Satya Robyn leads a Buddhist sangha session with guided meditation, chanting, and a reflective talk using tree and mycelium metaphors to explore what builds rootedness and resilience in practice and life.
Chapters
I love that big singing bowl, so gorgeous. Welcome everybody to this little select gathering on this soggy September evening. Oh, and welcome to Lucy who has just joined us. Let me just bring the video. There we go.
So tonight we're going to start with a dialogue glimpse by Dave, read by Dave.
Traffic Dharma. I spend a lot of time driving as part of my work. Driving through towns and cities can be quite stressful, especially if you have a deadline to keep to. I always try to leave 10 minutes early to allow for hold-ups and unexpected roadworks. This takes the pressure off and I have found I am more inclined to keep a decent distance from the car in front of me rather than tailgating, which I sometimes find myself doing if I'm late. When I am late and following the car in front of me too closely, I tend to spend the journey berating myself for not letting people out at junctions or for not being courteous enough. This happens because I don't have the time to react quickly enough, and stopping to let someone out would require me braking suddenly causing everyone behind me to do the same, spreading anger and frustration. When I leave in good time and leave a sensible distance, I can see cars waiting at junctions and people trying to cross the road from a long way off, and I happily wave them all on without even having to slow down. Everyone smiles and waves back. Everyone is happy, including myself. I really enjoy driving around merrily, letting people go in front of me and causing a sea of smiles and gratitude. I also noticed that courteous driving causes a positive traffic karma. Often when I have let someone out, they will give way at the next opportunity and let someone else out in front of them. This could be a coincidence, I suppose, but I'm sure it happens more often when I'm not late for work.
Oh, sorry. Right, so let's settle in for a short period of meditation.
So having a little wiggle around, getting out any little kinks.
As you move, you might feel the edges of your body coming up against other surfaces like the cushion or the floor, maybe finding that center of gravity and position of ease that isn't too far forward, isn't too far backwards, so that the spine can rest naturally and comfortably upright. And then giving the awareness time to really settle into the body. Body time is slower than thinking time, the cognitive time. Perhaps noticing any parts of the body that feel, feel particularly comfortable. And inviting that experience to exist alongside any areas where there might be discomfort or pain. At some point, perhaps finding expansion and the contraction of the breath.
Namokwanji in both sides. Namokwanji in both sides. Namokwanji in both sides. Namokwanshi in Mosa. Namokwanshi in Mosa. Namokwanshi in Mokwan Chi Moksan! Nam Mokwan Chi Inmoksan! Nam Mokwan Chi Inmoksan! Nam Mokwan Chi Inmokusai— Namokwanshi Imbosa. Namokwanshi Imbosa. Namokwanshi Imbosa. Guru Sai Namo Kanchi Guru Sahib! Namo Kanchi Guru Sahib! Nammo kunchi guru sahib nam mo koenchi en gur sat naam moh konshi em guh saat— Namokwanshi in Bursat. Namokwanshi in Bursat. Namokwanshi in Bursat. Namokwanshi in both sides. Namokwanshi in both sides. Namokwanshi in both sides. Namokwenshi imposat. Namokwenshi imposat. Namokwenshi imposat. Namokwanshi Mbo Satya Robyn. Namokwanshi Mbo Satya Robyn. Namokwanshi Mbo Satya Robyn. Namokwanshi imosat. Namokwanshi imosat. Namokwanshi imosat. Namokwanshi imbo sat. Namokwanshi imbo sat. Namokwanshi imbo sat. Namo Kwanshi Imbosaat! Namo Kwanshi Imbosaat! Namokwansi Inmbo Saath— namo kwanchi imbossaat? Namokwansi Imbosaaattt... naamookwaan shee inn boossaats? Naamoo koonshee Inn Boossaaths?! Satya Robyn. Namokwanshi in Bosat. Namokwanshi in Bosat. Namokwanshi in Bosat. Namokwanshi in Bosat. Namokwanshi en bosat! Namokwanshi en bosat! Namokwanshi en bosat! Namokwanshi en— Namo Kuan Yin Bosat! Namo Kuan Yin Bosat! Namo Kuan Yin Bosat! Namokwanshi Inbosa— Namokwanshi Imbosaat! Namokwanshi Imbosaat! Namokwanshi Indosaat! Namokwanshi Imbosaat! Namokwanshi Nkosazh! Namokwanshi Nkosazh! Namokwanshi Nkosazh! Namokwanshi— Namokwanshi— Namokwanshi N'vosat. Namokwanshi N'vosat. Namokwanshi N'vosat. Namokwanshi.
