Practice: sila, samadhi and prajna

In some Japanese temples, before practice, they ring a bell in each corner of the room to dispel any bad spirits. This is our equivalent. I guess probably the practice is even older than that, but, um, That's where the bell at the start of practice comes from. Welcome everybody, welcome to Chris and Claire joining us on Zoom. Nice to have you with us. We'll start with a glimpse from Alison this evening. Namaste.

Building Bridges and Golden Thread. Recently I met a Chinese-speaking Buddhist community in Malvern. After this meeting, I realized what I've been missing. The uprootedness of continually having to leave behind my friends and familiar surroundings, such as when I left Asia after 8 years of living there, had left an enormous hole I hadn't even noticed until I found myself in another Asian community. Sometimes when we shut out the pain of things taken from us, we can't always see what causes the pain until we confront it again. I suddenly saw in a flash that what was needed to restore connection and to heal this gaping wound was to begin building bridges. Bridges from ourselves to all the things of our heart. In England, I find myself picking up all the pieces of my broken life and stitching them back together again. It's a long and laborious process. I've been reminded that in Japan there is a tradition of restoring broken objects by putting gold into all the cracks of broken ceramics. This is known as Kintsugi. This has the effect of creating resilience and beauty. The cracks are the most prized parts. They are signs of growth, of hard lessons learned, of journeys traveled, stories lived, of acquired wisdom through experience. The cracks are what make us resilient and more beautiful. The more cracks we have, the more resilient and beautiful we become. After having moved about so much, I'm starting to think that perhaps it doesn't matter whether I can return to all the places I've called home, but what matters most are the connections we make here and now. Separation requires connection to heal. What once used to be found by traveling far and wide can also be experienced in the here and now if we simply remain open and receptive to what is here right now. There exists the potential to bring the whole world into a single grain of sand. By stitching the past, present, and future together, we can find wholeness— wholeness in this moment, now, right here. In order to help restore this wholeness, We need to build bridges to the things of our heart, restoring, reconnecting, recreating, picking up the broken pieces and stitching them together with golden thread. We can find a beautiful whole laced with strands of golden wisdom, beauty, and resilience. Now I need a boo.

Thank you. So moving into a period of meditation.

Namah Kwan Chim Go Sat. Namah Kwan Chim Go Sat. Namah Kwan Chim Go Sat. Namah Shivaya. Namah Shivaya. Namah Shivaya. Namoh Shivaya. Satya Robyn. Namoh Shivaya. Satya Robyn. Namoh Shivaya.

Namah Shivaya.

Namokwanji in vosas. Namokwanji in vosas. Namokwanji. Namah Panchi Inbho Sats! Namoh Kwaji Namo Kwanji— —Inbo Sats! Namah Kwaji Inbho Satyam... Oh wow. Satya Robyn. Namah Shivaya. Namah Shivaya.

Namah Shivaya.

Namah Shivaya. Namahwanshi.

Namokwanchi in Bhoj Satya Robyn.

Namokwanchi in Bhoj Satya Robyn. Namokwanchi in Bhagwan Jiin Bhau Saat Naam Oh! Kuan Jin Bhuu Sat Nam O'Kuan Jeeen Bhau Sat Namo Kuansheen PurSaath— Namokwanshi. Namokwanshi. Bhosa. Namah Shivaya. Bhosa. Namah Shivaya.

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. For refuge I go to the Dharma. All that guides us to wisdom and compassion. Namo Dharmaya. For refuge I go to the Sangha. Those who live in the Buddha's light.

Those who live in the Buddha's light.

Namo Sangaya. Namo Sangaya. With faith in the Three Jewels.

With faith in the Three Jewels.

And in light of my human tendencies. And in light of my human tendencies. I pray that I may become aware. I pray that I may become aware. Of when I take life. Of when I take life. I pray that I may become aware— of when I take what is not freely given. I pray that I may become aware— of when I fall into sexual misconduct. I pray that I may become aware— of when I fall into wrong speech. Of when I fall into wrong speech. I pray that I may become aware. I pray that I may become aware of when I become intoxicated. Of when I become intoxicated. No blame. No blame. Be kind. Be kind. Love everything. Love everything.

Innumerable awesome human 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 fulfill completely.

