Satya Robyn leads a guided Pure Land Buddhist practice session. The facilitator teaches about the Nembutsu and how chanting Amitabha responds to suffering, then guides the group through meditation, communal chanting, and recitation of refuges, precepts, and Bodhisattva vows.
Chapters
Welcome everybody, welcome everybody watching on YouTube later on. Welcome, Ralph. The little Shih Tzu's wandered in. Big Shih Tzu. He's a small dog, big Shih Tzu. Satya is occasionally here from Shenyon that used to live here, and he mentioned something in a recent letter about the difference between Malvern and Medieval Japan, where Pure Land Buddhism flourished. And that comment has kind of been sitting with me and percolating through my mind. In medieval Japan, Kamakura Japan, it was a time of great difficulty for most people. There was civil unrest. As different factions of society, warlords went up against each other. We know that some of the warrior monks burned down each other's temples because they didn't like what the other group were preaching. There were fires that swept through the cities, there were earthquakes, there was a great famine at one point. So it was a tough life, and it was very difficult for ordinary people to do serious Buddhist practice in this context. When you're just trying to make ends meet as a peasant, there's no time for meditating or studying the sutras. So Nembutsu really took hold in that context. A practice that was very simple. Just say the name of Amitabha Buddha and trust that you will be reborn in the Pure Land. Even if your lifestyle isn't one that allows you to follow the precepts, you can still say this name. It was revolutionary. It's also been suggested that part of that revolution was that the landlords of the time would use these descriptions of the hell realms to keep the peasants in line. You must do your duty as a peasant, otherwise look where you're going to end up when you die. So to have this practice of saying the name of the Buddha that would take you into a pure land when you die also undercut the social order, so it spread very quickly. There aren't any fires sweeping through Malvern, there hasn't been. I mean, it looks like there might be one behind Chris, to be honest, and the Zoom background Looks like the sun, maybe. There hasn't been any earthquakes. We've had the pandemic, of course, which has added some of that existential edge to our lives, but compared to most people on the— around the world, we live relatively comfortable, secure lives. So what does the Nembutsu mean in this context? Even in the midst of all of this comfort, we find our own limitations. There was an activist, social activist. I'm only just thinking of this now, otherwise I could have looked up his name, but he created a movement called Theatre of the Oppressed, and he would go into towns and villages in South America and they would dramatize the problems of the villages. Their social problems and try and work out solutions to these issues. He tells a story of being in one village and handing out fake guns to be used as props, and the villagers looked and said, 'What are we supposed to do with these? We can't fight a revolution with these.' But he did a lot of good work, and then he came to the West and he said people oppressed themselves in their own minds. Materially, it was like stepping into heaven, but the human beings in this heavenly realm still managed to create their own oppression. Even though we have all these wonderful things— security, warmth enough to eat, no earthquakes, we still find suffering. And the particular suffering that Amida meets or addresses is the suffering that we can't do anything about. There are many good Buddhist practices that help us overcome suffering, that help us transform it into something positive. My work as a therapist, much of the work is helping people overcome suffering, internal beliefs, unexpressed emotions, and transform them into something positive. And yet at some point in that process of spiritual practice or therapeutic practice or just being alive in the world, we meet something solid that we can't do anything about— our own personal earthquake. And it's in these moments that the light of the Buddha shines the brightest. It finds us in this state of limitation, of brokenness, of powerlessness, and maybe even of hopelessness. And blesses us there. Sometimes that blessing is enough to lift us out of that place and help us move around the obstacle, and sometimes it really is something solid that we can't do anything about, but we can feel loved in that place. We can feel the grace of the Buddha in that place. Even if nothing in the world changes around us, even if we're unable to change our beliefs, that is a profound gift and a profound shift. This is the real deep truth of Pure Land practice. Even in this darkest of places, there is always light. Namaste. So we go into a period of quiet meditation together, perhaps noticing the breath as it enters, the cool air entering our nostrils, noticing the warmer air leaving, bringing attention back to this place, trusting that whether we can do this or not, or whatever state we find ourselves in As our focus turns inward, that the Buddha's light is here.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh.
Amitabh.
Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh.
Amitabh.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh.
Amitabh.
Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabh.
Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh.
Amitabh.
Namoh Amida.
Namoh Amida.
Namoh Amida.
Namoh Amida.
Namō Amitābha.
Namō Amitābha.
Namō Amitābha. Namō Amitābha. Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoh Amida Butsu.
Namoh Amida.
Thank you. So we'll finish by reciting the refuges and precepts and the Bodhisattva vows together. One of these days I'll put the link into the Bodhisattva vows so that people can join in. Obviously do join in if you know the words, but in the meantime, please repeat after me. I take refuge in the Buddha.
I take refuge in the Buddha.
Namo Buddhaya.
Namo Buddhaya.
I take refuge in the Dharma.
I take refuge in the Dharma.
Namo Dharmaya.
Namo Dharmaya.
I take refuge in the Sangha.
I take refuge in the Sangha.
Namo Sanghaya.
Namo Sangaya—
With faith in The Three Jewels I pray that I may not take life; —with faith in The Three Jewels 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!
—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! —with Faith In The Three Jewels! I pray that I may avoid intoxication—
I Pray That I May Avoid Intoxication!
"Innumerable Are Sentient Beings," We vow to save them all.
Inexhaustible are deluded passions. 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 forfeit completely.
So back to each other. And to the Buddha. And as always, we'll finish by inviting everyone to unmute so that we can recite the closing verse together, which is now in the chat box. Blessed by Amitabha's light, may we care for all living things and the holy earth.
Namamitabhu.
