This content was created by Satya Robyn. This content was uploaded by Satya Robyn. This is a YouTube video titled "Practice: The Simplicity of the nembutsu" (created 2023-06-15T09:35:41Z). The excerpt records a Buddhist practice session/temple gathering featuring a dharma glimpse (short talk) by Philip and group ritual activity with multiple participants labeled as SPEAKER A–H and others. Content includes Philip's reflective dharma glimpse using imagery of trees, earth, and Bob Dylan's lyric to explore immersion in practice; extended communal chanting of the Nembutsu (Om Mani Padme Hum / Namo Amida Butsu and variants); prayers of refuge to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha; and an incense offering/merit dedication. The context is a religious/practice meeting focused on the simplicity and everyday nature of Nembutsu practice.
Chapters
Good evening.
Welcome everybody. There's nobody joining us on Zoom, partly because Philip's here, and we will begin with a dharmagīmps by Philip.
Thank you.
So this is 'Blowing in the Wind' by Philip, who on this occasion happens to be me. I don't know if that means that sometimes I'm not me, or sometimes read other people's out. I meant the former. Anyway, I was driving down to the temple recently in my slightly battered but beloved Twingo. It has a temperamental and capricious CD player. Yeah, it is pretty old. I kind of love that about it. Choice isn't always a good thing in my opinion. And when a CD finally works, it feels more joyous than being able to play whatever I want all of the time. I'm not particularly into Bob Dylan, but I stumbled across an old best of CD, which I threw into it, which miraculously worked. It played Blowing in the Wind before unceremoniously and loudly spitting it out. Bless it. A couple of days later, I was walking in the Malvern Hills. It was a beautiful, warm, and sunny afternoon. It felt good to be alive. I was blessed to have spent some time with much-valued temple mates and temple dogs in the hills over the previous couple of days. I was now blessed to be spending some time with myself. Coming down the path towards St. Answell, I was taken by the trees swaying gracefully in the light breeze, their luscious, beautiful green leaves being thrust towards the sky from their trunk and branches to bask in the sun's rays, while their deep, sinuous roots would have quietly and imperceptibly grown over many years. To give them the necessary stability and provision of other life-sustaining nutrients. I remember the Bob Dylan lyric, "The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind." If not the answer, maybe trees can tell me quite a bit about the Dharma, I thought. I remember a friend told me, "Trees are our munda," meaning trees are our temples. I wonder if we need to quietly, humbly cultivate our spiritual roots in order to catch the light of Amida. Or perhaps the light of Amida helps us cultivate our spiritual roots of being connected to something deeper and life-sustaining. Maybe it's a symbiotic relationship— brackets— always want you to use that term as it sounded clever when I heard people using it— exclamation mark—
close brackets.
Maybe Western spirituality and the self-help culture frequently promotes the equivalent of the lease basking in the sun rather than the less glamorous work of immersing oneself and growing in the soil and earth. I feel lucky to have come across Buolam Buddhism. I can first confess, when I first entered the temple, I did not understand how it differed from other branches— bracket, pun intended— of Buddhism. I'm slowly learning. It seems to emphasize the importance of immersion, immersion, or transdescending oneself in the soil of Earth rather than trying to transcend it. That the soil, sometimes just seen as dirt, gives the same life-sustaining nutrients as the sun, whatever you take life to be. And the soil is also fed by the sun. It is all interconnected. Namaste.
Thank you.
So sit quietly together.
Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om mani padme hum.
Om mani padme hum. Om mani padme hum.
Om mani padme hum. Om Mani Padme Hum Hri! Om Mane Padme Hungry! Oh mané padmé hong ri... oh mane padmé hung rii... om mané padmé hum gri—
um?
Um-hmm... Ooh my God!
I'm hungry!
Yes yes yeah right on there we go here it comes guys this one's gonna be good you ready for that?!
Yeah boy let me hear ya baby! You're so excited about your food aren't you!? Let me see what do you got going on over there?
What have you brought to eat today?
Ahh yummy yumyummy! Mmhm mmhm mmm-mm-mmm!
Yum-yum-yum!
It smells amazing too!
Om mani padme hum bhrim!
Om mani padme hum bhrim!
Om mane padme bum bhrim! Oh my name's Padma Rumi—
Um... um?
