Satya Robyn leads a guided Buddhist practice session with community members including Paul, Faye, Jarmaine, and Barry. The group reads from Taitetsu Unō's chapter on generosity, chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and Amitabha, and recites refuges and Bodhisattva vows together.
Chapters
Good evening everyone, welcome, especially welcome if it's your first time. Um, and today's practice will have a bit more explanation in it. Um, but yeah, there'll still be some things that you don't understand. Um, hello Paul, welcome, good to have you with us. And, um, I'm going to begin this evening— we always begin with a reading— and this evening I'm going to read from Taitetsu Uno's book Bits of Rubble Turn into Gold, and the chapter is called 3 grapefruits. Too many markers. 3 grapefruits. So, a few days before my family and I were leaving Japan in 1968, after a 6-year sojourn—
I don't know how to pronounce that word. Sojourn.
Sojourn. It's French. My friend from California came to visit. And gave us 3 grapefruits from a carton that he'd brought with him. Because of import restrictions, fruits from abroad such as grapefruits, melons, and grapes were a rarity and hence ridiculously expensive. A single grapefruit, for example, would cost several thousand yen, equivalent to $20 at the exchange rate at that time. This probably was written in the '90s, so 60 dollars. People bought these exotic imported fruits primarily to give away as gifts on special occasions. Since we were returning to California shortly, where grapefruits are in abundance, we decided to give away the 3 grapefruits. It so happened to be the day that my wife went to her weekly flower arranging class, so she gave the grapefruits to her teacher. We thought nothing about it. But a couple of days later, we received a special delivery letter from the teacher. Written with brush on traditional Japanese paper and folded carefully, the letter had to be something special. People today use ballpoint pens to dash off missives. The teacher's letter began with very formal words about the weather, and she expressed appreciation for the 3 grapefruits. She wrote that she shared the first grapefruit with her grandchildren, who were thrilled with the fragrance and taste of an exotic fruit that they'd never seen before. The second grapefruit she peeled and ate together with an old friend whom she hadn't seen for over 20 years, making the reunion a very special event. The third grapefruit she took to a hospital where her best friend was dying of a terminal illness. She hadn't eaten for more than a week, but when she saw the grapefruit, she wanted to try tasting just a little piece. When she finished the first morsel, she asked for another one, then another one, until she ate half the grapefruit. The family watching all this were in tears, crying and happy that their loved one was enjoying something to eat. The teacher thanked us profusely from the bottom of her heart for the 3 grapefruits. My first reaction on reading the letter was, thank the grapefruits. But I also reflected on what Huayen Buddhism says about a small act of giving that has repercussions in an interdependent and interconnected world. According to this tradition, one small act of charity, dana paramita, is said to be equal to countless acts of charity. No one can measure the effects of a single act of giving, for its repercussions are beyond our limited imagination. Namaste. So Next, we share some silence together and sit quietly. In the silence, you might just want to pay attention to your breath as it goes in and out without changing it. As thoughts or feelings or sensations arise, as they will, just let them be there. And, and let them pass through. Let them blow through the open space of your mind. And over time, you may feel more settled, or it may be that your brain just keeps whirring, or the thoughts keep arising. Whatever happens, just notice and let go. And then after 10 minutes or so, we'll do some chanting together, and we'll chant the word Amitabha, which means Buddha of Infinite Light. So when you get the tune, do join in with us.
Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Taba, ami taba, ami taba.
Me taba.
Ah, me taba.
Ah, me taba. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh.
Me taba.
Ah, me taba.
Ah, me taba.
Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amee ta.
So next we will recite some liturgy together. Which is on— well, we're going to start with the Statement of Faith, which is the piece of A4, and then move on to the piece of A5. Um, so like with, um, the, the movements that we do in this room, which will be unfamiliar to you to start with— the bowing and the, the way we sit and the way we'll do some prostrations later on— there's a power in repetition. So the first time you do them, they're fresh, but, but, um, other people in this room have done them for the past 11 years, and there's a kind of a power in repetition, like a poem that you know really well. Um, and these words are words that we repeat, and every time we repeat them, they, they kind of hopefully sink a little bit deeper. The Statement of Faith is a kind of a description of some of our philosophy here at Bright Earth, so not everybody will agree with everything in it, but it gives you a flavor of, of what we're about here. Um, and then we will recite the refuges, where Buddhists lean in, the precepts, which is the, um, the guidelines that we try to live our life by, um, the Three active virtues, and finally the Bodhisattva vows, which are kind of very aspirational, out of reach, but something we can kind of aim ourselves towards. So the statement of faith we'll read together, and then we'll move into call and response.
