Satya Robyn leads a group meditation practice exploring emptiness and specificity. The session includes chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, refuge vows, and a koan-style breathing practice inspired by Zen teacher Rinryu, with a teaching on balancing these two perspectives using Buddhist figures Akshobhya and Amitābha.
Chapters
Quite tricky to sit on your bench when it's facing the wrong direction.
Welcome everybody, nice to see you all. Welcome to Claire and Chris joining us on Zoom. We'll begin by listening to Anji presenting a Dharma glimpse.
Thank you. Sattya Robyn.
Today my dog Honor and I went out for a soggy November walk. I was on the first day of my bleed and my body was in the mood for warmth and softness and nothing too physically demanding. I enjoyed hearing the sound of the rain and noticing some of the daily changes in the environment of my familiar walking route. But the wet leaves on the path were slippery underfoot. My wet hair kept blowing into my eyes, and Anya kept sitting down to remind me that she doesn't like getting cold and wet. As we turned to loop back homeward, there was a tangible shift in energy. Anya's body language became playful and bright again. My hands suddenly warmed up and my body echoed Ony's and felt lighter and looser. Something that struck me was the shift in the felt sense when the walk became a homeward journey in mine and Ony's minds, rather than a walk out into slightly uncomfortable conditions. It reminded me of the sense of ease and relief that can come when viewing spiritual practice as a homecoming rather than climbing the mountain. That said, there have been times when my existential/spiritual longing has led me away from the comfort of where I was living and into the wilds, although interestingly there was still a sense of homecoming within those experiences too. And I have found that there are times for drawing on the tough warrior part of myself and embracing discomfort, just not so much today. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Thank you.
Together in meditation this evening, and make an invitation based on, uh, partly based on mirror koan practice as it was introduced to me by a Zen teacher from Norfolk area, Rinryu. What do you call the place? Well, I think it's— is he from Norwich? Yeah, thank you. I was thinking Norfolk's the name of the city, and I knew there's like something isn't right here in your brain. Yeah, Norwich, thank you. And in that practice, uh, which— this is the bit we aren't going to do this evening— you gaze at yourself in a mirror is a practice that a Zen nun came up with, um, in Japan. But we are going— I am inviting you to use the way they use thoughts and breath together, which is that as you breathe out, you say, in their case, the koan, in our case, Amitābha, or Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. And as you breathe in, You don't say anything to yourself. So the breathing in leaves space for the Buddha, the Tathagata, Dharma, things as they are, to come in. So there's a kind of call, or the possibility of call and response in the practice, invitation and reception. So if it feels right, on the out-breath saying to yourself Amitābha, nothing on the in-breath, and so on and so forth. And with the in-breath, just noticing what arises in that space, and then returning to Amitābha on the out-breath. Let's try a Chinese name. Let's do Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Mami to. Oh, me too. 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 Buddha.
Namo Buddha.
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 Dhammaya.
Namo Dhammaya.
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! With faith in the Three Jewels I pray that I may not take life. With faith in the Three Jewels I pray that I may not steal. With faith in the Three Jewels I pray that I may not fall into sexual misconduct— —with faith in the Three Jewels. With faith in the Three Jewels. I pray that I may not fall into wrong speech— —with faith in the Three Jewels. With faith in the Three Jewels. I pray that I may avoid intoxication— —that I may avoid intoxication. No blame. No blame. Be kind. Be kind. Love everything.
Love everything.
Innumerable sentient beings, we vow to save them all. Inexhaustible 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. We've passed through the darkest 10 weeks of the year. Today in terms of how long the night is. It is, uh, in the calendar of Druids and some pagans, it is Imbolc. It's also St. Bridget's Day, halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, often thought of as a kind of still point, like we're not really in spring yet. It's like the— perhaps the pause between breaths. And it brings to mind the invitation in Buddhism to see movement and impermanence and cycles and change. To see through things to their essential nature, which is of impermanence or liveliness, to kind of use a positive word that means the same thing— spontaneity, growth, movement. And it also brings to mind a teaching that is perhaps less often presented in Buddhism, which is to pay attention to the specificity of things. This day in particular, this moment in particular. I guess Buddhism invites us to pay attention to this moment in particular. And the enlightened person, take my word for it, holds these two ways of seeing in balance. The eyes of Akshobhya Buddha, who has the quality of seeing through things to their empty nature, and the eyes of Amitābha Buddha, who has the quality of seeing things in their uniqueness and loving them in their uniqueness. The danger of seeing everything as kind of empty is that we begin to treat everything in the same way. Oh well, it's all empty, so what does it matter? And you know, if I greet Roshi in the same way as I greet the dogs, saying, well, they've got the same basic nature, Roshi would be really pissed off because he likes a different kind of greeting. A cat does not like to be met in the same way a dog likes to be met. If I saw Gyame but spoke to him as if he was Satya, the best outcome is confusion and the worst is, you know, something harmful, I suppose. I don't know. Well, maybe not that specific. Well, that it's important to, to pay attention to things as they are and not get taken in by— and maybe this is not a teaching for this people in this room, but you know, spiritual bypassing. One way that we can spiritually bypass is to just, oh, everything's empty. Like the Buddhist teacher I met early on in my Buddhist career, when it— and when anybody was suffering, would you just say, 'Oh well, impermanence, impermanence, impermanence,' and that, that person would feel completely unmet and unloved in that moment and rejected. And maybe every now and again somebody was in the right place to hear that, uh, and it landed well. So appreciating who is actually in front of us, what is actually in front of us. You know, I'm, I'm impermanent, but right now I exist in a particular way, and that's important. Both of those things are true.
I'm having to paint.
Mamo.
Gratitude, love, and the same sense 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 and all Buddhas be companions of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. May we awaken from forgetfulness and realize our true home.
Big thanks to the Plum Village community for— basically we've copied their incense offering verse. Blessed by Amma Sahaja's light, may we care for all living things and the Holy Earth.
Amen. Thanks everybody.
Stop recording.
