Amber generously picked me up at Newark and drove we drove up to the Abode the next morning. I arrived at 11:30 at the Abode and was met by Aimee. We set up the altar and I felt into this sacred space. We then went to Aimee’s to drop my luggage and eat a meal before we began our event. It was a quick drop in, still I felt good and ready.
The event was from 1:30 – 5:30 ( we ended up going until 6 something <3 )
We began with introductions and went into the Preliminaries – Motivation and Shantideva
I felt committed to accomplishing an offering of the full mandala even though we had some brand new dancers and others who had not been in the mandala as a dancer. ( for example Lin Lerner who usually dances as a protector – Lin is a good friend as she is a member of the Vajrayana foundation/ Lama Tharchin sangha and I have spent many retreats at Pema Osel Ling with her. I was delighted to have her with us ) We set our intention to dedicate this offering to Lahaina- and the greater Maui community _/\_
I knew I could be successful as I have done it many times in a matter of a few hours. I handed each Tara one of Jessica’s Tara Cards starting with Hope as #1 and Amber had asked to dance Creative Wisdom and I continued around the circle. While I contemplated and constructed a mandala of 10 – drawing it out – I asked the dancers to contemplate their praise and feel into it and Hope had brought lots of clothes, scarfs/color options for the dancers to create a costume. We began to form the mandala and another dancer arrived! – adjusted the mandala…….. proceeded …… then another dancer arrived! – adjusted again. Finally we had our Mandala…. of 12….. and I could finish instruction and walk through the mandala and all the parts of the puja until the end. We took a brake of 15 minutes to rest and contemplate etc.
Then we made our sacred offering – The Mandala Dance of the 21 Praises of Tara ! ******everyone was in a state of grateful wonder as it was a very smooth ride!
After the mandala concluded we sat and shared around the circle….. it was very deep and magical and a great gift to all. We then danced “Tara The White” which was fun and uplifting and a moment to celebrate each one…we dedicated with “The 4 Immeasurables” – May all beings dance.
We followed up with a lovely pot luck in the dining hall of the Abode.
Sunday a group of us participated in the 8:15 daily dharma in Spanish lead by Hope and attended the “Universal Worship” at the Abode. I loved this and was deeply moved by the formal acknowledgement of religions and spiritual traditions that all point to the same goal and also the key words assigned to each tradition was very interesting and informative for me. We had lunch and then went on pilgrimage to the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls. I led the group in an offering of “Calling Tara” at the Glacier Potholes, the location of the Peace Treaty between 2 First Nation Tribes. This felt a profound way to end our practices for the day. This Monday morning Aimee, Hope, Regina and myself continued with the 8:15am daily dharma .
SARVA MANGALAM! In gratitude, eana rose
