Exploring the poetic power behind Tan Dun’s “Buddha Passion,” performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra on 22 January
music
The Melody of Bodhi: A Conversation with Imee Ooi
A chat with Buddhist musician Imee Ooi on her recent work and ideas for Dharma music
Poem for Chris La Tray
you pour coffee into your cupin montana it turns into tea in my cupin scotland Support Our Dharma Work
Imee Ooi and JSJG Home Concert – Sending off 2021
On 29 December, Imee Ooi and her male vocal group, JSJG, livestreamed a Buddhist-themed concert to send off 2021 and welcome the New Year. On their YouTube channel, Imee Ooi and JSJG stated: “2021 is coming to an end. In these trying times of the pandemic and natural calamities, may we survive and stay strong […]
“Seven Line Prayer to Guru Padmasambhava” – A Milestone Translation and Song
I remember first listening to the magical Imee Ooi over the speakers of a souvenir shop at Ngong Ping Village, which leads to the famous Po Lin Monastery in Hong Kong. It was 2010. Her songs, which are contemporary renditions of Buddhist dharanis, mantras, and passages from Buddhist texts, evoke aural Pure Lands. Her ethereal, […]
Spiritual Melodies: Tully MacKay-Tisbert
The landscape of America is dotted with Christian influences, from the lamentations of oppression and hope of liberation that fused with African influences to form the melancholy blues, to the Christian rock that arose in the 1960s to become a formidable force of conversion in mega-churches. It is extraordinary that the culture of a republic […]
The Image of Sarasvati in Buddhist Art
White Sarasvati, mural at the Namdroling Monastery in South India. Image courtesy of the author Sarasvati (Tib. yang chenma) is the goddess of knowledge, education, music, poetry, and culture. Her name can be found in the Vedic hymns. In these ancient Indian texts, she is worshiped as the divine power of ritual chants and sacrificial […]
Postcard from Raymond: Taking Care of Your Magic Dragon
There is a magical dragon dwelling inside every one of us. Leonard Lipton and Peter Yarrow’s Puff the Magic Dragon, which was masterfully sung by folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, is a melancholic song about losing the capability for imagination, for wonder. When I first heard this song as a kid, I thought that […]
Ani Choying Drolma’s Arya Tara School of Dancing Nuns
LiAnne Hunt In 1998, on my first pilgrimage to Nepal, I met Ani Choying Drolma. She had just come out with the Cho CD with Steve Tibbetts. I was a long-time fan of Tibbetts’s music, owning several of his eclectic Jazz fusion albums on vinyl. As a Vajrayana practitioner, the blending of Steve’s music and […]
Dance with No Dancer: Part 2
LiAnne Hunt Opening of Dharmata House Malaysia In 2014, they published a book and CD in Chinese of Rinpoche’s talks entitled Your Original Face. Now, in 2016, a mere four years since beginning this sacred dialog, the sangha has opened Dharmata House in time for Anam Thubten’s annual visit. Dharmata House is located smack in […]