Sacred Sites Screening Online 

Back in 2018, Dawa Tarchin Phillips, resident teacher of Bodhi Path Santa Barbara and co-founder and former Director of Education of UCSB’s Center for Mindfulness and Human Potential, led two dozen people on an around-the-world pilgrimage, visiting 17 sacred sites in five countries on four continents in 30 days. 

“The intention was to learn about and experience the unifying consciousness that we all share,” Tarchin explained last week at the Lobero on opening night of the Illuminate Film Festival. “The concept was to simultaneously explore the relationship that we have with ourselves, with one another and with Planet Earth.” 

In visiting and meditating at such sites as the Serengeti of Northern Tanzania, the feet of the majestic Sphinx and the Pyramids in Egypt, Jerusalem, the Forbidden City and Great Wall of China, and Mount Kailash in the Himalayan plateau, Phillips aimed to discover common ground. 

“There is a red thread that runs through all of these different traditions, and as we spent time at places where people historically have practiced a sense of awe and wonder, reverence and humility, we not only found what connects us, but also a genuine sense of belonging,” he said. “Once we know what it feels like, once we have a sense of it, we can stay connected to that experience of belonging no matter how busy things get.”

Phillips also wanted to bring that journey to others who weren’t able to physically attend, so he arranged for a cinematographer to capture footage, the result of which is an hour-long documentary called Planetary Pilgrim, which has its world premiere in the virtual part of Illuminate this week. 

“We wanted to create a visual and sensory experience that allows people to actually visit these places and have some sense of connection to the locations and the sacred places themselves,” Phillips said. 

Planetary Pilgrim can be viewed online through April 14 at https://watch.eventive.org/illuminate2024. Visit https://planetarypilgrim.org for more on the film.