Satya Robyn leads a Buddhist service exploring powerlessness and other-power, the idea of relying on compassion and conditions beyond ourselves rather than self-effort alone. The teaching draws on Amida Buddha and the concept that we depend on forces outside our control.
Chapters
Welcome everybody. I'm going to start today's service with a short little reading from Reverend Kiboise on quietness. It is important to take time to have some quiet moments in our lives. Otherwise, we get caught up in the busyness of always having to have something going on. It's not the TV always being on, it's the radio as soon as we get into the car. We can't even go to the bathroom or eat by ourselves without grabbing a newspaper to read. To become quiet does not mean a negative passivity. Quietness can be a dynamic state. There are two kinds of quietness. One is dead quietness with no life in it. The other quietness is alive with awareness. We become aware of serenity in both ourselves and in the world. This happens because we see that we are one with the world. Quietness is not a turning away from the world, but a realization that you are the world. During quietness, you breathe together with the whole world. This is the very reason quietness is so refreshing. We have to learn to be quiet, just as we have to learn to acquire certain tastes. But this quietness, once acquired, has tremendous sweetness. So we're moving into a period of quietness now and meditation. So the invitation is, once you've settled in to the space which your body started to land a bit, and as that's happening, that may be you invite a sense of breathing with the world. Going to move into chanting the Kwan Yin mantra, which, if you need to see it written down, is on the little liturgy sheet beside you or under your chair if you're in a chair.
Na mo kwanchi in bosa. Na mo kwanchi in bosa. Namokwanji in Bhojas. Namokwanji in Bhojas. Namokwanji. Bhagavan. Namah Shivaya.
Namah Shivaya. Namah Shivaya.
Namah Shivaya. Namokwanji in Gosat. Namokwanji in Gosat. Namokwanji in Gosat. Namokwanji in Bosats. Namokwanji in Bosats. Namokwanji.
Bhagavan Shri Yin Bhosat!
Namokwanji Yin Bhosat! Namokwanji Yin Bhosat! Namokwanji Yin Bhosat! Namokwanchi in Bosats. Namokwanchi in Bosats. Namokwanchi in Bosats. Namokwenshi imbo sat. Namokwenshi imbo sat. Namokwenshi imbo sat. Namokwanji Rinpoche. Namokwanji Rinpoche. Namokwanji Rinpoche. Namokwanshi in Bho-sat. Namokwanshi in Bho-sat. Namokwanshi.
Oh, Satya.
Namokwanchi.
Oh, Satya.
Namokwanchi.
Oh, Satya.
Namokwanchi.
We're going to recite the refuges and precepts, and if you need to see them written down, they're on the little liturgy sheet. 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.
Namo Buddha.
Namo Buddha.
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.
Namo Dhamma.
Namo Dhamma.
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 Sangha.
Namo Sangha.
With faith in the Three Jewels—
With faith in the three jewels—
And in light of my human tendencies—
In life to fight you for 10 dayses—
I pray that I may become aware— Of when I take life—
When I say come on!
—I pray that I may become aware—
My prayers have been heard—
That's what it takes? What is not freely given?
Of when I take what is not freely given.' 'I pray that I may become aware—' 'I pray that I may become aware of when they fall into sexual misconduct.' Of when I have fallen to sexual misconducts.
'I pray that I may become aware—' 'I pray that I may come away from wrong speak,' or false teachings. 'I pray that I may become aware I pray that I may become aware of 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.
Immeasurable are the Dharma teachings.
We vow to master them. Infinite is the Buddha's way. We vow to fulfill it completely.
I've been reflecting a bit over the last— wow, I've just seen the moon! Just say— so just get— I'm sorry, Matt Online, maybe like you could see the moon out of a window. Wow, still in supermoon phase, I guess. I feel like I just do a talk about the moon now, but I don't know, because I would just ramble. Um, yeah, so I've been reflecting over the last, I don't know, some weeks, not very long, a few weeks on possible action or setting up conditions and powerlessness and other power. So One of the basic teachings of Buddhism is that things arise in dependence upon conditions. So when the causes, the factors, the conditions that are right for something to happen, to arise, then it arises. When those conditions change, it changes. And when those conditions cease, or even some of those conditions— so it's not an optimum condition— cease that thing falls away and something else arises. And that is aside from the Buddha, who is perceived as beyond conditionality. So In our day-to-day, and in lots of different scenarios that we go through in our day-to-day, we are like, as far as I see it, like blessed with a huge, like, vast wealth of practices that are incredibly supportive and grounding, like Buddhist practices, wider spiritual practices. Practices, therapeutic practices, the natural world. Like, there's really an endless wealth of practices that, when we engage with them, set up the conditions for us to become more anchored, more settled, more regulated. For the opportunity for things we've been carrying to transform. And that's true, and it is possible that we can set up those kind of really supportive conditions and when we do that, it can feel like that's coming from self-power, like I do this practice or I set up those conditions. Although there is a view that it's all other power coming through, but there's also situations which we can find ourselves in. And there's a lot of variety of these where actually we can feel really powerless. It might be that it's a situation like a chronic condition where yes, there are some things we could do to help, but it is just there and it is dukkha and it is a chronic condition that at times will be worse and at times would be better. It could be when faced with a, a deep loss that's out of our hands. It could be a situation where we're really reliant on somebody else and they've got the reins and we just have to wait and try and tolerate it as best we can. Or it might be that we're in the grip of some kind of deeply entrenched habit, like destructive habit, and without some kind of support, we are just powerless and just get pulled around by it or consumed by it. And in those times, I sometimes personally, I can find it a bit easier in some ways to open up to other power, but that can vary and you may have a totally different experience. This, so In times of powerlessness, when our power has run out, that's when there's sometimes an even greater opportunity to open up to other power, to a force of— the force of the Buddha, force of love. That can hold us and support us and carry us when we just don't have the strength to do anything. Krishna Das says, practice when you can because you'll need it when you can't, because there'll be times when you just don't have the capacity. Well, there may be times when you just don't have the capacity to practice. And I feel like though that's one of the extra gifts of those kind of times, is that it can in some ways be easier to let go into something bigger than us, into Amida, or into the friend as they're called within the Sufi traditions. This, this friend who's got our back but who isn't swayed by causes and conditions, who's, who's there, who's really got us in a really profound way. And what about those times when we are able to draw on practices? How could that be other power too? Because maybe it feels like we're doing it. And I guess one of the ways of thinking about that is that it is the ultimate force of love and compassion and awareness. The Buddha arising in us and enabling us to do that, giving us some kind of energy that can flow through, that can pass through into whatever it is that we're doing. Or another way of thinking about it is that if, if say I look to that practice or to nature, or that, that those things are other as well They're not arising from within me in this moment. And that's another way of thinking about how could it be other power as well. And although I personally find in some ways it easier to let go into other power during times of powerlessness or hopelessness, at times when I feel crushed by something, crushed by the suffering in the world and all sorts of things that make me feel, or, you know, that I feel really powerless about. Sometimes when we're in that kind of state, actually some people can find themselves really contracting, and, and actually the potential to feel supported by something bigger can, can become very distant. And it doesn't mean it's not there. Other power, Amida, is still there, but you can't feel them, can't see them. So those are some of my wonderings about self-power and setting up conditions and of power and powerlessness. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
Namorandi.
Namorandi. Namorandi. Namaste.
In gratitude, we offer this incense to all beings and bodhisattvas throughout space and time. May it be 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 our true home. We're going to bow one way and then the other. Bow to the main shrine. Bow to our seats and tidy our seats. Feel free to answer the praising. Yes.
Blessed by Amitabha's light, may we care for all living things.
