Satya Robyn leads a Bright Earth Buddhist service on unconditional love, Amida, and metta. Petra reads from Living Nembutsu, Kema guides the refuges and vows, then the leader gives a Dharma talk followed by silent meditation, chanting, and prostrations.
Chapters
Good morning everybody, especially to new people, and good morning online person. Namamida bu. So normally we start with a Dharma glimpse, but we haven't got any fresh ones at the moment, so Petra has agreed to read an extract from Living Nembutsu, which is a book we're doing as part of the book group at the moment. And it's from the introduction, so it's just like a little reminder of what we do.
Oh, Amida Buddha embraces all life in all forms. All are integrated parts of infinite life— birds, fish, animals, grass, plants, trees, and yes, even humans. Nothing is excluded, from the most complex to the smallest invisible cell. All awaken to truly live in Amida Buddha's infinite life. Namo Amida Butsu. 'Nam-myoho-renge-kyo' is a phrase that we recite in our main practice. 'Nam-myoho-renge-kyo' literally means 'I venerate' or 'I take refuge,' but in the Jodo-jinsu context, the meaning is more like 'I give thanks.' 'Amida' literally 'infinite boundless,' which serves as a contraction for 'infinite life' and 'boundless life.' This stands for wisdom and compassion. Butsu means Buddha, which indicates both an awakened being and the inconceivably liberated reality which awakens us all. This phrase is called the Nembutsu, mindfulness of Buddha. Pure Land Buddhists recite thankfully at services and throughout the day when we feel the Dharma ocean flowing through our lives, embracing and supporting us. Those who are particularly awakened to the presence of great compassion are said to have received jin shin, literally trusting heart and mind.
So we will now sit in silent meditation for about 10 minutes or so before going into some chanting. And for those of you that are new, the chants are on the— it's a very basic chant anyway— on the back of the liturgy sheet. Amitabha. Amitabha. So we will now, um, repeat the refuges and precepts. So, um, the refuges are the three, also known as the Three Jewels, are the, the three things we take refuge in, which is the Buddha, the of Dharma and Sangha, which is a group of people that follow Buddhist teachings. And then the precepts are guidelines we sort of try to follow in order to live a more spiritual life. So they're all repeat after me. And then Kema will lead us with the Bodhisattva vows, which are call and response, and those responses are written at the bottom of the liturgy sheet. For refuge I go to the Buddha.
Refuge I go to the Buddha.
The one who is awake and full of love.
The one who is awake and full of love.
Namo Buddha. Namo Buddha. For refuge I go to the Dharma.
For refuge I go to the Dharma.
All that guides us to wisdom and compassion.
All that guides us to wisdom and compassion.
Namo Damaya. For refuge I go to the Sangha. Those who live in the Buddha's light. Namo Sanghaya.
With faith in the Three Jewels.
And in light of my human tendencies. I pray that I may become aware— of when I take life. I pray that I may become aware— when I take what is not freely given.
Of when I take what is not freely given.
I pray that I may become aware— of when I fall into sexual misconduct.
Of when I fall into sexual misconducts.
I pray that I may become aware—
I pray that I may become aware of when I fall into wrong speech— of when I fall into wrong speech.
I pray that I may become aware—
I pray that I may become aware of when I become intoxicated— of when I become intoxicated.
No blame!
No blame!
Be kind!
Be kind!
Love everything.
Love everything. Innumerable are sentient beings, we vow to save them all. Inexhaustible are deluded passions, we vow to transform them all. Immeasurable are the Dharma teachings.
We vow to master them.
Infinite is the Buddha's way.