Statement of faith.
The purpose of our practice is to open us to the wisdom and compassion of the Buddhas. Our heart practice is the Nembutsu, the recitation of Amida Buddha's name. We also connect with the Buddha's wisdom through practices like listening to teachings, meditation, and being in the natural world. We treasure Shakyamuni Buddha, who set the wheel of Dharma turning. We learn from Buddhist teachers throughout the ages. Awakened beings everywhere, and the world itself. We especially revere the great Pure Land sages Honen and Shinran. Held in Amida's loving gaze, we come to know ourselves deeply, both our bambu nature and our Buddha nature. As bambu beings, we grasp at unreliable refuges and sometimes we cause harm. Knowing the harm we cause offers us the chance to lessen that harm. Seeing our fallible nature also strengthens our refuge in Amida Buddha. The more deeply we take refuge in Amida, the more our greed, ill will, and delusion will melt like ice into water. Allowing our natural compassion to flow into the world. We trust that at the center of each of us is the heart that loves all living beings and that wishes for their liberation. We take action powered by this love in response to suffering in the world. We pay attention to the causes of suffering. We mitigate for power. We practice discerning what work is ours to do. We wish that all who may benefit are able to access the jewels of the Buddha's teachings. Moved by the Buddha's love, we vow to take care of all living beings, including ourselves. Held tenderly by the Buddha's love, we find clarity, consolation, and settled faith. 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.
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.
Namo Sanghaya.
For refuge I go to the Earth.
For refuge I go to the Earth, the holy ground of awakening. The holy ground of awakening.
Namo Bhumi.
Namo Bhumi.
With faith in the Four Refuges.
With faith in the Four Refuges.
And in light of my human tendencies.
And in light of my 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 of what I am taking away from others.
Of when I take my wife's money or something else she has given me—
—I pray that I may become aware— —when I fall into sexual misconduct— —I pray that I may become aware— —of wrong words—
of when I fall into wrong speech.
I pray that I may become aware. 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 sentient beings, We vow to save them all.
Inexhaustible are the Buddha's 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.
So this bit is the little Dharma talk, and the reading today was about grapefruits. You might be wondering what that has to do with Buddhism. One of the goals of Buddhism is that it helps us to become kinder people, and being generous is something that is encouraged. In the rest of the chapter, Taitetsu-unō speaks about, kind of ideal giving as, uh, non-attachment to 3 different things. The value of the thing you're giving, so you're not giving the grapefruit away thinking, I really want to keep this grapefruit, don't want to give it away. The value of, uh, the attachment to being, uh, the kind of good person that gives grapefruits away. Aren't I a good person? Or the attachment to receiving something in return for, for the grapefruits. Um, and he says that it was quite easy for them to give the grapefruits away because they were literally about to leave the country, so they were useless to them. Um, but he says that ideally, um, we practice in a way that we are a— we are more able to give things away that, that we don't want to give away, or that feel a little bit more difficult. So how do we do this? I think there are 2 ways. How do we get better at being generous? The first way is to fake it to make it. That We, we give even though it, it feels a bit difficult. I had a practice for a while, actually, a while ago now, that if the thought came to my mind, oh, I could give this thing to this person, then I had a little rule that I had to actually do that. I remember giving you some chocolate, John May, I don't know if you remember, but this particular time I wasn't quite on board with giving it to you, but I'd had the thought, and after I'd given it, I was very pleased to have given it to you. So there's a kind of a practice in, uh, just, just experimenting with how, how would it be to be a little bit more generous, not just with objects, but with our time, with our attention, with our care. Um, are listening to people. Um, and I think that there is, uh, as long as we are not sort of going too far, um, and of course some people need to give more, some people need to give less. So there's always a teaching. You have to kind of work out which is the best teaching for you. But with these things that we kind of, we, We practice even though they're difficult. Sometimes they do become easier, like with the chocolate. When I've given the chocolate, I'm like, oh, actually that feels really nice. So that's one way we can get better. The other way is a bit more suited to this particular form of practice, Pure Land practice that we, that we lean into here. Um, that we— why, why aren't we generous in the first place? Why don't we want to give things away? Because we are afraid. But we are afraid that we need those things. We're afraid that we won't get more of those things. We're afraid that without those things something bad might happen. Um, we're afraid that the other person won't appreciate it, or that are, um, that they'll feel obligated to us, or there's, uh, all kinds of kind of self-protective reasons that we don't, that we don't freely offer to other people. And one antidote