Practice with Dave

Namami Dabu. Welcome everybody. I'm going to start with a reading from a book called Songs of Light by George Gatenby, and it's his commentary on one of Shinran's verses known as Wasans.

The reli—

I'm gonna put the glasses on, actually. Small text. The religion of the forest. Long before the appearance of Shakyamuni, almost 2,500 years ago, Indian religion had become the religion of the forest. Those who revealed the Upanishads, to which the yogic tradition— sorry, to which the yogic tradition that became the Buddha Dharma owes its foundation, were sages who had withdrawn from conventional society. Contemplation, education, music, medicine, and the arts were pursued in the sacred depths of a forest. Shakyamuni realized the Dharma and attained enlightenment beneath the leafy branches of a forest tree. Usually it is held that civilization belongs to the sophisticated life of cities, But in keeping with its Indian antecedents, I can't say that word, antecedents, the Buddha Dharma views this kind of civilization with suspicion. The life of cities is noisy, unbalanced, subject to artificial forms of control, places of corruption, vice, and disease. True cultivation takes place in the depths of shady forests. In relative solitude and silence. Shakyamuni always taught out in wild places such as forests or in a garden, the latter in which he himself was born. When the time came for him to seek the truth, he left the city and went to live away from the artifice and distractions of urban life. Throughout its history, the Buddhist Sangha has always preferred the forest as its home, emerging into villages and towns only occasionally, but always forsaking these places as a home. It is the place to which those embroiled in the derangement of the city, civilized life, go for refuge. If it's not possible to be removed from the city, Buddhist sanghas will usually surround themselves with reminders of the wilderness by creating leafy, shady gardens. Trees form the great symbol of the Dharma. The Bodhi tree under which Shakyamuni sat when he was enlightened, has been planted throughout the Buddhist world for 25 centuries. Other trees like tamarisk and ginkgo are also associated with the Dharma. 700 years ago, however, the Sangha suffered a fatal degeneration. At least that is how Shinran saw it. Thanks to Amida Buddha's primal vow, the Dharma now became, through the Nembutsu, accessible to all. Monks, nuns, laywomen and laymen, even those who fell completely outside the Dharma. The way of the city had become unavoidable, and we had lost the pristine and hallowed precinct of the sacred forest. In the Nembutsu, the Buddha calls to us wherever we are, no matter how busy, no matter how caught up in secular life. Shin temples can be found at the heart of city and village life. Reaching into the confusion, noise, and often the vicious environment of such places, proving that the Buddha's light is indeed unhindered throughout the ten quarters. So we'll now sit in silent meditation for a while before going into chanting. Just concentrate on our breath, breathing in and breathing out.

Namoh Quan Chi in Boshat. Namoh Quan Chi in Boshat. Namoh Quan Chi in Boshat. Namoh Quan Chi in Bosat. Namoh Quan Chi in Bosat. Namoh Quan Chi in Bosat. Namoh Quan Chi Imbosa. Namoh Quan Chi Imbosa. Namoh Quan Chi Imbosa. Namokwanji. Oh, Satya Robyn. Namokwanji. Oh, Satya Robyn.

Namokwanji.

Oh, Satya Robyn. Namoh Quan Chi in Borsat. Namoh Quan Chi in Borsat. Namoh Quan Chi in Borsat. Namokwanji Imbosaat. Namokwanji Imbosaat. Namokwanji Imbosaat. Namokwanji. Bhosa. Namokwanji Bhosa. Namokwanji Bhosa. Namokwanji Bhosa. Namoh Quan Chi, oh Satya Robyn. Namoh Quan Chi, oh Satya Robyn. Namoh Quan Chi, oh Satya Robyn.

So now repeat the refuges and the precepts. 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.

Namobuddhaya.

Namobuddhaya.

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.

Namodamaya.

Namodamaya.

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, oh, and in light of my human tendencies.

And in light of my human tendencies.

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 Three Jewels!

I pray that they may not steal—

I pray that some might not steal— —with faith in The Three Jewels!

I pray that I may not fall into sexual misconduct. "I pray this time you're falling to sexual misconduct." With faith in The Three Jewels! I pray that I may not fall into wrong speech.

I pray that I may not fall into the wrong speech.

With faith in the Three Jewels, with faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may become aware when I become intoxicated.

I pray that I may become aware 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 all. Immeasurable are the Dharma teachings, We vow to master them. Infinite is the Buddha's way. We vow to fulfill it completely.

