Evening Practice: Dharma Rain and a Glimpse on Personal Boundaries

Namaste. Welcome everybody. I was going to say welcome if you're joining us on Zoom, but there's nobody here yet. Welcome if you're watching on YouTube afterwards. We'll begin practice as we always do with the Dharma glimpse. Dharma meaning the way things are. So this is a glimpse of the way things are by a member of our community this evening. Thanks, Sisi. This evening by Alison.

The importance of boundaries. I've been contemplating the importance of boundaries since moving into the temple. The subject has come up a number of times, and different people have referred to their need of them. It seems that boundaries are an important topic and that most of us find putting in boundaries when relating to others extremely difficult. I am no exception. What is a boundary? It's a protective zone or space we can imagine having around ourselves to keep us safe and stop us from becoming hurt or hurting others. It might take the form of limits we need to put in place that show other people how far they can go in their interactions with us what's appropriate and what isn't. Our parts— parts of ourselves, especially the vulnerable ones— need boundaries to feel safe. We need to make them, but we also need them made by others. We need to feel walls on all four sides of us to feel safe. If we don't set boundaries, others will step into our space. Especially those parts of others that are either vulnerable, needy, seeking love or to be liked, needing attention, wanting to feel special, and also those parts wanting to feel superior, prove a point, to rescue another, and to be useful. Sometimes we need to rein parts in that seek to burrow holes as deep as they can without obstruction. Healthy boundaries provide safe space for all to maneuver Space to grow. I'm imagining how it is for the plants. They need space to grow, unfurl leaves, space to stretch their roots in the soil, to drink the rain, and to reach up to the sunlight. When we give enough space, we allow growth. Having space allows us to grow into ourselves, just like the plants in the flower bed. The sun's rays can reach out to all the plants, shining down on every part of them, no matter how perfect or imperfect they are. In order to be able to give ourselves and others this space, we can do as the plants, bringing all of the parts of us, including those vulnerable parts, to the Buddha, or to self as it's called in Parts Work or Internal Family Systems. These parts can be met by self-compassion, or the warm compassion of Amida, in the same way the plants are greeted by the sun. There's enough room for every part, and all parts are received just as they are. Perhaps if we can learn to love and value all of the vulnerable, flawed parts of ourselves, we can show others how to do the same.

Namamitabha. Namamitabha. Thank you.

So we move into a period of silent meditation together. We'll sit quietly for about 10 or 15 minutes and then move into a period of Buddhist chanting. In the silence, invocation— an invitation to anchor your awareness to your breath, just noticing the cooler air entering, warmer air leaving at the tip of the nose. If the mind's particularly busy, you can say to yourself, breathing in as you breathe in, breathing out as you breathe out. Otherwise, just noticing how the breath is. Moment to moment. When you become distracted, when your attention goes elsewhere, which it will, so no judgment, gently bringing it back to the breath. We'll chant the word Amitabha together. Amitabha is a Sanskrit word that means infinite light. It's the name of a Buddha, and it is the light that holds us. That we are each a part of. The light is love.

Amitabh. Amitabh.

Amitabh.

A mi sa ba.

A mi sa ba.

A mi sa ba.

Amitabh.

Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh.

We'll now recite the refuges, precepts, remembrances, and bodhisattva vows together. You can find these on the liturgy sheet next to you or underneath your chair. The first section will be— I'll ask you to repeat after me, and the final section will be call and response. These are the things as Buddhists that we place our confidence, that we have confidence in, that guide us, that reflect our longing. And versions of these have been said by Buddhists through the generations. So please repeat after me. 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 Dhamma. 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 Sangha.

Namo Sangha.

With faith in the Three Jewels.

With faith in the Three Jewels.

And in light of my human tendencies.

And in light of my human tendencies.

I pray that I may become aware— —of when I take life. Of when I take life. I pray that I may become aware— —of when I take what is not freely given.

Of when I take what is not freely given.

I pray that I may become aware— —of when I fall into sexual misconduct.

Of when I fall into sexual misconduct.

I pray that I may become aware.

I pray that I may become aware of 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 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.

