Practice - word of the year

Good evening everybody, lovely to have you here. This evening we're joined in the shrine room by Iaz and Dave and Fi and Caspar. And Angela. And joining us from Zoom is Bruce. Hi, Bruce. Um, so we begin practice these days with Dharma Glimpse. And just to give you the background for this one, um, I write a newsletter once a week to anyone who wants to receive it called Letters from Satya. And the one I wrote a couple of weeks ago was about my word for the year. And somebody who receives that list who's followed us for a long time replied, and the reply just felt like a Dharma glimpse. So I wrote to her and said, you've just written a Dharma glimpse, can I read it out in practice? And she said she would be honored. So over to Angela. Oh yeah, that's why you're sitting there. So from the top here.

All right, okay, so that was a glimpse from Kala coming all the way from Canada's west coast to you all in Malvern, Worcestershire. I've received your emails since writing Our Way Home, or before if even possible, have followed your path and enjoyed your honesty and pure spirit. And now your word for this year is enough. My word, listen. At first I didn't think I could come up with a word. Self-talk started in my mind. I saw that and stopped. I chose to be gentle with myself. And then sometime later, the word listen came to me. Last Tuesday, I did an online Reiki meditation. Pamela, who led the meditation, shared a Rumi quote: There is a voice that doesn't use words. Listen. Pamela also shared how the letters of listen also spell silent. I have always been naturally drawn to silence. For me, silence is sanctuary. Listen, my word for this year. It's kind of like a patient silence with ears opened, aware in the silence. Listen. Thanks for this. Love you and wishing you deep peace.

So we will move into silence appropriately. And I read in a book this week, I can't remember which book, that what happens in meditation is not your business, it's God's business. Um, so it's God's business, all the Buddha's business here, either is fine. And for me, there's something about don't worry too much about whether you're doing it right or whether what's meant to be happening is happening. Just hand that over to the Buddha and keep returning to the silence when your brain takes you off in different directions. And after a while, I'll begin chanting, and the chant we'll do tonight is Om Amitabha.

Om Mitabhong. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha. Om Amitabha. Om Amitabha. Om Amitabha Om Amitabha Om Amitabha. Om Amitabha Om. Om Amitabha Om. Om Amitabha Om. Om Amitabha Om. Om Amitabha Om. Om Amitabha. Om Amitabha. Om Amitabha. Om Amitabha. Om Amitabha. Om Amitabha. Om Amitabha Om. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Om. Om Amitabha Om. Om Amitabha Om. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum.

For refuge I go to the Buddha. For refuge I go to Namo Buddhaya. For refuge I go to the Dharma. For refuge I go to the Dharma. Namodarmai. For refuge I go to the Sangha. For refuge I go to sangha. With faith in the Three Jewels— with faith in the Three Jewels— I pray that I may not fall into error. I pray that I may not take life. With faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may not steal. With faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may not fall into sexual misconduct. With faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may not fall into wrong speech. With faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may avoid intoxication. No blame, be kind, love everything.

Innumerable sentient beings, we vow to save them all. Inexhaustible deluded passions, we vow to transform them all. Immeasurable ultimate teachings, we vow to master them all.

Infinite is the Buddha's way, We vow to fulfill it completely. I'm reading a book at the moment called something like, um, Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price. And what I'm really enjoying about it is a reminder, which I kind of already knew, but I'm sort of knowing more deeply, that people who are unproductive, or, um, who get ill a lot, or who, um, don't do the things they're meant to be doing, um, that that happens because there's something going on inside them that they're already working to their maximum capacity. So she gives the example of depressed people who are— that so much energy has been taken up to kind of defend themselves from the critical thoughts suicidal thoughts, that they just haven't got any energy left for anything else, or people who are very stressed at work who take sick days, or people who distract themselves with all the things that we can distract ourselves with. And encourages us to look at those people as exhibiting symptoms that are messages for them, messages for their own bodies, for their own minds about what they need, which is often retreating or rest or some kind of healing. And I'm really enjoying reading this right now because I'm managing to not overwork, which, if you know me, is a big thing. I had a really spacious couple of weeks at Christmas, and somehow that, that spaciousness is still with me, and it feels like a very different way of living because some of the parts in me that work really hard are just relaxing a little bit more. And so when I thought about the words that I wanted to choose for this year, I wanted to choose a word that would support me in that and that felt kind. The word that I chose last year was gentle, and I've ended many of my journal entries last year with 'Go gently, Satya,' and it's still with me, that word. It's like it had an influence on me all through the year, a little kind of antidote to some of the pushing.. And so the word enough also felt like a kind of a celebration, a like, um, a kind of an appreciation that, that there is enough, that I receive enough. Um, but also allowing to feel that I am enough regardless of what I do or don't do, regardless of what I produce or don't produce. One of my friends, um, Utpaladee, told me her word of the year, which was commit. And I read the words and I just had this kind of feeling of shrinking, and I said, oh, maybe that's good for you, but I don't know, it just doesn't make me feel good. And she kind of went away and thought about it and came back with the word embrace, which has that same intention of kind of staying with something, but it just has a completely different— to me, has a completely different feel. That's something you would want to do. And more and more these days, I, I feel that the kind of attempts to change ourselves, which are driven by oughts or hopes that things will be better if only we were more this or less that, that they're not helpful because we're already trying our hardest at those things. The parts of us that are doing whatever it is, oh, they're already— there's already other parts in us that don't want us to be doing those things, but there's good reasons why we're doing those things. That's the whole point of why they're happening. So how can we approach that with kindness and with understanding? And with a realism about what's possible. And I think that that tendency to want to be very different always just sets us up to fail straight away. There's something about how can we just offer ourselves little tiny nudges, little, little moments of, of choice, or little moments of nourishment. So that's what I hope that, that my word will offer me this year, is just little moments of appreciating or realizing that I have enough, that I don't need more or less, and the little moments of remembering that I am enough. And maybe you might find a word too if you haven't already got one. That feels like it would be a pleasure to live with over the coming year, something that can accompany you and help you somehow. If you're not sure what it is, the Buddha knows. Just listen to the Buddha. Namomida Butsu. I had the thought then, what do we do now? Frustrations. In gratitude, we offer this incense to Buddha and bodhisattvas throughout space and time. May it be fragrant as the earth and ourselves, reflecting our wholehearted efforts. Fruits of understanding slowly ripen. May we, antaravi buddhas, be companions of those in bodhisattvas. May we awaken from forgetfulness and realize our true home. Blessed by Amitabha's light, may we care for all living things. You can see the curls on this