I don't know how to say it right now but you get what I mean.
Haha.
Om mani padme hum hri!
Om mani padme hum hri! Om mane padme rum hri!
Om mane padme umhri! Om mane padme umbre—
Um...? Oh my God.
Om Mani Padme Hum Bree!
Om Manee Pahmee Hoong Briii... Um Maaneee Paammmeh Ohommbriiii...
Ooohh Maaaneer Phaameeoombrieiiiiim? Om Manee Pahmee Hoombreeeee— Om Manee Pammeem Hommbreeee... Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om mani padme hum hri om mane pa me hum hri oomanee paa mee hoong bree— Oohm-ma-nee-pah-me-hoom-bree... Ohh-manee-pah-me-hoong-bree... Ohm-a-nee-pah-me-hum-hree! Om mani padme hum. Om mani padme hum.
Om mani padme rum brie. Om mani padme rum brie.
Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mane Padme Hum. Om Mane Padme Hum.
Om Mane Padme Hum. Om Mane Padme Hum.
Om Mani Padme Hum Bree! Om Mani Padme Um Breee!
Oh mané pa mé om brie... oh ma ne pa me ombri—
Ooh mah neh pa me um breeee... Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum.
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 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.
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.
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
With faith in the Three Jewels, with faith in the Three Jewels, and in light of our human tendencies, and in light of our 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, I pray that I may become aware of when I take what is not freely given, of when I take what is not freely given.' 'I pray that time may become aware—' 'I pray it's on me to come away of when I fall into sexual misconduct—' Of when I fall into sexual misconduct.
'I pray that time may become aware—' And praise God!
May they become aware of when I fall into wrong speech or if one might call this your own speech?
'I pray that time may become aware—' Or prays only for more air. Of when I become intoxicated.
Of when I become intoxicated.
No blame. No blame.
Be kind. Be kind. Love everything.
Love everything.
Inhumorable 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've asked you for a flat completely.
So often during practice, thoughts flicker through and something takes root that wants to be spoken about— something connected to the Dharma Glimpse, or something that happened in my day, or something I'm reading. And today, um, there wasn't much flickering around at all. And so my experience tells me that what I should do when there's nothing is just allow there to be nothing and to wait a little longer. I thought at one point, oh, I could just, uh, we could just have another batch of silence and that would be fine. That silence is also a dharma talk. But the thing that has taken a little root is Dave's flowers on the shrine, which are very simple. And the, um, the daisy, the, the big daisy, is a bit like a weed in our garden now. We, um, sowed seeds in one place at one point and it's just spread across the whole garden. And, um, the— what's the name of the other stuff? Thank you. The valerian also was just growing out of the alcove bricks when we moved in. It wasn't something we bought. It's also something that just kind of spreads itself and it's pretty common.
And they're really beautiful.
I was thinking about bread and butter, which I'm also very fond of. Something about those simple things. That sometimes we don't need to overcomplicate it. We just need to remember simple beauty, the simple beauty of weeds, or we just need to enjoy the simple taste of bread and butter— vegan butter, of course— and the equivalent probably here in The Bright Earth School is Nembutsu. That Nembutsu is our bread and butter. Nembutsu is our, our beautiful weed that spreads everywhere. But it's very simple practice. We just say the name Amitabha when we remember, and we receive settled faith. And sometimes that faith blows in like weed seeds and takes root when we are not— when we're not expecting it, or where we're not expecting it. Sometimes it feels like we say the name and nothing happens, or that there's nobody there. Sometimes, if we're lucky, we have kind of intense or dramatic experiences of connection to the divine. But really, most of the time, it's pretty ordinary. It's like brushing our teeth, that we don't often remember. I don't often remember to be thankful to my teeth, but I brush my teeth every day. And when I do remember how they serve me, then I am grateful. So, bread and butter, nenbutsu, namo amida butsu.
In gratitude, we offer the merits of this incense to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas throughout space and time. May it be as fragrant as sandalwood, reflecting our careful efforts, our wholehearted awareness, and the fruits of understanding slowly ripening. May we and all beings be companions of Buddha and bodhisattvas. May we awaken from forgetfulness and realize our true nature.
Blessed by Amitabha's light, may we care for all living things under the earth.
