Satya Robyn leads a Buddhist evening practice with chanting and Dharma reflection. Phee offers insights on attachments and gratitude, drawing from a story about secondhand furniture. The group recites refuge vows, chants Nembutsu and Om Mani Padme Hum, and dedicates incense together.
Chapters
Welcome everybody, we're joined by Chris and Clare on Zoom. Philip's still here in person with us. For the benefit of people who usually see him on Zoom, I'll say that. And we'll begin this evening with the glimpse, Dharma glimpse, from Phee.
On being curious about my attachments. The other weekend I got myself some new garden furniture. Well, when I say new, I mean new to me. It was very secondhand and cheap off Facebook Marketplace. Getting it home though and setting up the 4 chairs and 1 table in my tiny backyard filled me with a sense of joy that seemed ludicrously disproportionate. I was immediately inclined to take myself to task. I appeared to be experiencing a sensation of clinging to my new material possessions. Should I feel guilty that this was making me so happy? In response, I decided to unpick the feeling. Over the past 35 years since I've had my own homes, I've rarely had the luxury of being able to buy just what I wanted furnish those places in anything like a coordinated manner. But in a way, this has been a gift, because much of the furniture that has traveled around with me has its own story. The chairs I bought for next to nothing from a junk shop, stripped them of their white gloss paint and stained them a beautiful shade of deep rich brown. The pans I saved from my late aunt's flat, which reminded me of my childhood. All the bargains I picked up from reject outlets and charity shops because I was fortunate enough to be there at the right time, the mirrors and shelves a former partner enthusiastically dragged out of various skips and brought home. And sometimes I did tell them to take some of their offerings and put them right back in the skips where they'd found them. But that memory in itself stirred a tender feeling of affection and gratitude to an individual who was an important part of my story. These mismatched things have a history which makes them unique and part of my journey. More than that though, they represent generosity, that of friends who gifted or passed things on to me, or that of strangers who gave those items to charity shops or put them on Freecycle for me to claim. So when I look around my home at the things that have come to me that way, I remember my gratitude to all those people. Back to my new garden furniture. After examining my feelings towards some of my other possessions, I recognized that my sudden joy at these new acquisitions was more about what they represented than just having new stuff. On warmer days, I might sit outside for a while and read comfortably when I got home from work. I would be able to sit out at dusk and watch the pipistrels flit from the big old trees by the railway line, letting me cherish my connection to nature even in this very crowded built environment. All those extra chairs meant I would be able to invite more than one friend round for a meal at a time. I know I'm a foolish being and have an attachment to my possessions that I'm not likely to outgrow anytime soon, But taking a little time to be curious about my attachments has been an interesting exercise to me in what has been important about my journey to where I am now, and that is gratitude and love. Namaste.
Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum.
Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum.
Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum.
Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Nam Mi Sabbah Om Nam Mi Sabbah Om Nam Mi Sabbah Om Amitabha Hum.
Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum.
Om Ami Tabahum.
Om Ami Tabahum.
Om Ami Tabahum. Om Amitabha Hum.
Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum.
Om Amitabha.
Om Amitabha.
Om Amitabha. Om Amitabha Hum.
Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum.
Omami tabahum.
Omami tabahum.
Omami tabahum. Om Amitabha.
Om Amitabha. Om Amami. Om Amitabha.
Om Amitabha. Om Amitabha.
Om Ami.
Om Amitabha.
Om Amitabha.
Om Amitabha. Om Amitabha.
Om Amitabha. Om Amitabha.
Om Amitabha. Oh, ma mi ta ba hum.
Oh, ma mi ta ba hum. Oh, ma mi Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mani Om Ami Sabahom.
Om Ami Sabahom.
Om Ami Sabahom. Om Ami Sabahom.
Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mani Padme Hum.
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.
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 for refuge I go to Sangha those who live in the Buddha's light with faith in the Three Jewels I pray that I may not take life— With Faith In The 3 Jewels —I Pray That I May Not Steal— With faith in the Three Jewels— With faith in the three jewels I pray that I may not fall into sexual misconduct. I pray that I may not fall into sexual misconduct. With faith in the 3 jewels—I pray that I may not fall into wrong speech.
I pray that I might avoid intoxication. Intoxication!
I pray that I may avoid intoxication. No blame. Be kind. Love everything. We vow to save them all. 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.
Namaste, Pearl.
