Practice - gratitude and devotion

Good evening. Lovely smell of garlic wafting in from the kitchen. This evening we're joined in the Shrine Room by Angela Fee and Caspar, and Beth and Philip are joining us online. Tonight will be the last Wednesday with a shut temple, so next week there may be the same number of people here, but we will be open. So I will hand over to Caspar, who's reading today's Dharma Gump by Maria.

This is by Maria Dzamak. If you had asked me to choose one word I'm trying to focus on in my meditations these days, I would probably say gratitude. It's something that's very difficult to grasp in everyday routines. I get stressed and frustrated with so many things in the outside world. And quite frequently also with ourselves. It's only human to give in to judgment and jealousy, never being happy with what we have in life. Yet gratitude is all I feel when I go on my walking meditations on Malvern Hills and on the Ceredigion Coastal Path in Aberystwyth. I'm grateful to see the beauty and the vast green spaces around. I grew up in a very different place, heavily polluted, heavily congested, heavily overpopulated. I feel blessed to be here and breathe the fresh air, no matter the weather. I'm grateful to be able to practice the Dharma and to have the blessings and support of teach— of the teachers. I'm grateful for the music in my life and the inspiration it gives to me. I'm blessed to be able to share this positive energy with other people sometimes as I'm learning to play harp and write music. I'm grateful for all the people who support me and are simply kind to me, accepting me as I am. I am blessed to love and be loved. Namamit bhoom.

So we'll move into silence and, um, an invitation today to just notice your breath as it comes and goes.

Om Muni Muni Maha Muni Shakya Muni Swaha. Om Muni Muni Maha Muni Shakya Muni Swaha. Om Muni Muni Mahamune Shakya Munisvaha Om Muni Muni Mahamune Sakya Munisvaha Om Muni Muni Mahamune Shakyamunisvaha Om Muni mune maham uni shakya munisvaha! Om Muni mune maham uni satya munisvaha! Om Muni mune maham uni shakya munis— Om Muni muni maham uni shakhyam unisvaha! Om Muni muni maham uni satya munisvaha! Om Muni muni mahom uni sakhyam unisvaha! Om Mune mune mahamuni shakya munisvaha! Om Mune mune mahamuni Shakya Munisvaha! Om Mune mune mahamuni Sakya Munisvaha! Om muni munimaha mani shakhyamunisvah! Ahm-mu-ni mu-nee ma-ha mooneye sha-khya moo-nees-vaa-a— Ohhmm... Muhneemoonee mahahaha mooniey Shakkyay Moonies Va-Ahh! Aha? Hohhm muh neemooneema ha monyeey Sha-Kyah Moo-Nees-Vaaa-Haaaa. Om muni muni mahamunishakyamunnisvaha! Om muni muni mahamunishakyamunnisvaha! Oh my God... oh man— I'm so sorry for that one too. Om Mune Mune Mahamune Shakya Munisvaha Om Mune Mune Svaha Munishakya Munisvaha Om Mune Mune Mahamune Shakyamunisvaha Om Muni Mahamuneshakyamunesvaha! Om Munimune Mahamuneshakyamunesvaha! Om Munimune Mahamuneshakyamunesvaha! Um— muni munem maham unishakhya munisva ha! Hm? Om Mune mune mahamune shakya munisvaha! Om Mune mune mahamune satya munisvaha! Om Mune mune mahamune sakhyamunisvaha! Om Mune mune mahamuni shakya munisvaha! Om Mune mune mahamuni satya munisvaha! Om Mune mune mahamuni sakya munisvaha! Om Mune mune mahamune shakya munisvaha! Om Mune mune mahamune satya munisvaha! Om Mune mune mahamune sakhyamunis— Om Mune mune mahamuni shakya munisvaha! Om Mune mune mahamuni satya munisvaha! Om Mune mune mahamuni sakya munisvaha! Om Muni muni mahamune shakya munisvaha! Om Muni muni mahamune satya munisvaha! Om Muni muni mahamune shakya munisvaha! Om Muni Muni Maha Muni Shakya Muni Sphaha. Om Muni Muni Maha Muni Shakya Muni Sphaha.

For refuge I go to the Buddha.

For refuge I go to the Buddha.

Namo Buddha. For refuge I go to the Dharma.

For refuge I go to the Dharma.

Namo Dharmaya. For refuge I go to this Sangha for Refuge— Namu sangaya namo san gaya With faith in the Three Jewels, we pray that you may not take life. I praise them but not take one—with Faith In The 3 Jewels, three jewels—I Pray That I May Not Steal by prayers on my nose still.With Faith In The Three Jewels, We With faith in Three Jewels— I pray that I may not fall into sexual misconduct. With faith in The 3 Jewels—I pray that I may not fall into wrong speech. —with faith in The 3 Jewels—with faith in The 3 Jewels—I pray that I may avoid intoxication. No blame. No blame. Be kind. Be kind. Love everything.

Love everything. 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 follow it completely.

Namomi Dabu. I'm reading various Buddhist texts at the moment, one by a colleague who's written a really good book on Shinran that I've been asked to to write, what do you call it, for the book, like a thing on the COVID Yeah, there's a word. Endorsement. Thank you, Fee. Yeah, I've been asked to write an endorsement for. I'm also reading a book about Mahayana Buddhism for the study that I'm doing, and During the chanting, I was thinking, or maybe I could say some clever things about Buddhist theology in my dharma talk this evening, because I've been reading lots of good things and thinking about them. And for example, I read recently in Nagarjuna's book, the Pure Land Book, who it was that wrote the Bodhisattva vows, the version that we use. Genshin. Yeah, and what I was going to say is I've forgotten his name again, even though I read that fact probably in 6 different books now, at least. Um, so then I thought, okay, well, I don't have to say anything clever. Maybe we could just chant the chant. I could just do the chant and that would be the Dharma talk. As I was chanting to Shakyamuni, I was just really tuning into that sense of how grateful I am for Shakyamuni's life and teachings and for all the people that came after him. And I was thinking about Maria's Dharma glimpse today about gratitude and how, how we get better at gratitude. When people first come to practice with us, we don't We don't ease them in gently, we just invite them to join us in everything we do here, and that includes making prostrations to the Buddha, which can be a strange thing for Westerners to do. And we ask them to join in with, with those physical activities because sometimes when we act as if we are grateful the feeling of gratitude follows at some point. In AA, they call it fake it to make it, or fake it before you make it, that you, you, you go through the motions of something even though you don't feel it inside. And then at some point you realize that you are feeling relief as you kneel in front of the Buddha. Or gratitude for the peace that you're finding in the practice, or you're remembering a teaching that he gave that you've used in your life. So luckily Buddhism doesn't require us to remember that Genshin wrote the Bodhisattva Vows. We use, although it's quite useful to remember those things. I'm glad that I've got someone who remembers better than I do next to me. And it's— it can be interesting and entertaining and increase our wisdom if we read various books on the Dharma. But for me, what's at the heart of Buddhism is just lying our body down in front of the Buddha And some days we feel grateful and some days we don't. Some days we understand what we're doing, some days it feels a bit strange or pointless. Putting ourselves into that position of vulnerability and supplication, opening ourselves up to receiving the Buddha's blessing, the Buddha's grace. So all these words that I'm saying, all we really have to do is say, ah, Muni Muni, great sage, chakya Muni, gratitude, thank you.

Namoha mi tabu. Namoha mi tabu. Namoha mi tabu. Namoha mi tabu.

Blessed Father, I am Mother God. May we care for all living things and the Holy Earth. Namaste. I'm sorry, I cut your head off.