Radhavani leads a Buddhist Dharma practice shortly after her ordination, sharing how the name change to Song of the Forest shifted her practice. The service includes guided refuge, chanting, meditation, and ritual offerings.
Chapters
Evening, everybody.
Lovely to see you, and we have no one joining us online as of yet. So we're going to start with a Dharma glimpse from our Bright Dawn Book of Dharma Glimpses, and this one is a poem in poem form.
The poem is called Dharma is Everywhere by Jeff Wayo Ward. Beating robin's wings cuts nature's silent passing. The world speaks Dharma. Warm air awakens. The red sky breaks the horizon. Splendid is the Dharma. Golden falls decay. The pumpkin spice lingers. Eternal Dharma. Ice wind cuts deeply. The temple walls are a relief. My refuge, Dharma. This is a poetic reminder that the Dharma is everywhere. It is brilliant in its teachings, it lasts forever, and it gives shelter to the spirit.
Thank you very much.
Sai, you all know what to do. We are moving into a short period of meditation.
Happy time of Mami taba. Mami taba. Mami taba. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. A mi tava, a mi tava, a mi tava. Amitabh, Amitabh, Amitabh.
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. Namo Dharmaya. For refuge I go to the Sangha. Those who live in the Buddha's light. Namo Sangha. For refuge I go to the Earth. The holy ground of awakening. Namobhumyay. With faith in the Three Jewels and Four Refuges. And in light of my human tendencies, I pray that I may become aware of when I take life. I pray that I may become aware when I take what is not freely given. I pray that I may become aware of when I fall into sexual misconduct. I pray that I may become aware of when I fall into wrong speech. I pray that I may become aware When I become intoxicated. No blame. Be kind. Love everything.
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.
Namomi Dabu. So this is my first time holding practice as Radhavani, and to my surprise, it actually feels a bit different. Like, I was nervous. About holding practice for the first time in ages. It feels a bit new. And I noticed a few things even more than normal, like the way that the, the candle on the right-hand side of the main shrine, which is now burnt out, had gorgeous line of wax that was coming off it and then all the way down and joined up at the bottom. And the way some of the flowers are a little bit more wilted than others, and some of them are still looking really fresh. And I had this thought of, oh, I wonder if I'm going to forget all the words. I wonder if Revavani dev has lived them yet. Thankfully, some things are muscle memory. Yeah, so I am very much, very much still integrating the ordination, my ordination, which happened at the weekend. And I'm not going to be giving a nicely packaged concise and eloquent, um, reflection of insights or anything like that, because I'm very much still in the process. I just thought it might be interesting to share a few of the threads that have been around for me in this process. So it's, yeah, the energetic impact of being ordained was much greater than I thought it was going to be. I was like, I had— because I was like, well, practically it's not going to change anything really. I'm still do— I'm already doing the things And having, like, having been already involved in spiritual practice for more than half my lifetime, I thought, well, being witnessed in a particularly public way than that it's witnessed in an ordination won't really make make that much difference because I've been doing it, you know, I've been practicing spiritually for such a long time anyway. And yet somehow it's made a really big, big impact. And the name change is obviously a very integral part of that. It's one of the main reasons it feels so different. And I'm in this interesting transitional period where, because of the power of the ritual, Angela, Anj, and Angie doesn't really feel quite right, and Ravana is very new and unfamiliar. So I'm in this really unusual period of time whereby no name really feels that familiar. Song of the Forest does— the English meaning of my spiritual name, of my Buddhist Sanskrit name— feels like eternally familiar, but the form, the Sanskrit form, is unfamiliar. And seeing it written down and thinking, oh, that doesn't reflect— that doesn't refer to me. And they're like, oh no, that's me. So yeah, I'm really in this interesting, slightly disorientating place of no name, which is very fitting for the nameless name, the idea that The name of Amida Buddha, the Nembutsu, which is central to our practice as Pure Land Buddhists, is referred to as the nameless name. That, you know, even the words, the form, the idea of a name are just those fingers pointing at the moon that really goes far, far beyond that. So in that sense, it feels quite fitting to be in this kind of slightly transitional space before I come accustomed to Radhabani. And it's interesting because on the one hand I feel very new. I've been graced with a bit of beginner's mind through this process. It's like, oh, and on the other hand, I feel ancient because I can feel all these ancestral threads that have, that are reverberating with the energetics of the last month. Um, and of the name change, I'm reminded of my Russian and Polish ancestors who, when came— coming to this country, gave up their name, um, to try and be safer, to try and fit in, to try and minimize any level of discrimination, um, against being foreign and against being Jewish, because that was, uh, yeah, it was a while ago. That they came over. So I've been reminded of that, reminding of finding the name changing. I'm sure it's got a former name, but the certificate that marked that after my grandmother died, because it was her parents who were Russian-Polish, and I found the certificate that marked the change from this really amazing elaborate Eastern European name to like something really boring and dull and British in design, to try desperately to blend in. So there's an honor— in a way, I'm honoring them, like, I'm in, in, in being reminded of the sacrifice that they made in their name. And, and hopefully that for them, they that outward sacrifice helped them preserve and protect their inner connection to their culture. I'm also reminded of the very, very vivid dream I have of being ordained as a male, male monk a long time ago. So maybe some kind of previous ordination, and of the power of being— yeah, power of being witnessed, and that has some kind of ancestral resonance or relevance, um, like it's powerful for me on a personal level to be seen. And as I said, it was more powerful to be witnessed, to have my spiritual commitment witnessed during the ceremony, than I anticipated. Um, and that was, you know, there was something vulnerable and powerful about that process. And I also know that that being seen and being witnessed has a relevance that is ancestral as well, you know, that they had their own stuff about being seen, being witnessed in different capacities. So my experience this week is of being in an interesting liminal kind of space of integrating and getting to know and taking the first few steps as Radhabani. Of being, of having all these contrasting experiences. Of one hand feeling very, very young, and on the other hand feeling very, very old with all these ancestral lines. And knowing that in the groundlessness of this kind of transition, there is always the ground of Amida, of the earth, of the forest. Song of the Forest, that's my name, means. And I've been, yeah, turning into that. To checking into that, touching into that, into the, uh, you know, like feeling the hand of the beloved friend, as the Divine is called within the Sufi tradition. The hand of the beloved friend on my shoulder, like opening up to the very somatic, embodied holding embrace that I experience from the infinite, and it will continue to unfold. So thank you for being with me for my first practice as Ravana. Namaste.
In gratitude, we make this offering to all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, throughout space and time. May these fragrant incense itself reflecting our careful efforts, our wholehearted mindfulness, root of understanding, slowly opening.
May we and all beings be companions of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
May we awaken from forgetfulness and rise as free beings.
Move out to our seats and tidy our seats. Um, two weekends' time, Sunday night kirtan, sacred chanting and singing. Not this Sunday because it's Easter, otherwise it would be this Sunday weekend after. So Sunday night, 7:30 to 9:00, in person or streamed through YouTube. I think that's it. As always, Golden Bowl is in the hallway. If you're able to make a donation, that would be fantastic. Thank you very much. Blessed by Amitabha's light, may we care for all living things on the holy earth.
Namaste.
