Satya Robyn leads a group Buddhist practice in a shrine room with chanting to Avalokiteshvara, refuge recitations, Bodhisattva vows, and prostrations. The session opens with remarks about caring for the shrine and making places beautiful through collective practice and offering.
Chapters
Welcome everybody. Welcome to James, who is on Zoom, the only one at the moment, although other people may well drop in as the evening goes on. And in the shrine room from the temple household, we've got myself, Satya, Jāme, Dave, Philip, and Fi is joining us as bell master as usual. And Satya is going to lead practice this evening.
Namāṁ mītabbī.
Oh, I should say the recording is— we've pinned ourselves, so it's just recording this rather than the whole screen, the whole meeting.
So before practice this evening, I was looking around the shrine room and noticing again how many objects in here have come from different people. The mural over there— you're not going to be able to see any of this, I'm afraid, James— was donated by Jaume's friend. The lions came from Izzy. The picture behind Fi was painted by Wendy. The irises were arranged by Brian and grown in the temple garden. We planted a few bulbs when we moved in and they've multiplied and we've got lots and lots of beautiful irises now. The carpet was donated by Keima after receiving a bequest, and all of these things were donated to the shrine room as a kind of offering, in the way that we want to get something nice for our friend when it's their birthday. People want this room to look nice and there's a kind of a care and, yeah, a love involved. And the same thing happens when people clean the shrine room, that they're not just cleaning any old dust away, they're making the shrine room clean and tidy. There's an extra layer of, um, sacredness, of blessedness. And we all have particular places or objects that we feel this extra affinity with. Some people— I used to live somewhere where a man would clean his car, wash his car every Sunday, and it took him about 5 hours. He paid minute attention to every single little piece of it. That was an act of care. Some people put lots of care and attention into their gardens, or their pets, or their jobs. As Buddhists, what we're being asked to remember when we make these special spaces where we're more open to the teachings of the Buddha, we're more open to the spirit of the Buddha, is that what we're heading towards is everywhere and everyone. Becoming that special thing for us and wanting to make everywhere beautiful and wanting to make everyone happy. And we're human beings, and so that's not always easy. It's hard to care about the motorway service station and to see a bit of rubbish on the floor and pick it up. It's harder to care for some people than others, especially on social media. But when we look at the world, when we look at places, and when we look at people through the eyes of the Buddha, we understand that everything and everyone has its own beauty. And that all of the things that we find difficult about other people or other places are, um, are the result of fear. That when people are mean, it's because they're afraid. When people are greedy, it's because they're afraid. When people are jealous or annoying. It's all protection. And the Buddha can see right through that protection into the vulnerability behind it, the tenderness, and connects with that tenderness and feels tender towards that vulnerability. So when we come together in this group and we practice in these special places, it's like a practice for how we might like to see ourselves, how we— what we aspire to when we go out of this room and when somebody does something that tests our patience, or we feel disappointed in ourselves, that we can remember that care and attention that people offer this room, and remember that we can offer that to other things and other people, and also that we're always receiving that. We're the ongoing recipient of that from the Buddha, and even when we can't feel it, we can trust that that care and attention is coming our way.
Namomida Butsu.
So as we move into some silence together, Maybe you might want to imagine that care and attention coming towards you, and if you'd like to soak it up Notice if that doesn't feel easy. Imagine how you might look through the Buddha's eyes. And we'll sit in silence for a while, and then I'll start chanting. Tonight we will chant to Avalokiteshvara, or Kuan Yin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. The words of the chant are 'namo,' which means 'I call out to Kwan Sheen Bosat.' Bosat is Bodhisattva. So 'namo Kwan Sheen Bosat.' Namokwanji in Bursat.
