Pilgrimage

Welcome everybody to our evening practice session. There are 10 of us in the shrine room this evening, and we're joined by 2 people on Zoom. Angela Paul, who I think it's his first time, and Satya's leading practice this evening. I'm going to put a link in the chat box which has got all the words, to a page that's got all the words, if you want to read along with this next one. If you're in the room, there's a piece of paper.

Angela, our Angela, who's moving in.

Hi, Angela.

Welcome everybody. Very impressed everybody's on the floor. We'll see how your legs are all doing in half an hour. So we begin with a talk, and I have spent the day with pilgrims. I've had a really wonderful day. It's been pretty busy, but There are 3 pilgrimages I want to talk to you about this evening, and pilgrimages are holy walks, journeys that are undertaken fueled by the Buddha or God or the the spirit of the earth. And the first pilgrim I want to talk to you about is my friend Steph, who is a Buddhist with a different group of Buddhists who meet over the hill in— near Cornwall. And she is going to be ordained in a few weeks' time. And in her tradition, that means that she'll receive a new name. And it's a very big deal. She's walked from London where she lives to Malvern so far today and stopped here for a cup of tea. So it was really lovely to welcome her and be a part of her journey towards ordination. The second group of pilgrims I want to mention are a group called the Coat of Hopes. You can look them up online later if you want to, and there are good friends who are Christian, and they have created a big coat that will be walking to Glasgow for COP26. COP26 is in November, and it's the big hope for something actually happening about the climate crisis. It's all the world leaders coming together and to talking and hopefully coming to some agreements. Whether they will come to those agreements or not is another matter, but still they're doing it. So the Coat of Hopes will be walking up, carried by different people, and it's got lots of patchworks on it. So as it goes, more and more patches will be added to this big coat. It's really beautiful. It's already beautiful, and it's very moving to see it pass from person to person as it goes. Up further and further north. And the third group of pilgrims are very special because we have one here this evening with us. Mikey doesn't want me to mention them, but I'm going to do it anyway. Um, and Mikey's been very involved in the organisation of this pilgrimage, as has Izzy from Malvern, and many other people. And it's a project that was initiated by the XR faith groups, so the Buddhists, the Christians, the Jewish people, the, um, all people from different faiths. And it's, um, it's a walk from Bristol, from London, from Norwich, from Hereford, from Edinburgh, from Europe, up to Glasgow for COP26 in November. And today is the 7th day of the Bristol leg which Mikey's been on, so they've all arrived in Malvern tonight and I've just come from Lansdown Church which is in Malvern. Everyone's been eating together and they're all doing well, so we were there to meet them as they walked from the field across towards Upton and we were there to meet them at Barnard's Green with a little mini samba band which is really cool. And I just feel so moved by these, these projects, these, these labors of love, because they are all driven by, by love. They are driven by a desire to do something about the climate and ecological emergency. They are made up of people who are busy people and have busy lives, but they've volunteered their time to organize church halls for people to sleep in at night, to organize food, to organize publicity, all of the, the complicated things that go into this act of devotion. And I feel like although they're down in Lansdowne Church listening to music right now, I really feel their presence here in this room with us, that they're also sitting with us and the Buddha. And I still just really enjoy the Buddha at this time of night when he's lit up by the golden light at the top there, and the evening starts to get darker behind him, that it inspires me. The beauty of it inspires me. And we need this inspiration when things are difficult, when we really come into emotional contact with the reality of what's happening in the world. It's not easy to face, and I think as people of faith we're lucky because we have something really powerful to lean on. We have something that, that keeps us going, that inspires us, that comforts us. So at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning, we'll be seeing the walkers off from just along the road here. If you want to join us, we'll let you know where we'll be. And Casper will be giving a blessing to the walkers to take with them. I've made them some brownies, so they'll be taking the brownies as well. Blessings and brownies are both very important. And as we sit here in this room this evening, maybe we can just in the silence, send our love to the walkers, some of whom are walking for a few days or a couple of weeks, some of whom, like Mikey and my friend Melanie and others, will be traveling the whole distance, and they'll be walking until November. Um, we can think of them and send them our love and be inspired by them. Yeah, blessings to the pilgrimages, blessings to the pilgrims. So in a minute we'll move into some quiet. In the quiet, you might want to just notice your breath as it goes in and out without changing it, just notice it. When thoughts arise, just notice that there's thoughts arising and let them go. And you— for me, certainly lots and lots of thoughts arise, so that will just keep happening. Just keep noticing the thoughts and letting them go. If you do feel yourself becoming more peaceful, just dwell in that peace. And then after a little while, I will begin chanting We'll chant the Amitabha chant this evening. So the words are— the word is Amitabha, which we repeat 4 times. You'll get the tune. Amitabha is the Buddha of infinite light, so the Buddha that exemplifies a wisdom and love that just goes on forever. It's just infinite. It penetrates everything. It penetrates all through us. And all through everything else. And as we chant Amitabha, you might want to just imagine that, that light entering you. And the chanting just gets quieter, and then we do some other things. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

