Satya Robyn leads a group Buddhist practice session with guided meditation, chanting, and a reading of the Heart Sutra. The group explores beginner's mind and boundlessness through reflection and ritual vows, with a dedication for the recently deceased Reverend Saito.
Chapters
In some Zen centers, before practice, they ring a singing bowl in all four corners of the center. And the big bell at the start of practice here is inspired by that tradition, which is about startling and clearing away any negative energy or spirits that happens to have congregated in the shrine room. So it's an ancient tradition of allowing the sound to clear the space so that we can practice more cleanly in it. As always this morning, uh, welcome to everybody. Nice to see you joining us on Zoom, Grant and Ian. And we'll begin with a glimpse from Jaume. I'll just pass the microphone over.
Thank you.
Ombu mind, beginner's mind. The concept of beginner's mind got me thinking after our day retreat last week. It reminded me of a) how little I actually know in comparison to how much there is to know, and b) how beneficial this seeming disadvantage can be on the spiritual path. He talks about how beginner's mind shows up in our lives, how it can open up whole new understandings on life, practice, and the universe, and how as a society we favor the glory of competency and being good at everything. Over the vulnerability of not knowing. I don't think I've ever met a scholar or an expert who isn't in some way humbled by the fact of just how much information there is out there about everything. An inexhaustible font of facts, ideas, perspectives, and opinions. In any realistic evaluation of the universe, where experience informs the evidence of the senses, all of our encounters with knowledge and understanding would be firmly grounded in an attitude of beginner's mind. Because we can never reach the limits of learning. There is always more to know, and therefore we are always, in a certain sense, beginners. As a practitioner with a terrible memory and limited capacity for retaining information, I can really identify with the concept of beginner's mind. Buddhist and generic spiritual concepts and teachings that I learned and assimilated over many years have now faded to an almost irretrievable extent. When I'm reintroduced to them, I often find a fresh perspective that maybe I hadn't seen or really appreciated before, or that the teaching comes from a different angle altogether and is associated with an unexpected source. This can be very disruptive to my ego and the parts of me that like the idea that I've got it all boxed off. My expert mind might inspire me to study a bit harder in order to throw up defenses against the pain of having to say, 'I don't know.' But surely enough, I will find myself back at the same place, defeated by reality once again. And the defeat is not an empty one. The teaching is implicit in the journey, as is often the case. We never actually reach the end. In a culture that doesn't like limits or failure, beginner's mind is not a popular concept. The intellectual and materialistic carrots that we are all chasing are not rooted in compromise or concession. But if we are prepared to actively align ourselves with our inherent limitations, we may be able to see ourselves more clearly and therefore live more deeply. Beginner's mind is a state of genuine humility where we really know that we don't know and accept it as a blessed truth. Namaste.
Moving into silence. And in very traditional Zen centers, you'll be given instructions about your posture. But not about your attention. And I suppose it's worth giving a little bit of attention to your posture, just swaying left and right and forwards and backwards and finding that central point that allows you to be upright and relaxed. Often a little bit further back than I imagine. The reason they don't give any further instructions is because it's about finding out how this is for you to just sit. Can we bring beginner's mind to this practice, noticing, how is it today to sit in this time, in this place, with this body-mind? So we will chant the Kunyin mantra, Om Mani Padme Hum, which means, uh, homage to the one who hears the cries of the world. Like, literally, that's what it means. But, um, like with meditation, we really discover the meaning in the practice.
