Practice - blessings

Welcome everybody, and I'm Omi Tipu. Good evening. This evening— hi Beth, joining us on Zoom— this evening we will begin with a Armageddon by Imogen, and Angie is going to read it out for us.

Thank you, Angie. Moving house.

I have felt very unsettled and unstable this week. I'm moving house soon, which marks the start of a new chapter in my life in many ways. This left me with this desperation to cling on to something that could feel stable, like me again. I kept trying to grasp for this sense of who I am in such changeable things. The way my hair looks, my work, what time I was getting out of bed, my feelings— all felt forceful. I was trying to make things other than they were. Upon accepting these things and reflecting I realized I am not that, or that, or that. Rather than I am unsettled, I started to say I feel unsettled. I feel that, but I am not that. This subtle change in perspective seemed to free up a lot of space for me. It meant that I could feel something but not be so caught up in making it personal. I became the one experiencing rather than being blown around in the wind with all of these changeable things. Just asking the question, if I am not these feelings, then who am I? It was here I found some sense of stability without trying. The door just opened. Namu Amitabha.

Namu Amitabha. Thank you.

We will now sit together in silence for for a while. And as we sit, um, maybe today you might want to imagine a huge Buddha, maybe like this one, maybe a little bit different. And as you sit, you can be sitting with this huge Buddha. Maybe in front of them, maybe beside them, maybe in the palm of their hand. And allow compassion and the wisdom that's emanating from this Buddha to permeate you. Whatever it is you need tonight. Allow yourself to receive as much of that as feels possible. After some silence, we will chant together, and we will chant Amitabha, the word Amitabha, the Buddha of infinite light. Do join in when you get the tune, and then we'll have a little bit more silence before the bells ring.

Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh.

Amitabh.

Amitabh. Amitabh. Me, me. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Me tava. I am me tava. I am me tava. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh.

Please repeat after me. 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. 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 Dharmaya. Namo Dharmaya. 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 Sanghaya. With faith in the Three Jewels—

With faith in the three jewels I pray that I may not take life. And I praise them they do it well.

Faithful to the Three Jewels—

We thank you for your jewelery tools!

—I pray that time may not steal. That's right.

Time will go still.

The faithful of the Three Jewels who have taken their rituals—I pray that I may not fall into sexual misconduct. I pray that I may not fall into sexual misconduct— With faith in The Three Jewels! —With Faith In The Three Jewels! I pray that I may not fall into wrong-speech— 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!

No blame , be kind, love everything.

Love.

Innumerable sentient beings, we vow to save them all.

Inexhaustible ardented 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.

I've been reading stories by a woman called Rachel Naomi Remen, who had a Jewish, a religious Jewish grandfather and atheist parents. And she is a physician, or used to be a physician, who worked with people who had cancer and who were dying. And she tells lots of little stories about the kind of magic that happens when people are seriously ill. And she tells a story, I wish I could remember it, but I can't. I can remember the punchline of the story. Which is that a man becomes able to receive blessings when he is seriously ill. And she says that the blessings had been available to him all of his life, but it was only the illness that allowed him to somehow let them in, receive them. As Pure Land Buddhists, our main practice is the Nembutsu, where we say the name of Amitabha. And I see the Nembutsu in a similar way, that it allows us to become open to become permeable to the blessings that are all around us. As Buddhists, we see the Buddha as the source of blessings— the Buddha's compassion, the Buddha's wisdom, the Buddha's patience, the Buddha's courage. But we can also see the whole of the world as being animated by that quality, that Buddha quality. So when we call out to the Buddha, when we say the name of the Buddha, one way of seeing that is that we are saying I need— I am vulnerable, I am fallible, and I need support. I need love, I need advice. That's not always an easy thing to do. And the Buddha knows that too. The Buddha knows that we don't always manage to open our hearts, to be willing to receive. So they just wait patiently. For conditions to come together that allow that to happen. You're all here in the shrine room tonight, so you've got pretty good conditions. Lots of people who aren't here, people in other religious places, they've got good conditions too. And even so, even as close as we are to the Buddha, I don't know about you, but most of the time for me it's so easy to forget that I'm surrounded by blessings. So I'm feeling grateful to the Buddha for their patience and for their presence, and very grateful that my own history has brought me to this place where I do receive the blessings of the Buddha. And hopefully manage to pass some of those on. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. So we finish by making prostrations to the Buddha. In a minute, Phoebe will ring the bell and we'll stand up. I'll go to the front, and everyone else, if you face the shrine, see if you can get some carpet in front of you. And then do as much of the prostrations as your body is able. We chant the nenbutsu as we prostrate, which is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. But don't worry about doing both of that at the same time if it's your first time. With gratitude, we offer this incense offering to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas throughout space and time. May it be fragrant as aloof 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. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. So return to stand at our seats, and then we finish by bowing to each other, first one side and then the other. Bow to the nature island. Hide our seats and bow to our seats. So if you haven't been here before, there is a golden donation bowl in the hallway if you're able to make a donation. And we have a cup of tea together now. Feel free to join us. We have a Mindful Maintenance morning next Saturday, the 8th of May. Is that right? 8th? 6th. 6th of May. If you're able to come and help us pull some weeds up, that would be great. Uh, thank you for coming. Uh, kirtan on Sunday. Oh yeah, kirtan this Sunday, 5 o'clock, with Benji.

And Monday I'm blessing the clock tower, the— where the water— the clock tower, I think.

Midday, pretty sure it's midday. Okay, so I'll—

I'm gonna put it on the chat.

What's actually the time?

But I'd really appreciate some people coming along so we can have more than a couple of voices as we chant in that space.

Oh, blessed by Amma's light, Mary's care for all living things, and the Holy Ashura. It's like, what's everyone waiting for? Closing verse.