Satya Robyn leads an evening Pure Land Buddhist service with chanting of Namoh Amida, a dharma talk on intention and the Buddha's compassion, and ritual recitations. The temple announces temporary closure due to coronavirus.
Chapters
One, two. One, two. One, two. Just not moving very much, I guess.
But this will be recorded.
What, you can clip afterwards? Okay. Do you want to talk? I'll just go out and check that it's up here.
Yeah. Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoh Amida. Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoh Amida.
It's okay, we'll just have to stay for a bit.
It's portable. Put it there. That help? You're much further forward than me now, that's required. Okay.
Yeah, I actually need to be further back from you because I'm so much taller.
Yeah, exactly.
It looks very disproportionate. Your camera's really blurry.
2 people are there.
Good evening everybody, welcome to the live stream of the Amida Mandala Buddhist Temple service. Satya Robyn doesn't like my radio voice. I'm just going to clean the lens and see if that makes any difference.
It's made it worse, it's blurry now. See, the candle's blurred.
I don't know why the camera's so bad. Apologies. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Apologies for those technical difficulties. So we're just going to do a normal evening service. Please feel free to join in from where you are around the world. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
We're waiting till half 7 then. 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 seas 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.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh.
Amitabh.
Aami.
Ta.
Aami. Ta. Amitabh. Amitabh. Aamiitama. Aamiitama. Aamiitama. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Aami ta. Aami ta. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Ameesha. Ameesha.
Good evening everybody, particularly welcome to the new person. Satya Robyn just whispered in my ear there's somebody who's joining us for the first time. It's very strange to be here in a room that is empty of bodies apart from Satya Robyn and myself. A couple of days ago, we made the decision to close the temple to public gatherings to help do our part to slow the spread of the coronavirus and ease stress on the health service. Most people have been very supportive. Some people think we should be doing more. Some people think we're taking it far too seriously, which shows me something about— I don't know— the difficulty of keeping everybody happy. And also something about how we don't have a crystal ball, so we make a decision based on the best information we've got, and maybe it's right and maybe it's wrong. In Buddhism, intention is one of the most important things. Karma is often described as intentional intentional action. And I remember years ago a Tibetan teacher telling me that it's like a multiplier. And I don't know, maybe he was thinking of computer games, whereas if you— when you go over a certain icon, then anything you do for the next 30 seconds you get double points for, or 10 times the amount of points for. And intention in Buddhism is a bit like that. It multiplies the effect of what you're doing. If you're doing a good If you intend a good act and you do something good, it has extra power in it. And really, we don't— we learn to be wise over time, and we learn what better and worse choices are over time, but we never have the full information. So we We can't make the right choice all the time because we simply don't know what all the factors are. What we can do is pay attention to our intention, which is a bit of a tongue twister. Pay attention to our intention. Have we got the best interests of ourselves, our community, and for Buddhists, all sentient beings at heart? And the reality is sometimes we do and sometimes we don't. Sometimes we're simply thinking of our own safety. Sometimes we're triggered into being upset and we act from that place. Sometimes we're afraid and we act from that place. As pure land Buddhists, We trust that the Buddhas are always good-intentioned, and that Amida Buddha particularly is available to us. In some mysterious way, the loving kindness and the compassion of the Buddha is always flowing towards us on Saturday evening we read a short chapter from Dharmavich's recent book, Authentic Life, and he was talking, as he has done before, about the difference, about the meaning of the word Tathagata, which you can translate either as the one who has gone or the one who has come here. And it's a word that's used to describe the Buddha. And the sense of one who has gone is we are going to follow in the Buddha's footsteps. But Pure Land Buddhists and many Japanese Buddhists understand it in the sense of the Buddha is coming to us. Somehow the Dharma, the spirit of the Dharma, the spirit of the Buddha is available, and that spirit has got good intentions. For the whole world. And there's something very reassuring about that. Even when I think of my own, uh, the state of my own heart today, there have been times when I've been really focused on the well-being of somebody else, when I've been working with a client, for example. And there have been other times where I've been really annoyed at somebody. They weren't present, luckily. I could be annoyed. I was annoyed at them from the privacy of my own home, but that was really strong and