Satya Robyn leads a Buddhist group practice with chanting, meditation on storms, and prostrations. Casper gives a casual Dharma talk using Eurovision and singer Sam Ryder as a teaching example about practice and effort.
Chapters
This is called Storm. A moment of reflection on a beach recently in the presence of turbulent weather gave me an insight into the more primal aspects of my processes. I was contemplating a recent development in my life which brings both great joy and great doubt and concern. I noticed that the waves had a particularly powerful energy, like some unseen hand thrashing around in the murky depths, causing friction and disquiet on the surface. It looked like I felt deep currents of foreboding and uncertainty breaking into the light from around me that seems unknowable. Somehow I took great comfort from this experience, maybe nature affirming my present orientation, assuring me that come what may, I am where I need to be. I love the Buddhist idea that samsara, the cycle of birth and suffering, and nirvana, ultimate reality, are essentially one and the same. The travails of the suffering realms are said to be like ripples on the great ocean of the unconditioned. Facilitating the conversion of anguish and confusion into wisdom and happiness.
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
For those that didn't catch the start of Jamye's beautiful Dharma Gems, it is on the website. So you can catch up later. We'll move into some silence together. Some of us in this room have just walked around the temple garden. I can't believe how much it's grown since we walked around it last week. Weeds everywhere, and also beautiful beauty and abundance everywhere. There's lots of flowers starting to come out and The new pond has started to breed mosquitoes, which I'm sure will be the first stage of the ecosystem developing, like in our little pond. So as we sit quietly today, maybe you might want to place yourself in some imaginary nature setting. You can sit by the powerful ocean, Jyotirmay's ocean. You could sit somewhere out in the garden where we've just been walking. There's a little spot just tucked in between the bamboo where I hear that Angie sits sometimes, just kind of on the, on the little bit of patch of ground there. Or by the big Buddha in the alcove. You might have a favorite location in nature that you can visit in your mind. So we'll just sit there quietly together. The Buddha did the vast majority of his meditation in the forest and in outside settings, and so we can copy the Buddha and just be with Mother Nature, Father Nature, Gaia, dear Earth. Namaste.
Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amani Tava. Amani Tava. Amani Tava. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Aami taaba. Aami taaba. Aami taaba. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Ame taba. Ame taba. Ame taba. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Ame taba. Ame taba.
Ame taba.
I'm gonna have a little advert break. Kusuma is with us today, and Kusuma made this beautiful mala. And malas are a way of counting as we chant. There's one left in the hallway, but Kusuma has promised to make us some more. So we reckon Kaina's wearing hers right now, modeling. Ah, there's Katie with hers. So we'll keep you busy, Kusuma. Not everyone in the shrine room has got more than one. She's got one on your wrist as well.
There you go.
And it's just a really nice object to have with you when you chant. And there's something about— I love the idea of it kind of absorbing all the, all the Nembutsus as you go along and then just emanating them out. So I'll put that next to the Buddha for next practice. So Casper and I have been wondering for a while about adding some words to the refuges that we chant every practice session because it's nice to have an idea of what each refuge is pointing us towards. So we've got some new bits of paper printed out and it's repeat after me anyway if you're on Zoom, so you don't need to worry about it. But I do need the bit of paper today because I can't remember them yet. Kasper came and put it next to me. I was going to ask Kema for hers actually. So we will recite the new refuges for the very first time and then hopefully they will become familiar to us all over time. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. 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-ya.
Namo Buddha-ya.
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 of three jewels... —with Faith In The Three Jewels; ...may fall into sexual misconduct!
May fail to follow Sexual Misconduct?
Faith Of 3 JewelS..... Pray That I Might 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.
No blame, no blame.
Be kind, be kind. 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 Infinito is the Buddha's way, we vow to follow it completely.
