We usually listen to music in an active way, reaching out, linear. Certain types of music, however, require a different kind of listening for their appreciation. On Saturday night I went to see Ustad Habib Khan, playing the sitar, and Swapan Chaudhuri on the tablas, at the Vedic Cultural Center in Berkeley, in a performance of ragas, traditional music of India…
Category Archives: Essays
A few defining characteristics of classical music
Before talking about any one composer, or piece of classical music, I thought I’d write out a few brief notes about this kind of music in general. Hopefully, this will provide context for the recommended performances…
Hearing Beethoven
When we talk about the major figures in Western Classical music, Mozart is seen as representing the unique genius of Classicism. His music is the easiest to approach. J.S. Bach is on another level, such that it is almost difficult to think of him only as a composer. His art is filled with mystery, passion, profundity, and exaltation. He is thought of as the apex of the Baroque.
The influence of Beethoven, in comparison to other composers, in my thinking, eclipses the boundaries of music. When his music is known in context, we can begin to understand just how much it changed, not only music, but all of Western consciousness and Western Culture…
Crossing the desert with Bach
My Spanish teacher in Colombia asked me this week how we can keep going, with right view, with all that is going on in the world…
The Dark Mysteries and Arvo Pärt
… the existence of suffering is great in us and in our world, and it doesn’t resolve without embracing what we call the dark mysteries…
Six things that Westerners need, that Buddhism can offer
Recently, a friend of mine asked what I thought a Dharma center could offer to engage people who are new to Buddhism. The first few items came to mind right away, and within the week the list had grown to six things that I think are especially needed at this time, in this culture.
The King of Aspiration Prayers
To all the Lions Among Humans who appear
in the ten directions and three times,
I pay homage with reverent body, speech, and mind…
Dedication Prayers
By this merit,
gathered together with all the virtue,
of all the ten-directions and the three times
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas…
Be a Light in the Gathering Light – Selected Poems
Preface
In my ideal world, we introduce ourselves with poetry, either our own, or that of other people, that we keep with us at all times…