the Rastayana Buddhist version of the Heart Sutra....
psychedelic semi-acoustic folk rock with a conscience, a beat, and a smile
There's nothing I'd rather do than play music. I write my own songs, but also enjoy playing the work of Kate Wolf, Richard Thompson, the Grateful Dead, and many other musicians too numerous to mention. The songs I write tap into the same veins of insight, inspiration, and ecstasy that my favorite musicians channel so well.
Story behind the song
This was inspired by remarks by my teacher, Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal, about how "gate gate paragate..." really means "open, open, beyond all closing down. I used that as a chorus of sorts and adapted the Heart Sutra to a reggae beat. So, he gets a cowrite on the song, and all proceeds from its sale on this website will go to his retreat center, Padma Samye Ling. The picture in the thumbnail is his brother and fellow lama, Khenpo Palden Sherab, who passed into the bardo in late June of 2010, which is, as of this writing, last Saturday. May his influence continue to spread and benefit beings.
I originally recorded this as a classical piece several years ago, but then started hearing it as reggae. My own musical skills are limited enough that I found it difficult to do this by myself, which is my usual m.o. , so I enlisted Deacon Daniel to play bass and guitars, giving the arrangement a solid reggae foundation. Would have liked to get the I-threes to sing backup, but they're a little beyond my budget, so my friend Susan Shann provided the extraordinary backup vocals. I would have liked to have Peter Tosh sing it, but he, unfortunately, is no longer available, and even though I did my best Peter Tosh imitation people told me I sounded more like Boris from Rocky and Bullwinkle than Peter Tosh (hey, my ancestry is Eastern European, not East African!) (as far as I know! could be some surprises back there!), so I just sang it in my natural voice--but would love to hear a real reggae baritone do it....get in touch if you're interested.....
Lyrics
Inconceivable, inexpressible Great Openness
Unborn, unceasing, by nature like the sky
Experienced by self-reflexive awarenessa019 discerning, pristine cognition
Mother of the victorious ones of the three times
I pay homage to you
Bhagavati Prajnaparamita Hrirdaya
Chomden Dewa Sherab Chipa Roltu Chinpe Nyingpo
Homage to the Great Openness, Mother of us all
(note: the above, which serves as an intro, had to be edited out due to Soundclick space limitations....you can hear it on the Brother Martin Dmusic site.)
Once I came to a mountain top
With you, our Lord, and the rest
and while we sat so still with him
in bliss on that high crest
he opened
he opened
so completely opened
so far beyond closing down
he opened
he opened
so far beyond open
he could never close down again
and I could see
that you could see
just what it was he saw
and I begged you
to tell me true
so I could see it too
you told me ?"form is emptiness
and emptiness is form
they are not separate in any way
their union is the norm
all feeling, too is emptiness
and empty is perception
mentality is empty, too
and empty is consciousness
no thing is born
and no thing dies
no purity, no impurity
no thing shrinks
and no thing grows
and yet, things seem to be
there are no forms in emptiness,
no feelings, perceptions, or thoughts
no consciousness, no eye, no ear
no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind
no appearance, no sound, no smell
no taste, no touch,
no laws of form
no ignorance, no end of it
no death, no end of death
there is no pain, and yet
there's pain, without beginning, without end
there is no way away from pain
nor wisdom to impart
there's not a thing that we can do
and yet, we've done it all
since there is nothing you can do
be open to your life
do not cling to or fear what comes to you
be it bliss or be it strife
and that is what our Master's done
that's made him Lord of all
he's given us a simple prayer
to open up our hearts
it's always been true
it's true right now
it'll be true forever more
a019May I be open so open
so completely open
may I never close down again
May I be open
so open
so far beyond open
May I never close down againa019a01D
and then our Lord arose from bliss
and smiled at one and all
"good, good," he said, "for thus it is
exactly as you spoke
open your heart to all that is
and the whole world will rejoice"
and when he smiled and spoke to us
it made our hearts so glad
inspired us all to open wide
and give the best we had
May I be
open
so open
so completely open
May I never close down again
may I be
so open
so far beyond open
may I never close down again
(repeat chorus 7x)
