What story are you telling? Morning Practice

Hello everybody, welcome. Chris on Zoom, hello if you're watching on YouTube afterwards. I know some people do. We'll begin with a Dharma glimpse this morning from the Bright Dawn book, the Bright Dawn collection of Dharma glimpses.

Dandelions. Michael Shino Lawrence. Today I noticed dandelions popping up everywhere. I began thinking back to when I was a little boy. Dandelions were beautiful flowers, not weeds. I would pick them and give them to my mother, who would then fill a glass of water to put them in as if they were special flowers. There were a lot of fun things to do with dandelions. We would string them together and wear them around our necks, on our heads, or around our arms. We also would use them to mark ourselves up or mark others with them. It was even more fun when they turned to seeds. Then we would pick them and blow the seeds everywhere. Adults did not see this as fun at all. Blowing seeds everywhere just meant we were planting more weeds. Dandelions are hard to control and they spread so fast. Seeing all the bright and sunny dandelions today made me think about what it means to see things through a child's eye. Children can see things with wonderment. It's nice to remember what that is like. It's nice to see the beauty in what may be perceived as ugly or weeds. Maybe dandelions can symbolize the Dharma, and as we blow the seeds everywhere, the Dharma can spread and grow. Namamitabhu.

Namamitabhu. Okay. Good to meet you.

Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum! Om Amitabha Hum! Om Amitabha Hum! Om Amitabha Hom! Om Amitaba— Um... Ahmami? Om Amitabha. Om Amitabha. Om Amitabha. Om Mani Tabahum. Om Mani Tabahum. Om Mani Tabahum. Om Amitabhahum. Om Amitabhahum. Om Amitabhahum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum! Om Amitabha Hum! Om Amitabha Hum! Om Ami— Om Ami Tabahum. Om Ami Tabahum. Om Ami Tabahum. Om Ami Tabahum. Om Ami Tabahum. Om Ami Tabahum. Om Ami Tabahum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Amitabha Hum. Om Mani Tabahum. Om Mani Tabahum. Om Mani Tabahum. Om Ami Tabam. Om Ami Tabam.

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 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 the Sangha. Those who live in the Buddha's light. Those who live in the Buddha's light. Namo Sangha. Namo Sangha. For refuge I go to the earth. For refuge I go to the earth. The holy ground of awakening. The holy ground of awakening.

Namo bum nyei.

Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. With faith in the Four Refuges, with faith in the Four Refuges, 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 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——when I fall into sexual conduct—I pray that I may become aware— -that's right! Of when I fall into wrong speaking— I pray that I may become aware of when I become intoxicated. No blame. Be kind. 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.

