Satya Robyn leads a Buddhist practice session with chanting, meditation, and a reflective talk about clouds and mindful presence. Sam reads a Dharma story set on a train platform, and the group discusses learning from how clouds move through the sky without resistance.
Chapters
Phew!
I'm gonna make sure I'm in the shot. Oh, morning everybody! I hope you had a good walk around the garden, even in a little bit of rain. Now here's the sunshine. So we have Claire joining us this morning on Zoom. And lots of people in the shrine room. So, um, welcome. So it's lovely to have Catherine Satya Robyn who are on holiday, being slightly nervous. No, all will be well. Oh no, she's taking notes mentally, of course. Um, so yes, lovely this morning. So I'm gonna hand over to Sam first to read our Dharma glimpse, and you had a choice of two, so I'm not sure which one you chose, one by Philip or one by Greg, but all will be revealed. Thank you, Sam.
Well, big reveal, I chose the one by Greg.
Okay.
Returning home from a Mother's Day brunch at my sister's home, I had a rather long wait on a train platform. I ran up to this— I ran up to the stop thinking I had heard a train horn. Well, no, I hadn't. What greeted me was a schedule board indicating a 30-minute wait. It was a nice day, so I didn't think much of it. I could text some friends and check in on a dating app. A young guy arrived and stood maybe 15 feet from where I was standing. Nicely dressed, he started fumbling with something in his bag or pocket. I couldn't tell which. Next thing I noticed was the aroma of a herb garden wafting in my general direction. He was smoking weed from a pipe fashioned out of an old soda can. It is legal in about 9 or 10 weeks, so who cares? Then two rough-looking characters walked up and sat on the ground smoking cigarettes and grumbling at each other, one about hurt feelings. The grumbling turned dramatic and one guy would start to walk away. The other would chase after him offering a certain— certainly insincere apology. They would go back to their spots on the floor and bicker some more. This cycle played out several times. In the meantime, another guy walks up and sits on a bench at the other end of the platform. The argument was about money and hurt feelings. It started to get loud, each one yelling blah blah blah. Yo, now to get the full picture of what happens next, it is It is necessary to understand who each of the players is. The bromance boys having a fight were white 20-somethings from Dundalk or Brooklyn, a step or two below working class. The pot smoker was a young African-American man about the same age as the bromance boys. The guy on the other end of the platform was an African-American man in late 20s to early 30s. Emotions escalate and the younger bromance boy starts calling the older one the N-word. Next enters the middle-aged African-American guy. What did you say? You can't use that word, you're disrespecting me. Round and round this goes for a few minutes. Stoner guy walks up. To the tussle, and I'm starting to get a little worried. This is Baltimore after all, and you don't really know who is packing, and folks around here like to shoot at each other. Nobody flashes a weapon and I can relax. Stoner guy walks up to the bromance boy he figures is being picked on and offers a handshake and a 'are you okay?' Thank goodness the train appears. Thank goodness nobody gets pushed onto the tracks. The dharma lesson, that was for me. I kept my mouth shut. I didn't mentally take sides. Everyone wants to find happiness and avoid pain. Everyone wants to find happiness and avoid pain. I've heard the Dalai Lama say that a dozen times if I've heard it once. Yeah, that sounds good. Put it into practice? Not quite as simple, but this time I did. I heard it so many times from so many people in a variety of words and settings. Sunday it played itself out. There was nothing I can do to control anything that might have happened, so I wasn't chickening out or shirking some duty or another. I lived through it. I didn't get physically or emotionally involved. I didn't form opinions about any of the players. This is not really about me, it is about the Dharma, the seeds taking root and growing. We're Pure Landers, so we take a lot of things on faith and trust. This time I had real-world evidence that it does work. The seeds do implant and they do grow.
Thank you, Sam. And as you can tell from Greg's glimpse, he doesn't live from around here. So he's part of our book group and lives in Baltimore in America, as you can tell. So quite different. So we'll go into a period of quiet meditation now, and not listening to the sound of rain, thankfully this morning. And then we'll do some chanting afterwards. So hopefully you're all sitting comfortably. Just your position. So it's touching the earth. Close your eyes. Breathe in through your nose.
Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh.
Amitabh.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh, Amitabh, Amitabh. A—
a—
me—
ta— ba—
a—
me—
ta—
ba— Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Ame taba. Ame taba.
Ame taba.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Ama Amitabha. Ama Amitabha. Ama Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amee Tapa. Amee Tapa. Amee Tapa. Amitabh, Amitabh, Amitabh.
Please repeat after me.
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. 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 Dhamma.
Namo Dhamma.
For refuge I go to the Sangha.
For refuge I go to the Sangha.
For those who live in the Buddha's light, Those who live in the Buddhist lives, Namo Sanghaya.
With faith in the Three Jewels, with faith in the Three Jewels, and in the light of our human tendencies, and in light of our 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.
With faith in the 3-2-O—
I pray that I may become aware of when I take what is not freely given.
Of when I take what is not really here.
I pray that I mean it. I pray that I may become aware.
I pray that I may come away of when I fall into sexual misconduct. Or when I fall into sexual misconduct.
I pray that I may become aware I pray that I may become aware of when I fall into wrong speech.
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 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.
Thought I might get away without fluffing it. That's not— so I went to bed last night, as everybody does usually. You might not, thinking, oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna wing it this morning. And then I woke up in a panic going, no, I can't possibly do that. Totally out of my comfort zone. I don't know how you do it. Hats off to you. So having been mauled to death by Claude, my cat, not my pet lion or anything, at a ridiculous hour, I thought, oh, he's waking me up to put something down. Thank you, Claude. So I have scribbled a few thoughts. Yes, one day.
