Dear Friends,

With every obstacle we are given the chance to open our minds and hearts and learn what it is we are here to do. We have spent several days in Dharamsala now, trying to prepare for the larger delegation to arrive in just a few weeks. Through this very short time we have learned many lessons and had to keep our minds open to whatever would come. We are constantly learning to let go of our expectations, our attachments to the way things "should" be and just take experiences as they come.

One of the first obstacles we faced when we arrived was preparing for the presentation we'd planned to give at the anniversary celebration of the Tibetan Children's Village (TCV). The original plan was for us to dance with several of the children from TCV as well as some of the teachers and other Tibetan women. We were asked, instead, to give a shorter presentation (the full mandala dance takes about 45 minutes), and the teachers thought the children could not be available for practices to learn the dance. We also were not sure if any Tibetan women would be dancing with us from TCV, which was a great disappointment. We continued to check with the Tibetan Women's Association (TWA) to see if any of them would dance with us. The cultural shyness of the Tibetan women seemed to be a great obstacle. We had not gotten any commitments. Then, Prema and Anahata received a call from Tsering Palmo, an English teacher at TCV who also is heavily involved in TWA. She and her beloved joined us for dinner and we spoke at length about the dance. She agreed to do some recruiting and will be getting back with us shortly about when we can meet to rehearse before the rest of the delegation arrives. (We just heard that so far she has recruited 14 dancing Tibetan Taras) When one door seems blocked, another opportunity auspiciously arises.

Donna Dancing Turtle, Carol Cini, and I received another auspicious meeting merely by remaining open to whatever may meet us the other day when we were visiting the temple. After walking the Kora path, which is a beautiful meditation walk lined with prayers and nature, we sat in the temple courtyard for a few moments to catch our breaths. Then an aged monk walked over to us and said "Welcome." He asked us where we were from and to follow him, which we did. He led us around the grounds a bit and back to his room in the monastery where he offered us tea and asked us our names, our parents' names and our grandparents' names (thus, our lineage). He told us he was learning more and more English, and that he was a teacher of many things. His name is the Venerable Geshe Ngawang Tashi. Prema later told us that the title "Geshe" means he has the equivalent of a PhD, the highest level of Buddhist studies. It was a beautiful moment, and it occurred because we were open to it.

An obstacle that several of us have faced is sickness. Both Prema and I have gotten horrible sinus colds, including congestion, sore throats, coughs, fever, and the works. Carol was also feeling a bit under the weather, but not severely. After a few days of taking things easy, we visited a Tibetan doctor at Men-Tsee-Khang, the Tibetan Medical and Astrological Institute. It was very different from any doctor I've ever seen before. Basically, he diagnosed us by feeling our wrists and a few other very basic things, and he talked about more chronic problems than our colds, but then he gave us medication that would help with our colds as well as other problems. For me, he prescribed a regime of pills (which must be crushed in boiling water and taste much like muddy bark), along with three "precious pills." These precious pills are very special, made from 25 ingredients, including pearl, coral, lapis lazuli, nutmeg, and saffron, and must be taken with a full ritual, including mantras to the Medicine Buddha. It was a special experience sitting in that room together as he worked with each one of us and his young woman secretary translated with such good humor.

After the doctor we met with Kuten-la, the state oracle of Tibet. We hope that our delegation will be able to meet with him. His monastery is about to begin a special puja that will last for two weeks from 5 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. so we must juggle our schedule carefully. While I had read about things like this before, really trying to comprehend that type of devotion and commitment is difficult for my Western mind.

While meeting with Kuten-la, Anahata brought up the subject of the earthquake that devastated part of Western India not too long ago. She remembered from a conversation last year that the oracle had predicted the earthquake, but she thought it was a bit amusing that many newspapers gave credit to the Dalai Lama for predicting the earthquake. This opened an entirely new topic of conversation. Kuten- la told us that many scientists predicted a large earthquake to hit last month along a fault line in the Himalayas which travels just under Dharamsala. The oracle's response to this was a puja, or prayer, to the earth dakini, asking for stability. This puja was given to all Tibetans to repeat until the danger had passed, which it now has (at least, what the scientists were predicting). The puja, however, captured our imagination as it includes the dakinis for earth, fire, water and wind. There are definite possibilities of a new dance in this.

So, we are continuing to learn and grow, continuing to face obstacles and enjoy blessings. We are glad to have a completed list now of who will be joining us. Several people chose not to continue in their journeys for many reasons, but a large number of the delegates are still planning to come. Also, a few more delegates from Ireland, Russia and Brazil have decided to join us at the last moment. It will be a fantastic group of women, dancing through our obstacles. Many blessings will come.

Bright Tara Blessings,
Jessica Zebrine