Many years ago, I met Zen Master Barbara Weggemüller from Germany who was visiting the UK, and one of the practices she encouraged us to do was ask 'What story am I telling right now?' I think she had a sort of pithy way of saying it, like, 'What's my story?' maybe. But it isn't just stories about ourselves that she was inviting us to notice, although that is very important, but all the stories that we tell about other people, about the world. And the reason for this, of course, is because stories are limited. As we heard with the dandelion Dharma glimpse, if you tell a story that they're weeds, you miss a whole load of stuff. We do the same thing all the time. One of the most fundamental Buddhist teachings is that we form habitual ways of describing ourselves and others. That aren't the whole truth. Maybe it's a critical story, 'Oh, that person's a waste of space,' or 'I'm a waste of space.' And to notice that we're inhabiting that— 'Oh, hang on a minute, I'm telling this story about being a waste of space again.' Is that the whole truth, what's going on here? No, it's definitely not the whole truth. Maybe, maybe there's been some slip-up, right, that's led you to having that reaction, but it's never the whole story. And noticing that it is a story allows us to take in other things which are true as well. I think I'm a waste of space, but here are the times I've contributed to others or to the world. Or perhaps it's the opposite story. I think I'm the bee's knees, or I think somebody else is the bee's knees, and noticing that that's a story as well. Oh, here are the ways that I've harmed people. And these stories often come out in the way that— often easiest to spot in the way that we think about people, in the actual words that we use about ourselves and others, and about the wishes that we have. For ourselves and others. I might wish to be published in Tricycle magazine. Maybe— I don't know, actually, but it is something I wanted when I was a younger Buddhist. Like, oh yeah, that will mean that I've made it and I deserve to be in there because I know what I'm talking about. That was the story I was telling, and it was mixed, right? Because I sort of did know what I was talking about. I didn't deserve to be in there. Nobody really does in the way that we mean that. I certainly wasn't doing any other writing or networking or creating any of the conditions that would have led to that possibility, just sort of wishing upon a star. And when I really investigated that story, what I discovered is, oh, actually I'm not the sort of person that this becomes true for because I don't have the energy to do that kind of networking or to put myself in the world that way. Not even that, it doesn't come easily to me, or naturally. I could choose to train myself in doing that, but that isn't what I've chosen to do. So there's— we begin to see that there's different sort of, uh, there's different levels of truthfulness. There's these stories which maybe contain a bit of truth, and in the most extreme cases maybe don't contain very much truth. At all. And then we can begin to tune in to a more, a closer experience of the sort of person that we actually are, or the sort of people other people are, or the sort of world that we're living in, by paying attention to things outside of the default narrative. And anything that helps us do that is a good thing, whether it's noticing physically how I feel in my body, that, oh, actually I feel more expansive in some conditions and I feel more sort of contracted physically in other conditions. Well, that tells me something about what suits me and what doesn't suit me. So anything that begins to disrupt the habitual beliefs that we have about ourselves and the world is valuable. And ultimately what Buddhism teaches is that there is no story that contains the whole truth. Like the parable of the elephant, right, where the blind people gather around and one of them says, 'Oh, an elephant's like a big sheet of paper,' because he's just feeling the ear. And one is like, 'No, it's like a snake,' because he's grappling with the trunk. And it's like, 'No, it's like a tree,' because I've got my arms wrapped around the leg, and so on. And actually, even if, even if they were to put their hands over the whole elephant, that wouldn't be the whole story of an elephant. It's uncontainable with words and with any sense experience. So we're invited into this expansiveness. So it's helpful in our practice to keep these things in mind, that we're often telling stories that are not true, that are not very true about ourselves and the world, that we can get closer, or that we can pay close attention and notice different experiences and facts and different versions of that story that are helpful and maybe more accurate, but ultimately that even they fall short. There is a belief within Buddhism that in Buddhist practice it is possible to sit with the pure experience of something which is uncontainable, something that is uncontainable. Maybe just for a moment experiencing the taste of reality beyond stories. But even that moment is helpful because we can take it back into daily life and just use it as evidence to remember, oh, I don't know the whole story. Beginner's mind, Suzuki Roshi called it basic bewilderment, which is a nice phrase, I think, from Chakram Trungpa. And this practice that was given to me by Satya Robyn, well, I've really Consciously taking the time to ask, what story am I telling right now? Namaste, to boom.

Namoha miyatu. Namoha miya. Namoha miya. Namoha mi tabu! Namoha mi tabu! Namoa ni jan! Namoa mi yan! Ammo ami ya! Ammo ani yaluu? No— no ammi yadu? Ammmo ami abdu? Yeah... Um, um, yeah... I mean that's not really what it means but okay. Okay so we're gonna do this again for you guys to see me mess up my Arabic pronunciation one more time because why don't we just try something new today?! So let us go back over here now into our notes on how to pronounce these words correctly.

And then when they get too hard or confusing like those two last ones there were some tough pronunciations going on right at first anyway. Let's take another look through them real quick though before moving forward.

Alrighty, uh-huh. Amor avia.

In gratitude, we make this offering to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas throughout space and time. May it be as fragrant as Earth herself. Reflecting our careful efforts, our wholehearted mindfulness, and the fruit 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. Speaking of gratitude, which you were in the offering verse, we're always very grateful when people set up regular card payments. It's one of the concrete ways the work of the temple can be supported. If you found something precious here and want to help other people experience that, it's a very concrete way that you can do that. So If you're not sure how to do that, I've got the laptop here and I'm happy to take people through how to do it on the website. Next Saturday we've got a retreat day. We'll have practice as usual, which will include blessing the baby Buddha with sweet tea in a very traditional Buddha's birthday ceremony. And also ordaining Angie, who isn't here right now, but is going to become a Buddhist minister. And then we'll have some talks, we'll have some practice, we'll have a walk on the hills. So you're welcome to join for any or all of that as well. Anything you can think of, Dave? No, not really. Okay, maybe that's all for now. Namaste. Blessed by Amitābha's light, may we care for all living things and the holy earth. Namamah Shivaya.