Part 3 gives Alexis' account of staring down an F5 tornado. She mentions Lama Ole Nydahl, one of the first students of the 16th Karmapa of Tibet. She also mentions Wrathful Mandalas. Mandalas are a space, often depicted in paintings, which represent an enlightened state, in the case of a Wrathful Mandala – powerful protection.
Two days later another powerful experience brought the words of my teacher to mind. A tornado hit the city, and this was very interesting as well. In the Mason lectures with Lama Ole (Nydahl – One of the first western students of the 16th Karmapa of Tibet) in ‘94, he mentions something interesting about the Wrathful Mandalas (Mandalas are a space, often depicted in paintings, which represent an enlightened state, in the case of a Wrathful Mandala – powerful protection). He says that in order to enter them one needs a lot of courage.
Photo of approaching tornado taken by Alexis. A clear view of the tornado is provided by an exploding transformer. (This photo was also the one I saw on the news the next day. They pulled it from her Facebook account!)
As I was seeing the tornado right before my eyes, an overwhelming and intense feeling covered me. It popped into my head that this was the closest moment that I had experienced in my life that maybe simulated a tiny taste of the intensity of a Wrathful Mandala. This idea made me smile and I understood tornado chasers (talk about excitement!). I wanted to be closer. I was outside with my family and they all started taking refuge in the house. I couldn't stop staring and didn't want to go in. They grabbed me and took me inside. Later on, even though it didn't hit the house I was in, I saw destroyed houses all around, and heard in the news it took away lives.
Part of our meditation is understanding that the nature of everything composite is that it is ever changing. The tornado, a natural happening that arose spontaneously, destroyed everything around it. And even the tornado in itself dissolved after a while. Watching this event really made me accept this a little bit more, it was definitely a unique experience that will remain with me until I forget it :) haha.
As she mentioned the super cell did take lives, dropping funnel clouds on the highway as it approached us in central Dallas. But as it went over the heads of my friends and myself it didn’t drop any tornados. And up where Alexis watched in awe, no one died despite extensive damage to homes.
Experiences like these remind me that inevitably in life we face the unexpected and the unknown. Isn’t it a good idea to do what we can to prepare by developing fearlessness? All the better if we have like-minded friends to prepare with.