Satya Robyn leads a guided Buddhist practice on the Wheel of Life and Pure Land Buddhism. The session covers the realms of suffering, paths to liberation, and heart-connection to Amitābha Buddha, including sitting instructions, chanting, the Three Refuges, Five Lay Precepts, Bodhisattva vows, and prostrations.
Chapters
Good morning. It feels so lovely to have a full ashram room, and I'm pleased to say that there's nobody on Zoom because everybody's here in real life. So we do record the practice, but it's just me and Satya Robyn, so don't worry. And our celebrant today is Katharina. Thank you. Welcome everybody. Hopefully you can hear me over the traffic noise. We've got the doors open to aid ventilation, but it's also— I also really appreciate just having the boundary between outside and inside blurred. A little bit. It's really easy to forget in a world of temples and centers that the Buddha— 99% of the Buddha's time was spent outside in the forests, and then later on in parks that were gifted by various people. I thought I might say something about the Wheel of Life this morning, and I'm looking around, there isn't one in here, but you— there's one outside. Satya's nodding. There's one in the hallway that you can look at afterwards. It's very iconic, the wheel, the Dharma wheel. With 6 different realms of this universe depicted around the outside. There's the human realm, the animal realm, the realm of hungry ghosts, the hell realms, where you can get quite lurid images sometimes of people being boiled alive in big pots. The realm of the devas, which is usually translated sometimes as angels, sometimes gods and goddesses, but these are the very long-lived deities of ancient India who spend all their time playing and enjoying themselves and listening to music. And then there's the asuras, which is the warring gods, the more angry gods, which probably were the gods of a subjugated tribe that got sort of looked down upon. That's probably where they started from. But this is how India of the Buddha's time viewed life. You lived as a human being, and then depending on various causes and conditions, you end up in one of these other places. For some people, pre-Buddhist times, or even during Buddhist times, there's an emphasis on ritual. If you make the right kind of offering, rather than being reborn in the human realm, maybe you go into the the realm of the gods. And the Buddha emphasized intention and action. It's worth saying, of course, that these realms, although if you read the, the oldest texts, are presented very literally and were probably understood that way, Many modern Buddhists see them as something that happens in the mind over and over and over again. So occasionally we're in our fullest human self. Sometimes we are pulled forward by greed, which is supposed to be represented by the animal realm. I think that does a disservice to animals. They're not just greedy. Or by anger or hate, which is represented by the hell realms, or by overindulging, by intoxication. This is the realm of the devas, of the gods that are enjoying themselves. And we go around and around this with no respite from suffering. There are two places in Buddhist cosmology that are not on the wheel of life. One of them is nirvana. This is described as a completely formless place, emptiness, a realm of pure love. And the other place that's not on the Wheel of Life is the Pure Land, which is depicted as a real tangible place where you maintain some sense of your individuality and personality, but the conditions are perfect there for becoming a Buddha. There is a Buddha at the center of the Pure Land, one of these cosmic Buddhas, not necessarily somebody who lived in the human world, but radiating love and wisdom. And being reborn in a place close to a Buddha means that the next step is probably enlightenment, is probably nirvana. So these are two ways you can get out of this cycle of suffering: directly to nirvana, or into the Pure Land and get some really good education in love and wisdom, and then into nirvana. Or for some beings, back to this world to, to become a guide for others. So the question is, how do we get out of that realm of going around and around in circles into different kinds of states of mind, creating different sorts of suffering, into one of these places? Well, here we have Satya Robyn They emphasize getting into the Pure Land. The striking thing about the Wheel of Life, if you look in any one of those segments on the image, even in the hell realm where people are being cut with knives and boiled alive, in the corner of each segment, there is a Buddha. Even in the midst of deepest suffering or most powerful anger or our most intoxicating indulgences, the energy of the Buddha is always Very close. From wherever we are, we can make this heart connection to the Buddha. One way out of this cycle is to try really, really hard to be good. And if you do really well at that, you can make your way through the different realms and eventually be reborn into a Pure Land or into Nirvana. But it's so, so difficult. We slip up all the time. Pure Land Buddhism offers what's called the easy path, this invitation to a heart connection with the Buddha from the state you're in