Are you recording?

Yeah.

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

Amitabha.

Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.

Amitabha.

Amitabha.

Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.

Amitabha.

Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.

Amitabha.

Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.

Amitabha. Amitabha.

Amitabha. Ame taba. Ame taba. Ame taba. Aami. Ta. Aami. Eta. Aami. Eta.

So next we recite the refuges, precepts, and bodhisattva vows together. The first two, just repeat after me, and then the bodhisattva vows are on your bit of paper if you need it. For refuge I go to the Buddha.

For refuge I go to the Buddha.

Namo Buddha. For refuge I go to the Dharma.

For refuge I go to the Dharma.

Namo Dharmaya.

Namahodhamayad.

For refuge I go to the Sangha.

For refuge I go to the Sangha.

Namaho sanghaya. With faith in the Three Jewels—

with faith in the three jewels—

I pray that I may not take life.

I pray that I may not take life.

With faith in The Three Jewels—

With Faith In 3 jewels I pray that may not steal? Pray That May Not Steal —with faith in three jeweled gems...

For your sake! ...I pray that might fall into sexual misconduct?! "Prayer" means asking for forgiveness or pardon from Buddha to be forgiven of our wrongdoings; so we ask him please forgive us if there's any wrongdoing on my part etc.——with faith in these jewel stones—I'm praying you'll help me do it correctly . We're using prepositions here which mean 'for' like this one was used earlier when he said let them come closer because then they can hear better his teaching about meditation properly but also use words such as at home instead of inside house, right now rather than later today/now I pray that I may not fall into wrong speech. With faith in the Three Jewels, with faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may avoid intoxication.

I pray that I may avoid intoxication.

Innumerable sentient beings, we vow to save them all. Inexhaustible are the Buddha's passions.

We vow to transform man more.

Immeasurable are the Dharma teachings.

We vow to master them more.

Infinite is the Buddha's way.

We vow to fulfill So in a minute, Fee will ring the bell and we will all stand up and do prostrations together. So do, do as much or as little as your body wants you to. If you want to stay standing up, that's fine, just make a bow. Just make sure you've got a bit of floor in front of you, and we'll all face that Buddha. So I'll come to the front so you can copy me. And the words— it's a bit difficult to do the words and the motion together if you haven't done it before. The words are Namo Amida Butsu. I call out to Amida Buddha. So Amida is the same as Amitabha, it's just a different language. Namaste. Namaste. Sorry. Always do that, I know. And then we finish by first of all bowing to each other, so Caspar will bow to Fi and I will bow to Jahmei, and he will work it out. And then we turn and bow the other way. So they would do a bow to Isimaki, you'll bow to Maria, and then turn and bow the opposite way. That's fine. Beautifully done. And of course to the Zoom people as well. And then we bow to the Buddha. Then we tidy our seats and bow to our seats. And then we finish by reciting the closing verse together, which is on your bit of paper on the top from one side.

And to unmute if you're on Zoom and want to read it together with us.

Lammas, by Amitābha's light, may you care for all living things and holy earth. Amen. So if you're free to join us for a cup of tea, we will have a cup of tea now. And there's a donation bowl on the table in the hallway if you'd like to leave a donation, if you're able to. Toilets at the top of the stairs, and if you've got any other questions, you can ask me or Caspar. Let me go next door. I'm going to put the bunnies to bed. Okay, so maybe someone else could put the kettles on, make me a cup of tea. See you in a second. Oh my God, it's so dark.

Do you go on through to the other room?