Namah Kwan Chi Inboh Sadguru— namaha kuan chi im bho sadhgurunamahu swastihi namanamao mamaramu shamaraaayana maaheen chitim bhut sattvaanami Namo Kwanchi Imbhosat! —Namha Khwanshee Embosad? No... khwaansi embossaat?! Nahmahaha kwantschi imborsaad??!? Namah Kwan Chi Inbosaat Namah Kwan Chi Inbosaat Namah Kwan Chi Inbosaat Namah Tan Chi Inbosaat Namah Kwan Chim Bosat. Namah Kwan Chim Bosat. Namah Kwan Chim Bosat. Namah Kwan Chimpo Sat. Namah Kwan Chimpo Sat. Namah Kwan Chimpo Sat. Namah Kwan Chim Bosat! Namah Kwan Chim Bosat! Namah Kuan Chi Imbo Saam! Namoh Kwanchi Invo Saam! Namo Kuansi Invosa— Namah Kwan Chimpo Sat. Namah Kwan Chimpo Sat. Namah Kwan Chimpo Sat. Namah Shivaya! Namah Shivaya! Namah Shivaya! Namah Shivaya! Namah Kwan Shin Bosat. Namah Kwan Shin Bosat. Namah Kwan Shin Bosat. Namah Kwan Chim Bosat! No— no more Quan Chi embossing... Namo Kwanchi Embosser? Nahmo Kuanshi Imbosa?! Namokwan Shin Bosat. Namokwan Shin Bosat. Namokwan Shin Bosat. Namah Kwan Chim Bosat! No— no more Quanshin Bosa? Nahmaa quanchin bursaat...
Namaan kwaantshee inn boosaaattt?!
Naamachwanzheen burssaaktt!? Hm-hmm-mmhmh-mmh mmhmngh mnmnhmnhh namaha kwanchi indburaasannnnnamo quaantshi nmbur saaanth naamawkwansi mburr sainnth na ma khuan chi im buu sattnnaaaa Namokwanji in bosa. Namokwanji in bosa. Namokwanji in bosa. Namah Kwan Chi Imbu Sat. Namah Kwan Chi Imbu Sat. Namah Kwan Chi Imbu Sat. Namah Kwan Chim Bosat— namo kwan chim bosat— namoh kwanchi mbosad— Namo Kwanshi Mbosa! Namokwantschi Mbossa...
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. All that guides us to wisdom and compassion. Namo Dhammaya. For refuge I go to the Sangha. Those who live in the Buddha's light.
Those who live in Buddha's light—
Namo Buddhaya! Namah Sangha! With faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may not take life. With faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may not steal. With faith in the Three Jewels, 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 this time you're falling to one's reach—
with faith in the Three Jewels.
Faith in three jewels.
I pray that I'm avoid intoxication—
I praise God they avoided intoxication. 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 all.
Immeasurable are the Dharma teachings.
We vow to master them all.
Infinite is the Buddha's way.
We vow to follow it completely.
In the way of tenderness. Senju Earthly Emmanuel speaks about visiting the desert because she's drawn to encounter boundlessness. I've never been to a desert, although Delhi sometimes had the weather of one. I think it's a very different feel, but you can imagine the vastness of space, how far away the horizon is, how big the skies are. The closeness of death if you don't have the right supplies with you. It's the kind of, uh, it can be a living situation that feels both expansive and close to the edge at the same time. And although I've never been to a desert, there are other situations which evoke that same kind of feeling. Maybe being on a rooftop in Delhi watching the birds of prey circling in the sky and hearing the noise from below, and a kind of strange mix of very visible suffering and deep sense of connectedness at the same time. I touched on this briefly on Wednesday night, how, um, uh, boundlessness, uh, and impermanence are kind of two sides of the same coin, the rising and falling of everything. It's a gateway into boundlessness. In my own body, in meditation, when I notice physical sensations that are expressions of, uh, anxiety or tension or even kind of fight or flight things getting triggered as I remember certain events. If I pay attention to those physical sensations, what I notice is they're not fixed. And the closer attention you can pay, the, the more possible it is to notice the movement in every moment. Somehow these things go together— the rising and falling of unique experiences and moments and lives, and the boundlessness of the universe. I guess the classic analogy is like waves and the froth on the top of waves compared with the vastness of the ocean. Both different ways of encountering the same thing. And it can be tempting when we come to spiritual practice and hear about boundlessness or the Pure Land or Amida, oh, that's what I want to meet in my meditation, in my chanting, in my spiritual life. I'll just take the experience of being connected to everything, of transcendence. Of bliss, of ease. And those are things that we begin to experience as we start to make connections with the Buddha and the Dharma and within the Sangha. But the invitation into boundlessness is