With events in the Middle East turning to Israel's attacks on Lebanon while
war in Iraq continues, members of the World Dreams Peace Bridge, like people
all over the world, have been asking themselves what can be done now? How
can we deal with this new crisis?
One answer has been coming through very strongly in a series of dreams about
the compassionate feminine, which began during May Tung's trip to China
immediately before her death at the end of May.
On May 15, May, who originally dreamed of the Reservoir which is part of the
Peace Bridge (http://www.worlddreamspeacebridge.org/) wrote:
Ah, now I know why I had to come here. It is really another world. After
flying over a long stretch of sand, we got to an Oasis, another world. It is
surrounded by the Gobi Desert with the hotel -- like an old palace, layer
after layer of courtyards. We are all out here so it's very quiet.
We went to what I call it the MIRACLE LAKE way up in the sand which
surrounded us like a bowl. Up there, there is a small, crescent moon shaped
LAKE. As you can guess, it is full of mythical tales about how it came
about. "Basically" the celestial beings created this lovely like lake so the
mythical Queen Mother could have a place to wash her face. Naturally! The
purity, the dignity, dwarfs the human world.
The Queen Mother to whom May refers is the goddess the Chinese call Kuan
Yin.
Jody responded on May 16:
In the desert, the Oasis. The reservoir where the waters of life collect.
And of course for the Queen Mother! She must have pure water to wash to show
forth her beauty. How this soothes the soul!
I remember a wonderful book by Jon Blofeld called the Bodhisattva of
Compassion, about Kuan Yin or Kannon or same figure by other names. But
always the Great Mother of Compassion, “ She who hears our cries and comes.”
One chapter tells of a mythic tale of a lake where the figure of Kuan Yin
emerges. I wonder as I read your letter if this might be the lake of your
experience that Blofeld writes about. In any case it connected for me. I
feel Kuan Yin is with you, healing and comforting you.
Having recently joined the Peace Bridge, and not knowing what was happening
with May, Mary Whitefeather wrote to the Bridge that same week on May 23
that she had been in meditation and was guided to send the message to the
Bridge that Tara (another name for the goddess) should be remembered. "A
reminder," Mary said, "that we are all really connected when we pray,
meditate, call on, or dream for Peace."
She sent along a beautiful description of the goddess Tara, which reads in
part:
The goddess Tara originated as a Hindu goddess, the Mother Creator,
representing the eternal life force that fuels all life...In Sanskrit the
name Tara means Star, but she was also called She Who Brings Forth Life, the
Great Compassionate Mother, the Embodiment of Wisdom, and the Great
Protectoress.
A version of the Goddess Tara exists in virtually every culture. Indeed it
is said that the Goddess Tara will assume as many forms on Earth as there
are needs for her by the people.
This message from Mary was met by several members of the Peace Bridge
discussion group with dreams they had had about Tara, Kuan Yin, or another
embodiment of the Tara figure, the Black Madonna. These dreams were seen as
interesting, but it was not until the Israeli attacks on Lebanon began, and
the July DaFuMu Dreaming for World Peace had taken place, that they came
fully to our attention.
On July 21, Rita wrote:
Various times during the night I was shown this image: A mother with
multiple arms (her head, face, many arms and torso) holding babies and
toddlers in the many arms, embracing them in safety. She seemed like a
physical mother but her face reflected spiritual peace. For some reason
what comes to me when I see the dream image in my mind is the sculpture of
Mary and Jesus in "La Pieta" even though what this mother was holding in her
arms were live children. Another association I have to the dream image is a
painting a woman from Montana did of the Black Madonna surrounded by
children and crying people. I will see if I can forward it to you under
separate cover.
From Del on July 23, came this dream:
(A bit later on--I was not quite awake or asleep) I stand with many rows of
wonderful birds before me. They are waiting to be sent out on my command,
and I am swinging a metal (??) thing full of incense over them. In their
talons they hold numerous coloured crystals, and I am to send them out to
the war-affected areas: to the vulnerable people, to the wounded, and to
those with the most hatred in their hearts.
The question of the meaning of these dreams and what to do with them was
asked. Jeremy, who was at the time traveling to the World Peace Conference,
replied that he had heard once from an elderly woman in Romania that the way
to pray to the Black Madonna was to imagine her alive in one's heart, and
talk with her out loud. "This also works," Jeremy said, "with the
Compassionate Buddha."
During this time of worldwide pain, those of us on the World Dreams Peace
Bridge invite all of the world's dreamers to join with us in this act of
holding the goddess of compassion in our hearts, and praying aloud to her.
A final, delightful dream that seems to be part of this chain of dreams came
from Kathy on July 24.
My DaFuMu was a simple wish called up from a memory deep in my mind. It was
so simple it just came in the form of a little childhood rhyme:
Middle East Wish
"Philbet Tan Philbet Tan
Where are you?
Philbet tan, Philbet Tan"
EOD
I woke puzzled with the rhyme still playing in my head - why this?
Then I remembered: Philbet Tan is a tall handsome intelligent cultivated
physiotherapist who has mixed western physiotherapy with Chinese
acupuncture. Why him in my dream???? BUT then I remembered: Philbet Tan is a
"Baba" a person from the Straits Chinese culture in Malaysia. This is an
amazing culture. The Chinese came originally from China (as part of some
desire for Chinese influence in the area) but they then mixed with Malays in
marriage (perhaps) and then married within their own group of Babas (men)
and Nyonyas (women) and produced a wonderful new culture - combining old
Chinese customs and language with the customs of each successive group of
invaders of their country as well as those of the native Malays. They have
their own language (a combination of Malay and Chinese); their own food
(Nyonya cuisine - a combination of Malay heat and Chinese styles); their own
dress (a combination of Chinese and Malay).They are rightly proud of their
distinctiveness - and yet it came from taking in and using and adapting to
what is around them.
It is this I wished for the Middle East: to keep what is valued and to use
and adapt to what is valued from outside. i.e. to see others who are
different, not as a threat, but as source of interesting new possibilities
within your own culture. This allows different cultures to live together in
harmony - in fact it encourages differences in cultures BUT within the
context of an understanding that difference is a source of growth.
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