to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words. The cyclops has lost its eye, and there is terrible pain, rage, and crying out for revenge. All of the good people of this entire world are called on to witness once again the great

[01:06]

capacity within the human heart for hatred. There was a time not so long ago when I and perhaps some of you in this room walked the path of hatred. I hated the United States of America. I hated its president, Lyndon B. Johnson. I hated the military, even though my uncle, my brother, my grandfather had been soldiers who once I had been proud of. I hated the government. I hated the weapon makers. I hated the Bank of America, and I hated the armed police on my college campus, and everyone

[02:15]

on earth who supported them in any way. I hated, at times including my own parents. For years, for decades, I sat while the Star-Spangled Banner was being played. I was insulted by that war song and the flag that I felt it had come to represent. And yet, all of those years and all of those feelings were taking me further and further away from my own heart. The dark path of hatred was hiding from view the very source of my

[03:17]

rage. This time, however, at the sight of these burning towers, I am able to see clearly what is underneath my pain, my anguish, and my hatred. The source of my fear and my pain is nothing less than a loving and compassionate regard for the suffering of others. What I hated was that people were being hurt, that children and old farmers and trees and villages were being set on fire, and I could not stop it. When my daughter asked me why people flew airplanes into those buildings, I could only

[04:26]

say, there is no reason. And what I meant was that there is no light. The ground was burning. The great cyclops of human industry has lost its eye. All the causes and conditions of the ceaseless attacks by humans upon humans that we call history are once again vivid and pounding on the doors and windows of homes, offices, churches, mosques, and temples throughout the world. There are no boundaries to this chaos, and there is no place on earth to hide. Some years ago, I became lovers with a man who had been a pilot in Vietnam. He and I

[05:31]

worked together for an environmental organization in downtown San Francisco. He told me without pride that during the war, he would get up each morning, have a big breakfast in the officer's mess, and then climb into a magnificent machine, which was shot off the aircraft carrier and into the sky. He would then fly his airplane high above the ground, and by using radar and a map, drop his payload more or less on the targets assigned for the day. He was almost always back to his ship before lunch. He never saw a single living being. He never witnessed the outcome of his daily actions. The cyclops has no eye. Along with all of you, we have

[06:37]

been here watching and listening to the terrible news since this most recent outbreak of the unnameable tragedy at the core of our human life. And we are joined here with you by the and with the entire world to grieve and to bear witness to the destructive power within these miraculous human hands. And of course, we are all injured deeply and immeasurably and for life. And we've been injured before. Depending on when you were born, you carry in your own body all of the assassinations, the playground slaughters, the subway poisoning, the melting scars of battery acid on young Indian women's faces. Vietnam, Uganda, Baghdad,

[07:44]

Korea, World War, Holocaust, and Inquisitions, on and on and on throughout the lifespan of human beings on the planet Earth. We are not well, we humans. We suffer from a terrible illness that the Buddha called ignorance. We are ignoring our inseparability and our interdependence. America has not been attacked. Humankind has been attacked. We even use the word kind. What these people did was not kind. And yet, those who are not kind, those who are our own blind human children who carried knives into airplanes in isolation from those

[08:45]

around them and who mercilessly beat and tied another to a barbed wire fence in Laramie, Wyoming, and then left their sweet brother there to die. And what is it that we have failed to see as parents, as teachers, as just plain folks doing the best we can? I don't know, but I am looking. And with you, I am committed to understanding, no matter what. Even if it is too late, we have no choice. So I and all of us here have come together to be with you, to be together, and to share our community's commitment to the one worthy cause on the Earth, the cause of great peace. Jesus taught this. Muhammad taught this. Shakyamuni

[09:55]

Buddha taught this. As did Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, Martin Luther King, Chief Seattle of the Northwest Indian Nation, and all the gentle people of the Earth through all time. But first, they had to learn it for themselves, to become the human beings who did not renounce the world, but who sat upright in the very center of its pain with open arms and sacred teachings. So this old barn is an ancient sanctuary from beyond the edges of time and place. Within this refuge, these human-shaped statues embody for us the principles of wisdom, compassion, protection, and regeneration for which each of us has come here to dedicate