all— is an invitation to the whole of life, into the First Noble Truth, as well as into the Eightfold Path, to meeting suffering and falling away and impermanence. So whether or not we actually go into a desert to do our spiritual practice, like, uh, Sengi did, like Christ did. We receive the same kind of invitation to notice both the vastness of life and the often very painful experience of being a living being from moment moment. And in both— when both of those things come together, the Buddha's light is also present. There is an experience of kindness arising for ourselves or for others, for all living beings who have to live in this world of fading away. So spiritual practice invites us to meet all of this. As much as we can, which is different on different days, trusting that in the meeting place of these things is where the Buddha appears. Or perhaps, as, um, Reverend Noeva said, that the Buddha is these things, both impermanence and boundlessness. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Speaking of boundlessness, let's read this translation of the Heart Sutra together that Satya Robyn found for us. Translated by Kazuaki Tanahashi and Hiroshi Joan Hanafax. So we'll read the title. Maybe you will read the title, Satya, and then we'll all pick up with the first line.
The Sutra on the Heart of Realizing Wisdom Beyond Wisdom.
Avalokiteshvara, who helps all to awaken, moves in the deep course of realizing wisdom beyond wisdom. Sees that all five streams of body, heart, and mind are without boundary and free from all anguish. Oh Sariputra, form is not separate from boundlessness. Boundlessness is not separate from form. Form is boundlessness. Boundlessness is form. Feelings, perceptions, inclinations, and discernment are also like this. O Shariputra, boundlessness is the nature of things. It neither arises nor perishes, neither stains nor purifies, neither increases nor decreases. Boundlessness is not limited by form, nor by feelings, perceptions, inclinations, or discernment. It is free of the— the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. Free of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and any object of mind. Free of sensory realms, including the realm of mind. It is free of ignorance and the end of ignorance. Boundlessness is free of old age and death and free of the end of old age and death. It is free of suffering, arising, cessation, and path. And free of wisdom and attainment. Being free of attainment, those who help all to awaken abide in the realization of wisdom beyond wisdom and live with an unhindered mind. Without hindrance, the mind has no fear. Free from confusion, those who lead all to liberation embody profound serenity. All those in the past, present, and future who realize wisdom beyond wisdom, manifest unsurpassable and thorough awakening, know that realizing wisdom beyond wisdom is no other than this wondrous mantra, luminous, unequaled, and supreme. It relieves all suffering. It is genuine, not illusory. So set forth this mantra of realizing wisdom beyond wisdom. Set forth this mantra that says, 'Gate, gate, paragate, parasangate, bodhi svaha.' Namoh Amida.
Namoh Amida.
Namoh Amida.
In gratitude, we offer this incense to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas throughout space and time. May it be as fragrant as Earth herself, reflecting our careful efforts, our wholehearted awareness, and the fruits of understanding, study, and enlightenment. May we and all beings be companions of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. May we awaken from forgetfulness and realize the pure land.
We'll dedicate this morning's practice to Reverend Saito, who died yesterday. Reverend Saito worked as a water engineer, um, treating sewage and things like that, uh, before coming to the realization that it was impossible to solve the problems of the world without inner transformation. So he ordained as a monk at Throstleholme, the Zen community in Northumberland, and went on to work for many years as a prison chaplain. He ran the priory in Telford and was a big support to the Network of Buddhist Organizations for many, many years, and lots of other good Buddhist work. And, um, yeah, I knew him for about 10 years, and he will be missed in the form that he existed in. And I, I trust that his death and whatever comes after is unfolding in the way that it needs to. By your vows and through your grace, at your lamba Blessed by Amitabha's light, may we care for all living things on the holy earth. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
