Nembutsu service 1st July

There we are!

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Alas, people engaged in secular matters take no notice of life 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 seas of affliction, how can we rest 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. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh.

There's an old Zen koan about what you do when you get to the top of 100 foot pole? And the answer is, take another step. And so I don't know why that came to me while we were chanting, and I was wondering, well, what does that mean for me? The pole is— or the ladder is the known quantity, is the scaffolding, it's the teaching to some degree, but the teaching as it is written, as it's described. It's the part of the journey that you've got a map for. Jumping off the pole, taking another footstep, is walking beyond the edge of the map. And that's about encountering the unknown. It's about encountering what isn't described in the sutras. The Buddha In the sutras, if you read the Pali Canon and the Mahayana sutras, the Buddha answers a lot of questions. Most of our teachings that are passed down from the Buddha come because somebody asks him about something, and he responds to them. He gives them the exact answer that they're looking for, and he comes back to the same themes over and over again, like Four Noble Truths, codependent arising, and so on, karma. And he taught for a long time. Even so, there's many things in life that we encounter that aren't described in the Pali Canon. The Buddha certainly didn't have a smartphone addiction, for example. And relationship with real people is like that too. You can go some way through following social cues, and at some point you just have to meet somebody and something happens spontaneous. I'm also reminded of when the Buddha and Ananda went to see Queen Vaidehi. Queen Vaidehi had a spontaneous vision of the Pure Land, and when I think it was Ananda asked the Buddha how he could get such a vision. The Buddha gave him a step-by-step visualization. That's the word I'm looking for. First of all, picture the setting sun like the skin of a drum tight in in the sky, then imagine the ground like lapis lazuli and the jeweled trees and so on. Paint-by-numbers spiritual experience. And that gets you some of the way to what a genuine encounter with the Pure Land is like. Can you hear me? At the moment, Liz. Great, I just saw the message. But a real spiritual experience is what Queen Vaidehi had. It's spontaneous, it's lively, it's got some energy to it. And we find that quality, you know, we're not all going around having visions of the Pure Land, but we are all going around encountering real life, and we're being invited to make loving responses to real life. And following the teachings can take us a lot of the way there. We can think, what's right livelihood? Okay, well, maybe I'll change my career. Or what's right action in this moment? Or there's pre— you know, there's guidance we can look in, in the precepts that we take around right speech. But at some point, you always have to take the next step off the 100-foot pole. Going, going, always going beyond awakening, as the Heart Sutra said. Every time you think you've got it, there's another step into the unknown to take. And spiritual practices like this, bouncing from what we know, from what has been described, into something that we don't know, into something unusual. And what enables me to take that leap is faith. It's fear that stops us from encountering real life and having a lively response. Fear of getting it wrong, fear of upsetting people, fear of putting ourselves in situations where we'll become upset. What is it? The antidote to fear is faith, knowing that wherever we land when we step off the end of that pole, we'll be caught by Amida Buddha. We'll land in the Pure Land. We'll be accepted just as we are, whether we do a belly flop or some kind of Tom Dale routine from the top of the pole. The Buddha accepts us just as we are. So this is, this is spiritual practice. Taking that leap off the diving board, off the pole, off the ladder, trusting that we'll be caught, using that pole as a guide. It tells us the trajectory. We move in a direction of compassion, but at some point compassion has to become real and unscripted. Namomi to be.

Namomi to be.

Now we have some time for quiet sitting together. If you want to just take a moment to notice how your body meets the earth through the ground, through the chair, the the different weights and pressures in those places of contact.

Namoh Amida Butsu! Namoh Amida Butsu! Namoh Amida—

Namoh Amida—

Namoh Amitabhu! Namah Amitabha. Namah Amitabha. Namah Amitabha.

Namah Amitabha. Namoha mi ta.

Namoha mi ta bu. Namoha mi ta bu.

Namoha mi ta bu.

Namaste!

Why— the camera took on a life of its own years ago. More than 10 years ago I did a service, a Hungry Ghost Service at a friend's house, and we hadn't got any bells so we used children's toys and boxes and things. And because he's got a little baby, 1-year-old, and she was there with us. I don't know, something of the same energy with the dogs rooting around and the webcam moving on its own accord, um, said something reminds me of that service. That was actually a very lovely ceremony all those years ago with the, um, the baby toys. But anyway, here we are this evening with real life. We will We can now recite evening service together, which is on page 13 of the service book.

With body, speech, and mind, humbly I prostrate and make offerings both set out and imagined. 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. 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 Amitabha'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.

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 Maha Akhala Nata.

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 a myriad mountains. Hell, hell, hell, hell.

Invocation of Maha Kala.

Let us be engulfed within the mandala of the Sangha of Buddha.

Hell, hell. The Arrow of Emptiness. Hele hele hele.

Invocation of Vairochana Buddha.

Hele hele hele.

Our Beneficent Mystic. The Treasure. Hele hele hele.

The Golden Bell That Rings But Once.

Peace upon the earth, my Quran, my Quran, my Quran.

No, I mean, to be honest, obviously some sort of ghost in here moving the camera around.