Practice - Kindness (& Maya the dog)

Welcome everybody. So lovely to see Helen and Walter, and you both.

Welcome.

Um, very well-behaved dog over by the main shrine. I'm sitting here sweating. We've just been racing around between the garden and up here, so it was really nice to just sit for a minute and settle into the space. I was thinking, oh, is Angie going to come in? Is Angie going to come in? And I looked at the time and it wasn't even time to start. I've just got in here, got everyone in here to get started 3 minutes early. So I found my grounds again now. I can lead you with calm rather than frenetic energy. Morning, Philip, good to see you. Pin video. So we will begin with something we called a Dharma glimpse, which is a glimpse of reality, a glimpse of the truth, that we encourage everybody who comes here to practice to write. So if you fancy going away and writing one and sending it to us, you'll be very welcome. This morning's Dharma glimpse is about the wooden statue, the rupa, on the little red table, and she's called Kuan Yin. She embodies a sort of feminine gentle compassion, and she's known as the hearer of the cries of the world. She's sometimes pictured like in the thangka up there, the white figure just to the left of Helen. She's sometimes pictured with lots and lots of arms so she can help everybody who needs help. She's always there and she's always present. And so I will hand over to Angie. Thank you.

I was dusting the reapers in the shrine room one morning. As part of my cleaning duties. Cleaning the shrine room always feels like an honor, and it is easier for me to do it mindfully and regard it as part of my practice than cleaning other things, although of course any cleaning, or indeed any action, can be done this way. I came to Kwan Yin, gently wiping her hands and face and I put one hand on her shoulder to make sure I didn't move her or knock her off balance. As I did so, I felt that the experience was completely reciprocal, that she had a hand on my shoulder and was steadying me as the practice of cleaning her cleansed me. And blew a little of the dust from the mirror of my heart, as we say in bhakti yoga. Namo Kwan Yin, Go Sat Nam.

So we will move into some silence now together, and in the silence You might want to just invite the presence of Kuan Yin or allow her to be here. And if there— if anything is in your heart, if anything rises up, any thoughts or feelings or tenderness, just allow Kuan Yin to, to bathe whatever it is in her cool gentleness. Allow it to be soothed. And when your mind wanders, which it will, just bring it back to sitting quietly with the embodiment of, of all-embracing compassion. And then after a while of silence, we will chant together, and of course we'll chant Kwan Yin's mantra this morning. We can either do Nam-myoho-renge-kyo or Om Mani Padme Hum. What do you fancy? We could do that one. So the words are Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. So when you get the the gist of it, then you join us. Namaste.

Om Mani Padme Hum Vrih! Oh my name Pabne Hungry... ...Oh many pabb me hungry— oh mané paap mé hung ri? Om Mani Padme Hum Hri! Oh mané padmé hum hri! Oh mané padmé hum hri! Oh mané padmé hum hri! Om mani padme hum brij! Oh my name Padma Hum Brij— oh Mané Pâmê Hoom Brih?

Ooh ma nee pa me hoom briih...

ooo mah neh pah mee hoom breeeh?! Om Mani Padme Hum Hri! Om Manee Pame Hungree... Om Manee Pa Me Hoong Ree— Oh Ma Ne Pap Meh Oom Reem? Um Aneh Pam Mee Woong Riee? Om Mani Padme Humri! Oh mané padmé hum ri... om mané padmé hun rii... oh mané padmé hoom ree... oom ma ne pa me hooum breeee— Ooh mah neh pah mee ho-um-bree? Hoo-ma-ne-pah-me-ho-oomb-ree? Om Mani Padme Humri! Om Mani Padme Humri! Om Mani Padme Umri! Om Mane Padme Vomri! Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om mani padme hum ri om mane padme rumri omane pame umri oma nepade mumdri—

Um!

Om Mani Padme Humri! Oh mané pavmé humbreee... oh māne pavmé hoombreee— om manépavmehummbreemmm... ooh ma-nay-pa-mey-ho-om-brie? Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om mani padme hum. Om mani padme hum. Om mani padme hum.

