Satya Robyn leads a Buddhist practice session on attachment and the Nembutsu, with guided chanting of Amitabha Buddha. The group reflects on connecting with nature through an anecdote about discovering a secret park, then recites refuge vows together.
Chapters
Good morning everybody, welcome to Taylor and Kayla joining us on Zoom, and there's just Joanna here with Satya and myself from the temple this morning.
Namaste.
So yesterday afternoon Casper and I had our One of our— every few months we have a special meeting where we go somewhere not the temple, not our usual haunts, to talk about the temple and to talk about where we are and where we want to go and how things are going. And yesterday we were on our way to a park in the local town and Kasper caught sight of this little park that Brian had told us about probably a year ago now, and that I've sort of been meaning to go to, didn't really know how to get in, so we thought we'd try and get in and see if the gate was unlocked, so we went around the side and, and it was open, and it was absolutely beautiful, it's this little tucked away secret park that was just bathed in sunlight. There's a fountain, lovely plants, and the surroundings are the kind of old buildings opposite the Abbey Hotel, and it was like we were suddenly in some fairy tale place, and we were the only ones in there, and I had a brownie which was really nice— they're doing new brownies in Abbey Road—
and a coffee, and we had the whole afternoon ahead of us, and I just sat there, you know, taking in the sun, thinking, wow, I live here, I could go here again.
And then quite soon I had the thought, oh, I'm going to come here a lot, or I'm going to come here with the dogs, I'm going to make sure I come here with the brownie again, or that kind of process of clinging, wanting to hold on to the experience.
And yeah, so we sat for a while and it was very nice, and then Brian and Yaz and Dave turned up and sat on a bench a bit further down, and then a couple more people came, and then two young lads came.
Suddenly our fantasy private garden was full of people, and the guys next to us, they brought a bench, so they'd got like two benches facing each other so they could sort of put their feet feet up, and one of them put his phone on his leg and was blasting out music.
I mean, not blasting out isn't fair, but it was noticeable, creating their own little disco area, and then we left shortly after that. However, it was a lovely place, and I'm sure I will have other lovely moments there, But it just reminds me of how it is to be human, that as soon as we get something we want—
I'll speak for myself—
as soon as I get something that I'm enjoying, I want more of it.
So if I have a— I'm on a chocolate subscription service, and they send me like 3 surprise posh bars of chocolate every month.
As soon as I taste one that I really like, I'm like online to look at the company, order 10 bars.
And as soon as we have something that we don't like, we have this reaction like, "Oh, I wish they wouldn't be playing that music. Shall I speak to them?
I don't want to make a scene. It's not that bad.
Maybe we'll just leave." All of that stuff goes on. And denial is the third one, being ignorant or confused or just pretending none of it's happening. Buddhism says that this is unavoidable as humans. We do these three things all the time.
Moment to moment, you might notice as you're sitting here with me, I might have said something that you agree with and you're like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah." Or I might have said things you're not so sure about, or you might be feeling uncomfortable. Moment to moment, we're trying to move towards or away things.
Or pretending they're not happening. And as a result of this, what we do is we build up these protections around us. And I was listening to Caroline Brazier this week, I'm attending some classes she's running about a Shin text, and she was talking about how we surround ourselves with these bubbles, these bubbles of protection to try and help us get more of what we want, less what we don't want, keep us in denial. She was talking about Buddhism as encouraging us to connect more directly with things, and she talked about the natural world as one of those things that we can connect with more directly, and she talked about Amida Buddha, or the Buddhas, as the ultimate example of somehow allowing these bubbles to relax a little bit, in part so we can have this connection with something real, something true, something fresh, something colourful, something not necessarily wonderful, but something that's that's not us, that's not us and our preferences and our protections. I really liked that way of looking at Buddhism, that Buddhism is all Nembutsu, that Nembutsu, when we say the Buddha's name and the Buddha reflects light, shines light onto us, That's Nembutsu, and all of Buddhism is Nembutsu. So if you're local, I'll tell you where the park is later. We were saying to Brian, we're only going to tell nice people where it is because there's already enough people in it as it is. And as we sit in silence today, Maybe just notice the bubbles that you have around you, the, the, um, the protection, the, the stuff that gets between you and the world as it is, and see if Amida's light might just pierce here or there and get in and shine on you, warm you up. And we'll chant Amitabha when I start the chanting. Namamitabhu. Amitabha.
Ameetabha. Ameetabha.
Ameetabha.
Ame chaba.
Ame chaba.
Ame chaba.
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. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
For refuge I go to Buddha .
For refuge I go to Dharma , Namo Buddhaya!
For refuge I go to the Dharma—
or Refuge?
I Go To The Dharma... Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Na mo tamaya—
for refuge I go to the Sangha or refugee I go to the sangha na mo sangaia—
namo sanghaya—with faith in the Three Jewels I pray that I may not take life—I praise on me—not take my—with faith in the Three Jewels—with faith in the 3 Jews—I pray that I may not steal—I pray that time may not still—and With faith in the Three Jewels—
With faith in the three jewels I pray that I may not fall into sexual misconduct. I pray this time they're not falling to sexual misconduct.
With faith in the Three Jewels—
Faithful jewel! —I pray that I may not fall into wrong speech.
That's how we know for sure it was each one of them doing their job properly? Yeah, yeah.
Okay. So now let me ask you some questions about your own experience when you were practicing Buddhism before coming here today.
What do you remember from those times?
You can say something if necessary or just nod yes/no type thing.
Yes, no answer will be fine too.
Um... I pray that I may avoid intoxication.
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.
Namoh Amida Buu. Namoh Amida Buu. Namoh Amida. Namoh Amida. Namoh Amida. Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoh Amida. Namoh Amida. Namo Amitabha.
Namo Amitabhu.
Namo Amitabhu. Namo Amitabhu. Namaste.
So if you'd like to unmute.
Keima, if you shout really loud, we should be able to hear you from your car in the driveway.
Blessed by Amitabha's light, may we care for all living things and the holy earth.
Momi too.
Lovely to see you all. Who's the people that— Angela, Keima, and Tony and Desh. Lovely to see you all, guys. So just— yeah, you can stop recording.
So just to let people