Yeah.
So I went to Five Rhythms last night. I don't know if any of you other do that, that my friend Miranda runs, a kind of silent disco in a field. It's lovely. Barefoot, no rain, no prickles in the grass. It was her mother's lawn. Very pristine, um, with a tractor. Quite a grumpy farmer, actually, parked in his field drive. I had to move my car. Um, harvesting, uh, yeah, I've never seen the big round hay bales spat out the bottom of a tractor. Made me lit. I kept watching it. When's the next one coming out? And then they roll down the hill. That was just added aside to my 5 rhythms. Yeah, but that's, that was great. It's like it's laying a big egg. But we danced barefoot under the sunset until it got dark. Oh, it was beautiful. Blue skies, as I said. And at one point I took my shawl off. I had quite tired feet. I'd put some most ridiculous, I was walking around the hospital yesterday in some ridiculous shoes. I had really sore feet. I was regretting it because I couldn't dance in the way I normally dance. So I thought I'd lie on the grass, an opportunity presented in my shawl. And, uh, yeah, I just lay up, lay and looked up at the heavens. Ah, it was glorious last night where we were gifted with the most beautiful sky as the sunset kind of unfolded. Um, not quite the same today, the variance in the clouds. I wouldn't have the same kind of talk if I was laying under, I don't know, but you know, the clouds were beautiful. And I guess I was laying there thinking, I don't do this often enough. Don't lie down and I don't look up. And when do we get, you know, when do we get this chance? They're phenomenal, aren't they, clouds? Huge, ever-changing, floating above us, regulating temperature and light down here on this spinning globe that we call Earth, but that we call home.. And yet we take them for granted, don't we? Barely pausing sometimes to notice them. And I found something, because I was rapidly looking for inspiration this morning, and it was a lady who'd written, "We're surrounded by wonders of this shared universe. Maybe it's time to become immersed in the enjoyment of one aspect of this spectacular world which amazes us, delights us, and refreshes us." She too was writing about clouds. And, you know, no two snowdrops are the same, no two pieces of hail are the same, no snowflake is the same, if ever you look at them. And clouds are the same. Puffy cumulus, layered stratus, curly cirrus clouds, shape-shifting endlessly. And I found even this morning the Cloud Appreciation Society. I love that. Should all look it up. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful written poetry about clouds and the sky. But I was thinking, so what, what am I, what am I learning? What am I gaining here from lying on the grass staring up at the sky? I felt utter peace and bliss, to be honest. A real sort of connection. Took my headphones off just so I could have that silence. It was beautiful music that Miranda had prepared, but it was lovely to sort of sit there in that silence, and my friends were dancing around me. But clouds teach us patience about living in the moment, unless it's terribly windy. They're usually quite slow unless they're terribly windy, when it's still beautiful to watch them and observing them. Requires patience, I think, I guess, having that time and slowing down and, and just being in that moment. I'm often talking about spaciousness in my life and not allowing that much spaciousness. So yeah, and this transience, and they come and they go, and they're like, they're like, you know, they come and they go, they're very transient. And they show us that things are changing, transforming, and that we are like clouds, aren't we? You, you, we're unique, we all have our own beauty, different shapes and sizes, temperaments strengths, weaknesses. We're like low-lying cloud, clouds. We might be tough and stormy like a tornado, might be crying like the rain, or we might, you know, like a stratus cloud, gloomy, or high-flying like the cirrus clouds. So we're going through changes in our life. Um, so yeah, it's, you know, it's really beautiful to connect to them. And as, um, Through our book groups, we were doing a lot of— I'll say our last book group, which meant some of us in this room did— we were looking into a lot of haikus, weren't we? So for those that don't know about haiku, they're these Japanese poems of 17 syllables, 3 lines of 5 and 7, traditionally, usually talking about, you know, the natural world. Not always, but usually. And I thought I'd end by I'm always fighting with Bashir perhaps. And he seems to be the few here that I found to end on. And the clouds, a chance to dodge moon viewing. Another, the clouds come and go, providing a rest for all the moon viewers. Seems to like the moon. I think we all do here. And finally, clouds will separate us. The time to part has come now. Wild goose flies away. Clouds will separate us. The time to part has come now. Wild goose flies away. Allow me to poo.
Namo Amida Buddha.
We dedicate the merits of this incense offering to all the listeners 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.
Please return to your seats.
Those that don't know the final, uh, final verse, it's on the little sheet of paper.
Blessed by Amitabha's light, may we care for all living things and the holy land.
So I don't know if we have any announcements, and if anybody has Any Dharma glimpses they've been writing?
I'm writing one on Wellies.
Great. It wasn't quite ready for today, um, but to be launched into the world.
And anybody wishes to sign up on the sheet by the door, um, to read the Dharma glimpse, even to read the verse, it's always very nice. And that'd be great.
Um, any other things for the retreat? There's a donation bar in the hallway, just to let you know. And the next— we haven't got a retreat for a while, maybe at the beginning of September. Yeah, September 2nd.
That's not far away now, is it?
3 weeks. Retreat day, first weekend of September on a Saturday. And then I think the weekend, the Saturday after, we're doing a marathon meditation to raise money for the group. So we'll be sitting in town between 11 and 5, so people can come and go, but it's all on the website. But it'd be great to have people join us for that.
We'll need to drum up a bit.
We'll need to drum up. It'll be very exciting. Lots of quiet sittings. Lots of quiet sittings. Maybe we'll make some cakes. Do you remember to stop the old, uh, thing, stop the video.
