Satya Robyn leads a Buddhist Dharma meeting on empty pleasure versus real connection. The group chants the Kwan Yin mantra, recites the Four Refuges and precepts, and explores how media consumption differs from creative practice, spiritual work, and time in nature.
Chapters
Welcome everybody. We're just family tonight. We've got nobody joining on, funzu, and all lovely in-house people in the shrine room. So we're going to start off with a Dharma glimpse written by Jean. This is one of our Dharma glimpses from one of the book groups that we run, as writing Dharma glimpses is part of— in part of the book group, although you can write them at any point. So it's called Feeling Insignificant. On one of my travels last year, I had the privileged experience of walking in a very remote and wild place. It was quite misty, raining, and windy and cold, but it felt really exhilarating to be immersed in and battling nature in this starkly beautiful spot. The weather seemed to be appropriate for the bleakness and brutality of our surroundings. When back at base, we showered and changed, and I then stepped outside to see in the distance where we'd been. I was very still, just enjoying a quiet moment on my own, looking and taking it all in, in my surroundings. I was witnessing the sheer force of nature that can't be contained or controlled. It was in that moment that I became totally overwhelmed by the feeling of being completely insignificant on our Earth. Not just me, but all of us humans. Nature and the nature elements would always dominate us, whatever anyone chooses to think, and despite what seems to be our best efforts to work against her. But I also felt the presence of a higher power out there, a power beyond touch or control as if it was somehow directing and organizing, a bit like a conductor leading an orchestra. The feeling of insignificance wasn't a bad or sad feeling, more one of complete wonder and amazement, and of giving into and accepting something larger and more powerful than anything I had experienced before. I didn't know what it was at the time, just that it was a profoundly moving moment. I think I know now. This year, instead of dancing around the edges of it, which I have done for many years, I decided to embrace my Buddhist faith in a deeper and more meaningful way. I now realize that when I was stood outside and having that moment, I was not only looking at beauty but also at hope, light, faith, power, and recognizing the constant change and impermanence of our surroundings and existence. Yes, I felt insignificant. But I also felt so very warm and loved, like I was being held and looked after. I feel immense gratitude. Namaste. Moving now, carrying maybe something of the taste of that Dharma glimpse into our meditation. And we're going to move into chanting the kanyin. Mantra. Namo Kwan Yin, Bosa.
Namo Kwan Yin, Bosa. Namo Kwan Yin, Bosa. Namo Kwan Chi Inbo Sat. Namo Kwan Chi Inbo Sat. Namo Kwan Chi Inbo Sat. Namokwanji in bo sat. Namokwanji in bo sat. Namokwanji in bo sat. Namokwanji Indosa. Namokwanji Indosa. Namokwanji Indosa. Namokwanji Indosa. Namo Kwanji in Bosat. Namo Kwanji in Bosat. Namo Kwanji in Bosat. Nammo Kwanshi Inbo Saat! namo kwanchi indho saat—nam mo kwan chi indu sat—nam o khwaan shee indo saatt? Namo Khwansi Indhosaad... Namo Kwanji in Bosat. Namo Kwanji in Bosat. Namo Kwanji in Bosat. Namokwanji N'bosat! Namo Kwanji Inbosa! Nammo Kwanchi Inbo-san? Nammo Kwanchi Inbosan? Nammo Kwanshi Inbosa?! Nammo Kwansi— Inbossa... Namoh Kwan Ji Inbo San! Namoh Kwan Ji Inbo Sa— Namoh Kwan Ji Inbo Sam? Namoh Kwan Ji Inbo Sansam... Nammo Kwanchi N'bo Sadguru! Thank you so much for joining us today— thank God we have this opportunity to do it together again because I love being here on Saturday morning at 10 AM Central Time US time when everyone else's day has just begun or they're getting ready from sleep if that makes sense? But yeah... namo kwanshi n'bô sadhgurūḥ!
Moving on to reciting the Refugees and Precepts. For refuge I go to the Buddha, the one who is awake and full of love. Namo Buddha. 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. 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 Sanghaya. Namo Sanghaya. For refuge I go to the Earth.
For refuge I go to the Earth.
The holy ground of awakening. The holy ground of awakening. Namobumiye. Namobumiye. With faith in the Four Refuges. With faith in the Four Refuges. And in light of my human tendencies. And in light of my human tendencies. I pray that I may become aware. I pray that I may become aware. Of when I take life. I pray that I may become aware— of when I take what is not freely given. I pray that I may become aware— of when I fall into sexual misconduct. And I pray that I may become aware— of when I've fallen into wrong speech.
And 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 sentient beings, We vow to save them all.
Inexhaustible are the Buddha's 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.
