Practice - environmental Buddhism

Good evening, everybody. Good evening. And myself, Satya Robyn. Joining us on Zoom, we have Chris and Jason, joining us for the first time. Namaste. Thank you. Namaste. This week I was reading some of Stephanie Carr's Green Buddhism, collection of essays on all sorts of bringing together all sorts of different ideas, Buddhist and ecological ideas. And in one of them, she wonders what might the Buddhist offering be to the environmental movement, and she outlines various different suggestions. And one of them is the 5 lay precepts that we're going to recite later on as we always do. She's particularly thinking of the first precept, which word for word translated from the Pāli: I undertake the training to refrain from taking life. And then as it travels across through Buddhist countries, in Zen Buddhism they have this idea of the three pure precepts. And the first one is do no evil, or do no harm, a bit like the Hippocratic Oath that doctors take. The second two, for completeness' sake, in the Zen ones, it's do no evil, do only good, do only good for others. So she's curious about how this first precept of non-harm, as she glosses it, can support environmentalists. And her suggestion is Just keeping it in mind as we engage in our daily lives. When I buy this product, what's the amount of harm that I'm contributing to the world? When I take this action, what's the amount of harm that I'm contributing to the world? Often we don't know, of course. Sometimes we can investigate and find out. There have been various studies done on various things that we consume that we can learn about. We're always slightly groping in the dark when it comes to complex systems. Do you know Hong? From a Buddhist, pure Buddhist point of view, the precept is helpful in two ways. One, because From a sort of classical Buddhist point of view, it's easier to be enlightened if you're not actively causing harm in the world. That's why— that's part of the reason for these training precepts, is that As we restrain ourselves— the word in ethics in Buddhism is the same as the word for restraint— as we restrain ourselves, we're not creating bad karma in the world or in our own inner world. And when there's less bad karma around, when there's less greed, hate, and delusion, it's easier for the awakened heart to appear. So being mindful, cautious, as one Buddhist teacher suggested, it has this benefit. It creates the ground for the awakened heart to appear. And it— when we break that precept, as we inevitably will, it shows us where there's room for improvement. The second benefit, if you like, or the second reason it's good, is that it describes the activity of an awakened heart. A Buddha does not harm. That could be the definition of Buddhahood: a perfectly enlightened being, being that does no harm. You might then argue that the only perfectly enlightened beings can be the celestial ones, because it's very impossible to do no harm once you've been reborn in a human body. But I think that's probably splitting hairs and for another time. Broadly, we can say a Buddha does no harm. So it gives us some feel of what that's like, which can be useful to our practice and can be inspiring. Of course, what we often discover when we keep this precept in mind is that it's very difficult to follow, even in a, even in a gross way. Even if we discount all those subtleties, that kind of whole chain of cause and effect that goes back through time, when we're standing looking at all those products in the supermarket to choose from, even in a very simple way, doing no harm is pretty difficult at times. If we deeply examine those times when we breach the precepts, what we inevitably find is that they are rooted in fear. I'm afraid for myself, for my own survival, for my reputation. I'm afraid I'm going to get shamed. Often these fears aren't accurate, but if we're breaking this precept, they will be present. I suppose when I say breaking the precept, what I mean is like knowingly breaking the precept. Someone once asked the Buddha, if a monk, if a blind monk steps on a snail, does he produce any negative karma? And the Buddha says no, because he doesn't know that the snail is there. So as our wisdom and knowledge increases, of course it becomes more and more difficult to keep the precept because we know about more things that cause harm. But those things that we know that cause harm, when we engage in them, it's because there's fear in our hearts. And the antidote to fear is faith, trusting that I will be received by the Buddha regardless of how I act. There is someone who won't reject me, who won't shame me, who won't abandon me, who will receive me even if I die. And without even knowing exactly what form the Buddha takes, if we trust that there is something loving and wise in the universe that receives us just as we are, it begins to undermine the fear that is at the root of breaking the precepts. So we have these two practices that go together: mindfulness and restraint, noticing how we're doing in the world, having some wisdom about the choices that we make, and nenbutsu, a practice that deepens our faith and trust in being received, a practice of receiving love that takes away the fear. Those two things, these two things work together and support each other. So for Jason— is it Jason you said who's new? Yeah. Nembutsu is the name for the main practice of Pure Land Buddhists, calling the name of Amida Buddha, who is the Buddha of infinite light and life, the Buddha who embodies that unconditional love. And we do it by reciting the Buddha's name in different ways, and we'll do some this evening together. In a moment, we'll go into a time of silent reflection, and then after 10 or 15 minutes, I'll begin reciting the Buddha's name using the Sanskrit word Amitābha, that's the Sanskrit name for Amida. Please do join in once you pick up the tune that we're using, and that is setting an intention to open our hearts to that unconditional love that is available. Namāmītubim. So in this silent reflection, I'll make an invitation to rest your awareness on the breath, noticing the quality of the inhale— long or short, smooth or ragged— noticing the pause, noticing the quality of the exhale. And if, when thoughts, feelings arise, just noticing that that's happening. Oh, here's a thought about such and such, here's a feeling about such and such. Trying to cultivate a sense of non-judgment to whatever's arising, just noticing, and then gently bringing awareness back to the breath.

Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Saba ami taba ami taba. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Saba ami taba. Ami taba. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Saba. Ami. Saba. Ami. Saba. Ami. Ame taba. Ame taba. Ame taba. Ame taba. Amitabh, Amitabh, Amitabh, Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amit. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh.

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. In a moment we'll recite the Five Lay Precepts and the Three Refuges. The Three Refuges, if you like, you can consider them a form of nimbutso. It's an act of entrusting, entrusting ourselves to the Buddha. Both the historical Buddha who lived and taught 2,500 years ago, and the sort of spirit of the Buddha, the cosmic Buddhas, the archetypes of enlightenment. The Dharma, the written word or the spoken teachings of the Buddha. And literally the word Dharma means container. It's like the container of all that is good. And the Sangha, the people who practice all that is good. So please repeat after me. For refuge I go to the Buddha. For refuge I go to the Buddha. Namo Buddhaya. Namo Buddhaya. For refuge I go to the Dharma. For refuge I go to the Dharma. Namo Dhammayo. For refuge I go to the Sangha. Namo Sangha. And now, having entrusted ourselves, we recite the 5 lay precepts, those trainings that I mentioned earlier that describe enlightened activity, that give us something to aim for. That occasionally allow us to keep an eye on ourselves. So again, please repeat after me. With faith in the Three Jewels, with faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may not take life. I pray that I may not take life. With faith in Three Jewels, with faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may not steal. With faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may avoid intoxication. I pray that I may avoid intoxication. And now in call and response of the Bodhisattva Vows.

Innumerable 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. Thank you. I was at— all the words for those on the website. I was at a Zoom retreat a while ago, and when they had things to recite, they had them on screen share. So maybe that's worth considering for the future. Anyway, we're now going to— if I don't say that out loud, I will never think of it again for 100 years. We're now going to stand and make prostrations, which is another way of entrusting ourselves to the Buddha.

Namoh Amida. Namoh Amida. Namoh Amida. Namoh Amida.

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. In gratitude, we offer this incense to 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 slowly awakening. May we and all beings be companions of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. May we awaken from forgetfulness and realize the Dharma. By Amitābha's light, may we care for all living things and the holy earth. Just a reminder that it's the open day morning on