Tending grief seeds & the pain of weeding

Open up your body.

Select Wednesday night, Katherine and Matt joining us online. So we're going to begin with a Rumi poem as our daran abdul for tonight. How will you know the difficulties of being human if you're always flying off to blue perfection? Where would you plant your grief seeds? Workers need ground to scrape and hoe, not the sky of unspecified desire. How will you know the difficulties of being human if you're always flying off to blue perfection? Where will you plant your grief seeds? Workers need ground to scrape and hoe, not the sky of unspecified desire. Ama Amida Bu. So moving into a period of meditation, so getting the body ready, finding that center of gravity. Locating your body in the room, in the space that you're in. Then in your own time, gradually bringing the awareness to rest in the heart space. Or if you prefer to rest on the breath.

Om Mani Padme Hum! Mahamani Shakimuni Swaha! Om Mani Mani Mahamani Shakimuni Swaha! Om Mani Mani Mahamani Shakimuni Swaha! Om Mani Mani Mahamani Shakyamuni Swaha! Om Mani Mani Mahamani Shakyamuni Swaha!

Um—

many, many mahamanis... Shakimini Swaha Om Mani Mini Mahamani Shankhimini Svaahaa Ohm Many many mahamanishakiminiswa Omany mini mahanishankhiminiswaa Ahmm— Shakyaminisooha! Om mani mini mahamani shakimini swaha! Ohm many many maaahhmanyee shaakeeeminnie swwaahha! Oohmm meeneey meenee maahhmannyeee shaakeeeminnie sswoohaahaaa! Ohm many many maaahhmonyee shaakeeeminnie swoahaha— Om mani mani mahamani shakimini swaha! Oh many mini mummy check him any sua ha ho— Many menie maahmenee shaakeemineeswaa? Ha ohmany miny mamaa meeni shack imanie zwaaa haaaa... Hahaha. Thank you very much for your patience today everyone. Namaste to all of us here at Inner Awakening Center New York City School of Yoga Teacher Training Program or YTTFP program which we have been working on from 2018 until now so thank you again everybody that has joined this class because I know it's late there but uh if anyone wants questions please write them Om down below see what comes up during our Q&A session next week okay good evening how was my pronunciation um sometimes when they do their pronunciations like Hindi words mani then people will say something wrong about Indian accent yeah exactly yes well no one ever says anything mini bad let's just keep going guys come along slowly slow breaths inhale through nose exhaling out by mouth deeply breathe into belly deep inhalation exhalations hold breathing back gently release throat mahamani chakra energy center open heart space expansion close eyes shut lips soft gaze inward focus upon yourself namaskar om mani mani mamami shakymani suava ahom ani mani mamaimni shekhi manisvaha ham namanee momoni monii cha kehmini svaha; Ahum Mani Moni Mahameni Shakhimuni Swaha Aham Nama Sivaaya Amma Bhagavanji Jai Guru Paramatmananda Ji Shri Ramana Maharshi Hanuman ji Sri Ravana Mithila Devendra Prasadhaasrao Krishna Hariharanandaji Maestro Anil Kumar Kaur Mukherjee Ongarijata Shankara Panuva Datta Sirna Laxmi Priyantha Malhottra Gopi Mata Baba Yoganandan Sastra Shaikh Imran Ali Sooha Hamnam Murthy Chandra Baboo Bhai Sahibraminath Shah welcome home baboom boom boomsome bumsomes bombsongs songs music] shakimini swaha! Oh many, many maha— I mean Shakhi Mini Swaha. Many, many Maha Manishaki Miniswaah. Om mani mini ma ha manya kee meeni swaha— ommani minni maaamani shaakeemini shwahha? Oom meanie mee nee mah ammeenie Shaakimeneeswa! Ahh... ahmmini minhnee mmma hoommeni Shakimaniswa-haaa?!

Ohmmee ni menii Maaaa-minee Shakkhimineen Swahaha? Aghhh. Yeah yeah yaayyeh huhuhu uh-oh oh my God this has been so intense I'm like out of breath right now but thank you very much for being here today everybody just one more time to go up into your crown chakra inhale deeply through both nostrils slowly exhaling gently from behind on an OM sound umming humming wow that was amazing everyone come back down let's do it again okay we're gonna breathe deep once Om mani mani mahamani shakimini swaha!

