Satya Robyn leads a Buddhist practice session with in-person and remote participants. The group does a guided meditation on decluttering, chants Amitabha, recites the Three Jewels and Five Precepts, and practices prostrations and bows.
Chapters
Welcome everybody. We've got Brian, Philip, and Jaume with Satya Robyn and myself here in the building, and joining us on Zoom, Beth and Carol, we're recording the Zoom as usual, but it will only show Satya and myself and the Buddha. Namaste.
Namaste. Welcome, Carol. Hi, Beth. As I sit here, I can see the big shrine in front of me with our tall standing golden Buddha. Hopefully both of you will be able to come and see it before too long, and the flowers on the shrine that Brian have arranged are really striking me as beautiful due in part to their sparseness. There's monarda, the lovely kind of thistle with purple, purple fronds, and I think there's some honesty and a couple of grasses, and they look very elegant and Japanese, actually. And it reminds me of my food cupboards. That for quite a long time, before coronavirus, I've been aware of sort of hoarding food a little bit, and I'll end up buying things from the supermarket that I already have lots of, so they go in the cupboards, and then there's a cupboard for spare stuff, and that's been absolutely crammed full. And it's really difficult to find anything, and things go out of date because they get lost at the back for years on end. And recently I've noticed that my food cupboards and the freezer have started to thin out a little bit, not really through much conscious effort, but as one of those reflections of when something changes inside you. The outside changes as well. And I think for me there's something about feeling a bit less afraid of running out that allows me to then see the food I've got and experience it as more plentiful. Like I can open the freezer drawers and there's like all these different things I can have just there rather than everything kind of stacked in like a Tetris. And I've been aiming for— how old am I? 46— for probably at least 20 years now to do the same with my diary, which has remained stubbornly slightly too full for decades, without much room around the edges for rest, but also for contemplation, for leisure. I've had this phrase in my head for the past week or so, because I wanted to have time to do some reading and some weeding, because our veg patch is really full of weeds. I'm kind of feeling like if I haven't got time for reading and weeding in my day, then I'm going wrong somewhere. How does this link with the Buddha? I think that when I cram things too full, it's always motivated by some kind of fear, some kind of clinging. I'm kind of wanting more of stuff, or being afraid that if I don't do all the stuff, that people won't like me, or that I won't have enough money, or that we'll run out of things. And connecting to the Buddha reminds me of the natural abundance that is present in the universe. Most of us are lucky enough to not have to worry about our next meal. Most of us have not exactly the support that we want around us, but, but when, when we need things, often it is available in some form or other. And the Earth, of course, is blessing us with abundance continuously. The food that we eat, the bench I'm sitting on that's made of wood, the flowers on the shrine, the goldfinch and greenfinch that both came to eat from the veg patch today. I could see from my office window. And that if we begin to allow the influence of the Buddha into our lives, then we can just allow that little tiny bit of relaxing that gives us some space around the edges. There's always stuff, of course, but we just get a tiny bit of breathing space, and that makes all the difference. So as we sit quietly in meditation for the next 10-15 minutes. Just notice whatever is going through your mind, notice whatever sensations there are in your body, and if it feels crowded or if something feels intense, just make a bigger space for whatever it is. Imagine the room getting bigger, the walls expanding. And notice how that is to just have that tiny bit of breathing space. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. I'm sorry, we will start chanting after the silence, and we'll chant a chant using the word Amitābha. So when you get the tune, do join in at home if you are able to.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Aba, ami taba, ami taba.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Ame taba. Ame taba. Ame taba. Ame Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha. So now we recite or sing 3 short pieces of text, and the first is the refuges in Buddhism. The 3 jewels are the Buddha, the Buddha who lived in India, and the universal Buddha, the representation of limitless love and wisdom. The Dharma, which is what the Buddha brings us, his teachings. And the Sangha, who are the community who practice together. So please repeat after me. For refuge I go to the Buddha—
for refuge I go to the Buddha—
Namo Buddhaya— For refuge I go to the Dharma—
For refuge I go to the Dharma— Namu Dharmaya—
For refuge I go to the Sangha—
For refuge I go to the Sangha—
Namo Sanghaya— So the next 3 times we say it together at once so that you can hear me better. Thing that we recite are the precepts, the Five Precepts, and these are the ethical guidelines that we attempt to live by. And it's kind of taken for granted that we won't manage to do these five things perfectly, or anywhere near perfectly, but we pray that we may come as close as we can. Towards keeping the precepts, and we hold these precepts in our mind when we're thinking about the choices that we make. So please repeat after me: For, um, 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— 'Ai rai' —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—I pray that I may not fall into wrong-words. With faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may avoid intoxication.
I pray that I may avoid intoxication.
And the final little verse is the Bodhisattva vows. And a Bodhisattva is a being who is endlessly generous. So with these vows, we are stating our aspiration to be like bodhisattvas. And as you'll hear with the words, there's another assumption here that we're not going to make it, but we're heading in the direction that the bodhisattva vows point in.
Innumerable sentient beings, we vow to save them all. We vow to transform them all. We vow to master them all. We vow to fulfill it completely.
In a minute, Jaume will ring the bell and we will stand and make prostrations towards the Buddha. If you've got a Buddha in your room, or you can bow towards the computer Buddha. In making prostrations, we are demonstrating our respect for the Buddha, but we're also demonstrating our trust that we lay ourselves down on the floor and trust that the Buddha has our back. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. And the words of the verse are: Namo Amida Butsu.
Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoh Amida Butsu.
Namoh Amida Butsu.
So we always finish practice by first bowing to each other and then to the Buddha. And then we tidy our seats and bow to our seats. And then if you'd like to unmute, if you would like to, we'll all recite the closing verse together. Blessed by Amitabha, may we care for all living things.
