Prolifically Raw: Dreaming Wide Awake

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Dreaming Wide Awake

I had this dream last summer. I was hanging out with the Dalai Lama. He was with me in the backyard. We were sitting on the steps. �It�s really simple,� His Holiness said, �you just lay down peace where ever you are.�

�Lay down peace?� I asked.

�Like a blessing,� he affirmed. �You just bless everything with peace. The blades of grass, the rose bush, the tree. Everything. It�s really simple. You want me to show you how?�

In my mind, I�m thinking�holy cow, the Dalai Lama is giving me a practice, in my own backyard, holy cow.

�Yes,� I said. �Please show me how to do this.�

And, happy to oblige, as if he's just a guy and not THE DALAI LAMA, he passes his hand over the grass, waves it at the rose bush and does a little �hi ya over there,� to the tree.

�There,� he said, dropping his hand on his leg. He laughed with his characteristic laugh, all the way down to his belly. �That�s it. Blessings of peace. Just think if everyone made peace around them, just made blessings on the ground they walked on, all problems would be gone.�

There are few dreams in my life that are more precious. In fact, I would say that this is the number one dream. Number two is a dream I had when I was 14, where I was in the car with my father (after he died), saying, �is that you? I thought you were dead,� and he said, �no, I�m not really dead. I mean, I'm dead but not really dead.�

~

There is a line in a Tibetan mantra that goes: like moons in water, sights deceive us, we ever roam bound in cyclic chains. This mantra is a call to wake up from the dream of life. Mantra means, �mind protection.�

I love that line: Like moons in water, sights deceive us�

Jung said our waking life is more like a dream than our actual dreams.
~

I saw the Dalai Lama, for the first time, last October in Vancouver B.C. There is nothing more magnificent than seeing that monk in person. He is the Beatles of our age. They said: all you need is love. He says: kindness is my religion, my heart is my church.

When I was done seeing His Holiness last fall, I made a vow to myself. I said, the next teaching I get will be from him!

A month ago, Zigi Wangmo called to say: �I can get tickets to a teaching with the Dalai Lama, you want to come?�

Holy cow!