It's really lovely to come and sit in what I am experiencing as a pool of stillness, particularly today when my eyes and mind being keep drawn back to the soap opera in Westminster. My friend Mikey sent a list of journalists that cover the news of their Twitter accounts, so you can just look and every few seconds there's a new piece of information there. Information, it's often not very high quality information, but technically I guess it is information. A bit of gossip, or I've just heard this, or I've just seen this person going through the door. And it is like watching a soap opera or reading a novel where every page is kind of skillfully designed to get you to turn to the next page and find out what happens next, or watching a piece of Greek theater. And it's tempting to ascribe a kind of meaninglessness to it because the new Chancellor, for example, comes from only— has only a slightly smaller fortune than the older Chancellor. So how much difference will that make? How much will he really be able to connect with the cost of living crisis as experienced by ordinary people? Or to fall into thinking that even if this government collapses and a different party takes power, they're part of the same system. They're all self-invested trying to scrabble for power, for status. They have slightly different tunes that they play, but it's just their egos playing out. Politics won't solve anything. And I've heard some Buddhists say this: don't engage with it, it's not going to fix anything, just focus on your practice. Focus on saying the Nembutsu, focus on having an awakening of faith. It's that kind of spiritual transformation that will really change things. And there is some truth to that. If we could all engage with that, yeah, there would naturally, there would be a systems change, I'm sure. Last night I saw Jess Phillips from Birmingham, uh, MP for Yardleywood, being— I think being interviewed, and the journalist said to her wouldn't it be good for your party if Boris Johnson stayed on until the next election? Because he's, he's doing such a bad job of it. That's good for your, your team, isn't it? And she said, well, that is technically, that's true, but I do care about the country, and I don't feel like, you know, and I'd rather have somebody competent leading the country, even if it's from the other side. Cynics might suggest that that may be not what she was thinking, and she just felt like, this is the— this is what I'm supposed to say so I sound like I've got some integrity. But I think I'm prepared to take her at face value. She believes that it would make a difference having a different person in the top job. And there are plenty of people who believe that a different person in the top job or a different party in government would make a big difference. I think there's some truth to both of these positions. It's very difficult to imagine the kind of change that is needed in terms of the climate crisis and the ecological emergency and the cost of living crisis and all of these things, how marginalized groups are being harmed, the gap between the rich and the poor. The kind of radical compassionate response that calls for. It's hard to imagine that coming out of the current system of politics. And yet within that system, some people will make a better job of it than others. And I guess it's the same In our kind of spiritual lives as well, we talk about having foolish nature and really deeply accepting our karma and our foolish nature. And part of what's threaded through this idea of foolish nature in Japanese Pure Land Buddhism is the idea that we can't enlighten ourselves, and perhaps even that we can't do anything ourselves, that we're always destined to fail any project that we start. And there is some truth to that. That's a really useful spiritual experience, to have the experience of failing and opening oneself up to something bigger, a different, a completely different quality of experience. And it's true that we make some progress. Some of our rough edges do get smoothed off. We learn to make better choices in some of the areas of our lives. So it's a little bit of this, a little bit of that, is true. I had lots of other thoughts about different kinds of systems of governments and so on, but I think that's enough in that specific area. But I'm just making an invitation to find that middle way between, I guess, greed, where I started, oh, I must find out more of what's going on here. That's the kind of greed response.. And I guess also a greed response is, oh, I really want this particular person to win. There's maybe a bit of greed in that response. Between a kind of hate reaction, oh, I don't want to, I don't want anything to do with it. Just push it all away. Maybe there's some delusion mixed in with that. I don't think any of this will make any difference. Yeah, just finding a way of having some lightness, both when we look at the world and when we look at ourselves, and accepting, oh, things are complicated and entrenched and difficult. And as the old joke goes, I wouldn't start from here. And that, that's also true in our own personal lives. At some times, oh, maybe it would be nice if I'd been born with different karma. And one step at a time, change occurs. Namamitabhu.
In gratitude, we offer this incense to all beings and bodhisattvas throughout space and time. May it be fragrant as Earth herself, 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 our true face.
So just a reminder that this Saturday evening, Angie's hosting a kirtan here in the shrine room, which I'm sure will be very lovely. Saturday after practice, some of us will walk up to Sant'Anno as well and join the March Walk for Nature, March for Nature, wearing animal masks. You're very welcome to join that if you'd like to.
Anything else?
That's all I might need to bring. Blessed by Amitābha's light, may we care for all living things and the holy earth. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
