Satya Robyn leads a recorded Buddhist evening service featuring Nembutsu chanting and Pure Land practice. Speaker C offers a reflective talk connecting mindfulness, the Satipatthana Sutta, and Nembutsu practice, while participants chant Namo Amitabha and recite evening liturgy together.
Chapters
Alas, people busily engaged in secular matters take no notice of life where Wearing away day by day, night by night, like a lamp in the wind. How long can it last? In the six realms of vast samsara, there is no fixed abode. Until we are emancipated by the seeds of affliction, how can we dwell in peace? Should we not be afraid while still young? And strong. Let us each hear the Dharma. Let us strive and diligently seek the path to eternity.
Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh.
Amitabh.
Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh.
Mama, meet boo.
Lovely to You all with us? Ah, so today my Buddhism brain has been active a bit. I, um, I was helping somebody out. Shraddha is preparing for a talk on mindfulness and was just checking with me some of Dhammavijja's Pure Land Buddhist take on mindfulness. So I felt compelled to have a read of the Satipatthana Sutta, and I was looking at Tara Sarnobhikkhu's translation of mindfulness, and it got my brain really thinking and working. And it's a worthwhile thing to do, trying to kind of pinpoint the same teaching with lights from different positions, each illuminating a slightly different aspect. And then Later in the afternoon, I opened Twitter and somebody had posted something like, "The Buddha never managed to shrug off his Hindu indoctrination because he didn't let go of the idea of karma." And that started a whole train of intellectual thought, and I was like, "Well, I wonder what we haven't managed to shrug off." off? And is it good that he didn't shrug it off, or is it bad that he didn't shrug it off? And also trying to work out how to ask the questions like that on Twitter is particularly tricky, to have that conversation in 240 characters or less. And then this evening, just before service, I opened my phone and I saw that a few people had replied to those questions that I'd asked in response. To that tweet about karma. And then part of me got really kind of awake and excited, oh, we can carry on this really heady philosophical discussion. And another part went, oh, just exhausted by the idea of having to work things out and think things through. You can hear the dog snuffling around by the microphone, no doubt. So it was such a joy to know that I was coming into service remembering those words from the Summary of Faith and Practice about approaching the Nembutsu as an ignorant being, not having to work out the right answer whether the Buddhist tradition should throw karma out or not, what the exact best translation of Śrīmatī is, and so on. How to define mindfulness for a modern audience and a religious audience. All those whirring thoughts. Just be an ignorant being. Oh, such a relief to be an ignorant being. I used to really get wrapped up in a lot of those discussions and conversations in my own head. And with other people, and they can be really worthwhile. They can really illuminate new aspects of the Dharma and generate helpful insight, and they can also be a weary trap. So really, just such gratitude for this simple practice of just saying the name of the Buddha and not worrying about where that leads. I'm reminded of Honen saying— oh, was it Shinran? I think Shinran said, 'I'm already going to hell, so if following Honen leads me to hell, I haven't lost anything.' And that sense of, well, yeah, you know, the world's pretty messed up, My own efforts to sort that out don't really— and to sort myself out don't come to much. Here's something good I can plug into. I don't need to worry about the exact detail of the doctrine around the edges. It's just icing on a cake, and icing can be a pretty good part of a cake, but it's not the main event. Yes, so really for me this evening, just appreciating, landing in something very simple, connecting me with that spirit of love that flows from the Buddha to us without worrying too much about where that flow will take me or exactly what, what are the right words. To use, just putting trust in Namo Amida Butsu. Namo Amida Butsu. So now we have some time for quiet contemplation. Maybe you can experiment with being an ignorant being just sitting in the presence of the loving Buddha.
Mamamitsu.
We're now going to do frustrations. You won't be able to see much of that, but do join in as much or as little as you're able to.
Namoh Amitabh. Namoh Amitabh. Namoh Amitabh. Namoh Amitabh.
Namoh Amitabh.
Namoh Amitabh.
Namoh Amitabh. Namoh Amitabh. Namoh Amida.
Namoh Amida.
Namoh Amida. Namoh Amida. Namoh Amida Buta. Namoh Amida.
Namoh Amida.
Namoh Amida Buta. Namah Amitabh. Namah Amitabh. Amo Amitabh.
Namah Amitabh.
Namaste.
We will now recite evening service together, which is on page 13 of your service book, and the link is in the chat box if you need it.
With body, speech, and mind, humbly I prostrate and make offerings for Satya Robyn and Jemajin. 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, the great mountain full and sun and moon, seen as a Buddha land and offered thus. May all beings enjoy such pure land. Ye Danguru Ratna Mandala Kam Nuryataya, 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 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. 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 and 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 in bodhisattva aspiration. Cooperation in a sangha brings 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. Our 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 Avalokiteshvara.
Hei ho 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 monks of the Mandala 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.
Peace upon the pilgrim.
They might have heard you say oops then when you dropped the bell because you whispered it, but you whispered it right into the microphone. I was trying to close the microphone. Ruined the best moment of service. Two pounds, please. Namaste. He's doing so well. I know.
Thank you all for joining us. The, um, Sounds like some of the sound dropped out at some point for some reason. Sorry for that, don't really know why, must be the connection.
Yeah, you went very quiet.
Yeah, well, just at the end you were very quiet.
Sorry about that, technical problems, I guess.
