Satya Robyn leads a group practice session on impermanence, connecting Buddhist teachings to an episode of Grand Designs. The session includes guided breathing, chants, refuges and precepts, and a Dharma talk about finding steadiness amid change and loss.
Chapters
Welcome everyone. Welcome to Claire and Beth and Billy on Zoom, and I will hand over to Caspar who has a fresh Dharma glimpse which was posted by Teresa today.
So this is by Teresa on change and impermanence. I've been thinking a lot about change and impermanence after last week's book group discussions. I spent time in my garden last week after our meeting. Clearing last year's dead plants from the flower beds. It lifted me to see new shoots and bulbs coming up under the dead material. Spring will be here soon. I thought about how different the garden will look in spring. I imagined how it may look. It will be a surprise as it's a new garden. Then I thought about the impermanence of the garden, how every little part changes across moments. Days, seasons, and years. It's the same place, but it's always different from one moment to the next as life slowly evolves and moves. These kinds of changes are very different to the cataclysmic change of my partner dying. I've felt since losing Tony that I have also lost pieces of myself. I think this is tied up with changing my name, as we got married just before he died. I often wondered which parts of Theresa Larkins still apply to Theresa Morton. Can I still enjoy the things I used to enjoy, especially those things we did together? Nina and I drove to Merseyside on Friday to visit friends. It suddenly hits me that it's a bit meaningless to think, as I have many times, that I'm having an identity crisis if I'm constantly changing anyway. Who I was or who I am doesn't really matter. I just am, and I just am here now. Namaste.
Thank you, Casper.
Thank you, Teresa.
Okay, so we'll sit quietly together. I was, um, revising our book at the moment, just as you are, and today I was revising a section on breathing nembutsu. So we'll do some breathing nembutsu today. Well, that's the invitation that as You breathe in, you allow Nam-mo-ah, and then as you breathe out, you allow me-da-bu. So don't change the length of your breaths, just allow the nembutsu to float. Nam-mo-ah me-da-bu. And when your attention wanders, just bring it back again to those 6 syllables floating on your breath.
Om muni muni maha muni shakya munisvaha. Om muni muni maha muni shakya munisvaha. Om Mune mune mahamuni shakya munisvaha! Om Mune mune mahamuni satya muniswaha! Om Mune mune mahamuni sakya munisva— Om Mune mune mahamuni shakya munisvaha! Om Mune mune mahamuni satya munisvaha! Om Mune mune mahamuni sakya munisvaha! Om Mune mune mahamuni shakya munisvaha! Om Mune mune mahamuni shakya munisvaha! Ohm... Munimunima hamu nishakyamo ni svaha! Om mune mune mahamuni shakya munisvaha! Om mune mune mahamuni satya munisvaha! Om mune mune mahamuni sakya munis— Om muni munimaha mini shakhyamunisvah! Ohm Mune Munima Hamu Nishakya Minus Vahas— oh my goodness... Aum Mani Mudra Mahamauna Shaktyamanushvara?
So we'll now recite the refuges, vows, and precepts together. 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 Dhamma Ya! 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—
Nammo Sanghaya! 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 the Three Jewels—
with faith in the Three Jewels—
I pray I pray that I may not steal— 'Aye.' —with faith in The Three Jewels; Ayye!
With Faith In 3 jewels?
prayer... That time you fall into sexual misconduct— ...aye........ with Faith In 3 jeweled keys; Faejyin three yulez ? Prayer at same point...] Pray this way to all beings of Earth plane for their benefit. So be it, amen.
Thank You very much indeed Lord Buddha. Jai Guruji Ji Maharaj. Om Namaha Shivaya. Shanti Navaratri Maa Amma Devi Saraswati devatare namah siddhiyo bhava adharmo samadhammi karmani sarasvathi devaraja na paramita kriyanam.....
With faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may avoid intoxication. 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 the Vedic passions. We vow to transform them all. Immeasurable are the Dharma teachings. We vow to master them all.
Infinite is Buddha's way.
We vow to fall for it completely.
So tonight's Dharma talk will be based on an episode of Brand Designs, a program This is for Angie's benefit, she might not know the program where Kevin MacLeod follows, uh, people building their own house. Um, and the episode that I watched today was one of those where he comes back after quite a long time to kind of check up on a family that were behind schedule, and this was the record for the longest time it had taken for a house to be built. So they'd started in 1999 and he was returning in 2021 and they just got their kind of final sign-off. I don't know what kind of certificate, some, some kind of final the house is finished certificate, regulation, building regulations or something. Yeah, something like that. Um, and, uh, it was a couple who, uh, kind of ran out of money and, and decided to do it all themselves. That it was a very ecological build. They were doing cob and, um, natural materials. It was two massive old barns. And, um, and so Kevin MacLeod asked them, uh, when he came back in 2021 to this beautiful house, really gorgeous, really, uh, just beautifully finished and homely and elegant and beautiful. Um, he said, oh my God, you know, how did you manage building for, for 20 years? And, uh, they said, oh well, you know, it just kind of unfolded, that it was just a natural process, that it just continued. And we lived in this bit for a while while we were doing this bit up, and So for them it hadn't been a problem at all. And the woman said that there's this idea sometimes that when we finish the house, then we get to start living our best life. But she said that life carries on, you know, when you finish the house, then other things happen, or that it was such a big place that by the time they got to the end of it, other bits have started needing attention again. So it's like a kind of an ongoing, uh, an ongoing project. And I was thinking about how parts of me live in that way, that, that I think that when I can change myself into a certain sort of Satya Robyn, or when I can earn a certain amount of money, or when I can, uh, organize my office in a certain way, then I can start living my best life. Then I can relax and, um, start to enjoy things. And of course, uh, it never really happens that way. Though I reach that point and then something else comes up, or Often I'll enjoy being engaged in the process of doing whatever it is that I want to do. And I think that Buddhism would agree. I think that the Buddha would agree that, um, we as impermanent beings, as Teresa was talking about in her glimpse, As impermanent beings, we, we want to finish creating the thing, whether that's the house or the career or the relationship or the ourselves. We want to finish that project and then sort of batten it down or kind of, uh, solidify it because then we can be happy. That that's not where happiness is. Happiness is in noticing that there are two little yellow crocuses coming up just in front of the Buddha in the garden, and, uh, and watching Ralph, uh, snuggling into my new blanket in my office, which he has fallen in love with, and being here with you all tonight practicing together, that it is good to keep building our house. And the couple in the program were really enjoying living in their house. It was a beautiful house. They had made something beautiful and they were enjoying it, but they knew— they was— they were sensible enough to not wait to enjoy their lives until the house was finished. And they knew that they would be continuing to create the house And there can be some sadness with that realization, but I hope that you will also learn to appreciate the freedom of it, the relief of it, uh, the beauty of it, and the consolation of knowing that We are impermanent beings, but there are the Three Jewels. There are things that we can lean into that are permanent and reliable and that are always there, whether we can feel them or not. Namaste.
We dedicate the merits of this incense offering to all Buddhas and bodhisattvas throughout space and time.
May it be fragrant as the 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 Blessed by the Father's light, may you care for living things. Hallelujah. Namomi tabu. Please don't forget the bit of paper out there for signing up for things. I'm gonna give it a bit longer and then I might give up because it's a bit patchy, but we'll see how we go. Thank you if you've got your name on there. Um, kapiti.
