BBC INTERVIEW WITH AMIDA ORDER MEMBER BHAKTIKA (MIKE FITTER)
On Sunday morning, 16 April 2023, BBC interviewer Kat Cowan spoke with Bhaktika about the
deepening of his faith in Buddhism that occurred after the death of his wife two years ago.
Click on the links below listen to the interviews.
Link to 6 minute clip: https://bbc.in/mikefitter
Link to full interview: https://www.bbc.co.uk/
With the wish to help all beings, may all my thoughts, words and actions
be void of attachment and ego.
May they arise from compassion and wisdom.
May they be imbued with wisdom and joy.
–from Going Home to the Pure Land
Heartland Zen: February 18, 2023
Susthama’s multi-layered talk delves into the origins of ‘Refuge’ in Buddhism, and a deep look at the three jewels: Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. She then adds the two additional refuges of Amida and the Pure Land, which can change our mental landscape and lead to greater liberation.
Heartland Zen: July 11 2021 After discussing some of the more common causes of depression, she talked about the inevitability of dukkha/suffering and how we might try seeing it as the groundwork for inclusiveness and compassion–whether antidepressants are used or not.
Heartland Zen: January 22, 2022
A FAITHFUL APPROACH TO THE SUTRAS.
A Heartland Zen Dharma talk by Susthama on 22 January 2022. Here she discusses the role of faith in Buddhist practice by examining both a Pali Canon and Mahanaya sutra.
Bestowed: Responses to the Visionary Mahayana Sutras
Digital artwork by Carol Corey, December 2022
A Message from Susthama, February 2023
We had a lovely meeting with Enrique, originally from the Canary Islands but living in the UK. He ordained as a priest in the Jodo Shin Shu tradition in 2019 and came to our sangha meeting on Tuesday to talk about his interest in Shinran’s struggle with doubt.
He talked about the doubting heart that is found in some of Shinran’s wasans. A wasan is a poem that is sung in Japanese.
The doubting heart is the entrusting heart. It is the heart that is open and willing to accept that one doesn’t know. It is good to have a doubting heart. Why? Because if we didn’t doubt we might be foolish enough to think that we are certain about our convictions. We would become close minded instead of open minded. We would become extremist which might lead to even more polarisation. It is a good person who has a doubting heart because they can hold their opinions lightly and think that they might be wrong. If they are wrong then they may be open to listening to the ‘other’ in their midst.
Susthama Kim: Pastoral Letter August 2021
OUR BOX OF MATCHES
Climate change is a global phenomenon that is having a huge impact on the well-being of human beings no matter where they live. We in the west have had the resources to shield ourselves against terrible weather in the past, but as weather patterns become more severe, the less we are able to defend ourselves against the force of nature. Floods and fires have been occurring all over the world and devastating poorer nations for a long time, and now, richer countries are experiencing the costly and ravaging effects of them.
In the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, published on 9 August 2021 from the United Nations, climate change researchers have confirmed that the extreme weather is caused by human activity. This is not surprising, nor is it new. Scientists and researchers in this field have been warning us about the dangers of emitting greenhouse gases for some time now. However, being told that we are in danger and pointing to facts on a piece of paper are not as dramatic or influential as mother nature stopping us in our tracks.
We are animals that will continue particular behaviours that support our lifestyles that we love to live. We do not find change and discipline easy. New Year’s resolutions are a good example of how easy it is to know what’s good for us but hard to carry through to a full lifestyle change. If it is that hard for one person to improve one’s life and be better off, just think then, how much harder it would be for one person to change so that others, not including oneself, are better off. No matter how resolute, nor how beneficial it is for us to stop certain behaviours, we crumble and fall before our habits.
Humans are greedy, angry, and deluded. Put a group of people together and that group can create systems of power that are based on greed, hate, and delusion. Group those groups together and we have nations that collectively exploit resources, take up arms in order to defend, and call themselves sovereign.
We have found ways of living that are indulgent, cruel, and harmful to all species that inhabit this planet. We have seen a growing loss of forest and marine life, and a growing list of endangered species and a long list of extinct ones. And now, the United Nations is highlighting that we have got to reduce emissions which means that we have to reduce our demand for fossil fuels which means we have to end our greed for more cars, bigger houses, stronger machines and other items that give us status in society and a sense of being a somebody.
