Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul died today. She sang like she was channeling a higher power, maybe God, or maybe the innate luminosity potential for total goodness, beauty, and happiness. Even mosquitos have this potential. Most of us leave it dormant. A few special ones access it as love and beauty. HH Dalai Lama abides on this higher (or deeper depending on your metaphor) plane. This level of existence is infused with the wisdom of emptiness, recognizing that all appearances are false, yet things do exist conventionally in the realm of words, language, and thought. And this higher level of existence is infused with unconditional love for all living beings equally. This unconditional love is not mere wishing, but actively working for the benefit of all others all the time, even in sleep. Such is the awesome power of our Buddha nature.
