Practice - Natural cycles and Smokey bunny

Good morning. Half enjoying the fading sound of the bell, which has beautifully woken us all up, and waiting for Philip's audio to kick in. Good morning, Philip. Hello to everyone who's here in the shrine room. Special welcome to Kusuma, who walked to the temple. Welcome to Malvern. So this morning we will begin with a Dharma glimpse by our Sam, who lived here last year— this year, last year, this year, this year, bit of last year, bit of last year and this year. Barbara has kindly agreed to read it for us. Over to you, Barbara.

I have been enjoying a period in which I have felt very energetic and done lots of things that I have found valuable. It has been wonderful, but as always happens sooner or later, I am now in the crash. One or two nights of poor sleep, some low-level illness, I lose momentum and the streak is over. I'm like a cartoon character running off a cliff. Remaining suspended a few moments against gravity before realizing the situation and then falling into the chasm below. In time, I will get going again. I know this from experience. Life comes in such cycles. Maybe it doesn't have to be exactly like it is now. But it will always come in cycles. I look out of my window to see the patches of yellow and orange beginning to appear on the trees, and it is a reminder that these cycles are natural and unavoidable. There are aspects of where I am now that are not pleasant, but the scenery reminds me that there is beauty to be found in all seasons.

And I need to be okay. So with Kusma here, I feel inspired to, uh, have some Nei Quan and Qi Quan practice this morning, which some of you will remember, and some of you won't know anything about. Um, Nei Quan and Qi Quan are complementary practices, and in Nei Quan we remind ourselves of our dependence on a myriad of supporting conditions, and in Qi Quan we we make offerings and in return receive peace from the Buddha. So first of all, we'll do some neikwan, and as we sit in silence together, we will reflect on 3 questions. Over the past 24 hours, what have I received? What have I offered in return? And what trouble has my existence caused? Um, Jama is looking at me thinking, what the hell are the bells for this? Are you?

Infinite light. We didn't need infinite light. That's out of the next one. After.

Yeah, after. Just bells.

Bells. Okay.

Yeah. See, you knew it after.

I didn't know it. I just couldn't remember which order.

Um, so the first period, we'll do Nei Quan, which is reflecting on those 3 questions over the past 24 hours: what have I received, what have I offered in return, what trouble has my existence caused? And I will give the instructions for the Qi Quan after the little verse. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Our ordinary— so the second half is Qi Kuan. Qigong is where we make an offering to the Buddha of anything that arises in us. So anything that's been stirred up by the first part, Mae Kwan, any physical sensations you have as you're sitting, any thoughts, any feelings. Just imagine holding them out in your hands, offering them to the Buddha, and know that the Buddha accepts whatever it is you offer with a smile and will make use of whatever it is that you offer, even if you think that there could be no possible use for an achy knee or, uh, a jealous thought. Or a bit of sadness. And as you make these offerings to the Buddha, you may find that you become more peaceful. You might just have to keep making offerings for the whole time, and that's fine. But if you do, if little bits of peace sneak in, just dwell in that peace and rest, rest in the quiet. Namami Devi. Did we miss out some Namu Amida Butsu at the end?

That's optional.

We'll do them next time.

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

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.

Namo Dharmaya!

For refuge I go to the Sangha—

for refuge I go to sangha—

those who live in Buddha's light—

those who live in Buddhist lights—

Namo Sangaia! With faith in three jewels—I pray that may not take life—with faith in three jewels—I pray that might steal; I pray that I may not steal— With faith in The Three Jewels!

—with Faith In 3 Jews .

"With Faith In The Three Jewels!" I Pray That May Not Fall Into Wrong Speech...

...that time they're going on for it's wrong to speak?

, 'Without' Fear Of Faults...] "...Faith"..."In"...TheThreeJews ?" ? Without fear of faults?! So what does this mean!? What do you think about her question there?? Oh my God!!! No no!! Let me go back again because she just said something else now too so let us listen carefully here first before we continue our discussion then after which will be interesting if somebody can translate into Chinese or Thai from his translation at I least later anyway.......

