Satya Robyn leads a Buddhist dharma talk and group meditation on spiritual progress and setbacks, exploring the balance between self-power and other-power. The service includes chanting the Tibetan Amitābha mantra led by Benny, recitation of refuges and precepts, prostrations, and an incense offering.
Chapters
Good morning, everybody. Quieter in the shrine room today, just 4 of us, and quieter on Zoom at the moment, just joined by Helen, although it's not unusual on Saturday for a few people to drop in late. Looks like that might be Sharon pulling up, so I wonder if the bell goes, if someone's happy to go out and answer the door. Ah, yeah, welcome everybody. A friend of mine, Mikey, was telling me about some Buddhist books they've been reading recently and how they contain two kinds of stories. The one kind of story, somebody approaches Buddhism, learns how to practice, does the practice, and their life is turned around. Something miraculous happens. They're able to forgive people that have wronged them. They become compassionate. They become better human beings. And the pages of the books are full of this sort of transformation, ordinary people becoming Buddhas by the sound of it. And the other sort of story is people practice for 30 years and they're still human beings and they're still a bit miserable and nothing really changes. And how do we reconcile both of these different experiences? I think part of the answer is probably just in the person who's telling the story is using it to meet their own needs, but there is something important here, and it's the sort of thing that we are exploring in the Brighter the temple when we say on the one hand we want to support people to find their own inner Buddha nature, and on the other hand we want them to really meet their human nature. Both of these things exist in the same lifetime. It is true that people make progress and change and become different. Although that often takes hard work and feeling deep feelings and feeling grief and letting go of things and, and is a real process, but we do come out the other end a bit different. It's easier to be kind, it's easy to forgive most of the time. And at the same time, in my experience anyway, there's not a place where we reach where we go, oh, it's all sorted now. It's still easy to fall back into miserable states. Regardless of how long you've been practicing for, something changes in our life, or we encounter some tragedy or loss or some conflict, and that creates powerful feelings again in us. And then there's more work to do. So we're holding both of these in mind when we think of what it means to walk on a spiritual journey, that there is a place deep within us that is full of love and compassion and kindness, and that there are also these pockets of greed, hate, and ignorance I once heard an analogy to meditation like a pond. The one the Buddha uses is like a glass or a jar that is shaken up all the time. You're shaking all the time, you're shaking. And when you meditate You put the jar down and everything settles to the bottom and the water is clear. But of course, if you're at— if you're in a pond or a swamp or something, what happens at the bottom is that occasionally there's a buildup of gases or bacteria creating things, and then you get this bubble of something noxious coming to the surface. In some ways, that's quite a helpful image to me. Oh, there's this clear space, but there's still these noxious bubbles that are going to erupt every now and again. So there's something of a meeting here between the two styles of practice which became known as self-power and other power. Self-power being this idea that we can through our own effort make some progress. Other power being the idea that we have to rely on something outside ourselves in order to become transformed. And in Japanese Buddhism, that idea is taken— in medieval Japanese Buddhism, that idea is taken to the point that in this lifetime there is no transformation that's possible because you're too full of greed, ill will, and ignorance. But if you rely on this other power, at the point of death you will be taken to the Pure Land. And my lived experience of spiritual practice is somewhere in between. There are some things that I do that make a difference, but mostly the difference they make is to show me that my calculating mind can't get me anywhere. But occasionally doing formal practice creates the conditions for something else to appear— Big Mind, the Pure Land, the Buddha. Something beyond what can be achieved by the calculating mind. So it is possible in this lifetime to have an experience of deep, profound, settled heart that is kind and loving, and also to be completely human and then trip up in the next moment into some reactivity. So I think the gift of spiritual practice is twofold. One, that there, that there is genuine letting go. Not that that happens like that, but it does happen. And there is progress, and we can look back and think— I can look back and think, oh, actually I'm doing better than I was 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago. And there will always be something else to work with, something else to engage with, something else that I react with. In an unskillful way. And in those moments, what my practice allows me to do, sometimes when it's happening, mostly afterwards, is to take that sideways step and be with my own foolishness a little bit more gracefully. Oh yeah, this is how it is to be human. To find some self-compassion for the one who is messing up again. So that's what's on my mind this morning, that the, uh, that progress, something like progress happens, and then we trip up again. And yet, as well as all of that, there is this, uh, this possibility of grace, of kindness in the midst of that unfolding. Namaste. So we'll just sit quietly together. So we'll chant together this morning the Tibetan mantra to Amitabha, the Buddha. Of infinite light. Om Amitewari.
Om Amitewari. Om Amitewari. Om Amitewa. Om Amitewa. Om Amitewa. Om Amitewa. Oh, ma mi te wa ri. Oh, ma mi te wa ri. Om Amitewari. Om Amitewari. Om Amitewari. Omami te wa ri. Omami te wa ri. Omami te wa ri. Omami te wa ri. Omami te wa ri. Omami te wa ri. Omami te warri. Omami te warri. Omami te warri. Oh!
Oh!
Mami te warri— oh! Ma-mi-te-wa-reee...
Oh!
Ooh! Mamite wari? Omami te warri. Omami te warri. Omami te warri. Oh, Mami Dewari. Oh, Mami Dewari. Oh, Mami Dewari. Oh, Mami te warri. Oh, Mami te warri. Oh, Mami te warri. Oh, Mami Te Wari. Oh, Mami Te Wari. Oh, Mami Te Wari. Om Namite Wahwey. Om Namite Om.
Let's just have 4 or 5 minutes of quiet again. So in a moment, I will lead us through the refuges and precepts. If you want to read them, I've put the link in the chat box so you can see them all written down. Otherwise, please repeat after me. For refuge, I go to the Buddha. For refuge, I go to the Buddha. Namo Buddha. Namo Buddha. For refuge I go to the Dharma— for Refuge I Go To The Lord Namo Damaya— For Refuge I Go To The Sangha— Nammo Sanghaya! With faith in the Three Jewels we pray that we may not take life; with Faith In The Three Jewels With faith in The Three Jewels we pray that we may not steal— We pray that we may not steal— With faith in The Three Jewels— Faithful jewels! —we pray that we may not fall into sexual misconduct— We pray that we might have fallen to sex crimes sometimes— With faith in The Three Jewels— With faith in The Three Jewels— who prayed that we may not fall into wrong speech? Pray for me they're not falling towards each other— With faith in The Three Jewels With faith in the Three Jewels, we pray that we may avoid intoxication. We pray that we may avoid intoxication. Innumerable sentient beings, we vow to save them all. Exhaustible ardor, rooted passion, we vow to transform them all. Inmeasurable are the Dharma teachings. We vow to master them all. Infinity is the Buddha's way. We vow to fulfill it completely. So in a moment we'll stand and make our 3 prostrations to the Buddha. If you're on Zoom and you have a Buddha in your room, please make your 3 bows to that Buddha along with us. But there's also a Buddha on the screen, of course, so you could just point yourselves at that if that's easier. In gratitude, we offer this incense to Buddha and Bodhisattva throughout space and time. May it be as fragrant as earth itself, 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. So do unmute if you're on Zoom, and then we'll read the closing Blessed by Amitābha's light, may we care for all living things and the Holy Earth. Very nice. Thank you very much, Benny. Thank you for joining us.
