Practice: Buddhism as conversation

Welcome to evening practice, everybody. Welcome to Chris joining us. On Zoom, we'll begin as we always do with a Dharma glimpse, this time written by one of the Bright Dawn community, which Satya is going to read for us.

Acknowledging Limitations by Nico Bioyo Burkhardt. Recently, one of our group— recently our group has been exploring the topic of realizing enlightenment through whatever means we have. As a group, humans tend towards the dramatic and glamorous, so sometimes we think we will get to enlightenment by a grand gesture or event. I've been exploring the concept of enlightenment through acknowledging limitations over the past few weeks. And find it very liberating. There are so many judgments we have as individuals, as a society or culture, about what we should or should not be doing. For instance, someone with a very strong work ethic can feel very useless unless they're constantly engaged in some result-oriented task. When we encounter limitations in life, whether financial, physical, or mental, we tend to judge ourselves and feel guilt. In the past few weeks, I've had a chance to choose a different response to my own limitations. Rather than feeling guilty or defeated, I've experienced acceptance. After acceptance sets in for a while, I was able to see reasons to appreciate these limitations, and I've been able to use them as a springboard for new opportunities I could not have seen before. To me, this is a glimpse of enlightenment as it keeps me going when things seem too challenging. As long as we are in resistance to a problem, we cannot see the way out. By resisting, we are in a state of mind that believes in duality. There is a problem and then there is me. They are two separate entities. By practicing acceptance, we become one with limitation. And thereby are empowered to move past it. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

Thank you. So Dharma Glimpse is an expression of learning or insight that's written by a member of our community about something they've learned in their own lives, or as in the case this evening, by a member of our sister community, Bright Dawn. In the United States. So we'll now go into a period of quiet meditation together, taking a moment before we begin just to find— physically finding your center, allowing yourself to move a little bit left or right or forwards and backwards, just so your hips are pointing to the sky. Natural curve in your spine, upright but easy is what we're aiming for. And then invitation to notice the breath, not to breathe in any particular way, just notice cooler air entering at the tip of the nose, warmer air leaving And if, when other things take your attention, noticing what they are— oh, here's the thought about such and such— and then bringing your awareness back to the breath. We'll do this for about 12 or 13 minutes, and then We'll go into a period of chanting together. In a moment, we'll chant the word Amitabha together. Amitabha is a Sanskrit word which means limitless light, and it's the name of a Buddha not a Buddha that existed in history, but a mythological Buddha who has the quality of accepting all beings just as they are. So in reciting their name, we're invoking this quality of acceptance. Some pure land Buddhists have the sense that they are connecting with their own Buddha nature in their own hearts, opening that space of acceptance, of self-acceptance, of accepting others. Some pure land Buddhists have a sense that Amitābha is outside somewhere, outside their own ordinary minds, certainly, and that that we're receiving loving kindness, we're receiving acceptance. Some, like me, don't worry about which of those it is.

Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. A mi sa. A mi sa.

A mi sa.

Amitabh. Amitabh. Mita, Mita. Ameeta. Ameeta. Mita. Mita.

Mita. We'll now recite the refuges and precepts and bodhisattva vows together, which you can find on the A5 liturgy sheet. These are words that connect us to Buddhists across the whole world and throughout history. For generations, Buddhists have been saying variations of these words together. The refuges, the things we place our trust in or experiment with placing our trust in as Buddhists. The precepts, the five lay precepts, are really a reduction of the monastic vows that monks and nuns took in the Buddha's time, and he encouraged lay people to take these as a kind of, as a form of guidance to what the enlightened life might feel like. And then the Bodhisattva vows, which express our heart's longing to bring all beings to enlightenment, which is to say to a sense of peace from the moment to be. So 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 Buddhaya.

Namo Buddhaya.

