Transcription
[0:01, part 1 of guided practice begins]
Relatively comfortable, and can you at least somewhat feel connected with what's happening here? If you don't, there is actually a bit more space. There's quite a bit more space at the front. So don't just put up with feeling not connected, please. There's loads of space. Now is not the time for letting go. [laughter] Now is the time for grasping ... [laughter] ... onto connection.
We're going to try something. It's a little bit hastily cobbled together, but I hope that we'll make it happen. We're going to light these four candles: Buddha, Dharma, Saṅgha, time and the timeless (time past, present, future, and the eternal, that which is beyond time -- not 'lasts forever,' but beyond time). Like all these things that we dwell on and explore, these words are loose and elastic and unfathomable in their mystery. We know what 'Buddha' means, we know what 'Dharma' means, we know what 'Saṅgha' means, and we think we know what 'time' means. But all of them have depths and dimensions and mysteries that we can open up and journey into and discover more. Buddha, Dharma, Saṅgha, time and the timeless.
So there are kind of two parts to this tonight. Right now, a bit more stillness and meditation [audio cuts out]. Maybe settle into your body and feel that connection with the floor, with the earth, with the earth that supports you and supports your life. And here we have Buddha, Dharma, Saṅgha, time past, time future, etc. And in your heart, in your being, in your body right now, can you bring to mind a recognition, an acknowledgment of everything that your practice has and does rest on? Not just today, but through the years of practice that you've been involved and you've devoted yourself, and all your efforts, and everything that you've put up with, everything that you've explored, all the stretching and all the challenges, and all the dedication and the showing up. What has that relied on? What has that rested on? What have been the bases that we have received through the generosity of others, through the Buddha and his teachings, through the Saṅgha? Saṅgha means the tradition, the lineage from the time of the Buddha, 2,500 years or thereabouts. That whole stream of teachings, still alive, still healthy and flourishing today, an influx into your life, into my life, into our practice. That Saṅgha, the Saṅgha of the tradition, of teachers past, some of which you've never heard of or don't even realize are inflowing into your practice, the possibilities that open up for you, and teachers present.
You don't have to have a particular experience with this, but just to be aware of that, of the immense gift of that. We rest on this. It supports us. It has supported us. It will support us. And on that basis, is there the possibility in your heart, in your soul right now, to recognize also the great efforts that you have made in your practice? Showing up, time and time again, on the cushion, in the walking room, in daily life practice, intent on cultivation of what is beautiful, what is good, what is noble, devoted to kindness. Yes, we fail every day at that. Devoted to ethics. Yes, we fail every day at that. Doesn't matter. The intention has been picked up, lost and picked up, again and again in your life, in your care, in your efforts, and how you spend your time, in those micro-moments of choices on and off the cushion. So easy to dismiss this, belittle it, not see it, look only at the negative, what's missing, what's lacking, what's not good enough, "I don't compare so well." Can you let the heart soften in the face of that recognition, that fact actually, that fact about yourself, about your history, about your life? Time past, time present right now, and time future. What you are committed to be devoted to, intent on, aspiring to. How much goodness there is there, how much beauty, how much desire and eros, how much hard work. Let your heart, even just for a moment, soften to be touched by that recognition, by that awareness, by that appreciation of yourself for all of that.
So this Buddha, Dharma, Saṅgha, and time past and present, is what feeds us. In a way, time future feeds us as well -- what we aspire to, what we're drawn towards like a magnet with eros, with what we love, with what we aspire to. Just let yourself align with that, to know that, to rest on that, to look to that, inner and outer, personal and communal.
Okay, so that's part one. We just spent a few moments with that, really, but I think that kind of heart reflection can be a regular thing, if you want, in your practice. Because so often the habit is to go the other way, to be critical, to be self-demeaning, not recognizing, or not quite to recognize the immensity of the momentum of the current that supports us in our practice, that has come to us from the past, from others, from the kindness and generosity of our teachers, etc. But this can be a regular thing if you like. Something to nourish, to feed, to guide, to orient, to root, your life, your being, your practice, your aspiration, your devotion.
[11:45, part 2 of guided practice begins]
Okay? Part two is a little more complicated. [laughs] So we're going to have to choreograph this a little bit. Now, I'm not sure whether to leave these in the middle. I think we will. Yes, we will. So the first thing we're going to do is form two concentric circles with our bodies. So one can be just around this little altar. And then one some yards wider than that. And we'll see how that works in the space, just for starters, and then I'll explain some more about what we're going to do. That okay? Let's do it. We're going to need to move the cushions for sure. We need space in the room to move, yeah. Thank you.
