Reverend Satya Robyn leads an evening Buddhist service with Nembutsu and Kwan Yin chants, prostration, and guided meditation. The recording includes welcoming remarks for newcomers and informal moments, with multiple speakers participating in the ceremony.
Chapters
In gratitude, we offer this incense to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas throughout space and time. May it be as 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 the Pure Land.
Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh. A, a, mi, ta, ba. A, mi, ta, ba. A, mi, ta, ba. A, mi, ta, ba. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Namaste, welcome. I'm Reverend Satya Robyn, and tonight is a special service for people who haven't been before, and we do have someone here who hasn't been before. So whenever we have these services, I'm always wondering what I want to say to new people, people who are new to this and to us, but not necessarily to Buddhism or spiritual practice. I'm just a bit distracted because I've got two dogs here who are just finished a bout of wrestling. They seem to be settling down for a quiet period, which is good. Yeah, there's something about starting again that has been with me since the lockdown. That kind of coming to something fresh and seeing it as if you hadn't seen it before. And that's the vision that I bring with me when I attend services for people who haven't been before. There's that kind of remembering how it was for me when I first encountered this practice and this group of people. And also imagining how it might be for somebody else to hear unfamiliar chants, to see unfamiliar faces, to kind of dip a first toe into this way of doing things that we have. And I'm conscious when I do that of how much of what I do in these services and what I do in my life becomes real kind of habit, that it's just routine. And I never imagined when we first came into lockdown how normal it would feel to dodge around people in the street to make sure that we don't get too close to them, or to order things online, to wear face masks to the local shops, that all the restrictions that felt quite difficult to begin with have kind of settled into a sort of a, well, this is how life is now. And there are pros and cons to that kind of habit. It is a lot less— takes a lot less energy to do things from a place of habit. If we had to remember every time we got in the car how to drive a car, or if we had to— I'm remembering when we were first vegan actually, and we used to go to the supermarket, and every 2 seconds we would stop stop and pick something up and read the back of it. Are we allowed to have this? And it was really time-consuming. And then after you've been 2 or 3 times, you just know this is okay, that's not, and it just becomes a lot simpler. There's a lot less energy expended. And that's true for these services as well, that we can kind of go through the motions very easily. This is where we chant Amitabha, this is where we do the Dharma talk, this is where we do the liturgy and just kind of glide through without really noticing very much. And so there is something about practice that we repeat that does become comfortable and easy in a way that is nice. It's like kind of, you know, you turn up at someone's a friend's house and you just know how their living room looks and you just feel comfortable in it. It's also helpful to remember to meet practice, to meet the Buddha, as if we have never seen it before, as if we are encountering it for the first time. And to allow that to give us a kind of a spaciousness and a curiosity and an open-mindedness that we, we don't hold when we're working from our kind of habit place. So I always appreciate having people here who haven't been here before. I also very much appreciate people who have been here lots of times before, and both are really helpful, both are really great to keep us fresh and to help us settle into deeper and deeper relationship with Amida. So, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. We will now do some meditation, and we'll do some, I think we'll do some Kwan Yin chanting at the beginning. So Kwan Yin is Amida's attendant, Avalokiteshvara, Bodhisattva of compassion. So as we chant her name, we're calling out Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. You might just, I'm looking up at her now on my wall, that's where I'm looking, as we chant her name, you might just want to imagine her soft blue light just falling gently on you and lighting you up and soothing you. Namaste.
Namokwan shi in bo sa. Namokwan shi in bo sa. Namokwan shi in bo sa. Namokwanji in Bosa. Namokwanji in Bosa. Namokwanji in Bosa. Namokwan Shin Bosat. Namokwan Shin Bosat. Namokwan Shin Bosat. Namokwanshi in rosa. Namokwanshi in rosa. Namokwanshi.
We now do prostration, so do, um, bow in any way that feels comfortable.
Namoh Amitabh. Namoh Amitabh. Namoh Amitabh. Namoh Amitabh. Namoh Amida. Namoh Amida. Namoh Amida Bu. Namoh Amida Bu. Namoh Amitabh. Namoh Amitabh. Namoh Amitabh. Namoh Amitabh. Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoh Amida. Namaste.
I'm sure most broadcasts don't end up with dogs wrestling around the microphone. Settle down, you two. We're now going to recite the evening service together. The link to the service book is in the chat box if you are on Zoom, or in the video description if you're watching later on YouTube. And evening service is on page 13 and 14. With body, speech, and mind humbly I prostrate and make offerings for Satya Robyn and Imajin. I confess my wrong deeds from all time and rejoice in the virtues of all. Please stay until samsara ceases and turn the wheel of Dharma for us. I dedicate all virtues to Great Enlightenment. The ground sprinkled with perfume and spread with flowers, a great mountain for land, sun, and moon. Seen as a Buddha land and offered thus, may all beings enjoy such pure lands. Tidam guru ratnamandala kamnuri atayami. By the grace that I receive through Amitabha's vows, may I be moved to deeds for the benefit of all. By the grace that I receive through Amitābha's vows, may I be moved to deeds for the benefit of all. By the grace that I receive through Amitābha's vows, may I be moved to deeds for the benefit of all. The purpose of our practice is to be a pure container wherein the common passions mature as higher wisdom. The preliminary outlook comes with bowing and contrition, facing up to my obstructions I'm seizing life's first essence. Devotion to my teacher ends my smugness and dejection. Helped by his compassion, I will find a straight direction. By refuge vows and precepts, recitation of the sutras, I grow through every challenge. Embodysatva aspiration, cooperation, and asanga bring so many joys and freedoms. Through gentle words and gestures comes collective transformation. Settled faith and inner cleansing brings us home to life's great meaning in the Four Divine Abidings. Buddha's light is always with us. Multitudes are disconcerted by impermanence and difference. With Dharma as true refuge, we dwell within the pure land. My gratitude is overflowing. Going forth, returning richly, I offer gifts of Dharma. Buddha's path bliss bestowed. 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. Invocation of the Kalanātha. Hail to the mandala. Let us so be engulfed within its praises evermore. That by our own wills and vigilance may we our fetters cut away. May we within the temple of our own hearts dwell amidst the myriad mountains.
Hail, hail, hail!
Invocation of Maha Kala. Let us be engulfed within the mandala of the Sangha of Buddha. Heil, heil, the Arrow of Emptiness.
Heil, heil.
Invocation of Vairochana Buddha. Hail the beneficent mystic, the treasure, hail, hail, the golden bell that rings but once.
Please upon the pillow, ma kuram. Makura. Makura.
Now we bow to each other.
Momo to Boo.
Momo to Boo. Maybe also bow to the dog. Who's joined us for practice this evening rather noisily, but he enjoyed it.
Good old Ralphie.
Good old Ralph.
He's a strong character.
He's