Those Bodhisattva vows that we sing at the end there are from a version one of the versions of the Lotus Sutra, one of the Chinese texts. And, uh, for the life of me, I cannot find an English translation of it, but I'm assured that's where they come from. If anyone reads Chinese and wants to look it up, let me know. I wanted to talk about sīla, samādhi, and prajna this evening. It's a kind of traditional syllabus or steps in Buddhism. In Pure Land and Zen, particularly in Pure Land, it's kind of reversed, but I'll come to that later. I want to talk about the traditional model first. So it's usually translated as ethics, meditation, and wisdom. Sila, uh, a more literal translation of sila is restraint, kind of holding ourselves back from breaking the precepts. But we might also say holding ourselves back from watering karmic seeds. The Buddha talked, uh, used the analogy of seeds when he was describing karma. Once, every action that we do is like a, a flower that blooms, and then the seed head comes and the seeds drop into the ground. And if we water those seeds, we get more flowers. So when we act on something, when we act on an impulse we're creating the conditions for similar kinds of actions in the future. It's pretty straightforward. So if we restrain from watering those seeds, we're creating the conditions for less of those kind of actions in the future. And when your garden is overgrown, it's hard to see the ground, and it's hard to see the sky. When your mind is full of karmic seeds that are flowering and bursting and putting new seeds everywhere, we're just acting on our impulses, whether it's, uh, anger and resentment or intoxicating activities and kind of greed or distracting ourselves. It's very difficult to move from there into stage 2, which is meditation, because when you meditate, your mind is just overgrown, uh, in that way. It's too full. So restraint first, and then a little bit of space opens up and we can practice meditation. And as we observe ourselves in meditation and observe the universe, insight appears, wisdom, which might be the wisdom of impermanence, might be the wisdom of noticing how those karmic seeds develop. It might be the wisdom of noticing the Buddha. We can say when there's a lot of weeds in your brain, It can be hard to see the Buddha, your mind. I mean, your mind and your brain aren't the same. Weeds in the Brain is like a late-night horror film thing. And there's something to be said for that, that way of practicing. I think there's a lot of wisdom in that. First of all, you sort of make yourself still. You don't cause ripples in the world or in yourself. And then from that place, you're able to notice things, and then insight appears. Pure Land suggests that you can go in the other way as well. We begin with insight, the insight that we are foolish beings of wayward passion, and that there is also a Buddha here. So we take it on trust that our minds are full of weeds. That's what the teaching tells us. And we take it on trust that even though we can't see the sky because there's too much greenery, or the earth, that they are also there. That even though we can't see Amitābha, they are also there. This is the beginning with wisdom, beginning with trust, you could say. And the more we trust that the Buddha is present, the less need there is, uh, to water those seeds. The less insecure we are, the less need there is to act out. And if we're not watering the seeds, those actions aren't manifesting, and we're not— we're less likely to be breaking the precepts. So trusting the Buddha creates space in the mind. Even if all we're noticing is a chink of blue sky between an overgrown thicket— oh, there is something there. As that trust grows, we become still. We don't make waves. In the world, or we only make the right kind of waves, maybe. And I think for myself, both of these ways of practicing are true and useful at the same time, or at different times. Like, sometimes the practice is Beginning with the wisdom and trust that, oh, the Buddha is here, namo amida butsu. And sometimes the practice is, oh, you know what, I need to restrain myself. So I'm just inviting us to hold both of those possibilities and ways of practicing. In mind, trusting that they both lead to the same place. We can begin at either end, but sometimes if it's— I suppose what I'm saying, or I'm wondering, is if it's our habit as pure land Buddhists to begin this end, it's probably good every now and again to think about the other end. And if I was giving the talk to a room full of self- Power Buddhists, but I would say it the other way around. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

Gratitude for this instant offering to all Buddhas and bodhisattvas throughout space and time. May it be fragrant as earth herself, reflecting our careful efforts and our wholehearted awareness. May we and all beings be companions of Buddhas and bodhisattvas throughout space and time. May we awaken from fickleness and realize our true home.

Namaste. So as you all know, it's— we've got an open morning after practice on Saturday. Put your name down if you want to read a Dharma glimpse in the future, or if you want to volunteer on Saturday morning. Um, Sunday morning we're going to be doing some gardening, weather permitting. It might not be permitting. What time did we say we're starting? 10? Yeah, so if you're around and want to help with some gentle weeding or other tasks, 10 o'clock Sunday evening. Kirtan, Net Banji. So lovely weekend, 7:30. Yeah, looking forward to it. Let's close. Blessed by Amitābha's light, may we care for all living things and the holy earth. Namami Devānanda.