So the inner circle can come quite close to our altar here, and faces outwards. Let's see -- I'm just going to squeeze through. Excuse me. Thank you. Someone's going to have to help with the practicals. Why don't we make ovals, ellipses actually? Because they need roughly equal numbers, don't they? So we actually need roughly equal numbers in each circle, so better ovals, and the outer circle will have a bit more space between people. Yeah, that's good enough. Great! Yeah. This is going really well. [laughter] Okay, so let me try and explain this. I somehow feel like standing on a chair or something. [laughs] All right, listen to me! [laughter] Okay, so often, the absence of recognition and appreciation for ourselves, for what we bring, for the care we bring, for the work we do, for the dedication. So often this focusing on what's missing, what's not good enough, you know? Sometimes we forget. We lose touch with these facts about ourselves, about our history, about what we love, about what we do, and what we have done, and we need reminding. Sometimes it's others that remind us. Sometimes it's through the eyes of others that we learn to see ourselves better. You understand? I sense myself being looked at in a certain way, and I take in that looking. Yes?
So this has, as all good things, multiple levels to it, which are optional. The basic choreography ...[laughter] Have you ever seen Saturday Night Fever? [laughter] Joke! Forget that! Scrap that. So basically what will happen, the basic choreography, and we'll revisit this, is each of us will, probably three at a time, let's say, will enter the circle, the corridor, the circular, ovular corridor here, and just move in whatever way you want to around the circle. And those who are in the circle, inner or outer, will be watching you. Choose your level here; no right or wrong. The most basic is just welcoming you, all right? It's the end of day one, doesn't matter -- welcoming you onto the retreat, welcoming you into this space, welcoming you into this land, welcoming you into this temporary community that we have for a week.
So the people in the circle watching, that could be completely silent. It could be that it manifests through the body in some gesture or dance, etc. There's a musical part that goes with this, as well, so I'll explain that in a second. Basic thing is welcoming. Second basic thing is mettā, well-wishing. Who is this person? I have no idea who this person is. I don't know anything about them. Or actually I know more than I want to know about them. [laughter] But I wish them well. Whatever it is, I wish them well. Mettā, mettā. And again, that could be because you have a standard mettā practice and you just go through the phrases in your mind. It could come out through the chant that we're going to do, that that embodies and expresses mettā. It could come out through your body, radiating or in gestures or movements, etc. You understand? [inaudible question] Yes. The people around, watching, are basically welcoming and emanating mettā to whoever's walking past them, yeah. They might walk through. You could dance through. You can somersault through. You can ...
[inaudible question] Yes. I might as well say that now, because Catherine has mentioned it. Sometimes with these things, a charge builds up. It's intense. I'm being looked at. It's a social situation. All kinds of reasons. Or just there's a lot of soul in the air. Soul is difficult to tolerate sometimes, because it has eros with it. We touched on this very briefly. So sometimes a charge builds in the energy body, in the emotion, etc., and we can have an impulse to discharge it however. Now, that's not to say this or that action or vocalization is wrong or right, and please don't get into that. But it's more, here's an ongoing exploration for you: how am I with the charge of eros and soul and heartfulness? And what happens when it builds up? And am I seeking to discharge it? And if I am, that's okay, but again, it's part of my psychological patterning that I want to learn about. Maybe I can make a choice, that there's a way that I can actually hold it a bit more and accommodate it so that I don't just dissipate and discharge it. So not a right or wrong; an ongoing, lifetime investigation.
Okay, so there's welcoming and mettā. This is the intention of those in the circles, to those who are moving through. And then there are two other levels. So one level is this person who's walking through right now in front of you, they bring with them their own particularities, their own uniqueness, their own history, their own dukkha, the particular shapes and colours of their personal psychological dukkha, but also the particular ways and colours that the dukkha of the world is held and refracted and born in them. Each of us feels what's happening in the world, what's happening to the earth, what's happening to the community of human beings and the community of other species in different ways, and we respond to it in different ways, and we bear it or struggle with it in different ways, and it affects us and impacts us in different ways. So this is also, in the uniqueness -- and you might not know the details, of course, of someone who's moving, how that moves in them, how that impacts them, how they struggle to tolerate it, etc., what they manifest in the world in response. But you know that it's unique, and it's particular, and it's a journey, and it's unfinished, wherever they are.
And so the awareness of that, and the wanting to bless that. Do you understand? So it's not just the people in this room, but it's the world, as well, and the whole of humanity, and all the species that we share this planet with. Somehow they come into this ellipse. So that's another level, and that ties into, let's say, the fourth level for now, which is the possibility of being seen as angel. So if you want, those who are witnessing, standing in the circles, it might be you sense this being that's passing before you, sense them with soul, and you can see them as angel. What does that mean? They're image. Their roots are in the divine, in the Buddha-nature.
