www.firetender.org www.thestoryofthis.net www.artforhealers.com www.mauihealingartist.com Dalai Lama Comes
A-Callin'!
(a slide show)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
About six months ago I learned that
His Holiness,
the14th Dalai Lama, was supposed to come to my little
town on Maui to
dedicate a "Stupa" (Buddhist shrine). It was to be within a block's
walk of my house! My first thought was, "He'll NEVER come here!" I bet my Braddah twenty bucks the Boys at Homeland Security wouldn't let him visit. "Town's too small. Not even a Maui Police Sub-Station for local 'intelligence' and only one two-lane road as a major artery. No way!" Of course my first concern regarding a world Icon of Peace and Compassion was that he'd get knocked off. Look at our times! Apparently, I wasn't alone. A year ago the Maui Dharma Center began seeking his Holiness's Blessing of a Stupa yet to be constructed. Untold hours of building, fundraising and dealing with the Tibetan equivalent of the Vatican and many Governmental Agencies brought it to fruition -- and set me up to lose twenty bucks! One month before His Holiness' visit, THEY started coming in waves and droves. FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, MPD, Interpol, Tibetan Guards, anybody with a badge, it seemed. From friends close to the Dharma Center I learned there were webs of evaluations, investigations, administrations, and other permutations of anticipatory security-related activity, all over town. No cameras are allowed onto the grounds of any of the Dalai Lama's visits except for officially approved photographers, subject to background investigations. They approved three for the Paia visit. I was not one of them. Each and every step that the Dalai Lama would make on the grounds was measured and pre-planned. Each potential "stop" -- and we're talking pause! -- was considered. I notced video cameras installed Inside a friend's house who lived on the Center's property that weren't there before. Hours before His arrival, the streets were packed with spectators. The roads leading into town were closed. A limited number of "Dignitaries" were allowed on the grounds of the Dharma Center and its gates closed. When the motorcade arrived, floods of agents disembarked and filled the space around His Holiness, and pretty much kept it filled until the conclusion of the event. "These guys are GOOD!" I admitted to myself, because I couldn't recall seeing anything documenting just how tight security is for this man of peace. In photos, the massive presence of armed guards was always invisible. So, camera in hand, I explored the art of invisibility myself. BELOW
IS THE SLIDE SHOW.
Starts with image of a hawk. Left-click your mouse on it to activate cursor-driven CAPTIONS. If you don't have FlashPlayer CLICK *View All Images* |
|||||||||||||||||||