Satya Robyn leads a guided Buddhist practice on accepting busyness rather than fighting it. The session includes meditation, chanting, and recitation of refuges and vows, with her husband Casper helping manage the Zoom call and dogs in the background.
Chapters
Wednesday night practice. Um, I was just thinking how, uh, glad I was that it was time for practice because I really need it this evening. It's lovely to have some people here with me. But I would probably come and sit in here anyway for a while. So I'll be leading practice tonight. Casper usually sits on that chair, my husband usually sits on that bench there, but he's actually on retreat at the moment, so he's on the computer, which I was thinking means that he can't heckle me because he's on mute. So I'll make the most of that. And it's lovely to see Emma and Chris and Sharon joining us from elsewhere, so between us we fill the room. Yeah, so my plan, we start with me saying some things, Alex, so I will say some things. My plan this week was to have a very quiet week. I'd originally got this week booked as a holiday, and then I decided at the last minute to put my clients back in. I'm a psychotherapist. Um, uh, thank you. I'm not on the right— whoever said that, thank you very much. That should be better. Is that better now? Thank you, Casparito. It's very helpful having a husband on Zoom when your head's not quite screwed on. Is that better now? Good, he's given me a thumbs up. So I put my clients back in, and I've just got 3 clients a day this week, and I thought I'll just see my clients and then I can have all the rest of the day for reading and sitting in the garden. I knew it was going to be nice weather, walking the dogs, and so far Wednesday evening I don't feel like I've had a single minute to relax, and that's not quite true, but it hasn't— certainly hasn't been the spacious, relaxing week I planned. And there's lots of reasons for that. My dad's not been very well, we've got some issues with our paint, there's been quite a lot of emails to deal with and various phone calls and boring things I won't share now, and they've just crammed my time up. They've just crammed my days full. And before I walked into this room, I was stood on the balcony just for a few minutes, just looking out at the view. I could also see that Aiko, one of our dogs, had pulled one of my pink cushions from my office into the garden, but I'll deal with that later. I was looking at the view, ignoring the pink cushion, and as I looked at the view, I could feel something changing inside me. It was like there was just a little bit more space. It's like the walls had sort of moved out a little bit. And as that happened, everything inside me just began to relax a little bit. One of the themes of my life seems to be that I, I, I want more space in my diary and I work towards having space in my diary. And then somehow, as soon as I have space in my diary, things come in and fill it up. And that's not entirely beyond my control, but it's a, it's a quite powerful pattern in my life. And for a long time I've fought against that and thought I've just got to try harder to make space, and I've just got to be more strict with myself and And I think that that has some merit to it, and I will keep working on changing how much is in my diary. But I've also had two quite new thoughts about the situation. One thought is that maybe it suits me to have a busier life. Maybe it actually feels good to lots of different bits of me to have lots going on and to be producing things and to be engaged, and that that is as true as the parts that want me to have space. So sort of appreciating that. Kind of a, uh, being in relationship with that from a different place, not just from a place of wanting there to be less. And the other thought is that I can only do one thing after the other anyway, that the way that I approach my day has a massive effect on how I experience it. And that isn't just how many things are in my diary, it's how I approach those things, how I think about those things, how I, um, how I am in those things. That when I'm in that space of looking into the garden and, and, and having enough air inside me. I can do lots of things in a day and not feel tired by the end. They can— sometimes they can energize me. There's only one me, and there's only one day. There's only one, um, moment. There's only one, uh, morning till night journey. And it's impossible to, to change that. I think for me, one of the benefits of doing practice for many years, of being Buddhist for many years, is not just perfecting myself or perfecting my days, but really getting friendly with how I am, how I am right now. That that's what I'm doing. That I may be able to shift that in the future and I may not. And that that's okay, that the Buddha sees how I am. The Buddha sees my battles with my busy diary and all the other battles I have. The Buddha really understands why they happen. The Buddha sees my suffering. The Buddha appreciates the different parts of me and how hard they all work. And the Buddha loves me. The Buddha loves all those different bits. The bits that cause chaos, the bits that make me eat too much, the bits that overwork, the bits that lays around in front of the telly. The Buddha really loves all of those bits. And the Buddha also loves all the bits of everyone else, even the people that I don't manage to love, or the bits of myself I don't manage to love. And that very slowly over time I can trust that more and more. I can trust that, that we are beloved. So I'm looking very dark on the screen. Hopefully you can hear me okay. It's not so dark here. We've got our beautiful new Buddha who really shines in this evening light, and we can just bathe in the light of the Buddha for a little while as we sit quietly in meditation together. If you want, you can just pay attention to your breath as it goes in and out without changing anything, or just Allow your body to be still and notice how your mind probably isn't still, but just let it be. Just let it be however it is and feel the Buddha's light, the Buddha's love illuminating it. As you sit there with your busy mind, you may feel it begin to settle down a little bit. If it does, great, just enjoy it. If it doesn't, that's also fine. But sometimes it takes a little while for, for light to sink in, for love to sink in. And after we've sat quietly together for a little while, I'll begin chanting. And the word that I will chant is Amitābha. Amitābha is the Buddha of infinite light. The Buddha that we're in relationship here in this temple, as well, as well as all the other Buddhas. And once you get the hang of the tune, do join in. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Ami. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh.
Amitabh. So in a minute we will recite the precepts and vows together, which are on your bit of paper. I'm just going to see if this light works. I can turn this one off a little bit. Yeah, I'm quite enjoying the evening light. There we go, compromise. It just looks more and more beautiful against the blue, I think, that Buddha, as the light goes on. So it's traditional for all Buddhists to take refuge in the Three Jewels, which is the Buddha from India 2,500 years ago, and the archetypal Buddha, the Buddhist teachings, and the community of Buddhists that practice together. So that's the refuges. And then it's also traditional that we that we vow to try and live ethical lives, which is the second section. And then we finish with the Bodhisattva vows, which are our kind of our aspiration to, um, to be kind to others. And the way that the Bodhisattva vows are worded is that they acknowledge how impossible it is to be good all the time, but that doesn't stop us from heading in that direction. So please repeat after me. For refuge I go to the Buddha. Namo Buddhaya. For refuge I go to the Dharma. Namadhammayo. For refuge I go to the Sangha. For refuge I go to 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; 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 speech. 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.
Inexhaustible arduous detachments, 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.
And then we finish by making prostrations to the Buddha. And for me, this is the time where I can just relax the most. We're just kind of laying ourselves down in front of the Buddha, showing the Buddha that we trust that he's got our back. Probably won't be relaxing for you tonight because there's a chant that goes with it, so you'll just be trying to follow it. But if you feel comfortable doing the full prostration with your body, just copy me. I'll come to the front and we just always face towards the Buddha. And I'll be leaving you with an empty screen, guys, but you know the deal, so you know what to do. Oh, and the words aren't 'namo.' I call out to Amida-bu, and Amida-bu is the same Buddha as Amitabha but in a different language. So it's the Buddha of Infinite Light. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. And we always finish by bowing to each other to say thank you. Thank you for being here and practicing with each other. I don't know who's going to bow to first. There's 3 of us, so there's no way we can make that tidy. I'm bowing to everyone online, and then we bow to the Buddha. And then we tidy our seats and bow to our seats. And then if you want to unmute yourselves We finish by reciting the closing verse, which is on your bit of paper at the top. Blessed by Amitābha's light, may we care for all living things and holy earth. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Now for an optional cup of tea. Just gonna stop the recording.