Namokwanji in Bhagavan Shri Nambushas. Namokwanji Nambushas. Namokwanji Nambushas. Namokwanji Nambushas. Namokwanji in Gosha. Namokwanji in Gosha. Namokwanji in Gosha. Namokwanji in Bursat. Namokwanji in Bursat. Namokwanji in Bursat. Namokwan Shin Bosat. Namokwan Shin Bosat. Namokwan Shin Bosat. Namokwanshi in Gosha. Namokwanshi in Gosha. Namokwanshi in Gosha. Namokwanji in Burschat. Namokwanji in Burschat. Namokwanji in Burschat. Namokwanshi in Bhoj Sat. Namokwanshi in Bhoj Sat. Namokwanshi in Bhoj Sat. Namokwanshi ngosat. Namokwanshi ngosat. Namokwanshi ngosat. Namokwanji in Bursat. Namokwanji in Bursat. Namokwanji in Bursat. Namokwanji in Bursat. Namokwanji in Bursat. Namokwanji in Bursat. Namokwanshi in Bursa. Namokwanshi in Bursa. Namokwanshi in Bursa. Namokwan Sri Endo Sat. Namokwan Sri Endo Sat. Namokwan Sri Endo Sat. Saa.
I'm loving that bird. Is it a blackbird or a thrush? Blackbird, I think. Yeah, they do the short phrases over and over, don't they? Hopefully you can hear it on Zoom. Are there different people here?
Ria and Beth have arrived.
Welcome, welcome, Ria. Hi, Beth. So the next thing we do is 3 little bits of verse that contain a lot of meaning in not very many words. First of all, we take refuge in the Three Jewels, which is something that all Buddhists do: the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. The Buddha, the teachings of the Buddha, and the community of the Buddha. Then we recite the precepts, which are measures for us to check ourselves against see how we're doing, failing probably, and then the Bodhisattva vows, which is a way of dedicating ourselves to help all beings. So first of all, please repeat after me: For refuge I go to the Buddha.
For refuge I go to the Buddha.
Namo Buddhaya.
Namo Buddhaya.
For refuge I go to the Dharma.
For refuge I go to the Dharma.
Namo Dharmaya. For refuge I go to the Sangha. 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 that I may not steal.
I pray that I may not steal—
With faith in The Three Jewels .
—with Faith In The 3 jewels...
...i Pray That I May Not Fall Into Sexual Misconduct!
iPrAy ThAt IoM MaY NoFtAlL IntO sExuAL mIsCoNdUcTiOns...] ...wiTh FAITH IN THReE jEWELS!
...'I PRAY THAT I MAY NOT FALL INTO WRONG SPEECH!' 'mi prai tha tsia maey nought fooal into wrong speech...' ....wItH FaiTH IN THE THREE JEWELS!
With faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may avoid intoxication. I pray that I may avoid intoxication.
Innumerable sentient beings, we vow to save them all. We vow to transform them all. Immeasurable Dharma teachings, we vow to master them all. Infinite is the Buddha's way, we vow to fulfill it completely.
So let me finish practice by doing prostrations to the Buddha. When I first encountered this part of the practice, I thought it was very strange and didn't like it at all.. And as time's gone on, it's become my favourite bit. And I like it because I just get to lie myself down in front of the Buddha and relax, knowing that I'm safe. And so as we bow, we chant 'Namo Amida Butsu,' which means 'I take refuge in the Buddha of infinite light.' And hopefully you'll be able to see roughly what Caspar's doing on the video, but don't worry, just bow in whatever way you would like to. Namomi tabu.
Namoha Mira. Namoha Mira. Namoha Mira. Namoha mi namu! Namoha mi namu! Namo Amida Butsu! Namo Amida Butsu! Oh, do you want me to go and offer incense?
I'm gonna go and offer incense because Puspas remembered the bugs.
In gratitude, we offer this incense to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas throughout space and time. May it be as fragrant as 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 and realize the Pure Land.
Right, perfect. So now we show our gratitude to each other for being here to practice with each other by bowing. And I will bow to the right first and then the left, so you can work out the rest from there. Go! Oh no, I'm confused. Just make sure you bow to everybody, and then we bow to the Buddha, and then we tidy our seats and bow to our seats, and then, uh, If people on Zoom would like to unmute, if you're able to, we then recite the closing verse together. We call it the closing verse, it could be the opening verse as well. We do say at the end, yeah, but it's not specifically for the end.
Satya Robyn, may we care for all living things and the Holy Earth.
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. So do join us for a cup of tea if you live here, if you would like to, and tea.
