Tonight is not so much about teachings or words, but just more about gathering together, meditating together, dancing together, singing together, celebrating oneness together, and reaffirming our dream—a world where there is peace and harmony and love and where everyone feels cared for and nurtured and where everyone can be supported on the path of enlightenment.

You know, in the 60s and the 70s, there was a great movement, especially here in this country, toward the ideal of oneness and peace and brotherhood and sisterhood, with the aid of songs and marches and even herbs. But somehow the momentum of this movement back then seems to have fizzled a little. It may have gone to different areas, but it did not have the impact that they had wanted.

And I think about that, and I wonder why is that? I think it is because there was a missing ingredient. It is important to have a dream. It is important to have an ideal. It is important to nurture our truest heart's desire for peace. But that by itself is not enough. There needs to be a spiritual practice to give that ideal power, momentum, and lasting force.

So, today on 11/11/11, a day of oneness, synchronicity, and alignment—or at least a day symbolizing that or reminding us of that—on this day of oneness, we are being reminded to bring forth that ideal, bring forth that imagined nation, bring forth that dream of world peace and oneness and unity. Bring it forth and connect it with the power of spiritual practice, the power of meditation, the power of mindful living throughout the day, and the power of collective practice, of the sangha practice, the community practice. When this happens, when we can combine the ideal with the power of this spiritual practice in community, then watch out world.

And we must do it together. The time of lone ranger spirituality is no longer applicable. There were times in the past when it was wonderful. Different individuals could become enlightened by themselves and just be on their own path, but today we need a collective, in my opinion. And we need an enlightenment that is done together. Without that, there is not enough power to transform and shift the collective global energy, because you see, we are at this point in time headed toward a global disaster. You know? We can't sustain our lifestyles like this forever without completely ruining the planet's ecosystem. So we are actually headed toward a global catastrophe.

However, I believe that today and in the next year, we have the opportunity to collectively shift the direction toward a global awakening, if we choose. And so that is what this day is really about. It is not the end, and it is certainly not going to end a year from now either. It is an opportunity to make a new beginning, to let go of the old way, where we have the opportunity to let go of the ways that just have not worked, and we are having the opportunity now to practice creating a new beginning for ourselves and for the world.

So, the secret has been with us all along. You see, the ideal and the power of practice in community, that is just Buddha, dharma, and sangha. In Christian language, that is the Christ ideal, living out the Gospel truth in our daily lives and doing it in this church, in the community, in the kingdom of heaven on earth.

Whatever tradition you are a part, it does not matter. All traditions are pointing toward the universal truths in different languages, different words, different metaphors. But if you get caught in the metaphor and the symbol only, without letting the symbol draw you towards that which it is pointing toward beyond the symbol, then you are not allowing the truth to fully permeate your heart and life. You are stuck in forms instead of seeing the essence. And that does not mean that forms are bad. Forms are wonderful. I love forms. But forms are there to point us to the direct experience of the truth, which is universal.

So, use your Buddhist forms or your Christian forms or your Jewish forms or your Muslim forms or whatever forms you enjoy. Transform your communities and help the global awakening toward going beyond the forms to the essence of that truth. Follow the Buddha and the dharma and the sangha by awakening the ideal, the dream of true peace and enlightenment on the earth. And give it the power of dharma, of practice, of meditation, of mindful living consistently, faithfully, diligently. And do it in the collective energy of the sangha, of the community, of those who are your brothers and sisters on the path with you.

You see, as I have said before, we are all like little raindrops, beautiful raindrops, lovely, cute little raindrops. But we evaporate so quickly by ourselves. So it is important to have our little raindrop to other raindrops so that together we can form a mighty river of enlightenment that cannot be stopped. That is what is required today.

You see, this date of 1-1/1-1/1-1, it is about oneness, and yet there is more than just one one, because it takes all of our ones together to make the oneness. And that is what sangha really means. Each of us a beautiful infinite one, but we must bring our individual ones together to create the true universal oneness. So add your one with the one next to you, and together we cannot be stopped.

Tonight, let us just enjoy all the energy that we collectively generated, and let us use that energy when we go home tonight… or maybe some of us will stay for the 11:11 p.m. meditation. Or when you go to sleep, sleep and wake up tomorrow morning and just continue that energy, just let it flow. Let it flow. Let it flow. Oneness of the whole world starts with you. Each of us needs to realize our oneness so that the whole world can realize its oneness.

But the whole world can not realize its oneness in each of us do not realize our own individual oneness, meaning is there a war inside of you? Right? Is your right brain having a war with your left brain? Is your head having a war with your heart? Is your body having a war with its spirit? You know?

We are all struggling with the war within, which is why we see so much strife and disharmony in the world without, in the world. So, let us heal the inner disharmony within each of us, and that will help us create harmony amongst all of us and in the whole world. So that is the key.

So, do not think that you aren't important. You are important. We need you. So do not sit back and think that, well, other people will do the work. I am not really necessary. That is not true. You are necessary. If only you realized the fact that you are alive at this time in history, it means a lot. It means you came here on purpose, and maybe you have not remembered it yet, but you will. Maybe today, maybe sometime in the next year, but you will remember it. And when you do, watch out world. Here we come. Amitabha.