Full Circle

His Holiness the XVII Karmapa has come to Seattle, my home. Tomorrow he returns to India.

It's been a year since I've come home from my trip to India to see His Holiness. Heartbreak. Breakdown. Journey. Longing. Shadows. Dreams.

In the past year I've begun the journey of processing my shadow, the place of wounds, fears, the repressed subconscious. The process of embracing all that my conscious mind does not wish to acknowledge that is me, that is of me. The process of dying and being reborn. A process of dreams and journey.

May 7, 2004. My first dream with the Karmapa. He shows me how to make a death soup for dream interpretation.

His Holiness imparts a family treasure, the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum. Passed down from his grandmother to his mother and from his mother to him. And from him to the audience in Seattle. Delivered by the empowerement of Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara), the bodhisattva of compassion.

Tomorrow I leave for India, He says. Even though my physical body is not here, I am always with you.