Satya Robyn leads a Buddhist group meditation and service. The session includes teachings on grief and impermanence drawing from Nagarjuna and Shinran, guided meditation, chanting of refuges and precepts, and a closing tea.
Chapters
Welcome everybody, pardon for tearing yourself away from a sunny evening. Okay, so come here. We will start in our usual way with a Dalai Lama glimpse.
Impermanence, grief. And healing. In October last year, one of my best friends sadly took her own life. I was devastated and heartbroken and was weighed down with grief. Another close friend of mine sent these words, which I share with you now: When it comes to grief, remember this: You have not broken a bone. There is no default treatment. No cure, no timeline for your healing. You cannot strap your heart to the heart next to it and hope it mends itself. You cannot rest it for weeks or months. You cannot rely on your other heart like you might a leg or an arm. You have not broken a bone, and yet, like a broken bone, your heart will always have a vulnerable spot, a bruise, a burn. A scar. And just as your arm can still ache after breaking when it has been holding too much for so long, so your heart will ache when it has been holding too much for too long. But just as your once broken arm can still hold things and your broken leg can still dance, so your heart will learn to carry you forward even when it aches. These words brought me great comfort. But I was still burdened with grief. And then I walked into the temple here in Malvern and my healing really started. I was struck by the way Buddhism provided insight in my grief that was completely different than anything else. In Buddhism, impermanence is an inescapable truth of existence. In a world and culture where we strive for permanence, lasting, or remaining unchanged, Buddhism teaches us the impermanence— lasting or temporary, it is fundamental to everything from life to health to joy and sorrow to material objects to our very identity. Nothing is permanent no matter how much we want it to be. Everything is constantly changing. Existence is always in flux. Buddhism explains that our attachment to things and failure to accept impermanence is is at the root of all suffering. And as someone who had gone through a significant loss, the idea of impermanence resonated with me immediately. As I read more and thought more, I decided I had two choices. I could try to restore the old life and self that I believed was the real me and how things should be, or I could accept that my loss fundamentally changed me and will forever be changing. I could pretend I was the same person now, but knew I was not. I had changed and would continue to change, so forcing myself to believe the things that I believed before was not the answer. Instead, I just needed to focus on the present, one day at a time, one moment at a time, building awareness of my life— the good, the bad, and the ugly. And all in flux and ever-changing. Buddha would remind us that we should not become attached to our path. It will look different to all of us.
Namamitabhu.
Okay, so we'll let that Dharmagants percolates in us as we move into a period of meditation. So having a little wiggle, getting any last little movements or kinks out of the body, any parts that want to have a little move before settling or beginning to settle. Maybe rocking a little, just finding that easy place where the spine is upright without effort, where the chest can open. Just clocking the space you're in, maybe noticing, sensing the walls of this room. Sensing the bodies of the other people in this room, just locating yourself. Then gradually beginning to settle. Turning the attention to the breath, to the breath, breathing the body. Effortlessly. And if you like, you can float the words Namu Amida Butsu on the surface of the breath. We can just sit and see your experience arising and falling.
Om Amidevah Hri.
Om Amidevare. Om Amidevare. Om Amidevare. Om Amidevare. Om Amidevare. Om Ami De Waari. Om Ami De Waari. Om Ami De Waari. Breathe. Om Nami Devi. Om Nami Devi. Om Amidevare.
Om Amidevare.
Om Amidevare. Omami der wa ri. Omami der wa ri. Omami le warri. Omami le warri. Amele Wari. Om Amele Wari. Om Amele Wari. Om Nami Deva Hari. Om Nami Deva Hari. Om Nami Deva. Om Nami Devuahri. Om Nami Devuahri. Om Nami Devuahri. Om Nami Devi wa ri. Om Nami Devi wa ri. Om Nami Devi wa ri. Om Mani Devi Waahree. Om Mani Devi Waahree. Om Mani Devi Waahree. Om Nami Deva Hari. Om Nami Deva Hari. Om Nami Deva Hari. Omami ne wa ri. Omami ne wa ri.
Omami ne wa ri.