Buddhist psychology is based on the principle that the self is an illusion. The self is not a true or fixed entity, but rather a changeable one. If there was a real and fixed self, then we would be able to pick and choose what we want to feel. However, studies, and time spent meditating on the self and the mind over 2,500 years ago, and documented in the Abhidhamma Pitaka, continually show that feelings arise unbidden, and will come and go like the weather. They are impermanent and unreliable. Continue reading…
To contact Susthama Kim, Head of the Amida Order, or to request information email susthamakim@gmail.com
PASTORAL LETTERS AND TEACHINGS
On this page, Amida Order members will provide updates, reflections and pastoral letters and more.
AMIDA’S 48 GREAT VOWS: Introduction, February 2021
In my statement of intent to the Order as part of the election process, I wrote that I would follow Amida’s 48 great vows to guide me. I would like to take some time to look at all the vows, where they come from and what they mean. These vows are found in the Larger Pure Land Sutra which was told by the Buddha on Vulture’s Peak. Continue Reading…
The 12th Vow
The 11th Vow
The 10th Vow
The 9th Vow
The 8th Vow
The 7th Vow
The 6th Vow
The 5th Vow
The 4th Vow
The 3rd Vow
The 2nd Vow
The 1st Vow
KARANIYA METTA SUTTA
(edited by Bhaktika and Sundari)
Lovingkindness, or metta meditation, is a
traditional Buddhist practice that helps us to move from a sense of dislocation and isolation into more of a connection with ourselves and, ultimately, with all beings everywhere. The literal translation of the word metta is “friendship.” So metta means being a friend to ourselves and a friend to all of life. Its foundation is connection.Every action that anyone commits – even the most misguided and evil action – is an attempt to escape suffering. So we can wish that all beings, including ourselves, find the wisdom to see that true happiness is supported by love and awareness, and not by hatred and violence.
May all beings be happy and secure.
May all beings become happy in their heart of hearts!
And think of every being without exception: the weak and the strong, from the smallest to the largest, whether you can see them or not, living nearby or far away, beings living now or yet to arise – may all beings become happy in their heart of hearts!
May no one deceive or look down on anyone anywhere, for any reason. Whether through feeling angry or through reacting to someone else, may no one want another to suffer.
As strongly as a mother, perhaps risking her life, cherishes her child, develop an unlimited heart for all beings.
Develop an unlimited heart of friendliness for the entire universe, sending metta above, below, and all around, beyond all narrowness, beyond all rivalry, beyond all hatred.
Whether you are staying in one place or travelling, sitting down or in bed, in all your waking hours rest in this mindfulness, which is known as like living in heaven right here and now!
AMIDA ORDER PRECEPTS
Revised December 2021
CLICK HERE for a complete list of the new Amida Order Precepts that can be printed out for use in your practice.
FROM THE PREFACE TO THE ESSENTIALS OF THE VINAYA TRADITION
by Gyo’onen
The great Vinaya Pitaka assembles all the teachings and cannot be fathomed. The broad practice of the Buddha’s ethics embraces all the perfections and is difficult to calculate. The five realms of delusion are quickly extinguished by means of the practice of the precepts. The mental entanglements of the two kinds of death are cut off by means of the path of purity.
The precepts are a jeweled boat to cross the river of desire. They are a divine carriage to traverse the mountain of hatred. They are an immediate cause of entering the citadel of awakening. They are a direct path leading to the realm of the Buddhas. It is because of the precepts that the sustaining power of the Three Jewels, leading all beings to enlightenment, is forever fresh and new. The means of training thus provided for all kinds of beings has great saving virtue.
The spreading across the world of the sutras and their explanations comes solely through the power of the Vinaya. The cutting off of doubts through meditation and wisdom is exclusively a product of the power of practising the precepts. The precepts are the essentials by which the Dharma is protected and the Sangha remains harmonious. They are the model for teaching and saving all sentient beings. They are the level path of enlightenment and nirvana. They are an excellent model of the four wisdoms and the three manifestations of the Buddha….