Mummy Dubu. So I thought I'd share something that I'm using, muse about from time to time. And this might be part 1. It feels like it's probably gonna have a part 2. I'm meeting practice next Wednesday, probably Wednesday will be part 2. And it's, uh It's to do with empty pleasures and real connection. So if anyone has ever tried to watch a film with me, I, I'm notoriously difficult to find something to watch with because I don't like watching things that are scary. I don't like watching things with violence in them, um, overt or, you know, covert violence. Um, I find quite a lot of romantic things annoying in film. Um, yeah, I'm quite difficult to find things to watch with. And one of the really, the main reason for that is, is because I seem to not— I seem to lack this switch that everybody else I know seems to have inside them, that whereby they know that what's on the screen isn't real. So I just don't have that. So when I see violence in a film, I experience it on a fully embodied level, as if I was in the room with it happening, either to me or to somebody I'm with. And then, you know, having a sensitive nervous system, that has quite a big impact on me. So I tend to— I try and protect myself from that kind of input. And I tend to think that, you know, I'm going to be exposed to that if I want to watch the news or read. You know, I get quite a lot of emails about things that are happening around the world. So I can have that kind of impact with something which is actually real. I don't need to put myself through that through a TV or a film. Yeah, but sometimes I do like to watch things. So I, um, I'm interested in family constellations. I think it's an incredible incredible therapy, um, for working with ancestral, ancestral stuff, for revealing the hidden dynamics within systems, any, any kind of systems. And, um, I've done a bit of training in it, and someone said to me, oh, there's this, there's this Turkish series on Netflix where they do a constellation session every episode. And I was like, okay, I mean, that's actually worth me buying a month subscription to Netflix so that I get to watch a constellation session and see how do they, how do they describe it, how do they put it across, what does it look like when it's dramatized and even more dramatic, um, than it is if you go to a constellation session in person. So I was like, okay, okay, so I, I, I bought a subscription and I watched this series and I really enjoyed it, really enjoyed it. And, and it finished, and that's the point where I'd planned to cancel my subscription, yeah. But obviously TV is incredibly addictive, even to people who aren't really into TV like myself, because then I was like, oh, there's this other series that at one point I think I've watched a couple of episodes and I've kind of enjoyed it, and So I started watching that and, and then I saw something else and I was like, no, no, I need to cancel this subscription. And, um, and because these things are addictive, you know, I had these kind of voices going, oh, but yeah, I mean, you do find it quite difficult to switch off, you know, and out of work mode. This helps you, this helps you do that. And, um, and I was like, no, no, well, it doesn't really. And it was like, yes, it does. It helps you to switch off out of work mode. And I'm like, I mean, there's lots, lots more of the fulfilling things I could do. And then the voice goes, well, yeah, but Bonja, my dog, she gets to cuddle you when you're watching something. And she doesn't come for a cuddle when I'm doing art, when I'm playing a musical instrument. When I'm doing yoga or qigong or the other things that I like to do. If I'm not busy on an evening or if I'm not, you know, at a group or seeing friends or whatever, she doesn't get to cuddle me when those things happen. So the voice is like, so really it's better for her. But thankfully I was able to cancel my subscription and felt a huge relief because what happens— there's a couple of things that happen when I watch stuff. One is that after watching something, even if it's something that doesn't have violence in and I relate to the people in it and I enjoy it, I feel a really deep sense of like existential disconnection and loneliness, and I always have done after spending a long time at a computer or, um, watching something. And again, I haven't really found many other people who experience this. I think it might have something to do with attachment and connection, to feeling related to and relating to and feeling briefly connected to these characters for a little window, and then they suddenly go, and then I'm, I'm in touch with the fact that that was an illusion and they're, they're not real. It could have something to do with the fact that when I'm watching something, I lose connection with myself. And this is in contrast with the real sources of connection So when I actually spend my evenings, if I'm free and I'm not with friends, I'm not at a group or an event or working or whatever, doing the things that really are fulfilling to me, like creative practices, spiritual practices, or being out in nature then all of those things really bring me into a much deeper connection with myself and with, well, different things. Either real connection with people if I'm sharing that with somebody, real connection with the natural world and all of the, uh, you know, living things within it. If I'm outside, a real connection with the infinite, with the divine, with awakened consciousness, with the Buddha. And these are infinitely more fulfilling, infinitely more fulfilling. And the contrast between how I feel, not just after doing it, not just during or after doing those things, but the next day compared to if I've watched something on an evening is huge. It's huge, you know. And I feel that, like, that really clearly depicts the difference between the emptiness of the kind of pleasure, sensory pleasure that watching something offers, and actually doing practices, creative practice, spiritual practice, nature. I was going to go on, but I think actually I'm going to save that for part 2, and I think I'm just going to leave that there for part That one is the contrast, and maybe even an invitation to notice how you feel after doing different things that you do in your spare time. Do you feel more connected to yourself and more connected to all that there is? Do you feel less connected? What's that like? What's that like in the morning? Is it impacted by what you did the night before? So join me next week for part 2. Namaste.
Engaged in secular matters, take no notice of life burning 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. Till we are emancipated from the sea of affliction, how can we rest in peace? Should we not be afraid? While we still have strength, let us each hear the Dharma. Let us strive and diligently seek the path to eternity.
We back to our seats and tidy our seats. So chanting, continuous chanting this Saturday, 11 till 1, 11 AM till 1, or 12:30 till— no, it's either 10:30. One source says 10:30 till 12:30, and another says 11 till 1. So somewhere either 10:30 or 11 o'clock for 2 hours, it'll be amazing. And then next week, because we are long overdue, we'll have a volunteer hour in the garden, or about the house. Blessed are they that are called to the Father's light. May we care for all living things.
