Practice: Following signs, and trusting loving intentions

Good morning everyone. It's really lovely to be back in the shrine room after a week by the sea, feeling refreshed. Welcome to everyone in the shrine room. Welcome to Martin who's joining us on Zoom. And this morning we will begin with a Dharma glimpse by Philip, uh, read by Philip.

2035 Dharma glimpse by Tiamat. Some months back, as I was considering my next career move After an unexpected complication had uprooted me in my then employment role, I experienced a moment of synchronistic alignment that influenced my decision about how to proceed. The sudden interruption to my life plans had sent me into a panic. I didn't really feel ready to start a new job or venture into a new, or indeed old and familiar, line of work. I was working long hours in the care industry and had felt quite settled. Steady work, decent money, and reasonably predictable working relationships. On a regular night shift that I was working, I would often listen to podcasts or watch videos of interesting spiritual teachers unpacking esoteric concepts and tying them into everyday living scenarios. On this particular night, the speaker was making predictions about the near future effects of climate breakdown and when they might begin to seriously impact on our day-to-day lives. As I was putting an entry into the company's communications book, and writing the time as 2035, the speaker was making his prediction of the 2035 being a tipping point beyond which normal life would change unrecognizably. The exact moment that I wrote the time was the exact moment that he said the date. Now, this might not seem like a big deal on face value, but to me This was quite a shock. I'd had similar experiences in the past whereby my attention had been drawn to something important in exactly this way, like a poke in the back or a tap on the shoulder intended to nudge me into a new train of thought, which it certainly did. I can't really do justice to the moment here, but I can say that I felt inspired to investigate the significance of 2035. Eventually I found myself scouring the Bible, as I knew that scripture was organized in this numerical way in the Testaments. In fact, I had some personally significant ones memorized for the purpose of spiritual sustenance. Eventually I put into the search engine on my phone and it came up with a variety of translations of the passage Acts 20:35, which states, I have shewed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. Brackets, King James Version. This sent a shiver down my spine, and even now gives me goosebumps and a sense of warmth and comfort, like I'm being guided in quite a specific way towards quite a specific purpose. The instruction to support the weak could surely never be better fulfilled than in the day-to-day activities of a care worker who helps elderly people do all the things they can no longer do for themselves. And quite obviously, in this way, it is surely better to give than to receive. This moment of religious inspiration informed my decision to remain in the care industry, and I am now working for a different company under more reliable conditions. I can't say that I understand the deeper or wider meaning or reason for the shift that led from one care job to the next, but I definitely felt the hand of Amida at play here. And the importance of interfaith resources has not entirely escaped my attention either. I do and have always drawn great nourishment from the teachings of other religions and faith systems, which invariably in my experience, point us towards the bigger— sorry, the same benign principles and a unified spiritual purpose. Namomi dabu.

Thank you, Philip. Thank you, J. So we will sit quietly together for a while. Maybe today, just allowing, allowing whatever is inside you to settle, tiny bit by tiny bit, physically, emotionally, spiritually. There may be gusts that stir things up. If that happens, just witness them and wait and see if over time they begin to settle a tiny bit. If not, that's fine. Maybe trust that they're moving in that direction eventually.

Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Nam Mi Ka Ba Hum. Om Nam Mi Om Amitabha Om! Ahm—

ahm...

Tah ba hum. Oh ma mi tah bah om. Oh mah mi tah bah hom. Oh wa ahm... Tah bah om. Om Amitabha Hui. Om Amitabha Om. Om Amitabha Om. Ama Nithyamaho. Ama Nithyamaho. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Amitabha Om Amitabha Om Amitabha Om Ami Tabam. Om Ami Tabam. Om Amitabha. Om Amitabha. Om Amitabha. Om Nammitabha Om Nammitabha Om Nammitabha Om, nam, ni, tam, am. Om, nam, ni, tam, am. Om Namah Mitabhoh. Om Namah Mitabhoh. Om Namah Mitabhoh. Om Nam Mi Tabah Hum. Om Nam Mi Tabah Hum. Om Nam Mi Tabah Hum.

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. 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.

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

With faith in the Three Jewels, with faith in the Three Jewels, and in light of our human tendencies, and in light of our human tendencies, I pray that I may become aware, I pray that I may become aware, of when I take life, of when I take life, I pray that I may become aware— —of when I fall into wrong speech— —I pray that I may become aware— —of when I fall into sexual misconduct— —I pray that I may become aware— of when I fall into stealing, taking what is not given, freely given. I pray that I may become aware.

I pray that I may become aware of when I become—

I'm not intoxicated, but I pray that I may become aware of when I do become intoxicated.

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.

Completely.

