The Robe Of Liberation

And so tonight I want to look at this question of the robe, actually.

What is the robe that we wear? In particular, what is this robe of liberation that we honour every single morning when we recite the verse of the Rakasu? The Rakasu, of course, being the abbreviated robe of the Buddha.

So many of us will know this well.

It's actually recited every time the rakasu is put on the head, dropped into the lap, looped around our lives, you might say.

It says, I wear the robe of liberation, the formless field of benefaction, the teachings of the Tathagata, saving the many beings.

Now, I like that this is recited by all of us here.

It's not the preserve, if you like, of those who have been through Jukai, the precept ceremony.

It's not just those who have stitched together painstakingly the rakasu.

This verse is for all beings.

It's for all beings, not just those of us in this room but all beings of the world.

Because this verse is actually a deep, deep bow to the robe that we can't take on or off.

It's the one that we are already in.

It's not something that we can pick and choose our way through, but we can choose it entirely.

I want to return to this.

Because the real robe, the one that we truly honor in this practice, is the one that is intrinsic to us in each moment.

It's our skin.

It's our blood.

It's our bone.

It's our marrow.

It's mountains.

It's rivers.

It's the great wide earth.

It's the sun, the moon, and the stars.

It's your complete and actual body, warts and all, nothing left out.

And it's the body that we realize.