Visualizing Ivanpah

The 14th Dalai Lama, author of Freedom In Exile, Tenzin Gyatso.

About a week ago, I bought the Dalai Lama's autobiography - Freedom In Exile - at a Barnes & Noble store in my neighborhood in Las Vegas.

I had not gone to the bookstore with that book in mind. In fact, I ended up at Barnes & Noble totally by accident - merely to pass some time before a nearby appointment.

As I walked through the aisles, the book called out to me. I turned my head. I picked it up. And I did not want to put it back on the shelf.

From the moment I started on page 1, I have been enjoying the book deeply and constantly. Just about every free minute, I have been reading the book. Now, I am about half way through it.

It is a staggering story of the eternal struggle for freedom, and the enlightened, but difficult, commitment to compassion.

Late last night, I was reading about the Dalai Lama's 1959 escape - at age 23 - to India after China's ever-burgeoning invasion to "liberate" Tibet caused severe destruction of the 1000 year-old Tibetan Buddhist culture, resulted in shocking deaths and unwelcome resettlement of many Tibetans, and placed his own life and safety in danger.

By Robert L. Candiotti, February 1, 2009

With a pillow fluffed up behind me to comfort my back, I had been reading in bed for a few hours. It was late. My mind was becoming fuzzy. I could hardly keep my eyes open. But I still wanted to keep reading. I forced myself to read a few more pages. The Dalai Lama's story continued...

Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet

This was the Dalai Lama's winter home until his escape to India in 1959.

After a few days of being unsure what to do, the Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama) summoned the oracle and asked for his counsel. The oracle, in his trance, shouted "Go! Go! Tonight!" The oracle actually wrote down a route for the Dalai Lama to take all the way to India.

And as he prepared for the long and arduous journey, he writes in his book that he pauses "to visualize reaching India safely" (which he did), and, he adds, "I visualized returning to Tibet" (which, tragically, he has not been able to do yet).

I dreamed of Paiutes resting inside their huts in the Ivanpah Valley desert.

I could not keep my eyes open any longer. I fell calmly asleep. I dreamed of the Dalai Lama - being forced from his homeland by the Chinese - departing Lhasa, but already visualizing his return to Tibet.

And then, my dream changed. I began to visualize Ivanpah Valley.

In my dream, I first saw the native people of Ivanpah - the Paiutes - living in huts in the desert, staying out of the sun during the sizzling summer afternoon. I was looking at the wickiups. In the heat of the afternoon, the village was quiet. All living creatures were avoiding the sun.

But then, a huge, futuristic jet, unlike anything that exists yet, descended over the Paiute village.

I dreamed of a jet like this descending over Ivanpah Valley at the Nevada-California border.

The ancient past became juxtaposed with a mystical future. Events historically spread out over a thousand year time-line were happening all at once.

In my dream, Paiutes from the distant past gazed up to see a huge jet aircraft arriving with passengers from faraway lands. Then, a group of Paiutes sauntered into the international terminal. At the terminal they entered some kind of lounge that was peopled with travelers from all around the world, drinking exotic beverages and looking exotic themselves. The lounge seemed to feature indigenous musicians and dancers from around the world. The place rocked with intoxicating rhythms. It was a peaceful place. The lounge was clearly not in competition with Las Vegas. It was far enough away in both distance and distinction. This is what I remember of the dream.

As the Boeing 787 Dreamliner airplanes descended gently to the ground, high-speed trains were arriving and departing. There was a stop for the Maglev train from California right at the airport. Electric vehicles of all types were entering and leaving the Ivanpah Airport area. Driverless buses from the Primm hotels/casinos were dropping off and picking up air passengers.

There were even bicyclists from Las Vegas arriving at the airport on special bike paths. As they dismounted their bikes at the airport, I saw the riders enter what appeared to be a building that offered showers and sustenance so they could rest up before long flights to international destinations.

In the dream I saw a casino at Primm that literally straddled Interstate 15. In the restaurants and bars, as well as at the rooftop swimming pool, people could look down and see cars and trucks passing beneath them. The floor of the casino, built above and across I-15, had a vast glass floor. Looking like darting fish under a huge glass bottom boat, vehicles whizzed beneath the gamblers' feet.

"Visualize" was one of the last words I read in Dalai Lama's book before nodding off into sleep.

In Buddhism, complex visualizations are used to reach Buddhahood (perfect enlightenment). When I read that the Dalai Lama was visualizing journeying to India safely, and returning to Tibet eventually, I felt quite relaxed.

It seems the relaxation put me in a condition to allow visualizations of Ivanpah to enter my thoughts while sleeping.

However, I realize visualizations do not easily come to fruition. Since 1959, the Dalai Lama - though having visualized returning to Tibet - has remained exiled from his homeland.

In the dream, high-speed trains were coming and going at Ivanpah Airport, with Primm close by.

It is said the goal of Tibetan Buddhism is to attain enlightenment (Buddhahood), and then help all other aware beings to rise to this level.

Mahayana is the Buddhist religious school of Tibet. According to the "Mahayana" entry in wikipedia.org, compassion is one of the key concepts of Mahayana.

Bodhisattvas (enlightened beings) are attuned to compassion, and they vow to postpone reaching nirvana (the state of being free of suffering and rebirth) until all other beings have also reached that stage.

A 10th century Tibetan writer, Je Gampopa, says in The Jewel Ornament of Liberation, "A Mahayana follower should not be without loving kindness and compassion for a single moment." He also says, "It is not anger and hatred but loving kindness and compassion that vouchsafe the welfare of others."

So, with these - and similar - things running through my head, I fell asleep and dreamed of Tibet, which turned to Ivanpah, with the time of the action being the future.

In the morning, when I woke up, with my cheek resting against Freedom In Exile, I was still dreaming about high-speed trains connecting to futuristic airplanes with mind-expanding destinations.

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