Recently I saw a high-quality giclée print from an original appliqué thangka created by the artist Leslie Nguyen Temple. I was entranced by the image entitled, "White Tara in New York City" and knew that Leslie and her husband Terris had collaborated on large-scale works for many years with the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa and that he took a keen interest in their personal artwork as well.

At first she was horrified, doing her best to keep them out by stuffing an old blanket into the crevice beneath the door so that they couldn’t get into her bedroom. But they easily chewed and clawed their way through whatever barrier she put there, until finally she gave up fighting them.

In our every living moment, the torma ultimately means the space within which every experience unfold and the wakeful knowing that experiences. These are not two, subject and object, but an indivisible unity. The torma offering is to transcend this duality. ~Erik Pema Kunsang.