A Buddhist sangha meeting led by Satya Robyn with guided meditation, chanting, and a Dharma Glimpse by Frankie on unconscious bias sparked by watching Netflix's Top Boy. The group reflects on seasons and faith while sharing community announcements about upcoming events.
Chapters
Good morning everybody, lovely to have you all here. I think it's the first— I think we might have had the door open before this year, but it felt like a long time ago, so it's very nice to have it open again, a sign of spring. Welcome to Matt and Philip joining us on Zoom. And this morning we have— we'll start with the Dharma Glimpse by Frankie, which Sam will read for us. Over to you, Sam. Namamitabhu.
Namamitabhu.
What Netflix Taught Me by Frankie. Who are our Dharma teachers? Where do Dharma glimpses begin? Sorry, where do Dharma glimpses happen? In this series of glimpses that I'm writing, my teachers are Netflix, Amazon, Instagram, Facebook, online art courses and groups, my local supermarket, my husband, and more. None of these rich sources have anything to do with Buddhism per se, but they are the koans, the zazen, the Buddha robes, the Indra's nets, the Dharma of every day. I was in a Netflix dilemma. Nothing on my list was calling to me, and I spent most of the evening scrolling through, well, everything. I was in the mood for something from the UK, but I had already seen most of what was available. One series on offer was called Top Boy. As I read the synopsis and looked at the cast, I dismissed it as not for me because it was for Black people. As the thought arose, so did the heat suffusing my face and body. It happened that this was at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests, and could it only have been that morning I had been reading an article in which it was stated that the most insidiously damaging perceptions were from liberal and left-wing white people who considered themselves to not have a racist bone in their bodies. Oh, hello me. I was shocked. I allowed myself to think it and then say it. I'm racist and I was 100% unaware of it. How many films and TV series had I rejected for the same reason? I could think of 3 without even thinking. How many books, fiction and/or non-fiction? It was extraordinarily horrible and made me even— and made even more so for the fact that I am insatiably curious about the lives of others. I will set reading themes based on authors from countries I know nothing about. I'm fascinated by immersing myself in cultures, societies, and histories not my own. And yet, this country of colour was a place I had never been. Top Boy is a brilliant series, and I'm eagerly awaiting the final season. I bow deeply to the series and to Netflix for nudging me into an awareness of my own ignorance, bias, privilege, and unconscious sense of superiority. I'm not sure that as a white person born into a rich colonial and racist country whose wealth was made largely through the oppression and exploitation of other nations, let alone its own poor, that I can ever be free of my own racism. And knowing that, I'm grateful because it serves as a constant reminder that I can never sit back and assume that I understand the issues of others and how I might, consciously or not, be contributing to them. I am reminded that I need to keep trying to re-educate myself. I need not to ignore issues as not relevant to me, as I'm not necessarily using compassionate action in the most helpful way, as I need to listen to other voices beyond the valley of echoes.
Namaste. Thank you, Sam. Thank you. Some of you might have read that in our newsletter, but I think it Bears listening to Twice. So we will move into some quiet time together. Um, I'm thinking of spring, so maybe we could sit with spring this morning and maybe notice inside you if there are things that are dying away, falling away, and new shoots that are appearing. And you can have the Buddha with you too. So with everything that happens inside you, know that the Buddha is holding the space is sitting there smiling gently, accepting you just as you are, and maybe even offering you a little bit of wisdom. And then after a while, we'll start chanting together. I don't know what I'm going to chant yet because I haven't decided, but if you want to join and it's— the words are complicated, they'll be on the liturgy sheet. Namaste.
Om Namidevari. Om Namidevari.
Om Namidevari.
Om Amidevare. Om Amidevare.
Om Amidevare.
Free.
Om Amidevare. Om Amidevare.
Om Amidevare. Free.
Om Amitewari. Om Amitewari.
Om Amitewari.
Om Amitewari. Om Amitewari.
Om Amitewari. Om Amitabhari. Om Amitabhari.
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 Buddha.
Namo Buddha.
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 the Sangha.
Those who live in the Buddha's light.
Those who live in the Buddha's light.
Namo Sanghaya.
Namo Sanghaya.
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—I'll be ready to sign me up still—with faith in the 3 tools of Faith In The Tree Tools. I pray that I may not fall into sexual misconduct—but try this time they're falling sexually mischievous-with faith in the three jewels—in fact, you know, we do it all—the whole thing! That's why my name was wrong-speech-I'm afraid that some might have fallen too long speech—with faith in the tree jewels—with face-in-the-tree-jewel-words I pray that I may avoid intoxication.
