Satya Robyn leads a group Buddhist practice session combining teaching on Pure Land Buddhism with guided meditation, chanting of Amitābha, recitation of refuges and precepts, and prostrations. The gathering includes both in-person participants and Zoom attendees, with community announcements about upcoming tea, classes, and vigils.
Chapters
Good morning everybody.
I knew there was a reason Satya Robyn was looking at me expectantly. I'm like, yeah, the computers are working, I rang the bell, what else could it be? Let's say hello to everybody. Hello. For the benefit of people joining on Zoom, there's 8 of us in the shrine room this morning, and on Zoom we're joined by Paul from Liverpool.
So on Wednesday evening, we were joined by a couple of women from Birmingham, and one of them was a native Pure Land Buddhist practitioner. So we practice Pure Land Buddhism here, and After practice, we had a cup of tea and we talked about how we do things and the things that she's been taught in her school of Buddhism. And even though Pure Land Buddhism is very rare in the West, so it was quite extraordinary to actually meet somebody who practices it. The way that she spoke about her practice, I didn't recognize from my own relationship with practice. And that's because they were quite different, and Chinese Pure Land and Japanese Pure Land has, has quite a lot of differences. And within Chinese Pure Land or Japanese Pure Land, there are also lots of differences. And it really brought home to me how, how many different ways there are of connecting with the Buddha. The Buddha taught for 40 years and taught many, many different people in many different ways depending on what those people needed, depending on what the students were, um, what, what they were requiring. And since that time, there have been many schisms in the Sangha, many different divergences, differences in opinion about what is important, what to emphasize. Differences in opinion on what the Buddha taught. And sometimes when I think about this, and I think about how many of the sutras I still have to read, even though I've read many, many of the original sutras, and how many Buddhist books there are, and how many Buddhist schools there are, and that I'm not a Pali scholar and that I never will be, I despair. I just think, oh, I can't be a Buddhist. How can I teach anyone anything? Because I know so little. And the things that I do know that have been taught to me, how do I know that they're true or not? How do I know that they're valid or authentic? And then I walk around the garden with my friends and enjoy the silence and the dew and the few flowers that are still left. And I come in here and I feel the peace. And remember the hours and hours and hours of practice that's happened in this room. And I relax, and I remember that Buddhism is connecting with love. Buddhism is connecting with the Buddha, and the Buddha is love. And that moves me as I say it because it's just so simple and so true for me. And one of the things I love about Pure Land Buddhism, the variety that I have encountered, is that it is that simple, that we say the name of the Buddha and the Buddha guarantees us that we will be looked after. Regardless of how foolish we are, and that we will go to the pure land when we die. So what more can I say than that? We'll move into some silence together. In the silence, you might want to notice your breath going in and out. We might just want to soak up some of the love of the Buddha, and then after a while I'll start chanting, and we will chant Amitābha, which is the Buddha of infinite light, the Buddha that guarantees us that we'll be okay. And Wishing you peace in your silence. Namaste. Mami.
Tapa. Ani etapa. Ani etapa. Ani etapa. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha.
So we'll now recite the refuges and precepts together, which are on the bit of paper, but it's a call and response, so you don't need that until the end. Please repeat after me. For refuge I go to the Buddha.
For refuge I go to the Buddha.
Namo Buddhaya.
Namo Buddhaya.
For refuge I go to the Dharma.
For refuge I go to the Dharma.
Namo Dharmaya.
Namo Dharmaya.
For refuge I go to The Sangha .
For Refuge I Go To The Sangha—
Namo Sangaia! With faith In the Three Jewels—with Faith In The 3 jewels—I pray that may not take life.—I Pray That May Not Take Life. —With Fate And The Two Jules—Faith Is A Free Jewel.—Prayer Time It's Still,—A Prayer This Idea Was Stealed By Me Again—Still—with fate Then If He Doles it Back Into His Own World—I prayer time he might fall into sexual misconduct—sexual Misconduct?
I pray that I may not fall into sexual misconduct—
With faith in The Three Jewels...
—With Faith In The Three Jewels, I pray that I may not fall into wrong-speech— ...I pray that I might 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 will avoid intoxications— No blame! 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 them all. Infinite is the Buddha's way. We vow to fulfill it completely.
In a minute we'll stand up and do prostrations to the Buddha, so just move around the room so you've got a bit of floor in front of you and you're facing the Buddha. And if your body allows you, we'll do the whole prostration. If not, you can stay standing. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. And the words are Namo Amida Butsu.
Namoha miya. Namoha miya. Namoha miya. Namoha miya.
Slugging into our seats. What did you say?
Return to our places.
I think people might still stick down.
Let's try it one day.
Yeah, and then we finish by bowing first to each other and then the Buddha. Tidy your seats, bow to your seats. Finish with the closing verse, which is on your sheet. Blessed by Amitabha's light, may we care for all living things and the holy earth. Namomitabhu. Hope you'll join us for a cup of tea tonight. From 6 till 7:15, we have an introduction to Buddhist practice which will be suitable for beginners and medium, uh, medium people with medium experience. And it's £8 to the temple. Let us know if you want to come, so that's ticketed. Um, there were other things I was going to say. A reminder that every Saturday, um, we sit in town with kind of for the earth, and we're going to start once my daily vigil is finished, we're going to start doing that every Tuesday from 12 to 1 if people want to join us, as well as Saturdays which is the exile one. I think that's all I can think of. Namaste.
