A Buddhist community practice led by Satya Robyn and others, featuring chanting, refuges, and vows. Angie reads a reflection on how practice dissolved an us-versus-them mindset, and the group discusses upcoming volunteer days and events.
Chapters
Good morning, welcome everybody. Welcome to Matt, Evelina, good to see you again Evelina, Ian and Tom, welcome Tom on Zoom, joining us on Zoom. And thank you to Angela for organizing that alarm just as we were about to start, which hopefully means that we're all now enlightened, so we can all go home. But we'll stay anyway because it's nice to be here and practice together. So these— the practice these days begins with a Dharma glimpse, which is a short piece of writing by a member of our community describing a little glimpse of the Dharma, a little glimpse of enlightenment. And this morning, Angie has kindly agreed to read one by Greg, who was a part of Matt's book group, Matt's Nagapriya book group. So I don't think any of us have been in a book group with him, but we'll get to meet him now. Over to you, Angie. Thank you.
Not complete, but just enough. I entered the military a conservative, not a fire-breathing conservative. But my family are all liberals' kind of conservative, an act of rebellion conservative, not a fire-breathing conservative, but conservative nonetheless. I left the military a fire-breathing liberal, and I knew everything worth knowing. I was more liberal than my family by a long shot. This newfound worldview worked out quite nicely, nicely, as long as I surrounded myself with people who thought and talked like me. My friends in San Diego were all lefties. My church was mostly lefties. My partner even pretended to be a lefty so I might find him more appealing. Oh, everything was right in my world. I had a neatly defined sense of us and them. Boy, did all that change when I moved back to Baltimore. Yes, Maryland is a blue state, but trust me, it has never been all that blue deep down. Them, them started popping up all over the place. I even learned that my family wasn't as lefty as I had always painted them. One afternoon in a senior literature seminar, a classmate looked at me after I had made a comment about something. I don't remember what. Said, 'You sound like a Buddhist.' I could tell by his tone that it wasn't a put-down. The only thing was I had no idea what he meant. By and by, I started reading about Buddhism. I thought of myself as a Buddhist. I even put it in my veterans record. Still a lot of us and them. The more I listened, the notion of us and them started to slip. Not perfectly, but slip it did. How many times does the Dalai Lama or Thich Nhat Hanh have to say that everyone wants to have happiness and avoid pain until it starts to seep in? I don't know. But if you listen, and I do mean listen, it does start to sink in. One Sunday morning, I was chatting with one of the farmers at work. This was a person that I had a lot of fun being around. In the middle of a conversation about something to do with farms, he mentioned that he was a big supporter of the then-current governor. 'And yes,' he said, 'that means I'm a Republican. I guess you hate me now.' I can remember a time when I would have. At that moment, I didn't feel any hatred or dislike towards him. 'Of course I don't,' I told him. 'Everyone seeks happiness and wishes to avoid pain.' Yes, it sounds nice. Listen to it. Really listen. Think about it some. Compare the idea to how you live your life. After a while, and probably when you least expect it, compassion sinks in. Not complete compassion. But enough for now.
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Thank you, Angie, and thank you, Greg. Okay, so we will sit quietly together, listen to the rain for a little while, and after some silence, I'll begin chanting. So do join us as we chant.
Om mani padme humbri! Oh my God me hungry— oh my Padmé Hungry... om mane Padmé Humbris. Om mani padme humbri! Om mani padme humbri! Om mane padme umbri! Om mane padme umbrim— Um... Humm? Huh?! Okay. Om mani padme hum. Om mani padme hum. Om mani padme hum. Om mani padme hum. Om Ale Pa Me Hum Bree. Om Ale Pa Me Hum Bree. Om Ale Pa Me Hum Bree. Om mani padme hum. Om mani padme hum. Om mani padme hum. Om mani padme hum. Omarepa me omri! Omarepa me omri! Omarepa me omri! Omarepa me omri! Um— um? Oh my God...
I'm so sorry for that one.
Sorry about this guys!
It's been 2 years since we've done these videos.
So yeah, it was just kind of fun to get back into them again today. Yeah, let us know what you think down below if you liked or didn't like any part of this video here on YouTube, but otherwise thank you very much for watching everyone! Have an amazing day! Bye-bye now! Aww man, he passed away already?! Ooh boy... He did pass away too soon though. That sucks. But anyway, hope everybody has had an awesome week. Hope everything went well at work, school, home life, family time...
What else can I say right there?
Yeah, have an amazing weekend coming up next month because Easter Sunday comes early enough from last year, which means they're gonna be celebrating Christmas Om before Thanksgiving even happens.
Haha.
And then after Halloween will come New Year's Eve. Yes, yes, oh no!
Anyway, see ya all later!
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. Om mani padme hum bhrim! Om mani padme hum bhrim! Om mane padme um bhrim! Oh my name Padmé Um Bhrim— oh Mané Pâb Mé Hum Brih... om Mane Pa Me Oum Brih... Om Mane pa me oom brih? Om mani padme hum bree om mane padme hun bri— Oh my God! Um... um... oh no? I can't do this right now. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum.
We now recite the refuges, vows, and precepts together, which are on the liturgy sheet, but they're call and response, so you don't need to worry. For refuge I go to Amida.
