Through My Eyes                                                                                                                                                  * As I mentioned I haven't been able to work on the sculpture of Tara Drolma recently so here is a closeup of the other side! The clay has actually thawed somewhat so I might be able to do some work on the torso and legs before it gets colder again as it usually does in a week or two.  In the meanwhile though I've been trying some animated gifs!  You may have noticed this one on the  "How to Help" page of a Windhorse Project.   Actually as pilgrims accounts from the Chang tang plateau describe, the light actually rises on the mountains, warms the glacier ice and the water then rushes down hours later in the late evening darkness!  The icon looks just fine though as is I think. Here's another we've just created. These take a bit of tinkering in the photo editing software as they are actually made of several pictures. I'd actually like to make this a bit more complex and have everything begin dark , then have Tara Drolma and the stars appear, then have Tibet become alight. It reminds me of Shantideva's saying: As when a flash of lightening cleaves the night and reveals all the dark had hid Likewise rarely through the Bodhisattva's power virtuous thoughts rise brief and transient into the world From a Tibetan perspective I think it means that a compassionate state of mind is very hard to attain and preserve, but very precious because one who does has a profound effect on the world which is more important than any that material gains can achieve. It is for this reason that the nonviolent approach always wins in the end. please click here to continue...                                                                                                                                                          * courtesy of A Luminous Diamond (Bright) Crystal Show productions. The information for                                                                           the sketches is  courtesy of the Footprint Tibet handbook by Gyurme Dorje.