Satya Robyn leads a Buddhist practice session on reopening after lockdown. The facilitator reflects on personal priorities and activism, then guides silent sitting, chanting of Amitābha, recitation of refuges and precepts, and prostrations. This is the last non-public morning practice before the shrine room reopens to the public.
Chapters
Good morning, everyone. I don't know if 2 people counts as everyone. 4 people. 5 with me. So this morning in the Shrine Room we have Dave and David. Casper's at Butterfield this weekend, and joining us we have Andesh and Ash. Welcome. Hopefully might meet Ash next week in real life, we'll see. And this morning is the very last practice session in the Shrine Room here that won't be to be open to the public, so it feels like quite a momentous, momentous time moving out of the lockdown and back to a temple that is doing what it's meant to be doing, which is offering space for people. And we begin with— I'll say some things, I'll do a talk, and the title of my talk, if there was going to be a title this morning, is 'It's Complicated.' I was thinking about on Facebook where they have relationship status and one of the options is 'it's complicated,' and I was thinking about complication this morning as I was thinking about opening next week, and in my kind of fantasy of how it would be to reach this point, it wasn't complicated because the country would be ready to open up, and I'm not at all sure that that's the case, and me and Kasper have talked quite a lot about whether it is the right thing or not to open this room up again, with the numbers as they are. And from what I can gather with the information that's available to me, the situation is complicated, that there are, there is less vulnerability because lots of most vulnerable people now have had their jabs, but it is still possible that that hospitalisations will grow again and that more people will die. That's already happening. So how do we weigh that up? How does the government weigh that up? I'm really glad I don't have that job. All the different factors involved, and how do we weigh that up here? Do we leave it to people to make their own decisions about safety, or do we set an example and say no, we don't think it's the right thing? So we've decided to open and people can make their own decisions. Is that the right thing to do? I don't know. I've also been thinking about my own life this morning. I was walking around the garden this morning and noticing how many weeds there are and how much needs to be done out there and having those familiar thoughts of of, oh, I should do more reading, I should get up early, or I should, you know, all those kind of self-critical thoughts. And what I did this morning was sat and read a book for an hour in the alcove, and the book was about activism and how activists tend to recreate the systems that they're railing against, because we are a part of those systems, we've grown up in those systems, and how can we be more aware of that and mitigate that? And that also felt like a helpful thing for me to be doing in terms of where I go next with what I want to do. So how do we weigh that up? Is it better for me to do the weeding or to read the book on activism? And that doesn't just involve the garden system, it involves my internal system and all the different parts of me that have different ideas about what's a good— the best thing to do, or what a good person looks like, or how tired I am, or my identity, all kinds of different things. So it's complicated, and I'm sure that you can recognize that from your own internal life. And if we tried to understand it all and tabulate it all and come to some sort of logical conclusions, I think we'd go crazy. We try sometimes, but there's just too there's just too much involved, too many factors, and that maybe if we, if I did more gardening then I might be a worse activist, or maybe if I watch less trashy TV then I might do something more harmful to distract myself instead. So there's all these kind of, all these checks and balances and pros and cons, and we move one and everything else moves too. And I don't think there's any avoiding that, that messiness, that chaos, that confusion, that complexity, that richness. But what we can do is come into relationship with something that is simple. We can come into relationship with unconditional love. Personified by the Buddha and other figures throughout history. And as we bring ourselves into relationship with that symbol, with that reality, with that idea, it begins to work on our complexity in a way that we don't really understand. In a way that when we move a plant into the sun and then water it a bit more often, it kind of perks up. Because when that complexity is shone on by that light, by that love, it just helps everything to relax a little bit. It helps the protection to sort of soften. It helps the wounds to heal a little bit more quickly. So as we sit together in the shrine room this morning on the last non-public morning of practice, we're just sitting with the Buddha. That's all we're doing. We're lucky enough to have a new Buddha rupa on the shrine. And he's looking very happy over there, he's shining out love. So this is like us moving ourselves into the sun for a little while so we can perk up and relax a little bit, maybe feel some things that have been difficult to feel and trust that we don't have to control it all, we don't have to decide what's best, we just have to listen and wait and trust. Namomi tobi. So we'll move into some silent sitting now. And you might just want to pay attention to your breath as you sit, just letting your breath be how it, how it is. And when your attention wanders, which it will, just bring it back to your breath. Or you might want to imagine yourself, or just be, just sit here with the Buddha. And allow that love to shine on you gently and take it in like a, like a sunbather. Namomi Dibu. Sono in un minuto. I will start chanting, and calling the name of the Buddha is the main practice that we do here in the temple. And we call out to Amitābha, the Buddha of infinite life, light, and life. And as we chant the name of the Buddha, it's a way of asking for help, it's a way of leaning into, it's a way of bringing to mind that names are powerful. And there's something about a name that can conjure the object. And some people find when they start chanting that they feel self-conscious, and I always say just keep going and the self-consciousness wears off. So when you do pick up the tune, do join in from where you are and The name again is Amitabha, the Buddha of infinite light.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
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Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
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We will now recite the refuges and precepts together. Please repeat after me. For refuge I go to the Buddha. For refuge I go to the Buddha. Namo Buddha. Namo Buddha. For refuge I go to the Dharma. Namo Dharmaya. For refuge I go to the Sangha. Namo Sanghaya. With faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may not take life. With faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may not steal. With faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may not fall into sexual misconduct. With faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may not fall into wrong speech. With faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may avoid intoxication. 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 fulfill it completely. So in a minute we will stand and make prostrations to Buddha. And prostrations are another way of taking refuge, of surrendering into, of leaning into, of paying our respects. And the words are Namo Amida Butsu, and you'll pick the chant up as we go along.
Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoha mida. Namoha mida bu. Namoha mida bu. Namoha mida bu. Namoha mida. Na mo amida— Na moo ami da boo! Namoo mi dabo naaamooo miiidabu namoami daduu naamoa midaa doon namaami daadu.
We always finish practice by bowing to each other to show our gratitude to each other for being here and making it a sangha, and not just me on my own in the room with the Buddha. So when I ring the bell, we'll turn to one side and then the other, which doesn't work in a three. Never mind. And then we also bow to the Buddha, and then we tidy our seats and bow to our seats. And then if you would like to unmute, you can, and we'll recite the closing verse together, which I've just put in the chat box. Blessed by Amitabha's light, may we take care of all living beings and the holy earth.
