Satya Robyn leads an evening Pure Land Buddhist service during COVID-19 lockdown. A Dharma reflection explores how Amida Buddha accepts all of us, even the personal struggles the isolation brings out. The group chants Namo Amida Butsu together and dedicates merit.
Chapters
Alas, people busily engaged in secular matters take no notice of life wearing away day by day, night by night. Like a lamp in the wind, how long can it last? In the six realms of vast samsara, there is no fixed abode. Until we are emancipated from the sea of affliction, how can we rest in peace? While still young and strong, let us each hear the Dharma. Let us strive and diligently seek the path to eternity.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabh.
Amitabh.
Amitabh.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
A, a, mi, ta, ba, a, mi, ta, ba, a, mi, ta, ba.
Aami taapa. Aami taapa. Aami taapa.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Welcome, Richard, and welcome, Badra. It's really lovely to see your smiling face. Pia, after not being able to get in last week. So I wanted to start with a quote by Honan from this beautiful book by John Paravaskopoulos. I'm not sure if that's how you pronounce his name, but I think that's close enough.
I think that's right.
Yeah, and it's just, it's a book of There's some essays by him, but also lots of quotes by various Pure Land teachers from through the ages. This is by Honin: Amida Buddha does not discriminate between one who observes the precepts and one who violates them, nor does he discriminate between the poor and the wealthy, and pays no regard to social class. His power changes our karmic nature like a stone or tile turned into gold. Through the Nembutsu, Amida also promised that he will come to welcome all devotees without exception. I wanted to say something this evening about the nature of Amida Buddha as being all accepting, and I'm sure that all the Buddhas are all accepting, but it's something that Amida Buddha is particularly known for, and that's been on my mind because of the situation we find ourselves in. That what I've noticed as I talk to my clients and to friends and colleagues is that all sorts of, all sorts of messy parts of us are being illuminated by this situation. I'm thinking, I was thinking just then of Pema Chödrön's lake or big lake and you can see all the kind of the junk in the bottom. It feels like pandemics are pretty good at illuminating our junk, and I've been quite interested in the junk that's been illuminated in me. It's kind of changing over time, but I've really noticed my dependence on sugar when in times of crisis. I've noticed my need for for small distractions, like being able to go for a cup of coffee with a friend, and what happens when those things are taken away, how my whole system sort of starts getting a bit cranky or a bit wobbled. I've noticed that the part of me that feels guilty for not doing enough to help other people has been really loud. Like I should be doing much more. I've got some free time, I should be delivering groceries to elderly people, I should be volunteering as a therapist for the NHS. That guilty part's been really loud. I've noticed the, the part of me that really relies on being able to plan, and not having a date for the end of lockdown or Not knowing whether certain things in the future will be going ahead or not is really hard. And, you know, there's just some examples of the many, the many bits of junk that have been— had a light shone in them in my system. And I'm sure— I'm not sure, but you may have some of your own. What's really struck me is how how carefully I had managed my life before to sort of minimize the effect of those things, that I kind of got away with not having to see those things. And we're incredibly blessed in terms of our situation here where, you know, the temple practically backs onto the Malvern Hills, so we can walk our dog every day on the hill. We've got a lovely garden, we've got our own flat, plenty of food, enough money coming in. You know, we're, we're not in the position of many people who have young children at home, who are juggling work and child care, who are on the front line. I've been speaking to someone this afternoon who works in care homes and supporting the kind of traumatized workers who are dealing with the situation there. And yet it still is affecting— it's still, still, there's kind of layers and layers of being affected. So what's really helpful for me to remember when I notice that these parts of me getting, getting seen is to Remember that the Buddha that I am in connection with is all accepting, that he doesn't need me to keep the precepts, he doesn't need me to be good, he doesn't need me to do anything. If I was just gonna lie on the sofa all day, tell my clients I was taking 6 weeks off, Amida would love me just as much. And that is really hard for me to believe. That is really, really difficult to trust because so much of my self-worth depends on me being a certain way. It's a really radical message. It's a radical message of love. When I can get little glimpses of what it's actually like to lean into that love, to lean into that acceptance, what happens is, ironically, the parts of me that are trying to protect me and keep me safe and prop me up, they all just relax a little bit. And I find that I don't have to eat quite so much sugar, or I do feel more generous. So there's a real sort of paradox in that for me, I'm at my best when I don't have to be at my best in order to be loved. And that's what a relationship with Amida offers us. It's hard for human beings to offer that all the time, or even some of the time, so we have this always available source of acceptance and love from the Buddha, who sees— he's already seen all of this junk, the things that we're just really seeing about ourselves. He knows it, he's seen it, and he's seen all the rest as well that we're not even anywhere near seeing yet. He's already there. We can trust that. So as we go through the service, as we sit in silence in a minute, and as we chant the liturgy, just imagine that all your junk is being shone on, it's got the golden light on it. And as Honen says, that there's something about that rubble, that tile, that stone being changed into gold by that love. Without us having to do anything at all. Well, we need to take refuge, we need to lean in. Namo Amida Butsu.