We vow to follow it completely. So this morning I was going to talk about unconditional love, and the reason will become apparent in a minute. I recently bought a pack of Buddhist oracle cards. 36 cards, each of which with a different Buddhist concept or philosophy on them. This was an idea that Kema came up with to use in our workshops as inspiration for writing Dharma glimpses. Since I started leading practice, I found choosing subjects for Dharma talks to be one of my biggest hurdles, so I decided to buy a pack of my own and give it a try. First card I pulled out was unconditional love. This threw me at first. I think I was hoping for something like karma, attachment, or the Four Noble Truths to come up, something more obviously Buddhist and possibly easier to write about. I contemplated picking another card but decided to persevere. When I think of unconditional love, the first thing that springs to mind for me is my daughter and grandchildren. But beyond that, what else do I feel unconditional love for? After some thought, it came to me. I have a deep and unconditional love for this planet that we live on. I don't just like or appreciate nature, I am deeply in love with it. It is something I've thought about a lot in the past and find hard to put into words. I don't have a favorite season, I don't have a preference for sunrise or sunset. I love all aspects of nature equally. When I'm immersed in the natural world, for example, sitting by a pool, walking in ancient woodland, or standing on top of the Morgans, I sometimes find it hard to believe that I have not already arrived in the Pure Land. I genuinely can't think of anything more perfect. Don't get me wrong, I understand that this world can be a harsh and cruel place to be sometimes, but I still love all of it. Even the unpleasant parts. For me, the natural world, including this planet and the infinite universes beyond, are synonymous with Amida or Amitabha, known as the source of infinite light, life, or love. This infinite love is also unconditional. Amida is not— Amida is not a creationist God, nor do they punish or reward. They simply are. The light, life, or love of Amida is there for all, should we choose to accept it. Having unconditional love for this world comes quite naturally for me. Having unconditional love for the people who inhabit it, including myself, does not always come so easily. There is a Buddhist practice called metta, which is concerned with cultivating unconditional love for all beings, starting by learning to love yourself. You then spread that love to friends, then to people you are indifferent to, Fourthly, to someone you are in conflict with, and then ultimately to all living beings. Here is an extract from an article about metta practice from Ariska Razak, and this is from the online Buddhist magazine Lion's Roar, and the article is called Loving Kindness: Meditation for All Beings and All Bodies. The Buddha asked the monks to cultivate love in their hearts for everyone. Regardless of the configuration of their bodies, how distant or close they lived, or their perceived worthiness or unworthiness. In his time, these instructions repudiated the unjust treatment of lower-class people. In our times, I believe metapraxis asks that we reject social oppressions such as racism, classism, homophobia, nativism, transphobia, ableism, antisemitism, and Islamophobia. In practicing metta, we relinquish feelings of anger, hatred, or superiority— feelings that lead to the othering of those different from us. So this is an unconditional love that we can aim for, something we can cultivate by practice. We don't use the term metta much at Bright Earth, but it translates as loving kindness, which is something we do practice. One way to practice loving kindness is to find our inner Buddha or Buddha nature, to accept the unconditional love of Amitābha within us all with gratitude, and to pass that love on to all living beings. Having unconditional love for all beings at all time is something we may never achieve, but it's something we could aim for in our practice. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings awaken to the light of their true nature. May all beings be free. No blame. Be kind. Love everything. I don't need the book. Um, so in a minute we'll make prostrations. After Kema Rings Bell, we'll make prostrations. So I'll go to the front, and it involves chanting and getting down on the floor. So do as much as you feel comfortable doing. Um, yeah. Now on the bell, we will bow to each other, first one side, then the other. Then there'll be a double bell, bow to the altar. Our seats, and bow to our seats. So there's garden sort of volunteer hour after cup of tea. Have a cup of tea first and then, um, volunteer hour in the garden if anyone's interested. There's a golden bowl in the hallway if anyone wants to donate any money. We can do it online. It's kirtan on the 2nd of February, Sunday evening, which is next weekend. Next weekend, yeah, which is devotional chanting and singing. I think there's anything else? So we'll finish with the closing verse, which is on the liturgy sheet.
Satya Robyn's child's eyes may be cared for all living things and the holy earth. I'll be back in a minute. I've brought these cards for David and Diarmuid doing this workshop.
Wonderful talk.
Thank you. That made me cry though. Again, I'm always making people cry.
Hold on, I'm just gonna—
It's lovely though. Have you stopped the recording? You've done it, haven't you?
No.
I said you've done it.
Oh, I'll try. Is that it?
Stop. Where? Just pause. That'll stop.
Yeah.