Just changing my mind about what I thought I might speak about. I'll save that for another time. It doesn't— nothing gets wasted. Even if I never speak about it, I've read it and it's in, you know, it was good for me to read. I was reminded when Alison was talking about flowers being nurtured by the sun and the rain of the chapter in the Lotus Sutra about— I think it's often translated as Herbs and Flowers, and it's a relatively short chapter describing how the rain of Dharma falls on all kinds of plants without discrimination. So it doesn't just water the cultivated plants in the garden, it also waters the nettles and the brambles and the ground elder and the bindweed, the ones perhaps as gardeners that we have mixed feelings at the very least about. The rain falls on the good, falls on the bad. Good and bad being subjective terms in our own unenlightened eyes, of course. And Dharma means both Buddhist teaching, and in that sense The words of the Buddha are spoken for everybody to hear. Buddhist traditions work to make them accessible in lots of different ways, and you know, we succeed more or less in different ways because we're human organizations. But we hope that anyone that wants to hear the words of the Buddha is able to. 2,500 years ago, when the Buddha was teaching Anybody was welcome to come and listen. Once a woman appeared at the edge of the community who looked disturbed and disheveled and like she'd been living in the wild for a long time, and her mind wasn't steady. And the monks said, 'Mm, no, maybe not.' And you know, there's some wisdom in that no sometimes. It's important to keep your community safe. But the Buddha said, 'Yes, come and sit and listen.' And they went on to have a conversation, and ultimately She went on to become enlightened and to become one of the senior nuns in the order, of some renown. So the Buddha's teaching, the words of the Buddha are for everybody to hear. There's no discrimination from the Buddha's lips. We are human, of course, and as I say, we don't always get that right. But dharma also refers to this, to what those teachings are pointing at. We could substitute the word pure land or nirvana, enlightenment, Amida. These are all ways of understanding that there is something other than suffering. In the world. There is a field of loving kindness that surrounds us, that we're not separate from. And the Buddha woke up to that and wanted other people to wake up to it. When we're not awake, we feel separate from one another and from the earth We make our suffering worse. We're reactive. When we're awake to it, we feel connected. Our hearts become settled. Our minds become at ease. So this Dharma rain doesn't just refer to the words of the Buddha. It also refers to this field of loving kindness. It touches us all equally. Honen, one of the very important Pure Land Buddhist figures in history, once said, the moon shines on everybody in the hamlet, You just have to look up to see it. And it's the same in our Buddhist practice. The moon, the Dharma rain— choose your analogy— the light of loving kindness of the Buddha is already touching us. We just have to notice it. We just have to look up and notice the moonlight. Sometimes even when we look up, we can't see it because our mind is throwing clouds across the sky. And on days like those, we have to have faith that the moon is there, whether we can see it or not. All of the things we do in the shrine room, the strange words we use, the bowing that we're about to do, They all point back to this simple truth, that the, the Dharma rain falls on each of us. We are all held by loving kindness. We just have to notice. And whether we notice or not, it's still there. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. So we're going to do some prostrations now, bowing to the main shrine, which we'll do from standing. Phee will ring a bell to invite us to stand. We put our hands above our whole bodies, which— so this is saying with my whole body, and then here at our lips, which is like with my words, and here with my heart, with my feeling. I'm bowing, I'm expressing gratitude with all of these things for this Dharma realm. There's a Buddhist teacher whose books we're going to be studying later in the year, and Earthling Manuel says, when you're bowing, you can't think of anything else. I don't know if that's really true, but it is a complicated set of movements, and we're going to chant as well alongside it, so it does become difficult to do anything other than bowing, and there is, there's something significant about that as well. Namaste.

Gratitude, we offer this incense to all Buddhas 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 in all May we be companions of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. May we awaken from forgetfulness and realize our true nature.

So we'll come back to standing in our places, and we'll have— in a moment we'll have a bell and we'll bow to each other, and then we'll have two bells and bow to the main shrine. Last part of the evening, we'll tidy our seats and bat up zeeps. So, uh, on Saturday following practice, we've got some gardening opportunities available. Lots of brambles, lots of brambles pulling up or clipping. Yeah, just various bits of things to do in the garden which you're welcome to join us for. And we'll be sending out the details of the autumn book groups soon, so do keep an eye peeled for those. And yeah, feel free to join us for a cup of tea. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. We'll finish with the closing verse, but before we do, I want to transfer merit to Jaume's sister Holly and to her family. She's not very well. And traditionally, when non-Pyolung Buddhists transfer merit, they're thinking of the, the good energy that I have generated, or that we have generated practicing together. We're sending it to a particular person to support them in their time of crisis. As Pyolung Buddhists, when we transfer merit In a way, what we're doing is making a prayer that that person wakes up to know that they are already in receipt of the Dharma rain of Amida's merit. So we're making that prayer that those people may find some solace in being held By the light. By your vows and through your grace, up your ladder is. Thank you. And so we'll finish by reading the closing verse together, which is on the top of the liturgy sheet if you do want to join in. Blessed by Amitābha's light, may we care for all living things and the whole earth. Namamitabhu. Thanks everybody. Yeah, please do stay for a cup of tea if you'd like to, and the donation bowl is in the hallway. Namamitabhu.