Satya Robyn leads a group meditation on attention and letting go. The session includes guided sitting, chanting Om Mani Padme Hum, refuge verses to the Three Jewels, and closing blessings with participants Dave, Jāme, Kesper, Beth, and Tony.
Chapters
Good morning, and as suspected, after a very full room last week, It's more quality than quantity today. So inside the shrine room we have Dave and Jāme, me and Kesper, and joining us on Zoom we have Beth and Tony so far.
And Mummy too. Well, everyone came when Jāme was doing the service last week, and now we're back they've all gone away again.
Welcome.
I can hear a teaspoon in a cup in the kitchen. And different traffic sounds outside. Not so much birdsong this morning as there sometimes is on a Saturday morning. And the sound of my own breath entering and leaving my body, the kettle boiling, someone coming through the door.
Welcome.
I was reading this morning in, um, Buddhadharma magazine an article about— oh, it was about a couple of Zen koans that I can't remember, but it was also about How the human tendency is to pay attention to the same things over and over again, just to notice the things that make us feel safe and to ignore the things that might threaten our story about the world or ourselves. That's the way I'm describing it. I use this word marginalization to describe the things that stay in the periphery of our awareness. And of course, in many ways, this capacity to concentrate on one thing is very helpful. We wouldn't get much done if we weren't able to pay attention to one thing at a time. A little bit like how our vision works— there's a place in the center where things are sharp or sharper, and around the edge things are less in focus. And I suppose that the same, uh, with our eyes as with our mind. In Buddhism, the mind is classified as a sense in the way that the ears and the tongue and the nose and the eyes are, because you can think of them resting on different places or receiving— there are ways that information enter. When I walk into a room, I notice the things that, uh, that make me feel safe psychologically, things that prop up my identity. When someone else walks into the same room, they notice different things about the room. That's true with our eyes, and it's also true with our mind. And the article was suggesting that We might think that the, the sort of natural next step— oh well, when we're in meditation, we should pay attention to things that we don't usually pay attention to. And that is a good meditation instruction. And this article was suggesting that actually paying attention to the thing at the center naturally leads us to paying attention to things at the edges, because that's how the mind is when we create this spaciousness and stillness around the thing that we're looking at or dwelling on. It frees it up. It frees it up to leave our awareness. So this word awareness, we're not talking about something rigid or grasping or pinning something down. We're talking about dwelling in curiosity, in spaciousness, in kindness. And I guess that's the shift, because the thing that's in the center of our attention has got stuck there because we have been grasping clinging and pinning it down, because something about it is compelling or feeds our identity or ego. If I'm in a bad mood and I keep replaying over the thing that's hurt me, then it keeps me in a bad mood. Or if I've made a judgment about somebody else based on one incident and I keep replaying playing that incident over and over again, it maintains that judgment, and I ignore all the other things about the person that might undermine that judgment. So the invitation in our— particularly in our meditation, but of course We're invited to try this in our daily lives as well, is to take a step back from that grasping, that pinning down, that fixating, that repeating things over and over again, and to settle into a different kind of awareness. And settling into our meditation position helps with that because the body and the mind aren't distinct. If we can sit in an upright and relaxed way, our awareness tends to be both upright, awake, and relaxed at the same time.
And as we bring this quality of attention to the thing that's in the center.
It has this freeing effect, and we don't need to do anything else. These things will leave of their own accord, and then it becomes possible for the things at the edges to take central stage for a while. And that's really useful to notice the things that we don't usually notice. In fact, the more that we're able to support this process happening, the bigger and bigger mind it leads to. So that's my invitation for your practice this morning, to notice what you are noticing, what is at the center of your mind, of your heart, of your awareness, and to see if it's possible to take that step back and be with it in a different kind of way, neither pushing it away nor pulling it closer towards you, simply being with it with this spaciousness, this kindness, allowing it to leave when it's ready to leave. Which might be very quickly, or maybe it won't even be in this period of meditation at all. But being with what is at the center in this way inevitably creates the conditions for letting go. So we'll go into a practice of quiet sitting together. Where you can try this out, and then we'll move into a period of chanting. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. So the chant we will use this morning is to Avalokiteshvara, or Kwan Yin. Om Mani Padme Hum, which means something like the jewel of the lotus, which is a kind of a a nickname, if you like, for Avalokiteshvara. This is the Bodhisattva of compassion, the one who hears the cries of the world. So in reciting this, we're, we're inviting those qualities to appear in ourselves of compassion, but we can also think of it as calling to a compassionate, awakened being in the universe that that will respond to us with compassion. Satya, the tune's gone out of my head.
Maybe you can start us off or something.
Om Mani Padme Humri!
Om Mani Padme Humri! Om Mani Padme Humri! Om Mane Padme Hungry! Om Mani Padme Humri!
Oh my name pad me hungry— oh mané paad mé hungrí... om mané padmé hungrí... omanepadmehumri. Om Mani Padme Humri. Om Mani Padme Humri. Om Mani Padme Humri. Om Mani Padme Humri. Om Mani Padme Humri. Om Mani Padme Humri. Om Mane Padme Hum. Om Mane Padme Hum. Om Mane Padme Hum. Om Mane Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Humri.
Om Mani Padme Humri. Om Mani Padme Humri. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Humri! Oh mané padmé hum ri! Ooh ma nee paad mé hoong reem... Oh mané padmé hom bri— oh mah né pahd me hoom riiimmm... om maneepaadmehomreeee? Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mane Padme Humri. Om Mane Padme Humri. Om Mane Padme Humri. Om Mani Padme Humri!
Oh my name— oh manepad me humry! Omani padmehumreee... Ummanipadmehomrieemmm? Om Mani Padme Humri. Om Mani Padme Humri. Om Mani Padme Humri.
Om Mani Padme Humri. Om Mani Padme Humri. Om Mani Padme Humri. Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum.
For refuge I go to the Buddha.
For refuge I go to Buddha— Namo Buddhaya! For refuge I go to Dharma— Refuge I go to Dharma— Namu Dharmaya! For refuge I go to Sangha— For refuge I go to Sangha— Namo Sanghaya! With faith in the Three Jewels— Faith in the Three Jewels— I pray that I may not take life I pray that I may not take life— With faith of three jewels... —that's right! "With" means together? No no it doesn't mean 'together' unless you're saying like when they do something wrong or bad to each other but anyway; "...not steal." ...Not Steal..." "..may fall into sexual misconduct—" May Fall Into Sexual Misconduct—" ..."—with Faith In The 3 Jewels," "...pray That 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.
In your of all our sentient beings, we vow to save them all. Inexhaustible are the Buddha's 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 cultivate completely.
Namoha Mitra pu!
Namoha Mitra pu! Amo Amita! Amo Amita! time.
May it be as fragrant as earth itself, 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. Please do unmute if you're on Zoom, and we'll say the closing verse together. Blessed by Amitabha's light, may we care for all living things on holy earth. No need to go, so I'll see anybody that wants to join me in the garden in a few minutes, and you're welcome to come down to the garden after 2 for the mindful walk in the hills as well.
Thank you. Bye-bye.
Bye.
