Movement Speed & Receptivity

Welcome, welcome to this candlelit, very quiet Wednesday evening practice.

Gonna start with a Dharma glimpse written by Chris called Still Swimming Towards the Light. A couple of years ago, I wrote a Dharma glimpse about swimming. Since then, my technique has improved significantly, and I've gone from being a very below-average swimmer to being a fairly decent one. I still don't qualify for the fast lane. I'm not sure I ever will, but can comfortably hold my own in the medium lane. I swim most days now, with Saturday being my only usual day off. And I can honestly say it is something I really enjoy doing. It's not just that I enjoy it, the added benefits of improved fitness, flexibility, and stamina are not to be sniffed at. Although my technique and ability have improved by leaps and bounds, one thing that has not changed is my focus during the swim. A couple of people, non-swimmers I venture to guess, have asked me if I don't get bored trundling up and down the same lane 40+ times each day. My answer is always no. I haven't told them the reason why I don't get bored. I can tell you because as Pure Land Buddhists, I know you will understand. I say the Nembutsu as I swim. Amida is with me on each of those pool lengths, regardless of how well or how poorly I am swimming. Of course, I don't say the Nembutsu out loud. Since I breathe through my mouth when swimming, that would not be a particularly good idea, and I might get some strange looks from my fellow swimmers if I did. I say the Nembutsu in my head. In my head, I chant in time. 2 syllables to each freestyle stroke. Ami tava, ami tava, ami tava, ami tava. I have no need to count the lengths as my smartwatch does that for me. I can simply focus on the experience of swimming. And saying the Nembutsu. At first I worried that this was maybe a bit disrespectful to Amida. Am I just using the Nembutsu like a metronome to keep my constant rhythm in my stroke? Well, yes, I suppose there is an element of that, but for me it is so much more. I really feel as if Amida Buddha is with me on my pool journey, just as on my life journey. As I pause for a drink of water halfway through the session, I still like to imagine that Amida is in the lifeguard's perch, watching over me as I swim, not criticizing or judging, but simply being there as a light of love. Amida's light is always with me, and never more so than when swimming than in Butsu. Namo Amida Butsu. Thank you, Chris.

Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh, Amitabh, Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Ameetabh. Ameetabh. Ameetabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.

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 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.

Namo Bhumya.

Namo Bhumya.

With faith in the Four Refuges, With faith in the 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— —when I fall into wrong speech. I pray that I may become aware— —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.

So I did have this idea that because I was doing 3 Wednesdays in a row, I was gonna do part 1, 2, and 3 of, um, of empty pleasures, real connection, and the three levels of escape from suffering with— but I'm just really not feeling like talking about the third particularly. I'm just not feeling particularly inspired by it, so I thought I'd talk about something else instead. I thought I'd talk about movement, speed of movement, and the impact that that has on my on the recept— on my receptivity and connectedness to the infinite. So I, like most people, have a few different speeds, a general, like, general speeds that I go about my day, and I have the kind of light um, uh, good amount of energy, kind of bouncing along, uh, pace. I have— and that's kind of quite buoyant. I sometimes— I have the slow, serious, heavy, heavy pace. I, as someone who's ever incredibly optimistic about time and the amount that I can fit into time, I'm just so optimistic, completely unrealistically optimistic about what I can fit into certain windows of time. And it seems to be the less time there is, the more optimistic I am. That I can fit quite a lot into it. And I've, and there've been times in my life when I've had a lot less on and I've been a lot more in the kind of flow of spontaneous things and less in structure and responsibility. And I've been, you know, a, like, mm, slower, generally, generally slower, but then with obviously with the ability to speed up and slow down. So with some of the flexibility. Um, but one of the things about having more on and having more responsibilities and stuff like that, and all combined with being really optimistic about time, particularly short periods of time, is that there's this habitual way of rushing basically that has kind of developed in me. Um, yeah, and that— and, and the rushing is quite different from the kind of like quite a bright, just like, you know, bouncing along. The rushing is like, you know, sometimes it's helpful because sometimes I do get quite a lot done within a short space of time, but it also involves a slight dissociation from my experience, from my fully embodied experience. So I've been washing up, I've been like, instead of like, oh, the experience of washing up the water, the mug. And one of the gifts this year has been something which has brought in a change in pace. So I've done, uh, kind of more dynamic styles of yoga for quite a long time. And I really appreciate— I have a very, very short, like sometimes only a few minutes, sometimes longer, yoga, like more dynamic form of yoga practice in the morning, which I really appreciate to just kind of give me a good stretch and get my energy moving, get me a bit more, um, fully embodied. And I also sometimes do more yin yoga, a lot of yoga nidras, which are very yin and very still. Yeah. But what's come in more in the last year is actually the influence of doing more Qigong and Tai Chi because particularly with this particular group, I was in a group before, which was also good, but it was, it just felt a lot, it was just a lot more dynamic. Whereas this particular style is very yin. So I'm doing a lot more movement, but slow movement, slow, very yin. Kind of yielding, like surrendering into it. And doing more of that has started to organically creep in, in moments when I'm kind of rushing about. I'm just noticing— not all the time, definitely not, most of— mostly not. But sometimes I'm noticing that shift just automatically happening where I'm, where I'm just automatically kind of organically slowing, becoming more mindful, becoming more present, and really enjoying that shift. Because what I've noticed is that when I'm more in that kind of pace of movement, that my receptivity for connection automatically seems to increase as well. Perhaps it's because when I'm rushing, I'm a little bit disembodied or a little bit dissociated, and when I'm more fully embodied I'm more aware of the presence in every moment, which is very much like the way the Sufi tradition refers to the friend, the friend, the beloved friend who is with us all the time, all the time. Or like the kind of boundless, formless nature— sorry, I thought that was the door opening— then the kind of boundless, formless nature of awakened consciousness, which is ever-present. And there's something about naturally having more moments, or more moments coming in, when my pace slows down and yet keeps moving. So it's not— it doesn't slow down into stillness, but it— like, I'm still moving, I'm still doing what I need to do, um, I'm just more fully present, which opens me up to the wider presence. So in gratitude to the Qigong and Tai Chi ancestors and lineage and how that's coming in and changing, changing some of my habits, slowly incrementally changing some of my habits some of the time. Namaste.

Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoh Amida Butsu.

In gratitude, we make this offering to all Buddhas and bodhisattvas throughout space and time. May it be as fragrant as Earth herself, reflecting our careful efforts, our wholehearted mindfulness, 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 home.

Oh, you'll know that next weekend Dave is getting ordained. Very exciting. And it's part of our baby day celebration.

So we've got a whole weekend of good stuff.

That's going to be on Saturday. We've got kirtan on Sunday night.

Um, K is not with us, but physically, yeah, will be with us. She'll be in spirit.

And, um, anyone who listened to the announcement last week, the kirtan and curry is actually going to happen in January. Rather than in December.

That's it for announcements.

Ingrid.

Blessed by Amitabha's light, may we care for all living things and the earth.