A PEACE DELEGATE (AND AMBASSADOR FOR PEACE) TO BEIJING
For me the trip to China was a sacred journey. It was a rare and wonderful opportunity to connect heart to heart with a large number of amazing women. They came in all sizes, shapes and colors; yet beneath the differences was the same desire to be part of creating a world where peace is blossoming.
Nin Sharyn Bebeau
My son came to China three years ago to study healing with two Chinese masters. He returned home transcendent with tales of a magical, spiritual people. It had long been his habit to meditate at dawn on a mountaintop near our home. In China, he found gardens, parks and ponds in which to greet the dawn. He always said that meditating at that magical time between dark and light made the day sacred. It delighted him that the Chinese gathered in the parks at the break of day to celebrate their lives with Qigong, Tai Chi and dance. Bodhi was ecstatic in Beijing.
Six months later, he died. He swerved to miss a deer and drove off his beloved mountain. I went to Beijing to find Bodhi. Surely our spirits linger in those places where we were once very happy. The first morning of the first day in China, I found him.
We were taken to the Summer Palace. Exquisite gardens, huge fuchsia lotuses lining the shore, graceful bridges and fanciful temples filled our eyes with wonder. This magical place certainly reflected the beauty and grace that marked Bodhi's life. It was built by an Empress, a woman who rose from her position as a lowly concubine to become the beloved of her people. She attracted the Emperor's attention by singing sweet tunes each time he passed. Bodhi was so charmed by the palace, that he gave me a picture someone had taken of him standing in the courtyard contemplating a leaf or a butterfly. I immediately recognized the building where the photo was taken. A magnetic force drew me to stand on the exact spot where he had once stood looking so at peace. Instantly a rush of energy surged up from the stone below and a blast of energy poured down upon me, raking my heart to the core. My whole body was enveloped in a vortex of ecstasy and despair.
A magnetic thread of compassion drew a group of my sisters (though we had not yet been introduced) to gather around me. In the circle of their loving hearts, I felt supported and safe.
In the weeks after his death, Bodhi visited me several times. The last time I saw him was in the window between sleep and waking. He put his arms around me and kissed me, saying, "See ma, you can still feel me." I never saw him again, but a short time later, his voice came to me and said, "You will not see and hear me again, for we are going to merge. I will live within you as I did before I was born. Now you must complete the mission we both share. Now you have to be a Bodhi Sattwa."
In those tender days, the only way I could hold my center in the midst of anguishing loss, was to cling to the Hebrew word, "di-ain-nu" as a mantra. Diainnu translates as, "It is enough for us." To me it means that having had the honor of loving Bodhi is enough for me. Having known love so deep and pure, that neither the challenges of life nor the parting in death could separate us, is enough for me. Diainnu. All my past joys and sorrows are enough for my soul. I now ask nothing more of the Divine, than to be able
to serve in improving the quality of life in our world.
And so I went to China to be a peacemaker and to fulfill the mission Bodhi bequeathed me. Before this trip, I understood what I needed to do. In China, I found the passion to do it. In that vortex of energy that was once my beloved child, I awakened to the Bodhi Sattwa in my soul.