Cascading shadow and warm light bounces off the faces and robes like a cool breeze brushing at your cheek, the utter beauty of the surroundings brings with it such a sense of calm and serenity, of deep devotion and faith amongst the gathered crowds.
The shadows are drenched in a lush and saturated rainbow of depth and hue, flowers of every kind, such impassioned raw beauty. This is a place for prayers to be made, and if we’re lucky, answered. This is a place to bring your greatest hopes and dreams to reality, making strong wishes under the tree has a profound effect on all of us, and it is a time for deep contemplation. Here the possibilities are both endless and accessible. Here the soft light graces us all. Here our wishes are magnetized and multiplied beyond comprehension. Here our hearts can come together and our faith can connect us through space and time.
Beneath the tree once again, as Karmapa is seated on his throne surrounded by a vast ocean of Sangha and Dharma family, I cannot help but feel a sense of peace come over my entire being, a sensation that is unlike anything I could hope to feel anywhere else. The energy today is unlike that of other years, as the hustle and chaos that is the norm has been replaced by a deep calm and cool pervading warmth. Gone is the intensity, gone is the drive, gone is the feeling of the speed and the rush. What we are all left with is pure magic. What we are left with is soft light and warm sun, a soft and elegant space that we can all share. What we are left with is the powerful combination of incredible teachers and inspired students. Faith is just a word to describe the bond we all feel with one another, the joining of our hearts is powerful and real. What we are left with is the most important of all, for it is that which binds us, keeps us close and practicing together as one. What we are left with is all that matters.
Posted for: The Kagyu Monlam