right now, from whichever of these realms you're in right now. And then we don't need to worry about anything else. When we make that heart connection, the Buddha lifts us up and brings us into the pure land. So the practice we do here of reciting the name of the Buddha, even sitting quietly in this room surrounded by Buddhas, we're creating the conditions for this heart connection with the Buddha who will guide us into the Pure Land and then into nirvana. I'm going to pause there because I've run out of time. I really could speak for another 10 minutes about this, but that's not appropriate for this morning. I just wanted to really give that sense that whatever state of mind we're in, whatever place we find ourselves in life, the love and wisdom of the Buddha is always very close to us. Sometimes it's hard to notice or feel it, so the practice then is one of trusting that it's still there. But yeah, this is the invitation this morning to experiment with this idea that we are loved and received and lifted up just as we are. Namaste. So we're going to a period of quiet sitting together. Maybe begin by noticing your weight on the chair or the floor, feeling your physical self connected to the physical earth. And now an invitation to notice your breath, just tuning into that sense of the air entering and leaving the body, noticing the cooler air entering at the tip of the nose. The warm air leaving. And if, when thoughts or feelings come to distract you, just noticing that they're there, gently returning attention to the breath. In a moment, we'll transition into a chanting practice, and we'll recite the name Amitābha, which is the Sanskrit name of Amida Buddha. Amitābha, or Amida, the Buddha of infinite light and life, the Buddha depicted on the shrine between Satya Robyn and myself. Is the archetypal Buddha of receiving people just as they are. It's the embodiment of that energy that I was describing at the beginning. So in saying that name, we're opening our hearts, or creating the conditions for our hearts to open to that infinite light. Amitabh. Amitabh.
Amitabh.
Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh.
Thank you. So in a moment, I'll guide you through reciting reciting the lay precepts, the refuges and the lay precepts. They're on the piece of paper next to you, though for the first section I'll also repeat them first. I'll say them first and you repeat them. The three refuges are the things that all Buddhists place their trust in: the Buddha, which is both the historical Buddha depicted on the main shrine in front, who lived more or less 2,500 years ago in India and Nepal, as well as the spirit and energy of the Buddha, the spirit of enlightenment that is available in the present day still. The Dharma, which is the, the teachings and the myriad approaches that Buddhist practitioners use to connect with that energy. And the sangha, the group of people practicing all those different things together and listening to the teachings and following the Buddha. So we'll recite those, and then we'll recite the Five Lay Precepts, which is a kind of aspiration. They both— they describe how a Buddha naturally behaves and how we as ordinary people aspire to. Behave. And finally, we'll finish with the Bodhisattva vows, creating that wish in our hearts that all beings may receive the same kind of love that we hope for ourselves. So please repeat after me: For refuge I go to the Buddha. For refuge I go to the Buddha. Namo Buddhaya. For refuge I go to the Dharma. For refuge I go to the Dharma. For refuge I go to the Sangha. For refuge I go to the Sangha. 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 3 Jewels I pray that I may not steal—I pray so I may not steal—with faith in The Three Jewels—I pray That I May Not Fall Into Sexual Misconduct—I praise SoIMayNotFallIntoSexualMisconduct—with faith in The Three Jewels—I PrayThatIMayNotFallIntoWrongSpeech-I 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 not— I pray that I may avoid intoxication. I pray that I may avoid intoxication. 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. Completely. So now we make prostrations to the main shrine. If you, um, we do this while reciting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, which is an anglicized version of the Japanese for 'I take refuge in the Buddha of infinite light.' We make 3 prostrations, we go down to our knees. Namaste. Namaste. Namaste. Namaste. Namoh Amida Butsu.
Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoh Amida Butsu. Namoh Amida Butsu.
In gratitude, we offer this incense to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. May it be as fragrant as Earth herself, reflecting our careful efforts Aho bhavato verna, and the fruits of understanding stir you up. May we and all beings be companions of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. May we awaken from forgetfulness and realize our true home. And to the Buddha. Then we'll tie to our seats and bow to our seats. And we'll finish by reciting the closing verse together, which you can find somewhere on the piece of paper. Blessed by Amitābha's light, may we care for all living things and the holy earth. Namamitabhu. Thank you very much, everybody.