If I say that much, is that okay? Just a poetic seed? Okay. We could say, instead of seeing them as angel, that we see their Buddha-nature. For now, let's use those words interchangeably. The way the term 'Buddha-nature' has been used in the tradition over quite a long time, it really varies. So there's a whole range of what it means. At its minimum, it just means the potential to become awakened. Any human being has the potential to become awakened just by virtue of the fact that the mind is impermanent and malleable. So no matter how messed up I am now, well, in time, and over lifetimes, etc., that can change, and I can become ... So that's a minimum. If that's what you resonate with, great. You're seeing the Buddha potential in this person.
At the other extreme of what 'Buddha-nature' has come to mean is something much more mystical and cosmic and mysterious: this person already is the Buddha, in some way. The essence of their being is the Buddha, is awakened, is the cosmic Buddha, is the primordial Buddha. Yes? So if that doesn't resonate, leave it. Find your pitch with all this. There's not right or wrong. It's part of the tuning that we're talking about.
The musical part goes with this. As we're moving, there will be a chant. Now, Catherine and Chris are going to lead this chant. It's fairly simple. Let's just come back to that in a second. What it can mean is we are all emanations of the primordial Buddha, particular emanations. The primordial Buddha needs these infinite varieties of faces, of expressions that we each are, and we recognize that. That's a certain level of it, a certain way of sensing another person. We could also say, back to the 'potential' thing, that so often with these kind of practices that we've been doing, it's really difficult, it's really a stretch, it relies on a lot, you need this skill, that skill, that skill, and sometimes we can feel like, "I'm not going to be able to do all that. Can barely sit still for ten minutes," or whatever. So we get into a self-view of ourselves as practitioners that's very limited and limiting. And again, sometimes we need the eyes of others and the blessing of others to remind ourselves of our potential as practitioners.
You can be creative. You can be playful in your practice. You can be at ease and delight in the realms of subtlety and improvisation and playfulness. You can have that range. Sometimes it feels like, "Not me. Maybe these other people." So this is also a way we are being seen, as with this tremendous potential of creativity, of playfulness, of wisdom, of responsiveness, of subtlety, of improvisation. You understand? Yes? All right.
The musical part. [laughter] Last piece before we do this. It has two parts. It has a high part and a low part, and just see which you want to join in, and you can change. Chris, do you want to start the low part? The lyrics are very simple. The low part, the lyrics are Oṃ āḥ hūṃ. Oṃ āḥ hūṃ are mantric seed syllables of the body, speech, and mind -- Oṃ āḥ hūṃ -- of a human being, but also of the primordial Buddha. And if we are manifestations of that, that means this person is the manifestation. What they manifest through body and the form of their body and the actions of their body, what they manifest through speech, what they manifest through mind and intention and thought and creativity and perception, Oṃ āḥ hūṃ. The forms that manifest in our lives, through our lives, Oṃ āḥ hūṃ. And you'll hear when Chris sings it, it's quite sort of chunky and delineated, stately, because that's what form is, forms make that.
Then there's a second part which Catherine will teach us, and the lyrics for that are amita. 'A-' is a negative in Sanskrit, and mita means something like 'limit' or 'measure.' So amita means 'limitless,' 'without measure,' 'immeasurable,' and it has connotations of emptiness. So form and emptiness, together. Whatever manifests in body, speech, and mind must take form, but it's also empty, and we never forget that. And the primordial Buddha, and the body, speech, and mind of the primordial Buddha, which manifests through us, also empty, also malleable, also limitless in its scope. So these are just poetic suggestions. Find your way in to relate to this however you like. Ça va? Yeah?
So Chris will teach us the bass part, and then we'll do Catherine's part, and then we'll try and put them together, and then we'll nail it. [laughter] All right? Yeah, so there's this cloth here, just in front of where I'm standing. When you get back to where you started, then you just join the circle, and you become a blesser again, a welcomer, a lover, an angel. You understand? Chris will teach us the bass part. [30:04]
Oṃ āḥ hūṃ
Oṃ āḥ hūṃ
Oṃ āḥ hūṃ
Oṃ āḥ hūṃ
Oṃ āḥ hūṃ
The body, the speech, and the mind are the primordial Buddha.
[chant continues in background]
Your body, your speech, your mind, blessed, unfathomable, mysterious.
