Satya Robyn leads a guided Buddhist meditation practice with multiple speakers. Speaker B reflects on stepping on a creature and explores loving-kindness in relation to suffering, drawing on the Buddha's forest practices. The session includes chanting, silent sitting, recitation of refuges and precepts, and an incense offering.
Chapters
Good morning everybody. We have just been— me, David, Kema, and Kasper have just been walking around the garden with our new friend the robin who came around with us most of the way. Dogs. There was a fat bumblebee on the, uh, what's it called, ivy. Huge, huge. So welcome to practice. Casper will be leading this morning, and joining us on Zoom we have Chris, who's in a forest, and Philip, who's in an ordinary room. Namaste.
Yes, it's great. Thank you. Namamit bhū. I woke up this morning and got out of bed and stepped into something cold and slimy. I think the innards of some small creature that the cat had brought in last night. He's usually not one for hunting. Mostly what he catches, 90% of what he catches is leaves, and then very occasionally he brings something more gruesome in. I, um, I know the RSPB did a survey a few years ago and suggested that cats didn't impact the environment that negatively because they were just— or birds at least— because they were just taking the ones that wouldn't make it through the winter. But I know a lot of environmentalists do worry about how many cats there are. In the country. But the thing that it put me in mind of was the difference between my life with a warm bed and four walls and a roof, and the life of the Buddha and many of the Buddha's early disciples, who mostly just lived outside occasionally, would accept invitations into people's homes or compounds, but spent much of the year living in the forests and jungles. Their practice would have had a slightly different quality to it. In the Fear and Dread Sutta, the Buddha steps further and further into the forest, noticing his reaction to the different things that he encounters, the sounds of wild animals and so on. And even at that time, a sense of spirit, tree spirits living in the forest, not necessarily malevolent, but not necessarily kind either, just with their own kind of wildness. And how he allowed himself to settle before taking the next step further into the forest. And of course, the practice that he recommended to his disciples in those situations was the loving kindness practice. The Buddha had the conviction that if you send loving kindness into the world and wish loving kindness to all of these living beings that live in the forest, they're much less likely to harm you. And Different Buddhists understand that differently. Some people perhaps still take it as that kind of very literal— it's not quite being used as a magical spell, as a dharani, but it has that sort of quality to it. If I do enough loving kindness practice with an open and pure heart I'll be materially— I will be safe. The mosquitoes won't bite me, the tigers won't chase me. Some Buddhists take it to mean that if I do enough loving kindness practice, I will really begin to understand the lives of those others, and then I'll be spiritually safe regardless of what happens, whether the mosquitoes bite me or the tigers chase me. I'll be able to retain some sort of steadiness and equanimity and compassion for them, because I've got this foundation of loving kindness and understanding. And I've certainly had the experience both outside and also inside as well, that the, the more fraught my mind is, the more reactive I am. I am, the more likely I am to do something that creates chaos in the world around me. From a sort of mundane everyday life, if you think about losing your keys and panicking, the more panicked you are, the less likely you are to find your keys. And the more likely I am certainly to bump into things and knock other things over when I'm searching for my lost keys. Having that kind of high energy in a forest or a jungle, of course you're much more likely to injure yourself or disturb a hornet's nest. So wherever you fall on the spectrum of understanding why that's a good practice. Hopefully we can agree with the Buddha that loving kindness towards all of these different beings is good for us as well as good for the beings themselves. And we can practice that in our modern lives when we're in living our inside lives. Taking care of mundane objects and other people and projects in the same way that we would wood spirits and hornets and tigers. But what I thought of when I stepped out and landed on that slimy organ was how much of our lives we spend constructing rhythms and structures and choosing projects to keep ourselves away from that kind of existential truth about the tooth and claw of the natural world and of the human world and of our own lives. And living in such a high-stress society, there's some real wisdom in that. It is important to know how to self-soothe. But it's also important to find moments of connecting with the wild nature of the earth. And right now that means connecting with the fragile and harmed wild nature of the earth. That's the times that we live in. And what supports us to do that and maintain some sense of equanimity, to not be overwhelmed by the suffering, is this practice of loving kindness. If we can find loving kindness, we can find ways of having a big enough heart to be with the wildness and the immense suffering in the world. And of course, as Pure Land Buddhists, we understand that Whilst sometimes we are the, the one offering loving kindness, sometimes we're the one receiving loving kindness, or always we're the one receiving loving kindness from the Buddha. So this is our practice, to open ourselves to this sense of loving kindness that is all around us. Allow that to move through us, holding other beings with that same attitude, both in the wild and in our more civilized day-to-day lives. A moment to breathe. So as we sit quietly together, we can practice some loving kindness, and we'll do it by just noticing whatever comes to mind, whatever thought, feeling, or memory, whatever you're noticing, sending loving kindness to whatever arises. And if that's difficult today, knowing that the Buddha is already sending loving kindness to whatever arises.
Namah Kwan Shin Bosat. Namah Kwan Shin Bosat. Namah Kwan Shin Bosat. Namah Kwan Shin Bosat. Namah Kwan Shin Bosat. Namah Kwan Shin Bosat. Namah Kwan Shin Bosat. Namah Kwan Shin Bosat. Namah Kwan Shin Bosat. Namah Kwan Shin Bosat. Namah Kwan Shin Bosat. Namah Kwan Shin Bosat.
Let's have 5 minutes of quiet sitting again. So in a moment we'll recite the refuges and precepts and so on. Just to let you know, if you weren't here last week, we have added 6 extra words after the lay precepts. These are the 3 phrases that the Zen priest Terence Keenan keeps in mind. And for me They're just a good summing up of the whole of the spiritual life. And as I said on Wednesday evening, I probably don't need to say any other words if you've got these. So after we— I'll invite you to repeat the refuges and precepts, and then I shall say, um, no. And then after the precepts, I shall carry on. I will say no blame, and you'll repeat that, and I shall say 'Be kind,' and you repeat that. And then I shall say, 'Love everything,' and you'll repeat that. And then we'll do the Bodhisattva verse. For refuge I go to the Buddha.
For refuge I go to the Buddha.
Namo Buddha.
Namo Buddha.
For refuge I go to the Dharma.
For refuge I go to the Dharma.
Namo Dharmaya. For refuge I go to the 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.
I pray that I may not steal—
With faith in the Three Jewels. —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. —With faith in the Three Jewels. —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 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 it completely.
In gratitude, we offer this incense to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas throughout space and May it be as fragrant as earth herself, 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 our true birth. Please do unmute if you want to join in from the Zoom call. Blessed by Amitabha's light, may we care for all living beings and the holy earth.