to that kind of fear is refuge, the refuges that we recited together just now, a kind of beginning to lean into something that is really reliable. And when we first practice leaning into it, we don't know if it's reliable or not, 'cause we don't even really know what it is or what it means. But over time, as we practice and experiment and keep coming back, even if we're not quite sure about it, We begin to feel something. We begin to feel calmer, more settled, safer. We trust that we'll be okay, and that we trust that we'll be okay even when we're not okay. So this isn't about pretending that, that we won't ever run out of things, or that, that we won't ever be in need, but it's about a deeper feeling of, of okayness. The word I would use is faith. And as we grow in trust, as we grow in faith, we will find ourselves more naturally being generous because we just won't feel connected or attached to those things anymore, or to our time, or to our energy. And we see something that needs support, or someone that needs something, and we have it, and we just give it, and it's just natural. We don't need to think about it. And it's a kind of evidence, I guess, that we are we're, we're taking steps forwards on the spiritual path is that we just feel more relaxed. We feel, um, we've got more to give, and that, that giving is easy. It's not a strain. If we are already giving too much, if that's the way that we've we've, uh, learned how to protect ourselves, then it may be that we practice with giving less. But we also trust the story that you— we never really know what ripples will come out from, from the, the offerings we make. And that even very small offerings that feel not important to us can have great, great significance for other people. And, um, Taitetsu Uno also speaks in the chapter about as we move in this direction, we, we feel more and more naturally grateful. We feel grateful for the things we do have that we're able to give away, and we also feel grateful for all of the things that we receive. I keep thinking about your jam, Barry. The jam that Barry made from the apples and blackberries that are in the garden, the temple garden, and it's next door as an offering, and people can put money in if they want, but that's not why you made the jam. The jam was made because the fruit was there. And let's make some jam and people can enjoy the jam. There we go. It's working. It's already worked. Namaste. So then the last bit of practice is that we stand in a minute when Fee rings the bell. You might have noticed we do a bit of bowing during practice. So this is like the culmination of the bowing, and we make prostrations to the Buddha. So if your body is able to, just copy us and go down to the ground. And we do that while we're chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. We're taking refuge in Amida. Prostrations, when I first came to practice, were the— was the, the thing that I found the most strange to see. Or do. In the West, we can sometimes have associations between, between kind of honoring something else and degrading ourself. So this isn't about degrading ourself. This is, this is about gratitude. This is about being held by the Buddha. And I find that when I make prostrations, there's something about the ground that's just really holding. Um, and I like the idea that the Buddha is kind of watching over us as we do it, just kind of keeping an eye on, keeping an eye on us, making sure we're safe. Um, so there's chanting and movement at the same time, so don't worry about getting both. Um, but just see how it feels.
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
You stand anywhere where you've got a bit of floor in front of you and point towards the mantra.
Namaste. Namaste. Namaste.
Namaste.
Namaste, Satya Robyn.
Namaste.
People busily engaged in secular matters take no notice of life, whirring away day by day, night by night. Like a lamp in the wind, how long can it last? In the six realms of vast samsara, there is no fixed abode. Until we are emancipated from the sea of affliction, how can we rest in peace? Should we not be afraid? While we still have strength, let us each hear the Dharma. Let us strive and diligently seek the path to eternity.
So if you come back to stand at your seats. So we always finish practice by saying thank you to each other, by bowing to each other. So when Si rings the bell I will bow to Faye, Jarmaine, you, you too. Caspore just have to bow to themselves and then turn around and bow in the opposite direction. Beautifully done. And then we bow to the Buddha, then we bow to our seats and tidy our seats Make sure I bow to Paul. Um, so we do have a cup of tea afterwards, or whatever you want to drink, maybe a cold drink today, if you have any questions or just to kind of have a chat. So please do join us, feel free. The golden bowl is in the hallway, and there's also a card machine. Let us know if you wanted to wake it up.
It needs waking up in a special way.
Um, it's complicated. Um, we— next week after practice, I'm giving a talk on, um, being kind and whether we know how to do it or not. Saturday. Saturday. Oh, it's Wednesday tonight, isn't it? Sorry, it's this Saturday. This Saturday. I'm also starting a course on Monday night next week, which you, I think you all know about.
Any other announcements from the stewards?
I think so. When's Kirtong next?
Not in July, so not till August. Yeah. Okay. So we finish with the closing verse, which is on the small liturgy sheet if you want to join in, and it starts with the word blessed.
Blessed by Amun-Tawer's light, may we care for all living things and the Holy Earth.