present with me. And yet, knowing that the Buddha is holding both of us in mind in a kind, loving way, brings some reassurance. There is something bigger than my own spirit, than my own intention. When we have refuge ceremonies and ordination ceremonies, we ask a question at the beginning in a very ritualized way: Is the community assembled? Yes, the community is assembled. Is there harmony in the community? Yes, there is harmony in the community. We always answer, yes, there is harmony in the community. And somebody, Caroline, once said to me, what if there's not harmony in the community? Do we stop and sort it out before we go ahead with the ceremony? And I thought, well, that's never happened. So what does this question and answer mean? It means that there is a greater harmony than the harmony between the people in the room. When we are held in the embrace of the Buddha, there is a sense of a harmony that goes beyond what is in our own hearts. In the way that a loving parent cares for two children even when they're fighting at each other, something about the presence of that loving parent changes the whole system. It brings harmony even in the midst of conflict. Ah, my words, my thoughts have been a bit muddled and all over the place tonight. So let's see if I can sum up what I've been talking about. It's good to have good intentions. In a sense, you know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, but Buddha said it's better to be compassionate than wise because you can learn wisdom. So it's good to have good intentions, but we can't always manage it because we're ordinary foolish human beings, and we can trust that the intention of the Buddha is good for me. And good for all sentient beings. And something about coming into the container, the larger container of that harmony that is the Buddha's good intentions, begins to soften what is in our own hearts and lead us back to finding our own good intentions for the world. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
Namoh Amitabh. Namoh Amitabh. Namoh Amitabh.
Namoh Amitabh.
Namah Amitabh. Namah Amitabh. Namah Amitabh. Namah Amitabh.
Namoh Amida.
Namoh Amida. Namoh Amida. Namoh Amida. Namoh Amida.
Namoh Amida.
Namoh Amida. Namoh Amida. Namoha Mita. Namoha Mita. Namoha Mita. Namoha Mita.
We will now recite evening service together. If Fi was here, she'd know what page it was on.
Page 13 and 14.
I've only been doing this for 7 years, so there should be a link to take you to the service book if you don't have a service book in front of you. If you want to click on that and go to pages 13 and 14 now, please do. If not, you can just listen and be prepared for next week.
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 for land, 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 Amitābha'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. Helped by his compassion, I will find a straight direction. By refuge vows and precepts, recitation of the sutras, I grow through every challenge. Embodysatva 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. Innumerable are sentient beings, we vow to save them all. Inexhaustible are deluded passions, we vow to transform them all.
Infinite is the Buddha's way.
We vow to master it more.
Infinite is the Buddha's way.
We vow to forfeit it completely.
Invocation of Avalokiteshvara.
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 Maha Kala.
Let us be engulfed within the mandala of the Sangha of Buddha. Hail, hail, hail, the arrow of emptiness.
Hail, hail, hail.
Invocation of Vairochana Buddha.
Hail, the beneficent mystic, the treasure. Hail, hail, hail, the golden bell that rings but once.
Peace upon a hero. Makkura. Makkura. Makkura.
Thank you for joining us. Sorry for those little slip-ups there. It's amazing how having a camera on you produces a different kind of performance anxiety. To just sitting in a room full of people. I want to dedicate the merit from this evening's service to those who have been affected by the coronavirus and also to those who are working on the front line in order to keep us all safe.
By your powers and through your grace, Happy, happy.
Namaste. No formal exit. So hello to Jatin and Chris and John, and welcome Julie. And there are 5 other mystery people here. If you're willing, then do let us know you are in the chat box, just because I'm curious.
If you're logged in, you might not have a Google account.
Oh, do you have to have a Google account? Okay, so get a Google account for next time. Hello, John. Yeah, it's a shame you can't be actually here, but feels like you're more present today than usual, actually. Yeah, and if you've got any questions, Julie, do feel free to ask in the chat box. I'm sure that none of that made much sense. It's, yeah, just—
Thanks, Chris, nice to have you with us.
You've still got your radio voice.
My podcasting voice.
Really lovely to see you all. And just to let you know that we will be having— I'm going to be running a listening circle, a stone passing. On Saturday, the usual time, 6 PM UK time, and that will be on a conference call package called freeconferencecall.com. It's American, and it's— if you haven't used it before, it's really easy to use. You just have to kind of put a number in and it comes up. So if you want to join me for that, you'd be very, very welcome. And the plan is that we'll do these every week at the same time. Goodbye everyone, take care.