We're going to recite in call and response the refuges and precepts, which, if you need to see them written down, are on the little piece of paper next to you or under your chair if you're sitting on a chair. And these are ideals that we and people who follow this path for a long time have invited into their lives. 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 Buddhaya.
Namo Buddhaya.
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 Dharma.
Namo Dharma.
For refuge I go to the Sangha.
For refuge I go to a Sangha, those who live in the Buddha's light. Those who live in the Buddha's light.
Namo Sangha. Namo Sangha. With faith in the Three Jewels.
With faith in the Three Jewels.
And awareness of my human tendencies.
And awareness of my human tendencies.
I pray that I may become aware I pray that I may become aware of when I take life—when I take it away—I pray that I may become aware—I pray that I may come aware—of when I take what is not freely given—or whether to say because it's not truly human—I pray that I may become aware—I praise—I may become aware—of when I fall into sexual misconduct of 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.
I pray that I may become aware. I pray that I may become aware of when I fall into intoxication. Intoxication. 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 of Dharma teachings, we vow to master them all. Infinite is the Buddha's way, we vow to fulfill it completely.
Namaste to you.
So I wanted to explore with you all 2 metaphors today, and they come from the last chapter in Nagarjuna's Promise of a Sacred World that we've been doing book groups of for many months here at the temple and online. And they're both from, um, from Shinran, these metaphors, and they, they very much go together. So the first is that the person who has achieved shinjin is constantly illumined. Constantly illumined. And then in the same sentence, they go on to say constantly illumined means being taken into the Buddha's heart, being taken into the Buddha's heart. And I was really struck by these two images. So for me, the image of being constantly illumined, it's like invites a sense of like full-bodied immersion in that which is illuminating. That's, you know, that light of love and compassion and wisdom. And I can, and I kind of sit on or kind of experience it on the macro and the micro. So I can kind of have this image of, of every one of my cells being illumined. So on this really like micro level being lit up by that light. And then also on a slightly more zoomed out level, I kind of experience my whole self as illumined and, and of that. Illuminating presence of being everywhere, all around me, illuminating everything. And it's a constant— if it's a constant illumination, it's like I have the sense of it being this kind of ground of being with, with everything inconstant, impermanent, rising, falling away, manifesting, passing, shifting, changing amidst this ocean of continual illumination. And then In contrast is the second metaphor for me of being taken into the Buddha's heart. And this is much more of an— feels like much more of an active thing. So maybe the other is more passive, the metaphor, and this feels more active, like there's an active taking into, taking into the Buddha's heart. And there's something about that that I just find really moving. And it's similar to, um, similar to, um, when Neem Karoli Baba says, uh, once you take hold of my hand, I never let go, even if you let go. And if there's a similar— there's both of those, like, touch me in a similar way. Yeah, that I can't really put into words, and I wonder what they evoke for you. So we have these two metaphors, and I'm just going to invite you to actually bring that first metaphor to mind for yourself. That idea, that concept, inviting in a sense or imagining of constant illumination, of being constantly illumined. And just notice how that is for you to hold that image in mind. For a moment. Satya Robyn constantly illumined, and then letting that go. Bringing to mind the image of being taken into the Buddha's heart, whatever that might evoke for you.
Take him into the Buddha's heart. And now letting that go.
And then there's an invitation here to see what it's like to move between those two metaphors, or to hold them both in mind, in body-mind, at the same time. Constantly illumined and taken into the Buddha's heart.
Melling— letting all that go.
And I guess like the way I see those kind of metaphors is that like Shinjin is either of them or both of them, or in a way like they're— but they're, they're, um, doorways, those kind of metaphors. And if we hold them in heart-mind, if we evoke them in our imagination, then we might begin to get something, a sense of what it is that they're pointing towards. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
Namoha Nijahu. Namoha Nijahu. Namoha Nijahu. Namoha Nijahu.
In gratitude, we offer this incense to all Buddhas and 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, realize our true home.
We bow to the main shrine. Tidy our seats and bow to our seats. I'm not aware that there are any announcements.
Thanks. Okay. I guess we'll do the phrase in this.
Blessed by Amitābha's light, may we care for all living things and the holy earth. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Thank you very much. Yes, time for a cup of tea.
Yeah.
