A Buddhist practice session led by Satya Robyn with group chanting of refuge vows and Amitabha, a talk using winter as a metaphor for refuge, and a Dharma reflection from a walk at Thirlstane Common.
Chapters
Good morning, morning to everyone joining in the shrine room. Morning to Alex, Jay, Paul, and Philip joining on Zoom. Satya's waving from her seat, you can't see her. David sat next to me today because he is going to read a Dharma glimpse that he wrote about a spiritual experience to begin practice this morning with. So I'll just move the microphone and then we'll hear from David. Namamitabhu. Namamitabhu.
This short piece is entitled Thirlstane Common. Just over a year ago in November 2020, I was walking my friend's dog on the common at the bottom of Thirlstane Road, that's in Malvern. The weather was unsettled with rain showers and the clouds were moving quite rapidly in the wind. As they did so, a crescent moon appeared and disappeared, and sunlight periodically shone from the west. I should say this was just around dusk. When it did so, rainbows appeared, apparently close to the railway line. My immediate feeling was one of enchantment, and I later wrote a short poem about it. Wind and showers are blowing, dusk approaching, who'd imagine a world so chaotic? Muddy paths, other hounds straining at the leash, trains crossing on the tracks bound for Timbuktu. Somehow outer universe and inner subjectivity match in a magical moment of oneness with nature.
Thank you, David. Lovely to hear about that experience of just things slotting into place. So we'll go into some quiet practice together now. An invitation to just notice what's here. So that might be what's around you. Oh, there's— here's the ground. Oh, here's the noise of a car passing. It might be to notice what's here in your body. Or here's a cold spot on my back where my jumper doesn't quite come down all the way, or here's some tight shoulders. Might be to notice what's here in your mind. Now here's a thought about what I'm doing later today. And maybe in amongst all of that, naturally space will appear. And if so, you can just enjoy the space. And then maybe something else appears, and noticing that as well. So just noticing what's here moment to moment. So we'll recite the name of Amitabha Buddha together. Amitabha means infinite light, and the light is boundless and unimpeded according to the The Large Pure Land Sutra. So the light is everywhere. We don't always see it, of course, because sometimes our minds are too full of other things, but we can trust that whether we see it or not, the light is here. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Amitabha. Mami. Amitabha.
Amitabha. Amitabha. Please repeat after me. For refuge I go to the Buddha. For refuge I go to the Buddha. Namo Buddha. For refuge I go to the Dharma. Namo Dharma. For refuge I go to the Sangha. Namo Sangha. With faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may not take life, I pray that I may not take life— With faith in The Three Jewels . —with Faith In That 3 jewels... ...and steal? I'm afraid to tell you how it's still! 'With Faith In That 3 jewel'?! With Faith And The Ten Gems?, "Faith" "...the three gems!"—"I Pray..." ..."That I May Not Fall Into Sexual Misconduct?" „Prayer," so they know for into sexual misconduct!„...with Faith In That 3 Jewel." „When we say Is It A Free Jews??"" „I prayed at time he had fallen too wrong Speech"— „Wrong Speak"? I pray that I may not fall into wrong speech. With faith in the Three Jewels, I pray that I may avoid intoxication. No blame, be kind, love everything. Innumerable all sentient beings, We vow to save them all. Inexhaustible are the Buddha's teachings. 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.
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. When I was reflecting on coming out of the cold garden into the warm air. I was reminded of a book called Winter that I read a few years ago by, uh, I think it was by a poet called Adam somebody, maybe was it Adam Thorpe, maybe. Really lovely book and, um, he tracks the— welcome. Just remembering a book I was reading called Winter by Adam Thorpe. He tracks descriptions of winter through the ages in literature and other sources, and what he discovers is To begin with, winter, winter, winter spaces— snow, frost, ice, cold outdoors— is where the wild things are, where the monsters are. It's threatening. It's where you go to battle, to test yourself. It's a dangerous place. And then Something happens and suddenly it's a place of ice skating, of romance, of going outside and meeting a lover. And, and the thing that happens is coal becomes cheap. That's the thing that makes the difference. So suddenly winter is a place that you go to from a warm space. And that you have a warm space to come back to. So it's not a fight to get through the winter anymore. And actually, the experience of moving from warm to the cold is— because there's a safety net, it's a little bit thrilling and exciting, and the edges are softer, and it takes on this romantic quality because there's somewhere safe. To come back to. And I can really see that in my own life, you know, part of the reason it's easy to enjoy being out in the garden is knowing that there's a warm space to come back into later on. Much harder for people who don't have that. And the spiritual, like, life is like this as well. There are places where it is easier to find refuge and take refuge, and and to steady ourselves. This is like coming to the fire. And there are places where it's— and times where it's more difficult. We could think of coming on retreat and then going into the world. It's that same kind of movement, this dance between receiving from the Buddha, steadying ourselves, nourishing ourselves, finding our own feet again, allowing the breath to slow down, taking some of that into the world where we're tested, maybe where it's a little bit more difficult. And if we don't have an experience of refuge, if we don't trust that that's possible then being in the world is a bit like being in winter without a fire to come back to. It's testing and stressful and frightening and destabilizing. But slowly, as our trust in the Buddha deepens, the experience of being in the world changes and softens, and it becomes easier. Because even in the midst of difficulty, we know that there's somewhere to come back to where we, we can be received just as we are. And different people find different things, you know, the experience of being in the world is different for different people. Different people will have set situations that are more or less stressful. Some people being outside is very nourishing. For some people being outside and being inside around people is a bit like, oh, that's where my anxiety is. For some people it's the other way around. And yet regardless of who we are, there is always something we can find that will facilitate or support that connection or remembrance to the Buddha. And that reminds us that that refuge is possible. And whether we can find it or not in the moment, trusting it's available begins to have an effect. Then we'll meet— boo!
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
Gratitude to go for this incense to Buddhas and bodhisattvas throughout space. In time. May it be as great as Sir Asad reflecting our careful efforts, our wholehearted awareness, and the fruits of understanding slowly ripening. May we and all beings be companions of Buddha, Suppōdi Sakkha. May we awake from forgetfulness and realize our true home. So a couple of announcements and then we'll finish with the closing verse. Do it that way around. Uh, at the end of this month, the 28th, 29th of January, there's an XR Buddhist retreat which is online, which I know doesn't work for everybody, but you're welcome to drop in or out for any of the sessions of that. If you'd like the details, let me know. The theme is the Four Noble Truths and the Climate and Ecological Emergency. So there will be some kind of workshop-style spaces on that theme, some sharing spaces, some practice spaces. The Saturday after that, the first Saturday of February, we've got the first of the temple retreat days of the year, which will include morning practice as usual, and Satya Robyn talk on receiving. Then was an invitation to sit in town with the ritual, with a mindful walk later in the afternoon as well. So finishing the sharing circle, details of that are all on our website. Namaste. So we'll finish with the closing. Verse. Do unmute if you're on Zoom so that we can hear your voices. Blessed by Amitābha's light, may we care for all living things and the holy earth. Namamitabhu. Thanks everybody. Thank you, Kasparina. Thank you, David. Hi people at home. Hi Caspar, you okay? Oh, hang on. Oh, hello.
