It is so nice to be back in New York again. It’s been exactly one year since I was last here.
This is the second year in a row that I have been able to achieve my long-standing desire to perform a goma fire ceremony in New York City. Today’s service would not have been possible without the close cooperation of the management and staff of the Riverside Church and the efforts of many people who have been working behind the scenes. I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to all those people, and to you, who are participating by your attendance. Thank you very much.
Before I proceed, let me first take this opportunity to express my profound sorrow and sympathy on the recent, tragic terrorist attacks against the United States.
I am deeply impressed by the determination and heroic courage that the American people, led by President Bush, have shown in the face of this sad and painful crisis. In particular I’d like to pay my sincere respects to the fire fighters, policemen, and emergency workers who have been doing such a wonderful job.
I watched the coverage of the memorial service held at Yankee Stadium on September 23. This, too, was truly soul wrenching.
Mayor Giuliani made a speech during the service. I’m sure you all remember his words, but they are worth repeating here. Mayor Giuliani declared: “To those who say our city will never be the same, I say, you are right. It will be better.”
These words, more than anything, show that
These words not only touched me. They also made me think. “What can I possibly do to help make New York City better?” I ņaturally thought of the goma ceremony and the talk I was planning for the Riverside Church.
Of course. Here was my chance to make some kind of contribution.
|As a man of faith, what I could offer is some thoughts on how to concentrate and intensify our power through prayer and meditation.
There is nothing in the world that is stronger than the power of prayer. And meditation is the skillful tool that guides the power of prayer in the most effective direction.
Our prayers have the power to affect God, to influence Buddha, to move heaven and earth. We need to wholeheartedly turn the collective power of our prayer towards the goal of building world
New York City. And it is still with me as I speak to you now.
The fire ceremony that I conducted a little while ago is called “Gedatsu Goma,” or the fire ceremony of liberation. The one I performed last year was the fire ceremony of the Buddha’s wisdom. Taken together, these two rituals represent the essential core of Buddhism.
The word “liberation” here means release. But what is released? The mind is released. And what is it released from? It is released from all restrictions, from all limitations, from all bondage.
And what is the result of this release?
I think it is the state that the great Greek philosopher Plato is alluding to when he declares that one can only achieve true, fundamental wisdom through the pure selfhood one’s soul attains when it is completely released from all restrictions.
Plato’s learned teacher Socrates also journeyed down the path to true wisdom as far as it would take him. My own investigations suggest that the ultimate object of their quest may have been the same wisdom that the Buddha posits.
On my own path I have experienced the healing that only true wisdom can provide and the firmly peaceful state of mind that results. I have seen many acts of authentic courage that such tranquillity affords.
The question, then, is how do we go about obtaining this peaceful heart, this peaceful mind?
That is what I would like to talk about today.
The answer, in a word, is meditation. Nothing can change a person as completely as the kind of meditation that brings a stable peace to both mind and heart, the kind of meditation that releases the mind from the bonds of illusion and suffering that limit it and allows it to experience true wisdom. Meditation has the power to open