So we've got a lovely mix in the shrine room today of, uh, very old Friends and new friends. So there are lots of things I could talk to you about. I was thinking, oh, I could talk about the basics of Pure Land or something more sort of foundational. I'm going to talk about Eurovision. So a couple of weeks ago, I was looking forward to Eurovision. I always enjoy watching Eurovision.. And I was having a conversation with Aidan about it, and my understanding is that everybody in Europe hates the UK. That's been my experience from watching the past however many Eurovisions, and it's also my experience— I mean, of course I'm speaking in jest because not everybody in Europe hates the UK, but Brexit, you know, has not made us the most popular nation in Europe. And I kind of, I imagine, I don't know if this is true or not, but I imagine some Europeans looking at the UK as like a kind of a partner that says, I'm going to leave you, I'm better off on my own. And they go, you know, they're not at all better off on their own, and they failed to appreciate all the things that they got through being in a cooperative relationship. So I was looking forward to watching it regardless of the fact that I was certain that the UK would get nil points, or maybe, you know, a few. And we watched it, and there were some pretty good songs and some terrible ones, and then the voting started. And in the very first vote, the UK got points. I was like, what's going on? This is really weird. And then the next country voted, and the next country voted, and the UK had loads of points. And I had a cynical part that sort of thought, well, maybe some money swapped hands somewhere, or maybe it's something about the war that people are feeling threatened, so they think they better keep the UK on side, because I couldn't quite compute acute how it was possible that there was all this good sort of feeling towards us. And of course, I'm sure you all know the results that Ukraine won, which was brilliant because, A, of course they're going through the most horrific things at the moment, and also it was a really good song. But it was quite something. We even stayed up till past midnight, which for me and Casper to watch all of this is quite something as cable No. And then I read what I'd heard about— as Aidan said, what I'd heard about Sam Ryder, the guy that sang our song, is that he had had an effect on everybody in the competition through his spirit, through his— the way of his being, and that he is likable. He is somebody who people become fond of and connect to. He's got however many billion followers on TikTok for that reason. And I read an interview with him in The Guardian this week. I noticed that he ran a vegan cafe with his girlfriend for a while— extra tick. But what he said in this article, which I loved, which was just like, you know, he does look a bit like Jesus. It could have been Jesus saying it. That he said that what he learned during his life, because he's done a lot of hard work, he's gigged for a very long time with no success, he learned to enjoy the process of producing music, of singing, of entertaining. He said this little anecdote where he did wedding singing for a while, and he sang this amazing song, and he thought— he had his eyes shut, and he thought, oh, people are going to really have enjoyed this. And he opened his eyes. And everyone— nobody was looking at him at all. They were just all drinking their champagne. And he realized that that wasn't what they were there for, that he was there to kind of entertain them and be some background music. And, and so there was something about how he'd learned to just let go of his ego, that he was just there for fun. He was there to enjoy it. He was, he was engaged in the, the creative process without worrying too much about how many people would listen to what he produced or how famous he'd be or how much money he made. And there was something very moving to me about reading the interview because he had that— he had that kind of golden retriever energy, as he says, that was just kind of joyful. It was just joyful. And so He is our Buddha this morning. He's, he's the one who's showing us a little glimpse of what's possible if we can orient our life towards making offerings, letting go of, of needing to prop ourselves up, leaning into something, leaning into music for him. Leaning into the Three Refuges, leaning into the one who is awake and full of love, all that guides us to wisdom and compassion, and those who live in the Buddha's light. I could see the Buddha's light shining on his face that night as he received the results. Also, I think, quite shocked, even though, even though the papers had predicted it. And, um, we can find samurais everywhere. Everybody's got some of that, that golden light in them. It's just kind of— it just gets hidden a lot of the time. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. So we'll now do prostrations.
We dedicate the merits of this incense offering to all Buddhas and bodhisattvas throughout space and time. May it be as fragrant as Earth herself, reflecting our careful efforts. Our whole heart of awareness and the fruit of understanding slowly ripening. May we and all beings be companions of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. May we awaken from forgetfulness and realize our true home. Blessed by Amitabha's light, may we care for all living things on the holy earth.
Stop the recording before I forget.