It's just as well I'm amongst friends, or I might be embarrassed getting all those words. So this morning, walking around the temple garden, which we do every Saturday morning before practice, I noticed that the black Buddha, seated Buddha in the gravel garden, has grown moss just in the week that we were away, all over the lower part of his body. It's really kind of blossomed out of him. We were away last week by the sea, me and Casper. And one of the things we did was watch the documentary that Chris Packham made about the climate crisis and his dilemma about whether or not he should break the law in order to draw attention to the bad things happening. He has been supportive of non-violent civil disobedience for quite a long time, but this was him really grappling with whether it was something he should do or not, despite his fears, as he spoke about during the documentary, uh, about being in prison. He, he didn't want— he, he, for various reasons, I'm sure, he, um, he's, he's afraid of that. And it was deeply moving to witness his, his emotion, to witness his heart as it was in pain and trying to work out where he could best put his energy in the time that he had left. In his career, in his life. And one of the things that he did in the program was go with Marcus's girlfriend to visit him in prison. Um, Marcus and Morgan were the two men that went high up on the Dartford Crossing, on, um, right up high. And were given 3.5 years and 3 years respectively in prison. And the last time I think that— well, maybe not the last time, but I was remembering when we went to Cornwall for G7, Marcus— what the main thing that Marcus did in XR was lead the singing, and he had a beautiful voice, and he just kind of led his band of singers. We were part of the march that went down through the town. Everyone was really happy to see us, and and we, we hung out with, with the singers for a while. Um, and yeah, just really, he's really with me this morning. The thought that he has, uh, handed over 3 years of his life, which he wasn't expecting, I'm sure, but anyone that takes part in these actions know that it's possible but he's, he's handed those 3 years over in the hope that it will bring attention to something that needs to be seen. And I, I was thinking about those 2 things together— Marcus in prison, and Morgan, and the other people who've all been in prison. I know that Frida, who's Izzy Thrend, who's part of the prison support team, I think is organizing a day for them at the Fold next weekend, all the people that have come out of prison over the past few years. Those big dramatic actions and all the kind of the smaller but equally meaningful actions that that, that many, many people have taken, even if it's just a conversation or sharing something on Facebook or liking something, all of the things that, that people have done. Does it make any difference? Does it make any difference? And the, the best answer I have right now is I don't know. I don't know if it makes enough difference. I don't know if it makes any difference at all to the huge global forces that are so powerful and immovable. But I do know that we have a little Buddha that had no moss on it for 9 years, and then this week it's suddenly shining green. And it feels really important when despair threatens to overwhelm us that we remember those little things, and we remember how long they take. We remember that the conditions over time are always changing, and that things are happening at a, at a level that we can't see, in a microscopic level. Who knows what needed to fall into place in order for that moss to grow? Well, Dave probably knows. He can tell us over a cup of tea afterwards. But it suddenly arrived, and I trust somehow— I don't have any proof of this, but I trust that when we take actions with an intention of love, like Marcus and Morgan did, and are doing. I trust that eventually something blooms, and I don't know how long that will take. It might take many lifetimes, but all we can do is support those people and sow our own little seeds of care, seeds of looking after the planet, seeds of looking after each other and our families. And ourselves. And remember that the Buddha is bigger than anything, anything we can imagine, and that we can lean into that, especially when we can't remember the words. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

Namoha miyamu. Namoha miyamu.

Whatever this instance of Buddha's embodiment of Satya Robyn's space and time, may it be as brave and deserve itself Reflecting our careful efforts, our wholehearted awareness, and the fruits of understanding slowly ripening, may we and all beings be companions of Buddha Subhoi Satya Robyn. May we awaken from forgetfulness and realize the Dharma. Sukutama.

I can either pop next door and get the phone, or would you be willing to say a couple of prayers?

Yeah, you're allowed to cry. So we're going to dedicate the merit from our practice today to an incredible little Bodhisattva called Flo, who died of a neuroblastoma this week. And her parents spent the last 3 years raising funds and desperately trying to get Flo well enough to go to Italy for treatment, and sadly that hasn't happened. And in that process, their campaign was Be More Flo, and I would really like everybody to be more Flo because If you've got on their Instagram account, Flo loved the flowers. She had the window down and the wind in her hair and the sunlight on her face, and she loved our dear Earth so, so much and wanted everybody to sprinkle sunshine and sprinkle flowers. And, um, Yeah, let's all be more flow and transfer merit to her, to her mom Hannah, and to her dad Ed, and to her little sister Phoebe, please.

I'm wondering if Flo might have shown me the moss this morning.

Thank you, please.

We'll finish with the clothes— oh no, we'll finish with the bath. Blessed by Amitabha's light, may we care for all living things and the Holy Earth.