Satya Robyn leads an evening Buddhist practice with Reverend Kaspar Lietzer and others. The service includes a Dharma talk on climate change and Buddhist responses, chanting, prostrations, and Pure Land invocations.
Chapters
Namomi debu. Welcome to our Wednesday practice, and celebrant this evening will be Reverend Kaspar Lietzer with no beard. Lovely to have you all here. Namomi debu. 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? Should we not be afraid? While still young and strong, let us each hear the Dharma. Let us strive and diligently seek The path to eternity.
Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh.
Amitabh.
Amitabh.
Good evening, everybody. Just before service, I checked social media for the first time in a couple of days because we've been taking a couple of retreat days, and I realized that it was Earth Day. And where I'm sitting right now, I'm really fortunate to be able to see a particularly beautiful slice of the earth through the window. The holly bush at the end of the garden is moving in the wind a little bit. Beyond that, I can see a red Japanese maple tree, a church steeple, and then fields and trees stretching across the valley until the Cotswolds on the other side. And it's been perfect weather for being on retreat for a couple of days— bright sunshine. Without being too hot. And it's also ludicrously sunny for this time of year. Last year I was talking to somebody about the record temperatures we were having, and they said, don't think of it as the hottest year in 25 years, think of it as the coolest year for the next 25 years. Because the climate is changing. And that, uh, coming into relationship with that can provoke a real anxiety and a fight or flight or freeze response. In the fight response, we feel that we must do something, we must try and make a change, we must work something out to make the situation better. In the flee response, we just rush into distraction, denial, burying our head in the sand. In the freeze response, well, we freeze. We don't know what to do, we don't know which way to turn. I think a lot of that response is created by thinking of the enormity of the climate crisis and of trying to work out how to get from this situation that we're in into a better situation. And there's a lot of value in that way of thinking, but it can also lead to this real emotional, uh, stuckness with things because it just feels too big. And the reality is we don't know how things are going to turn out. So what might the Buddha's take on this be? Well, the Buddha wasn't a utilitarian. He didn't believe that the ends justified the means. He didn't try and work out what the greatest good for the greatest number of people was. He wasn't thinking about how he could change the world in order to get the particular result that he was looking for. The Buddha was interested in liberating people, and liberated people naturally respond to the— whatever situation they're in, in a way that is loving and kind. So as Buddhists, I suppose there are two key ways of thinking about the climate crisis, or two key ways we can approach the climate crisis. The first is to let go of outcomes, to stop trying to think about this particular result or that particular results, and to focus on what is the right response to this situation, what is the right action, what is the right thought, what is the right speech, what is the right livelihood at this moment in our planet's history. Because that question is always a live question for Buddhist practitioners, regardless of what time in history we're in, regardless of what's happening to the people around us. The question is, in this moment, what is the response that I can make that is loving? What is the response that I can make that is kind? What is the compassionate thing to do in this moment, trusting that regardless of what the particular outcome is, it is good to do good, good for goodness's sake, or for nothing's sake, for the sake of emptiness, we might say in Buddhism. There is something of supreme spiritual importance in this, that actually we don't do good to try and manipulate the world into being the sort of place that we want it to be. We do good because it's the right thing to do. And as I settle into that myself, some of my own anxiety disappears because I may not always do good. Well, I don't always do good, but I can work with my own heart. I can work with my own practices. I can remember that doing good for goodness' sake is what my intention should be. And as Pure Land Buddhists, the second thing to keep in mind is that whatever is unfolding in the world around us, and whatever is unfolding in our own hearts, whether we can manage to do good for goodness' sake or not, we are accepted and loved by Amida Buddha. And as we really, as a species, really profoundly mess things up in our ecosystem, this can be hard to believe. People like us. And yet it's true. People like us are accepted by the Buddha just as we are. I often think about time when I think about these two aspects of practice. Being accepted just as you are is a timeless truth. It is always true regardless of where you are on the spiritual path, and realizing it and having your heart opening to that— Shinjin, awakening of faith. Can happen to somebody who has just committed the worst atrocities, and can happen to somebody who has been virtuous their whole lives, because the Buddha's love is unconditional. Nirvana is unconditional. And yet it is also good to do good and to cultivate the virtues. This is something that happens in time. We start from the place we are, inspired by the Buddha's teachings and the Buddha's love. We continually learn, we continually find out how we can make a compassionate response. Both of these things— remembering both of these things is crucially important at this time. To let go of outcomes and focus on how can I make a kind response, a compassionate response? What is my growing edge in virtue? And to know that regardless of where you are in that journey, the Buddha accepts and loves you just as you are. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
Satya Robyn is now going to perform prostrations to this shrine here. You're welcome to join us in that in your own space, either physically or just by joining in with the chanting and bowing from where you are.
Namoh Amitabhu! Namoh Amitabhu! Namoh Amitabhu!
Namo Amida!
Namo Amida! Namah Amitabha. Namah Amitabha. Namah Amitabha.
Now recite Evening Service together, which is on pages 13 and 14 of your service books. And if you want to look online, the link for the service books is in the chat box.
With body, speech, and mind humbly I prostrate and make offerings both set out and imagined. 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. Through 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 path bliss 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 Akalanatha.
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 amidst the myriad mountains.
Hail!
Hail!
Hail!
Invocation of Mahakala.
Let us be engulfed within the mantra of the Sangha of Buddha.
He he.
The Arrow of Emptiness.
He he.
Invocation of Vairochana Buddha.
Hail, beneficent mystic, the treasure!
Hail, hail, the golden bell that rings but once!
Peace upon the people! Sobat to each other.