So now we repeat some words together and, um, If you don't want to mean the word yourself, you can repeat them to support the people in this room who try to live by these words. And we start with refuges, which is the way that Buddhists find ground under their feet, the three things that we rely on: the Buddha, the teachings, and the community. And then we recite the precepts, which are the guidelines that keep us as ethical as we can be within limits. It's a very cute dog stealing all my limelight. And then we repeat 6 words which my friend has as his motto for life. And then Gyome will lead us in the Bodhisattva vows. So 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 Dharmaya. For refuge I go to the Sangha. Those who live in the Buddha's light. Namo Sanghaya. With faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may not take life. With faith in the Three Jewels, With faith in The Three Jewels I pray that I may not steal— With Faith In The Three Jewels —I pray that I might fall into sexual misconduct—

I pray that I will never 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 would avoid intoxication— 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. 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.

Namomi tabu. So there are lots of things I could speak to you about this morning. It's been pretty eventful so far, but I will dwell for a little while on the two middle words of those six words that we just Recite it together: be kind. I associate Kuan Yin with kindness. There's something about the word kindness to me that has a gentleness to it, there's a softness. And I was reflecting on when Helen and Walter arrived this morning I just dealt with something downstairs and I hadn't done the candles or set the computer up and I was all kind of running around like a headless chicken. And that what I didn't do was offer water to the dog. So one of the things I'm doing is sitting here thinking, is the dog thirsty? Do I need to interrupt practice? To, uh, and we'll get some water straight after practice. But I guess that, uh, when we are preoccupied, it is more difficult to be kind. It's more rare for those thoughts to arise because our, our attention is already taken up with the things that we've got to do for ourselves or the things we're worried about, feeling like we need to control things. And my experience of kindness, of compassion, is that it is always there waiting to well up within us. But the conditions need to be right for that to happen, and often our conditions are not right, and that's okay. We have a lot— don't worry, it's fine. We have lots of things to do, and life is complicated, life is difficult. So most of the time it's, it's okay that we're taken up with our jobs our duties, our worries. But I think that one of the benefits of coming together like this and sitting just quietly for a little while together is that it allows some of that to just relax for a second. And when it relaxes, what wells up is, oh, how are they? I haven't seen them for a while. Or What is it that I can offer? And I like to think of kindness as, as like a body of water that's deep down, and that it's just waiting for the opportunity to kind of come up and give us all a nice cool drink. Maybe I'm thirsty as well. I'm probably projecting. So in a minute, we will stand and make prostrations to the Buddha together, if you're comfortable doing so, if your body's happy for you to, and your mind is happy for you to do so. And we chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo as we go, so don't worry about that too much. I'll come to the front so you can copy me. And prostrating to the Buddha is a reminder to us that we can uphold the value of compassion, of love, as something that is bigger than us and that is more important than us. So when we go down to the ground, we kind of lift our palms above us, our heads, and that's to signify the honoring of compassion, the honoring of the Buddha, who is the embodiment of compassion. And I don't know if other people have this experience, but I often find that prostrations are a relief because I just get to lie down on the floor and put something else above me and trust in something else. So it can feel strange to do to start with because we don't tend to bow very much in this country, but there is something That is a great relief about kind of being close to the ground and, and just being able to let go into that. So now, Mummy to be. Let's see if we get some doggy frustration.

Amo Amida.

Amo Amida. Amo Amida.

Amo Amida. In gratitude, I offer this incense to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas throughout space and time. May it be fragrant as Earth herself, reflecting our careful efforts, our wholehearted awareness. And the fruits of understanding slowly ripen. May we and all Buddhas be companions to Buddhas and bodhisattvas. May we awaken from forgetfulness and realize our true home. We turn to our seats and stand our seats. And then we always practice by bowing to each other to say thank you to each other for practicing together. So first of all, hold, hold, wait, wait, they're so good. So when Jamé rings the bell, when Jamé rings the bell, I will begin by bowing towards Vautour, and you'll bow towards Jahmei. So you, the rest of you, work it out yourselves and then turn and bow to the opposite person. We'll see how that works. We'll all bow to Philip. Beautifully done. And then, whoa, and then we will bow to Buddha. And then we tidy our seats and bow to our seats. Bow to the beautiful flowers that Dave brought from the garden this morning. And then we finish with the closing verse, which is on a little bit of paper, just says closing verse. We read that together. God bless. Blessed by our Father's grace, may we care for all living things and the Holy Earth.

Is it light or grace?

It's grace. I said grace. Anyway, namaste. Hope you'll join us for a cup of tea. Hi, Philip.