Yeah yeah okay guys please help out when he translates your questions pray also below but anyways sorry folks um..... Okay next one says........ that I may avoid intoxication.

No blame. No blame. Be kind. Be kind. Love everything. Love everything.

Innumerable are sentient beings. We bow to you, Satya Robyn. Exhaustible are deluded passions. We bow Immeasurable are the Dharma teachings. We vow to master them all. Infinite is the Buddha's way. We vow to fulfill it completely.

Namomi Dabu. So some of you will know that Smokey Bunny died last night, Kwan Chi and Bo Sat, the last of the temple bunnies, and I had a thought as I was sitting the first part of the meditation, which is that I really don't like death. I just really hate that he had to die because I wanted to continue to be with him. And Sam's, uh, writing this morning connected in with another thought I had as we were walking around the snowy garden this morning. Uh, and we've walked around that garden at all times of year, and today there was, um, kind of snow that had just sort of frozen into place in the, in the grass, and, and I was a bit worried about leading people up the kind of the final steep bit of the garden. So I really didn't want anyone to fall over, and I just noticed that there was a little loop that allowed us to avoid the worst of the steepness just as we came back to the steps in the middle. And something about knowing the garden in a deeper and deeper way and connecting with it in in those different cycles, in those different states. And sometimes those cycles, um, kind of continue, and the thing that's going through the cycle remains quite the same. Like, uh, the garden will come into spring again and again, um, and in our own lives we have these cycles of going into the winter and coming out and school cycles and, um, things that kind of repeat and repeat. And then there are also things that come to an end, and, and when something comes to an end, there is a space for something new to arise. I can't remember who I was talking to, but somebody said to me in the past couple of weeks that they'd forgotten that, that in order for there to be new growth, there has to be death. There has to be the surrendering, the letting go, the coming to an end of something, which usually involves grief. But without that, without that, without Smokey Bunny dying, you know, the world would quite quickly become full of bunnies. That, that, that's how it works here on the Earth. And most of us are lucky to have a longer lifespan than our pets, but we're in the same cycle. The, the, the Earth needs human beings to die in order to have a chance of surviving itself. And Buddhism can help us with, with the, with how difficult it is to really face that, to really, um, to really be with the cycle wherever it is. And this, this morning, for me, that was being with my grief about losing a little bunny. And sometimes it's really making sure that we're present to see something new as it's being born, to witness the, the little bulbs, you know, sending shoots up. And the, the, the ney cat, the neyquan and the chiquan is also connecting me in with my gratitude, my gratitude for having known Smokey Bunny, my gratitude to Jana Marty who helped us put the aviary up 5 or 6 years ago, and Nick, and people that aren't, aren't sort of, uh here today. They're not dead, they're just not here. Um, and I'm hoping that, um, that, that some people here in this shrine room included, uh, Dave's Christmas dinner in their list of things that they were grateful for in the past 24 hours. We were treated to an absolutely amazing spread last night. That there are always things to be grateful for, even in the most difficult bits of the cycle. Just tiny little glimmers. Sometimes it's impossible to believe that they're there, but they're always there. So Buddhism reminds us that there are these cycles that we can't avoid—old age, sickness, and death. But it also reminds us that there is so much that is offered to us, that we are offered things in every minute, in every second. And with the little bit of peace that I hope you experienced in the Qi Quan We're steadied to keep stepping forwards in this strange adventure. Namaste.

In gratitude, we offer this incense to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas throughout space and time. May be as fragrant as Earth itself, reflecting our careful efforts, wholehearted awareness, and the fruits of understanding slowly ripen. May we and all beings be companions of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. May we awaken from forgetfulness and realize that people are—

Would you turn to center, Bhaskarji? So we transfer merit to Smokey and to all pets who I am convinced are in the Pure Land. I was reading James Herriot last night, a book about dogs, his kind of dog stories, and he was talking to a woman who was about to die and she had 3 dogs and she was really upset because she'd been told that pets didn't go to heaven. And he said, I know they do. So here's to all the pets. Bye!

Bless, bless, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, may we gather for all living things and the Holy Earth.

I have a cup of tea.

Hi, Philip.