This content was created by Satya Robyn. This content was uploaded by Satya Robyn. This is a YouTube video titled "Practice - Families and Ru Paul" (created 2021-10-30) containing an English group practice/meditation session with multiple unnamed speakers. The excerpt mixes informal discussion and reflection about family and community life (including references to RuPaul, garden metaphors, living in community, and personal updates about a hospitalized father), community tensions around XR/Insulate Britain, Buddhist refuge recitations and vows, and brief logistical announcements (including a Worcester "Deepwater Rising" event and a note that Satya Robyn will give one of the short speeches).
Chapters
Good morning. I'll begin with RuPaul. That's the end of RuPaul. When the catwalk happens, there's a panel of 4 people, and when it's the people on the panel that RuPaul's known for 30 years, he always says, 'It's just family today.' And that's how I feel being in the shrine room.
It's just family. And it's really lovely to have family. I guess families are on my mind because I visited my dad yesterday for the first time since he went into hospital a few months ago. He's been very ill and he's just about up and about again, but he's much frailer and thinner than he's ever been and may continue to be. And I'm also thinking for some reason this morning about the Birchwood community where my friends Caroline and Emma live. And of course, I'm also thinking about my XR community, both my community of XR Buddhists who I'll be connecting in within Glasgow next week at COP26, and the local or Midlands XR family who will be meeting at the Temple sometime this week, and how it is to be in all those different families I had the thought yesterday or the day before, I can't remember, that I had the thought, I don't know how I ended up living in community because I'm really not the sort of person who's designed to live in community.
And I think maybe I'd had a long day and there were lots of people and I just wanted to— sometimes I have this fantasy of just a little cottage that me and Casper and the dogs live in, far away from anyone else.
And of course, you know, we've set up this community in a way that, that makes that more possible for me, because if I wasn't in a good place, I wouldn't be— I'd be grumpy all the time and it would be a terrible community anyway. So we, we have our own little space and we do— I do retreat down there. A lot of the time. And I also know that when, if, when we do move into the little cottage, I'll really miss being in community.
I'll be like, oh, the days when I got to live in community, they were the best days.
And I think that is a bit how it is for most of us being in families and communities. Some people just thrive in company all the time, but I think for most of us, sometimes it's really lovely and other times it's really bloody hard. Either just because we don't want to see anyone and we have to see people, or because our parts, some of our parts spark off other people's parts. And there's some kind of conflict or something painful or tender in us that's triggered by other people or vice versa. And that's hard. There's been a big conversation in the XR community over the past couple of months with Insulate Britain, which is made up— the vast majority of them are XR members, but it's a different project. But there's been a whole conversation about, well, do we approve of what they're doing? Are they going to bring us into disrepute? Is it non-violence? And that's how it is to be in community. Splits happen, and how can— how do we relate to the people on the other side of the split?
It's not easy.
So I'd like to link this somehow with the garden because it was just lovely being led around the garden by Keima this morning. Just waiting for the Buddha to give me a nice link. There's something about the complexity of gardens. And how it's possible as we do our walking around the garden in spring and in summer and in autumn and in winter that we come to appreciate the complexity and the differences over the year. And that doesn't mean we want to hang out in the garden in the winter for days at a time, but there's something about those different presentations that we can connect with and become friendly with. And I guess it's the same with our communities. There are some people who we may be glad don't live in our particular community.
They may be more suited in a different community.
Can we, can we learn how to appreciate them, how to even become fond of them? Even at their worst and at our worst, even when the parts of them are active that, that are being mean or, or being jealous or whatever it is they're doing. And I guess that the earth, um, contains the garden in the way that the Buddha contains our communities, that we're only little, and that we sometimes get caught up on what's right in front of us, which is as it should be, and, and that's where our work is. But don't ever forget that there is a whole world out there, many, many, many gardens.
Now, shall we have the catwalk?
I'm just imagining the door being flung open and loads of people coming in.
Maybe we'll have to arrange that for another day.
Namaste.
Namotasa.
Atu sama sam Buddha sha. Nam wata sabhagavatu.
For refuge, I go to the Buddha.
For refuge, I go to the Buddha.
Namo Buddhaya.
Namo Buddha!
For refuge I go to the Dharma.
For refuge I go to the Dharma.
Namo Dharmaya!
Namahadhammaya!
For refuge I go to the Sangha.
For refuge I go to sanghāyam namo sangaṁ yaḥ.
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 one—with faith in the 3 jewels—with our faith in this region-I pray that I may not steal I pray that I may not steal— With faith in The Three Jewels! —With Faith In 3 Jews ! Pray That May Not Fall Into Sexual Misconduct... "Praying This Time" ...May Not Forfeit To Sexually Misdemeanor." With Faith In Third Jewel's Light? My prayer this time will be to avoid sexual misconduct; my prayers at all times shall fall into wrong-speech..." And it says 'may' again here but we'll talk about why later on today when you can understand me more clearly now because of what happens next so just bear up for one second please thank y'all very much hello there everyone welcome back let us continue our meditation practice together okay everybody ready yes or no um good morning from New York City uh oh yeah nice weather out right over your shoulder guys beautiful day outside hopefully if everything goes well tonight maybe get some sunshine going through these windows great stuff isn't I pray that I may avoid intoxication. No blame. No blame.
Love everything.
Love everything.
Be kind. Be kind.
Innumerable are sentient beings, we vow to cherish them all. We vow to transform them all. We vow to master them all. We vow to perfect complete Sorry.
So we are going to Deepwater Rising in Worcester tonight, which is to highlight the effect of flooding in the future, and there'll be lights and lots of noise and a couple of little speeches.
If you want to join us, you'll be welcome. One speech by Satya Robyn, one speech by me, short speeches I think, and I think that's it.
We're here next Saturday. No, we're not. Keima will be here next Saturday, and then so there will be a Zoomy thing, and then the Saturday after. Yeah, 9 till 10, it'll be shorter.
Brilliant, perfect. Am I meeting you? Oh yeah.
Blessed by Amitābha's light, may we care for all living things and the holy earth.
