A Pure Land Buddhist service led by Satya Robyn with communal chanting and a dharma talk on "bom bu," foolish beings. The leader shares a personal story about forgetting the name of a flower called scabious, and announces an upcoming guest speaker, Enrique Galván Álvarez.
Chapters
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.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
We'll now recite the refuges and precepts together, which are on your bit of paper, but I'll say them, you can repeat them after me, so you don't need to read them. For refuge I go to the Buddha.
For 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 Buddhaya. Namo Buddhaya. 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 Dharmaya. Namo Dharmaya. For refuge I go to the Sangha. For refuge I go to the Sangha. Those who live in the Buddha's light.
Those who live in the Buddha's light.
Namo Sangaya. Namo Sangaya. With faith in the Three Jewels. With faith in the Three Jewels. I pray that I may not take life.
I pray that I may not take life—
With faith in the Three Jewels! —with faith in the three jewels... I pray that I may not steal— ...that I might not steal... with faith in the Three Jewels! —faith in the 3 jeweled stones... I pray that I may not fall into sexual misconduct— I pray that I will avoid sexually immoral conduct— with faith in the Three Jewels! —With faith in the Three Jewel Stones... I pray that I may avoid wrong speech— I pray to some people it's one of these speeches— With faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may avoid intoxication. No blame, be kind, love everything. Innumerable sentient beings, we vow to save them all. Inexhaustible are the Vedic 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 follow it completely.
Namami Devi. Now This story from earlier today has come to mind, and I don't really know what I'm going to say about it, but I'll tell you the story first and then we'll see. Um, I, uh, was waiting for someone for an appointment earlier today, and it's a long way upstairs from our flat, so I wait up in the dining room just next door here, and there are some flowers on the table at the moment, which you'll see in a moment, which are a different color variety of a purple flower that I know really well and I know the name of, and I cannot remember the name of it. So I was waiting for my— the person that I was going to see, and I thought, oh, I'll put in pale purple flower in my phone and just look at photos and see if I can find it. I tried that thing where you go through every letter in the alphabet to see if that might jog something. And I was scrolling through purple flowers. I tried UK wildflower. I found a picture of it, and then it was on a website that didn't say what it was called. And meanwhile, the time was ticking on. I was thinking, this is a bit strange. This person isn't usually late. And then they phoned as I was looking at my phone. So I answered the phone and they said, I'm at the temple. And I stood up and they were waiting in the porch. They'd been sat in the porch on the chair. For 8 minutes, and I'd been sat scrolling on my phone. Um, did they know they were playing? I didn't ask them. I thought it wasn't a good moment to bring it up. I'm hoping someone here might tonight when we go next door. Um, so what's this story about? It, it's about foolishness, really. It's about being human. There is a phrase in Pure Land Buddhism, there is a word in Pure Land Buddhism which is, which is bom bu, and it's usually translated into English as something like foolish being of wayward passions. And the idea is that we are all bom bu, that we are all foolish beings of wayward passions.. And, um, the, the passion that, that I was caught in as I wasn't really paying proper attention to whether this person had arrived or not was the, the kind of the, the need to find, not only to find the name of this flower, but to prove to myself that I wasn't losing my mind. And that often happens when I forget the name of something. I'm not just trying to get the name, I'm trying to prove to myself that I've still got some memory left. And that just took me over, that part took over. Um, I often think about the, the metaphor of a cork kind of bobbing on the waves, that the cork's just kind of carried around on the, on the strength of the waves. And that we're often like that. We might like to think that we're in control of, of what we do and that we make rational decisions. But sometimes when we pay a bit more attention to our motivations, we discover that actually we were kind of angling for something to happen, or hoping that we were going to get paid back in a certain way, or wanting to feel better about ourselves. That we're a bunch of complex We have a bunch of complex agendas, and not all of those agendas are altruistic. So Pure Land Buddhism speaks about the foolishness of human nature. I've kind of fallen out of love with the word foolish a little bit because it feels a little bit kind of bruising sometimes. It's meant— what I imagine, the way I imagine the Buddha saying it is with a kind of a glint in his eye and and a real fondness, but maybe I need a different word. So what goes alongside this fact of, of bomboo human nature is the Buddha's love and the Buddha's acceptance. And whether we can conceptualize something that's a Buddha or not, we can trust that in the universe there is something exists which is, um, a kind of a— which is infinite love, which is infinite love. And when we come into relationship with that love, with all of our fallibility and our vulnerability and our limits and our mistakes and our embarrassment and our failures. That infinite love looks at us through eyes of understanding and forgives us and accepts us just as we are. We used to have a poem on the abled at the front. I don't know if it's there anymore, by Inugaki, which is just as you are. Really just as you are. And that's the essence of what we want to transmit in this temple. There's lots of other ways of studying the Dharma, of getting to know Buddhism and kind of advancing our spiritual life, I guess. But all of that stuff is, is extra, really. That the kernel of it, the core of it is knowing that we have limits and knowing that our limits are seen and loved. A moment of— so we'll stand now to do prostrations. I will go to the front. Thank you. Scabious. I feel much better, but then I still feel like my memory's going, so it hasn't helped that. But maybe if I'm, if I'm married to you, then I can just rely on you. Scabious. Now, maybe to be— so we'll do frustrations together. Oh, sorry, wait, he hasn't rung the bell yet. Just got carried away in my excitement. So do find a bit of floor in front of you and chant Namaste.
Namah Shivaya.
Namah Amida Butsu. Namah Amida Butsu. Namaste. Namaste. Namaste. Namaste. Namah Mita! Namoh Amida!
Namoh Amida!
Namoh Amida! Namoh Amida Butsu! Namoh Amida Butsu! Namoh Amida— Namoh Ami.
In gratitude, we offer the merit of this incense offering to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas throughout space and time. May it be as fragrant as Earth itself. 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 that truth. Om Mani Padme Hum.
So now we will bow to each other. Now we can drop it down. Hide our seats and bow to our seats. I've got two announcements. The first announcement is that at this time next Wednesday we have a special guest, our friend Enrique Galván Álvarez. Who is a Shin Buddhist priest, and he's going to speak about a Japanese text— Chinese text— a text. He speaks really beautifully. He's really lovely to listen to. So if you are free, just come along as usual, and we'll have that talk instead. And then a quick plug for our book study groups, which are starting. There's 2 books to choose from. You can either study The Center Within, which is a very easy to read book of kind of stories of everyday life really, and that's on Sundays from 5 till 6. You can either do it on Zoom with Casper or in the temple with me. I've got 2 spaces on that one, just groups of 6. Um, and we're also studying an introduction to Shin Buddhism book on Saturdays from 5 till 6 on Zoom. And so you just read a couple of chapters and then write a few paragraphs and then meet with people and talk about how you found it or how other people found it. If you're interested in either of those, it's free. Let me know. That's it, I think. And we have white chocolate cookies and I will get the dogs. So now we'll finish with a closing verse. A bit of paper. Starting. Blessed, blessed by Amitabha's light, may we care for all living things and the Holy Earth. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. We've got the golden bowl in the hallway for any donations, and hopefully join us for cup of tea. I'm just going to say a word of peace, guys, and stop the video.