Namoha Mithabu. Namoha Mithabu. Namoha Mithabu.
Hamita bu. Hamita. Hamita bu. Hamita bu. Hamita bu. Hamita.
Amitabh Buddha—
Amitabha?
Namahamita!
Namoh Amida.
Namoh Amida.
Namoh Amida bu. Namoh Amida bu. Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoh Amida.
Namoh Amida.
Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoha Amitabhu! Namoha Amitabhu! Namoha Amida!
Namoha Amida!
Namoh Amitabha.
Namoh Amitabha. Namoh Amitabha. Namoh Amitabha.
Namoh Amida.
Namoh Amida Bu. Namoh Amida Bu. Namoh Amida Bu. Namoh Amida.
Namoh Amida.
Namoh Amida Bu. Namoh Amida Bu.
We're now going to recite evening service together. If you don't have a service book, we've sent the file in the chat box on Zoom. If you're on YouTube watching later, we'll put the link in the description so you can download it. And the evening service is on pages 13 and 14.
With body, speech, and mind humbly I prostrate and make offerings for Satya Robyn and imagine I confess my wrong deeds from all time and rejoice in the virtues of all. Please stay until samsara ceases and turn the wheel of Dharma for us. I dedicate all virtues to Great Enlightenment. The ground sprinkled with perfume and spread with flowers. The great mountain full and sun and moon. Seen as a Buddha land and offered thus. May all beings enjoy such pure lands. By the grace that I receive through Amitabha's vows, may I be moved to deeds for the benefit of all. By the grace that I receive through Amitabha's vows, may I be moved to deeds for the benefit of all. By the grace that I receive through Amitābha's vows, may I be moved to deeds for the benefit of all. The purpose of our practice is to be a pure container wherein the common passions mature as higher wisdom. The preliminary outlook comes with bowing and contrition, facing up to my obstructions and seizing life's first essence. Devotion to my teacher ends my smugness and dejection. Held by his compassion, I will find a straight direction. By refuge vows and precepts, recitation of the sutras, I grow through every challenge. In Bodhisattva aspiration, cooperation in a sangha brings so many joys and freedoms. Through gentle words and gestures comes collective transformation. Settled faith and inner cleansing brings us home to life's great meaning. In the Four Divine Abidings, Buddha's light is always with us. Multitudes are disconcerted by impermanence and difference. With Dharma as true refuge, we dwell within the pure land. Now gratitude is overflowing. Going forth, returning richly, I offer gifts of Dharma, Buddha's pathless bestowing.
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 all.
Infinite is the Buddha's way.
We vow to fulfill it completely.
Invocation of the Kalanātha.
Hail to the mandala! Let our soul be engulfed within its praises evermore, that by our own wills and vigilance may we our fetters cut away. May we within the temple of our own hearts dwell, Avishta Myriad Mountains.
Hail, hail, hail.
Invocation of Maha Kala.
Let us be engulfed within the mantra of the Sangha of Buddha.
Hail, hail.
The Arrow of Emptiness.
Hail, hail.
Invocation of Vairochana Buddha.
Hail, the Beneficent Mystic, the Treasure.
Hail, hail.
The Golden Bell that Rings Part One.
Peace upon the pillow, macaron, macaron, macaron.
I'd like to transfer the merit from this evening's service to Margaret Hines and to my great uncle Trevor, who died today. Namah Kwan Shinbutsu.
Namah Shivaya.
Satya Robyn. By your power and through your grace, a pure land appears.
So now we'll bow to each other, and hopefully there's a Buddha somewhere in your room. If not, you can bow to ours. Namu Amida Butsu. Thanks for joining us. I'll stop the recording in a minute, but just a reminder that there will be a meeting on Saturday, and we'll be back every Wednesday and every Saturday until things change. Amoni debu.