For refuge I go to Amida.
The one who is awake and full of love.
The one who is awake and full of love.
Namo Buddha.
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 leads us towards Namo Dharmaya—
For Refuge I Go To The Sangha— those who live In Buddha's Light—
Those Who Live In Buddhist Minds.
Nammo sanghaya! With faith in The Three Jewels—
With Faith In The 3 Jewels And in light of my human tendencies—
I pray that I may become aware Of when I take life—I pray That I May Become Aware—Of When I Take What Is Not Freely Given—and 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. 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 are sentient beings. We vow to save them all. Inexhaustible are deluded passions. We vow to transform them Immeasurable are the Dharma teachings. We vow to master them all. Infinite is the Buddha's way. We vow to follow it completely.
So most people in the shrine room this morning will be staying after practice to volunteer, um, to hold our open day, the temple's annual open day. And so I've been thinking about the word welcome. Um, when I heard the story of how David and Caroline, who introduced me and Casper to Pure Land Buddhism, I heard the story about how they became Pure Land Buddhists. You might have a different version, so we'll see— is that they were in Japan and they were visiting different temples. They're going around the world. They're going around the world. Where were they though, in Japan at the time? I think not, no, not necessarily. Okay, I shouldn't have given you an opening to correct me. In the States as well, I think. Okay, they were all around the world, and the temples that they felt most warmly welcomed in were the Pure Land temples. They experienced a feeling of being invited in and being enjoyed by the people that were there. And so they chose Pure Land Buddhism as the, the form of Buddhism that they wanted to investigate and start practicing. And it's no coincidence that Pure Land Buddhism has this flavor, because Amitābha, the Buddha that we connect with as Pure Land Buddhists, is the Buddha that accepts us just as we are. And this is the thing that I still like the best about Pure Land Buddhism and find the most difficult to actually believe. How is that really possible? And so our opportunity this morning is to offer the people that come to the temple, who may have never been inside a Buddhist temple before and may never come inside a Buddhist temple again, to give them a little taste of what it feels like to be accepted and welcomed. And I think that if we practice nothing else as Buddhists, as human beings, for the rest of our lives, learning how to welcome people would, would fill our time easily, because it's not that easy. It's not that easy to put ourselves aside and tune in to what the other actually needs, to where they are. I'm thinking about someone who came to practice recently, and they weren't really listening to any of my questions. And I thought, is it that they just want to sit and be quiet? Or is it that they, uh, I'm not— I've not asked the right question yet? Or or how do I make this person feel welcome? How do I accept them just as they are without needing them to kind of fit into any of the usual social roles, or without needing them to make me feel better about how good a host I was being? How do we tune into the other person's physical needs? How do we, uh, how do we reach out with a kind of a warmth and a lightness that, that just begins to build a little thread of human connection? And luckily, um, We're not on our own, so that as a sangha, we are welcoming people today. And that's really helpful for me to say and remember, because I have a part that needs to control absolutely everything and make sure that— I've already got a long list in my head of the things I need to say to people after practice. We need to get the chairs, we need to— so we are welcoming, uh, the whole community are welcoming, and as a community We, we hope that we kind of get it right enough, and we're only the intermediaries for the Buddha. And we might— we probably will mention the Buddha to people today, but it doesn't really matter that we're Buddhists, because what we're welcoming people into is the opportunity to connect with something that all of us in this room have connected with. And we're Buddhists, so we, we often use Buddhist language for it, or Buddhist mythology, or Buddhist philosophy. But really, I see that thing that we're introducing to, or that we're hoping to introduce people to, as much more universal than that. It's the— for me, it's the bedrock underneath everything. And of course, it is love. So we are foolish beings, we are fallible, limited beings who've had a glimpse of something And our job this morning is to meet the other person where they are, make them feel welcome, feed them cake. And if they go away with a tiny fragment of what we have here in their hearts, then I will be very happy. And if nobody comes, we can feed each other. Sorry, Zoom people. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. So now we'll get up and make prostrations towards the main Buddha. So do find a bit of floor in front of you. Oh, wait for the bell. In gratitude, we offer this incense offering to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas throughout space and time. May it be fragrant as Earth herself, reflecting our careful efforts, our wholehearted awareness, and the fruits of understanding. May we and all beings be companions of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. So may we awaken from the emptiness and realize our true nature. Turn to stand at your seats.
First we bow to each other.
And then to the Buddha. Hide our seats and bow to our seats. So we have scheduled a mindful maintenance garden volunteer day tomorrow morning. I'm not sure what the weather's looking like, but it's good tomorrow. Is it good? So, well, me and Caspar will definitely be there, so if you want to drop in between 10 and midday, we will be gardening. Tomorrow night at 7:30 PM, Angie will be running a lovely kirtan. We have a promise that there's definitely one dog coming in. I think Helen's puppy might be coming. So is that right? Who's the other dog? Griffy. Oh, okay. So yeah, we'll talk about that later. Yeah, the puppy party can't— there's no other dogs. Okay, we'll talk about that later. Anyway, there'll probably be one dog, um, and it's a very lovely evening, so do come to that. And thank you all for being here. Namaste. I'm going to
