In our enactment of Yeshe Tsogyal’s story, we are confronted with the fierce, penetrating realities of life and death – a reminder that no matter what commercialism tells us, life is not a “popular event” nor is death an embarrassment to be postponed with botox and diets. We bear witness to her youthful pleasures and enthusiasm as spiritual power and feminine wisdom, not as a glossy magazine cover filled with the unattainable promise of eternal youthfulness and vigor. Her unshakable devotion to a spiritual path – meditating in remote Himalayan caves, trekking vast remote terrain, braving untold dangers – are at once inspiring yet confounding. We find ourselves asking: How could she be so fearless? What does she see? Our project reveals her fearlessness and begins to show exactly what she saw.
In our play, we also encounter the power of Yeshe Tsogyal’s sexuality – not as a deterrent to spirituality, as is so often the modern view – but as a sacred erotic current dignifying her entire spiritual journey. She invites all of us to “come out of our closets,” as it were – to recognize female sexuality as a means of spiritual empowerment, not as a toy or political weapon. In a sense, ALL VICTORIOUS OCEAN is a missing “Vagina Monologue’’, a story in which we witness a woman’s enduring confidence in the sacredness of her elegant eroticism.
As with the original Tibetan text, our play amplifies shocking details, bends and expands proportion, and exposes intimacies unvarnished. We, as the audience, become disoriented. Our modern conventional viewpoint is short-circuited and we glimpse, for just a moment, the profound, primordial reality of our humanness.
In the end, ALL VICTORIOUS OCEAN mirrors our yearning to know who we are completely – a yearning that overcomes any obstacle, embraces any insult, surrenders all arrogance and offers every strand of human power and tenderness in order to fully realize our humanity – and such is the inspiration of the noble life of Yeshe Tsogyal, tantric yogini.
Over 1,200 years ago the most sublime Buddhist teachings of India were carried across the Himalayas to encounter the fierce, rugged people of Tibet. The journey was harrowing for Yogic masters like Santaraksita and Padmasambhava and the vast Himalayan terrain – fantastic, raw and terrifying – was unforgiving. Despite the harsh, almost impossible, conditions, the Buddhist teachings found fertile ground. The journey across the Himalayas met with success and the profound tantric teachings of Indian Buddhism were embraced and practiced by many tough, determined Tibetans. Foremost among them was a young woman who perfected the teachings and attained enlightenment:Yeshe Tsogyal.
The legend of Yeshe Tsogyal’s remarkable spiritual journey has been told across the centuries, passed down through generations of Tibetans and preserved in the 18th century classic masterpiece biography: The Secret Life and Songs of the Tibetan Lady Yeshe Tsogyal. Now, once again, we will tell her story; this time as theatre in the tradition of sacred art.
Why tell Yeshe Tsogyal’s story today? Why does Yeshe Tsogyal’s spiritual quest matter to a modern society – a society distinctly removed from the austerities of meditating in mountain caves and seemingly unconcerned with becoming enlightened? Simply put, the story of Yeshe Tsogyal reintroduces us to ourselves – to the possibility of reigniting our connection with life beyond the relentless addictions of modern materialism. Her story encourages us to come face-to-face with our natural wakefulness and compassion and to the possibility of helping a world that has profoundly lost its way.
In ancient Tibetan literature, there are predictions of a time when human society would fall into a Dark Age – a time when greed and addiction, war and poverty, would prevail so completely that vast starvation, mass killings and epidemics would become routine. People would become afraid and would grow angry, cowardly, and out of touch with the delight and profundity of our human existence. It was further predicted that, during this Dark Age, many of the teachings preserved in Tibet would enter onto the world stage and present in detail how to live a fearless, dignified life. And as an expression of these predictions we proudly present a harrowing and erotic tale of the noble life of Yeshe Tosgyal, Tantric Yogini: ALL VICTORIOUS OCEAN.