[10:59]

our lives. I take refuge in Buddha. This is the enlightened nature of all being. I take refuge in Dharma. This is the truth of all existence. I take refuge in Sangha. This is the community of all life. What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow. Our life is a creation of our mind. If a man or a woman speaks or acts with an impure mind, suffering follows them as the wheel of the cart follows the beast that draws the cart. What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow. Our life is a creation

[12:03]

of our mind. If a man or a woman speaks or acts with a pure mind, joy follows them as their own shadow. He insulted me. She hurt me. They defeated me. He robbed me. Those who think such thoughts will not be free from hate. He insulted me. She hurt me. They defeated me. He robbed me. Those who think not such thoughts will be free from hate, for hate is not conquered by hate. Hate is conquered by love. This is a law eternal. Many do not know that we are here in this world to live in harmony. Those who know this do not fight against each other. Within this boundless sacred hall, may each of us rededicate our

[13:09]

precious lives to the teachings and the wisdom of the one who is not blind. And as the Buddha taught, may each of us learn to hold ourselves still and to let the terrible hurt and fear and rage arise in us like those dark clouds in the New York summer sky, and like the clouds to vanish in the night, leaving us all with a great longing for peace. Only then may we sing our song. We will now offer a memorial service for all of those who have died and those who are injured and suffering from the terrible events of Tuesday, September 11th. And after the service, you're welcome to return to the Zen Do to offer incense, and you're

[14:14]

also welcome to go outside to hit the big bell. May our intention equally be the same. May we penetrate every being and place with the true merit of Muna's way. Means are numberless. I vow to save them. Illusions are exhaustful. I vow to save them. Illusions are exhaustful. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Muna's way is unsurpassable.

[15:19]

I vow to become it. Beings are numberless. I vow to become it. I vow to save them. Illusions are exhaustful. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Muna's way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it. I vow to enter them.

[16:28]

I vow to save them. I vow to enter them. I believe at this time we'll have a memorial service, and for that, perhaps everyone could

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stand up and face toward the altar. Thank you. Thank you.

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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

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[35:54]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Will everyone please face this way again. If there are some kitchen people or food preparation people who have to leave now, they can do it. First of all, thank you everybody for joining us today in our memorial service. And today will be a little different than a usual Sunday. We'll be, as our speaker, Fush Rader, said, offering tea, as usual, right outside. But simultaneous with that, we'll set up a couple of places near the altar where we can offer incense.

[37:38]

And also outside, there will be a couple of people supervising the ringing of the great bell outside for a hundred times. If any of you would like to offer incense or strike the bell to express your wishes and feelings of compassion and peace, please, you're welcome to do so. We will not have a public lunch today. We will have a public lunch. We will not have question and answer, so the tea might be an extended tea. And our public lunch, as usual, will be at 1245. So in the interim, if you'd like to join the lunch, you're free to walk around Green Gulch and spend time in the garden, if you'd like. During this week, and for the immediate future, we'll be trying to stay abreast of current events and try to serve as a gathering place for information pertaining to community events in relation to this week's crisis.

[38:47]

So you're welcome to check the bulletin board near our office, check with office personnel, or even check our phone message. We'll try to keep up-to-date information there to help coordinate events. And, for example, this evening, real nearby at Tam High School in Mill Valley, there's going to be a candlelight vigil about 7.30. And finally, just a couple more things. Our resident tea teacher, Maya Wender, will hold her normal Sunday tea gathering this afternoon. There's still some spaces left, and she's informed me that this day's tea gathering will be a memorial tea gathering. And also reminded that next week we'll have a one-day sitting, for which there are still some spaces available. Those of you who have chant cards as you leave, you're welcome to keep them, or if you prefer not to, you can put them on the back of the main altar.

[39:52]

And finally, we're going to have another event in here later on today, so please keep all the chairs where they are. It would be helpful, however, if the rows of cushions that are next to the wall, if you could gather them at the end of the platforms and put them away, that would be helpful. Thank you very much.

[40:15]

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