Satya Robyn. 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.
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 the Sangha.
Those who live in the Buddha's light.
Those who live in the Buddha's light.
Namo Sanghaya.
Namo Sanghaya.
With faith in the Three Jewels.
With faith in the Three Jewels.
And in awareness of my human tendencies. 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.
When I take what is not freely given.
I pray that 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— —of when I fall into wrong speech.
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 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 the moon.
Infinite is the Buddha's way.
We vow to fulfill it completely.
Come in.
Wow, it's so dark outside. The season's really turned. Yeah, looking at— it does give quite a nice deep backdrop to the the main shrine up there though.
Yeah. So I was walking with my lovely dog earlier today, and there was a very slight breeze, very slight breeze.
It wasn't as, as windy as it is in quite a lot of places right now.
It was a very slight breeze, and I noticed to that.
Most of the trees, most of their body, most of the main part of the tree was still, and most of their branches were still.
And then right on the tips of the branches, the leaves were moving in the breeze, and some of the thinner branches that the leaves were attached to were moving in the breeze.
But, but the heavier branches were still, and the trunk of the tree was still.
And it reminded me of the first meditation group I went to when I was 15, and, um, with a different Buddhist movement, and, and of the person who was leading the group, saying, you know, when, when you're meditating, what we're doing is we're cultivating this kind of sense that we can be as strong and rooted as a tree but remain flexible in our branches.
And then the more that we cultivate that, they said, the more that we cultivate that, the less, like, when life's craziness hits us, we don't just crack and smash like a storming a tree, but we can, um, you know, we can bend with it, we can move with it, and that trunk and deep roots can stay strong. And, and I think, if I think of that over the years, I think that is something that's gradually happened a bit.
For me, for sure.
And that, uh, things move my leaves and my branches all the time, you know, like a loud noise, like my leaves, you know, startle, or like a too bright light, or somebody's, you know, I'm quite sensitive to tension in other people, so a little bit of tension on my front, you know, my leaves and my branches will rustle a bit, but, but more and more kind of my trunk stays relatively settled, stays pretty settled. And I was thinking to myself, what enables that tree or those trees that I was looking at today? What enables them to be so deeply rooted and to grow so strong? And I was thinking, well, first, I guess they just need the opportunity to grow in the first place. They need to, uh, they're, you know, the, the seeds that they grow, they grew from, needed to have fallen somewhere where they could actually take root, somewhere there was some soil, a bit of light, not too dry, that kind of thing. And then as they grew, like, more and more there, it was their, their relationships with all the other trees and plants around them which is really helping to grow because of the nutrient exchange through the roots as facilitated by the mycelium and the fungal network, taking nutrients from this plant over here who has an abundance of this particular thing. And so it gets sent along the mycelium network to that tree over there who has a bit of a deficit of it. And, but maybe the one who's a bit lacking that has something else. So that ends up going through the mycelium network to another plant over here. So it's these, these, um, the relate— these relationships with the trees and the plants around them are absolutely integral to the health of that tree. And, um, and I, I think It's quite a direct metaphor. It's quite an easy metaphor to transfer on to person, onto human, human development, I think, and the development of practice and of stability. Like, you know, I'm very fortunate to live in a community surrounded by like minded people, and to before then have had many different encounters and relationships, some, some short, some more long-standing with, with, um, with people who in some way, um, shared some nutrients through the mycelium network with me, supported my practice in some way, my presence. Yeah, and, um, and sometimes I think it's, it's like even the tiniest moment can support that, like, like the fleeting glance of a, of a smile shared with someone in the street over something comical, like, um, or how happy a dog is to see you when you get home. All these like tiny moments that help resource and, um, they help keep my heart open and, and help it to reopen if it contracts. So to come around a little bit, to come around circle. A little bit, I guess. So much of what enables that sense of that ability to be rooted and at the same time flexible, strong and flexible, not easily blown over, is reliant on other people, other forces, other beings, other power. Like it, it, it all is like, it's not me creating somehow that can like conditioned by myself for any of that to happen. Just as the tree doesn't create its own ability to grow really strongly, it's all about its relationships with the environment and the earth and everything else around it.
So that's the image that I'm ending with tonight. Namomi debu. Namoh Amida Buddha. Namoh Amida Buddha. Namoh Amida Buddha. Thanks for joining tonight. Not this Sunday, but the Sunday afterwards, we'll be having a kirtan and devotional singing chanting night, so come join if you're free. We'll be streaming it online as well if you want to join. Lucy, bless by light, may we care for all living things.
