 words. So we'll do this. I'll say it first and then repeat after me. For refuge, I go to the Buddha. For refuge, I go to the Buddha. Namo Buddha. For refuge I go to the Dharma. Namo Dhamma. For refuge I go to the Sangha. Namo Sangha. With faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may not take life. I pray that I may not take life— —in The Three Jewels . With Faith In The 3 jewels...? ...With Faith In The three jewel...? "I Pray That I May Not Steal." ..."In" "...three Jewel..." ...with Faith In The trois Juwles ...faith In The tres Jojuelos . With Faith In The três jojoelhos , With Faith In The trí juoouls , With faith In The trígiosuuls ..., I pray that I may not fall into wrong speech. I pray that I may not fall into wrong speech. With faith in the Three Jewels. With faith in the Three Jewels. I pray that I may avoid intoxication. I pray that I may avoid intoxication. No blame. No blame. Be kind. Be kind. Love everything.
Love everything.
In your words and teachings, we vow to save them all.
In exhaustible ardorated passions, we vow to transform them all. Immeasurable are the Dharma teachings. We vow to master them all.
Infinite is the Buddha's way.
We vow to fulfill it completely. We'll now make prostrations or full bows to the Buddha. We go down to the floor if our bodies allow, and as we bow, we recite Namo Amida Butsu, which means I take refuge in the Buddha of infinite lives. In gratitude, I offer this incense to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas throughout space and time. May it be as fragrant as Earth herself, reflecting our careful efforts, our wholehearted awareness, and the fruits of understanding slowly ripening. May we and all beings be companions of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. May we awaken from forgetfulness and realize our true home. So when Phi rings the bell, first we'll bow. To one side and then the other side to say thank you to the people that we're practicing with, and then to the Buddha. And we tie our seats and bow to our seats. And then we'll read the closing verse together, which is on the piece of paper, if you want to join in. Blessed by Amitābha's light, may we care for all living things. And the Holy Earth. I'll just stop the Zoom recording.