I pray that I may avoid intoxication. No blame.
No blame. Be kind. Be kind. Love everything.
Love everything.
Innumerable are 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 fall flat completely.
So Dave has left a pile of magazines in the dining room, and the one on top is Resurgence. And I just passed that word as I came into the shrine room this morning. It feels very apt today, having just walked around the temple garden and seen everything starting to, to bloom. And it makes me think of the seasons and how nature has a way of resting regenerating, allowing, allowing tired things to, to die and dissolve back into the earth. And then a season of coming to life, of waking up, and a kind of a, a bit of a gush of energy. And then that kind of fullness and brightness of summer, and then the kind of the mellowing and harvest time of autumn. And of course, human beings and all living beings have these seasons, either the same or, or slightly different, both in minuscule. In a single day, we might pass through several seasons several times over. Or over a week or a year or over our lifetime. I think I'm kind of— hopefully I'm late summer, but maybe I'm kidding myself, I might be autumn. We'll go for very late summer. And I was thinking about faith in relation to the seasons. That nature doesn't need faith because it just does what it does. Uh, the roots don't sit under the earth thinking, oh, surely it must be time for something to happen now. Where's the, where's the heat? Uh, maybe it'll never come. They just wait in the, in the dark and trust that the earth will warm up and that they will rise up into the light. Human beings— it's harder for us human beings sometimes to trust that if we let go of things, that that's okay. To trust that sometimes we're in a season of waiting or maintenance or just keeping our head above water. That sometimes we're in the season of productivity, that sometimes we just really need recovery or fun or enjoyment, pleasure, but that often these things can't be rushed. They happen in their own time, and that clashes with our capitalist, individualist society that says that we should be at work at particular times, and that we need to save for our pensions and all of that stuff. I've just started a personal pension, so pensions are on my mind. Better late than never. The world has these kind of requirements of us, and, and that our natural rhythms sometimes butt up against them. So we do what we can with the conditions that we're in. And so trusting in seasons is an art, is, uh, something that maybe becomes a little bit easier with experience, like kind of learning to float in water. When we've done it a few times, we're like, oh yeah, the water held me last time. Maybe I'll be okay, maybe I won't go under. And then behind the seasons, underneath the, the changing nature of life, is the Buddha. And trusting the Buddha, relying on the Buddha, is the deepest form of refuge. We call it Buddha here, different people call it different things. That bedrock. I think I did some writing this week and called it a bedrock of goodness, that we can rely on that, that we know that even if we've got lots of layers between us and it, that it has us, it has our back, it's holding us up. It's containing us, it's loving us. So an invitation this week to notice the seasons as they move through you, or as you move through them, in minuscule and in macro, and to remember that behind all of that is the unchangeable infinite compassion and wisdom of Amitabha. And aren't we lucky to know about it now, only today. So we'll now stand and do prostrations. So do find a bit of floor in front of you.
We dedicate the merits of this incense offering to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas throughout space and time. May it be fragrant as Earth itself, herself, reflecting our careful efforts, our wholehearted awareness, and fruit of understanding slowly ripening. May we, all beings, be companions of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. May we awaken from forgetfulness and realize our true birth.
To stand to our seats. Do unmute, and we will finish with the closing verse, which is on your liturgy sheet if you want to join us. Blessed by Amitabha's light, may we care for all the living things and the holy earth. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. So I'm just sorry, I forgot to transfer merit to Christina, who died this Monday, I think it was last week. So Dzame's sister-in-law's mother. Thank you of your sister-in-law Merritt Transford. A couple of little announcements— we will be swapping our Mindful Maintenance morning from Saturday next week to Sunday Sunday, 10:30, because of the coronation. I don't know if people will watch it or not, but nobody's free on a Saturday. No, Dave Kay is definitely not watching it. Yeah, so that will be Sunday at 10:30. And this Monday, day after tomorrow, Kaspa and Kema will be blessing the Clock Tower Well, which is just up in North Malvern, at midday. So we'll appreciate Buddhists to come and join the chanting. And then there's like a fun day in the priory all day, so in the afternoon we'll probably go to that if anyone wants to join us. Kirtan tomorrow. Kirtan at 5 o'clock tomorrow, 5 to 6:30 tomorrow. There's definitely at least one dog coming. Gruff, Griff's coming. And a human. And a human. Definitely at least two humans. 3 humans. Anything else? If anyone wants to come and say hello to Matt or Philip, then do, and then we'll have a cup of tea. Oh, if you must. If we must, Keima said. I was joking.