Om mani mani maha-muni sha-ki-manis-wa-hah! Oh mini-mini ma-minishakey miniswa— Om mani mini ma ha manya kimani swaha! Omni— omni? Ma-ham-nee sha-kim-a-nee-swah? Ohm-meni-mini maa-ham-nee shak-im-aney-swa... Ahem... Om mani mani mahamani shakimani swaha. Om mani mani mahamani shakimani swaha.

So as we move into chanting the refuges and precepts, as always, if you need to see it written down, it's on the little liturgy sheet.

Next to you.

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. All that guides us to wisdom and compassion.

All that guides us to wisdom and compassion. 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.

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

With faith in the Three Jewels, with faith in the Three Jewels, 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 when I take what is not freely given. And I pray that I may become aware— of when I fall into sexual misconduct. I pray that I may become aware—

of when I fall into wrong speak.

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 ardent-minded passions, we vow to transform them all. Immeasurable Abhidharma teachings, We vow to master them all. Infinito Buddha's way, we vow to fulfill it completely.

Amermi debu. So yesterday I was clearing the paths around the garden. And as always, when I do any kind of weeding or trimming or pruning, I felt such a mixture of feelings. So on the one hand, I was enjoying slowly going around and listening to the birdsong and being immersed in the endlessly changing and fascinating natural environment out there in the garden. And seeing things from lots of different angles. As I was like, oh, is it in the way if I stand over here? What about if I walk, walk from this direction? Is it, is it in the way there? And enjoying that mindfulness and that immersion. And there was part of me that was pleased to be doing it because I'd been meaning to do it for a couple of weeks. I was like, yes, finally, finally we can cross this off the to-do list, and was enjoying just tending, tending to the temple and to the community in that kind of way, in that practical way, enabling people to navigate around the garden with relative ease, and so that the various rupas and things don't get too overgrown, and the little stones aren't too slippery covered with rotting leaves. So there was some level of satisfaction in doing that. And equally strongly, probably a bit more strongly actually, is the pain that I feel whenever I weed or cut any plant, disturb the ecosystem, the billions of things that live in every single part of the path, and every part that I'm trimming and disturbing and weeding, I am at the same time killing and harming and destroying mini ecosystems, and that's really painful for me. And it's also a really good example of how— of dukkha, of how even when we're doing something that from one perspective could be viewed as a positive thing, there will be things that aren't happening because of that action, or things that are being harmed in some way, like Even in the, you know, like I can think, oh, I'm not causing too much harm or taking too much life, that first ethical precept, because I'm a vegan. And then we get, of course, that's like bollocks, because every time a vegetable is pulled out, it harms things in the soil when the soil is tilled and All of that. And that's also what the Buddha saw in the really famous, um, story when he was young of going and watching, um, the plowing of the field, preparing it for growing food for the village. And he saw that in the that the spaces in the earth where it had been plowed, there were insects had been cut up and disturbed and killed. And he saw that dukkha, that suffering inherent in the tiniest of actions, and even the most well-meaning of actions that would have gone on to benefit that whole village. And in a way, because weeds and plants and everything is constantly regrowing, it's constantly giving me, giving me this precious opportunity to be with the pain of causing all that harm. Alongside some level of satisfaction about what I'm doing and the reasons why I'm doing it. And the one thing that kind of helps me be with both aspects a bit is— oh, one of the things is really knowing that the reason why I find it painful is because it's an expression of interconnectedness. That, that my body is part of this shared body, the body of the Earth and everything that lives on it. And that's inseparable. So to hurt one thing is to hurt me, and to hurt me in some way is to hurt the whole body, the shared body. So in a way, that pain is a communication, an expression of interconnectedness. Which helps me to be with the complexity of feelings and responses that I have to something as simple as a bit of weeding or keeping a path clean. Namaste.

Namor Ami Dabi. Namor Ami Dabi. Namor Ami Dabi. In gratitude, we make this offering to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas throughout space and time. May it be as fragrant as the aroma of saffron, reflecting our careful efforts, our wholehearted mindfulness, 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 we're going to transfer merit for Chris and Roger tonight.

We've recently had a big operation. I know, and through your grace, work pure and I'm not aware of any announcements, so we'll go to the closing prayer. Satya Robyn, let us try Amitābha's light.

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

Nothing to do.