[chant continues]
Very good. Let the soul, as much as you want to, or whichever level you're resonating as we do this, let it express in these seed syllables, in your voice. Let it come out. Now, if we just listen to Chris do the bass, and Catherine will sing the treble on top of it, and you can learn that, for those of you that want to sing that part. So just listen to Chris and Catherine together.
[Oṃ āḥ hūṃ and amita together, yogis join in]
You're radiating and emanating mettā through your body, through your voice, through the syllables, through your song, through your gesture, through silence, through your intention. And the person moving is moving however they want to move, and receiving, receiving that. As always, it's an exercise in perception as much as anything else. Just playing with these poetic perceptions, these soulful perceptions. Yeah? So we might have, I don't know, two or three people in the pipe at the same time? Let's say two, I think. Yeah. We might even go around again or something. Okay.
So why don't we start in two places at the same time, so two volunteers to start, to be in the circle. Shall we just start and go for it? [inaudible question] Just once. Just once, but take your time. I've said this so many times: it's hard to make soul. It doesn't just happen, okay? So that means this thing about, "Am I discharging? Am I going too quick? Am I going too slow? What's my attention doing?" Let's just try to do it, as an experiment, as always, in a way that you feel that it's soulful, that it's soulmaking somehow or other. Yeah? If you need to sit, it's fine. It doesn't matter if the people in the circle are sitting or standing, yeah. And there's no obligation to go if you don't want to; you can just stay in the outer circle. But just kind of gauge what's happening, how busy it is in there, if there are sort of collisions and multi-angel pile-ups. [laughter] Just gauge that and let's see. Try?
So let's root for a start. Feeling, again, whether you're standing or sitting -- I think standing is preferable if you can, but do what's comfortable for your body -- feeling this earth that supports you. Feeling your connection with the earth. Organic life on organic life. Sustenance. Solidity. Ground. Bounty. Gift. Already there's blessing. You can bless the earth in gratitude. The earth blesses you up through your feet. And again, this hall, and the walls here, can bless you, hold you. Deep, dark velvet night has its blessings, too, right now, on body, on heart, on soul. Then we are aware of each other, of this temporary community of a week, of how we hold and support each other, care for each other this week.
Let's start the chant, and before the first people go, we'll just be with the chant and the multiple meanings, and whatever it might mean for you -- make it yours. Let your body and voice and soul resonate with all the richness of possible intentions and meanings there. So Chris, when you're ready.
[38:22, Oṃ āḥ hūṃ chant begins]
Let the blessings radiate through your voice.
[Oṃ āḥ hūṃ and amita chants]
Your whole body emanating the magic of mantra, from your whole body. It's coming from you and from beyond you. It comes from the earth and comes from the sky. It comes from the tradition, from all our teachers, from the unseen beings. It's yours and more than yours. Beautiful. Include your body, whether you're witness or walker, however you like: dance, gesture, stillness, whatever. Angels are seeing you right now. Looking on you with love. Sensing more in you than you can even know. Seeing you as angel. Knowing your potential. Touched by and delighting in your beauty. Let yourself receive, soak it up. These manifestations of Buddha-nature. You with dazzling and limitless potential as a practitioner, as a meditator, as a soul.
[43:58] You know the angels are grateful for human beings for what they manifest. Grateful for your past, for what you're manifesting right now, for what you will manifest, for the particular shapes and colours, and that includes your dukkha, your pain, what breaks your heart and what's hard to bear. They love you for this. It's unique. Only you can bring this into the world. Only you have the duty to be you.
Some more people can come into the circle. It can hold a few more, I think. However you want to move. It's okay if you forget your potential, if you forget who you are. These angels have your back. They see you when you can't quite see yourself. They know you when your vision is limited. Whatever difficulty, limitation, contracted self-view, it can all be redeemed in soul, made into soul. The view of the angel is patient, unswayed by the contracted mind. Welcoming, loving, seeing deeply. Holding something for others when they can't hold it themselves. Reminding. Blessing. Animal, angel, human that we are. Celebrating this particular being, their sensitivities, their stories, their struggles, their joys and gifts. Feel free to embellish if you feel comfortable. When we have shame, an angel is unflinching in their gaze of mercy, merciful eyes. Angels know your depth. Beautiful.
If you think you might want to move around the circle, I'd encourage you to take the opportunity. If you want to move in the circle, now is the time.
[1:03:25, guided practice ends]
There are these possibilities for ourselves in life. Not all the time; in and out. In and out of the possibility of perceiving oneself as angel, as reflecting, informed by, emanating angel, Buddha-nature, and seeing others that way. Knowing that you are blessed and that you can bless. Thank you for that, everybody. Thank you very much.