And we're now going to have a dharma talk given by Satya Robyn.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Dave. So I will begin by reading the, the wasan, the hymn that the commentary was written about. It's wasan 40. Trees of seven precious materials fill the land, mutually reflecting each other's brilliance. The flowers, fruits, branches, and leaves all shine thus. So take refuge in Amida, the store of virtues fulfilled through the primal vow. I thought it was an appropriate reading for Dave to read with the trees. Um, and one of the things that stuck with me from the reading— if I can find it. So when George Gattenby, or Gatenby, I don't actually know how to pronounce his name, I have to find that out. I mean, I say Gattenby, but it could be Gatenby. We'll check that out with John. So when he's talking about civilization as opposed to the forest, he said that the life of cities is subject to artificial forms of control. And that's one of the, um, that's one of the reasons why we should seek out natural spaces. And I was thinking about what that means. What, what does it mean, um, artificial forms of control? And what, what comes to me is the walk that I went on yesterday with my mum and two little dogs. And we were exploring the, the green spaces around what will hopefully be our new house in a couple of months' time. And, um, it was beautiful. It was really, uh, beautiful kind of tree-lined avenue that went past some horses, and then there was an open field, and then there was a path that kind of ran along the stream. Stream, and it was really hot. So when we came out of the tree-lined avenue into this field and had to walk across the field, it was, it was almost quite a challenge to, to be in the direct heat. And then when we were walking down the path along the stream, the dogs went into the stream and had a paddle, and that was all fine. And then about 10 minutes later, uh, I lost Ralph and we were like, where is he? He was there just now. And we could hear these kind of squelching noises and fruit kind of, uh, some kind of water being fluffed around. And he suddenly emerged out of the, uh, stream and up to his armpits his belly covered in thick, black, stinky mud. Um, and my first thought was, I had to carry you over a stile to get you here. So I sent him back into the clear bit of the stream on the way back, which helped a little bit, but it was still a little bit messy. But that's how it is to be in nature, is that we're not— we don't have roofs, we don't have central heating, we don't have fans, we don't have fridges for our food, we don't have windows so we can look out but not be affected by the rain or the storms or the snow. Um, and I think that what's being suggested here is that there's something that's actually good for us about being in conditions that we are less in control of, that, that are less artificially controlled. And I don't know about you, but, but there's a tendency in my life to want to be more and more comfortable, to control more and more of how my daily life goes, how my living space is, uh, bigger television, um, comfier blankets, um, to sort of buffer myself from the effects of the world, effects of the weather. And when I think back to the year when I sat in the middle of town for an hour every day and out here when we were trapped by COVID, what I really enjoyed about that year was the necessity of coming into contact with the weather every day for a year. That I got really cold some days, and I got really hot some days, and I got really wet some days, uh, got snowed on. And that there was something about that that was actually good for my soul. It was good for my spirit. It, it woke something up. It reminded me of my dependence and my fallibility, but it also somehow brought me into relationship with, with a refuge in, in the, on this planet, a refuge in nature, a refuge, uh, which is, which has a mind of its own and which isn't always comfortable but which nevertheless provides us with so many different things. Um, that if we were people that had just lived more closely to the wild, we would have learned to use bark to keep us warm, or to leave— to use the streams to wash in, or to eat from the, the fruit that's around. And so I think there is something really important about even every so often putting ourselves into spaces where we're not artificially protected from the, the variousness of nature, as we do when we walk around the garden before we come in here on a Saturday morning. That that gives us a little experience of, oh, um, that even though Casper did a beautiful job of clearing the meditation path yesterday, the holly was kind of pricking me and there were bits of nettle. And, um, well, it's grown back already, but that's what nature does. It just keeps coming and it, it's, um, it's bigger than us. It's bigger than our small egos, our, our, um, our likes and dislikes. And that it's good to be shown that. And when the Buddha, after his long night of being assailed by, um, Mara and and his determination to connect with something. Um, I love that moment of him seeing the Morning Star and touching the Earth. And if it wasn't for the Morning Star, if it wasn't for the Earth, would we be here? Would we even be here? That there is so much we can learn from the things that aren't us, and especially the things that have had less of our meddling, that have been— that are— that exist entirely without us and in their own way. I'll just finish by reading again. Trees of seven precious materials fill the land, mutually reflecting each other's brilliance. The flowers, fruits, branches, and leaves all shine thus. So take refuge in Amida, the store of virtues fulfilled by the Primal Vow.

Thank you, Satya Robyn.

So in a minute, Catherine will ring the bell and we will make prostrations.

In gratitude, we offer this incense 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 slowly ripening. May we and all beings be companions of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. May we awaken from forgetfulness and realize our true home.

Return to your seats.

Do we usually do announcements first? Usually first, isn't it?

Yeah, first announcements. Yeah, I think there's people in the— Yes, yes, yes. So there's two, isn't there?

There's gardening hour, maintenance hour now, or in a minute, soon, half an hour.

And then— Japan chanting tomorrow evening. Anymore?

Oh, and there's a golden bowl in the, um, in the hallway if you'd like to make a donation. That'd be really great. Or online, if not. Or not. Thank you. Closing verse. Um, bless us by Satya Robyn's tireless lights.

May we care for all living things and the holy earth.

So we just wait, everybody. Everyone waits until Dave's gone and then you can start.