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. For refuge I go to the Sangha, those who live in the Buddha's light. Namo Sangaya. With faith in the Three Jewels, and in light of my human tendencies, of when I fall into sexual misconduct— of my falling to sexual misconducts—I pray that I may become aware—I praise him—and be unaware—when I fall into wrong speech—into wrong speech—I pray that I may become aware—I prayed—that you come away—of when I've become intoxicated—toxicated no blame! Be kind—be kindness love Everything. Innumerable sentient beings, we vow to save them all. Inexhaustible ardor-laden 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. This afternoon I read an interview in Tricycle magazine— well, on the website— with a Buddhist scholar whose name I've already forgotten, but ask me after practice if you want me to find out who it is, about the journey Buddhism made from the East to the West and what might have been lost along the way. And so he was critiquing things like separating out meditation from the other elements of Buddhism. Or the individualistic approach of Buddhism in the West, where you exclusively trust your own experience without kind of checking with your community. In fact, he was suggesting one of the things that, that has become de-emphasized is community, sangha, and how important that is to practice with others. To have your practice verified by others. Yes, you're on the right track. He talked about how the journey west mirrored the journey from India to China that Buddhism took hundreds of years ago. And in that journey, there was something called a translation of terms where they used existing Chinese words instead of Sanskrit words to help people make sense of the new teachings. And one of the things that happened is that Buddhism took on a slightly Taoist slant because that was the culture it was landing in. So in Indian Buddhism, what you see a lot of is negation. Uh, take this away, take this away, take this away. What's left? There's nothing. There's no essence of anything that's available. And yet the language of China is more biased towards speaking positively about things. Oh, there is something that you can tune into. Emptiness is not just what appears when you negate everything else. There is a positive quality here as well, which may be a change or maybe a different way of speaking about the same thing. And this guy wasn't saying that this— oh, you know, the interviewer sort of pushed him and said, what do you kind of think we should have done things differently, or could— should it have been done differently? And he's saying, well, it's not right or wrong necessarily, it's just the way these things unfold. Something moves into another culture and it changes a little bit, and that's okay. Or at least that's what happens. We have to make it our own. And the interviewer, Andrew Cooper— I can remember the interviewer's name because, uh, it's somebody that Satya knows— said 'Well, if earlier you talked about Buddhism being something that negates and suggests there isn't any essence, so if that's true, what do you think Buddhism is if it doesn't have an essence?' And this scholar said, 'I think it's a conversation.' And I really enjoy that definition of Buddhism. That's why I wanted to share this evening. It's a conversation from the Buddha to his disciples, from those disciples to their disciples. It's a conversation between Indian Buddhism and Chinese Buddhism and Japanese Buddhism and now Buddhism in the UK. And for me, there's something really important about keeping the conversation alive. So we're not here to tell you This is the answer. We're here to say these are some things that have helped us. This is the conversation that we are having in our own spiritual lives and that we have had with our teachers. Come and join the conversation. And we do that by offering practices like the things you've experienced this evening through the book groups and so on. And I like conversation because it isn't saying, oh, just go and figure it out on your own, and whatever you think, then that's it. But it's also not saying, whatever I tell you, that's it, either. There's something alive and creative and expressive. A few months ago, I was at a talk on Zoom with, uh, Zinju Erthlin-Manuel, whose book we're about to start studying in the book groups. And she was speaking about the importance of doing the practice and that you can't really describe what happens in the practice. You just have to put people in the conditions, and then they find out what happens. Oh, what is it like to sit quietly? Well, sit quietly. And really, you're just telling them enough to get them onto the meditation cushion or into the shrine room. And she said, but even then, sometimes, because we have an idea of what it's going to be like, we miss the actual experience. And, and she asked us all to do this. With our hands and just notice how it was. Maybe I'll invite you to do the same thing now. And she said, if I'd asked you to sit quietly, you all know how to do that because you're all Buddhists. And, and actually you might have missed the moment because you just— you're sitting quietly, parts kick in. So I've asked you to do something different. And for me, this— both this movement and the invitation into embodied experience has that quality of conversation to it. So That's what I wanted to bring this evening, not a particular teaching in itself, but perhaps the container for all the teachings, the spirit of all the teachings. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. So in a moment we'll stand and make prostrations to the main shrine, and we'll use the mantra Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, which we call the Nembutsu, which is a different version of the Sanskrit word we chanted earlier. If it's possible, if it feels right, do bow all the way to the ground with us. And this is also a conversation like, oh, how is it for me to do this practice in this moment? Can I be alive to the experience of this rather than deciding how it will be? Beforehand, never need to be.

In gratitude for this incense to all Buddhas 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.

So we'll finish by bowing to each other, to one side and then the other. To the main shrine. We'll take our seats, back to our seats. And in a moment we'll finish with the closing verse that's on the top of the liturgy sheet. But before then, just to invite you to join us for a cup of tea after practice. Reminder that the donation bowl is in the hallway, um, or online, yeah, at brightearth.org/donate. And to let you know that on Sunday Angie's hosting a kirtan devotional singing session in here, 7:30 in the evening, which will be really lovely.

Um, you can squeeze into the book groups if you're quick. Yeah, space in the temple Monday night, 7 Yeah, if you're very quick.

Namamitabodhi. So we'll finish with the closing verse. Blessed by Amitabha's light, may we care for all living things and the holy earth. Namamitabodhi.