A full view of the Giant Buddha Statue of Leshan, Sichuan, China
Photo Credit: Ariel Steiner (June 2005)
Circumference and Center
If prayer is not its own answer, it is not true prayer; it is petitioning or bargaining.
If meditation is not its own goal, it is not true meditation; it is only a contrived means toward some imaginary end.
What we arrive at in true prayer is our own true intention; what we arrive at in true meditation is "who" and "what" we really are.
In one sense, true prayer and true meditation are synonyms; in another sense, they are two distinct movements within the dance of being.
In true prayer we experience the embrace of the circumference; in true meditation, we experience the clarity of the center.
In true prayer, we move from the embrace of the circumference to the clarity of the center; in true meditation we move from the clarity of the center to the embrace of the circumference.
-- Richard Power
