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SYMPHONY No. 5 (CHORAL)

REQUIEM, BARDO AND NIRMANAKAYA

Music by Philip Glass

Text Compiled and Edited by Philip Glass,
James Parks Morton and Kusumita P. Pedersen

© 1999 Dunvagen Music Publishers, Inc., New York

• A BRIDGE BETWEEN THE PAST, THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE.

  The symphony was commissioned and conceived as a millennium celebration work for the Salzburg Festival. My plan has been for the symphony to represent a broad spectrum of many of the world's great "wisdom" traditions. Working together with the Very Reverend James Parks Morton of the Interfaith Center of New York and Professor Kusumita P. Pedersen of St. Francis College, we synthesized a vocal text that begins before the world's creation, passes through earthly life and paradise, and closes with a future dedication. We are looking at the moment of the millennium as a bridge between the past (represented by the "Requiem" and embodying the first nine movements up to the moment of Death), the present (the "Bardo" representing the "in-between") and culminating in "Nirmanakaya" (the future manifestation of enlightened activity). We have elected to present the original texts (Greek, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and indigenous languages) in one language, English, to show the commonalties with which all these traditions resonate. For a work of this scale it seemed fitting to add chorus, children's choir and soloists to the usual symphonic ensemble, thereby giving it ample breadth and dramatic capability. Besides being a compendium of reflection on the process of global transformation and evolution, it is hoped that the work will serve as a strong and positive celebration of the millennium year.

  - PHILIP GLASS

• A "PEACE SYMPHONY", THE "CHORAL SYMPHONY" BY PHILIP GLASS.

  His 1975 opera entitled Einstein on the Beach, composed in close cooperation with Robert Wilson, ushered in "a new age of opera." The combination of various theatrical elements (images, dance, music, language, singing and choir) were united in an almost five-hour, four-act montage, a type of ritual vision focusing on the physicist Albert Einstein. Einstein on the Beach was a great success in Europe and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. But this work, according to the composer, is "not something that's trying to illustrate Einstein the way the history books do, it's trying to present a political interpretation of this man" with audible images. Furthermore, a narrative libretto was dispensed with. For Philip Glass, this work signaled not only a new age of music theater, as it was also the "end of minimalism."

  A quarter of a century has passed since then, but Philip Glass still bears the "minimalist" label and is considered -next to fellow Americans La Monte Young, Terry Riley and Steve Reich- one of the leading composers of minimal music.

  But what is minimal music? In contrast to other main genre designations applied to 20th-century music, in contrast to Twelve-note composition and Neoclassicism, serial and taped music, the term minimal originally does not so much refer to a style or a compositional technique as to a group of characteristics and a number of methods which could be quite antithetical at times. In the course of the last decade, this term has also come to refer to a wide spectrum of styles currently popular in musical youth culture which are superficially similar to the works composed by the fathers of minimal music such as Glass or Reich. Examples of these similarities are the sustained repetition of identical or extremely similar melodic and rhythmic patterns.

  This type of music first saw the light of day in North America; after its great breakthrough, minimal music began to appear virtually around the world. While some of it demonstrated a certain degree of originality, the majority proved to be obvious imitations of the style's originators. It almost seems as if the first genre which belongs to the "classical" music originating in the USA, is repetitive minimal music. This new tendency first appeared in the early 1970s as a reaction to the European avant-garde, which budding composers in the US also had made their own. The difference was the repetition of short elements ("patterns") in rigid sequences with little or no change, thereby producing a type of music intended to be "audible art" with no "extra-musical" messages. The models for this style could be found in jazz and traditional music from India and Africa. There was also a close resemblance to popular Western musical forms, especially rock. The fact that minimal music tended to be a crossover from the very beginning, serving as a link between widely varying musical styles, is therefore not coincidental. Minimal music also tended to adhere to tonality, as did these latter styles, in contrast to avant-garde music.

  Phil Glass, in the same way as the other composers mentioned above, grew away from the early forms of minimal music in the early 80s. This has often been the reason for hefty criticism, though his international success did not suffer as a result. The end of minimalism he declared should not obscure the fact that essential characteristics of early minimal music can still be found in his works. Even his Symphony No. 5 (Choral), which was conceived as a "Peace Symphony," demonstrates the central role played by repetitions of patterns after only a few bars. However, before discussing the intention and structure of this new work, let us examine the composer's life: born on January 31, 1937 in Maryland, his father had a repair shop for radios and sold record albums. As a result, the young Philip came into contact with recorded and broadcast music at an early stage. He learned to play the flute and began studying music at the University of Chicago. While in Chicago and later in New York, he concentrated on the musical style in fashion at the time, Twelve-note music and Neoclassicism, depending on his teacher's preferred style. He received a scholarship and went to Paris to study under Nadia Boulanger in 1963 till 1965. However, it was not her who caused a major change in the direction of his interests: in 1965, Glass met the Indian musicians Alla Rakha and Ravi Shankar, the latter of whom he worked for. He then began to develop a new style of music in the form of "additive processes" with reduced harmonies and repetitions. When he returned to New York in 1966 after visits to India and North Africa, he met Steve Reich and Arthur Murphy, two former fellow students. Both were following similar paths at the time. (In 1965/66, Reich composed his first repetitive taped pieces with phase shifts, "It's Gonna Rain" and "Come Out".) In 1968, Glass formed his own Philip Glass Ensemble in the same way as Reich and La Monte Young for the purpose of performing his compositions in New York art galleries and museums. In 1971, he founded his own record label together with gallery-owner Klaus Kertess.

  Philip Glass's breakthrough finally came not in America but after performances in Holland and Berlin, and especially with musical theater productions: Einstein on the Beach in Avignon in 1976; Satyagraha, an opera about the early life of Mahatma Gandhi, in Rotterdam in 1980; and Achim Freyer's production of the same piece in Stuttgart in 1981 (conducted by Dennis Russell Davies). Satyagraha attained cult status for followers of the various peace movements, opponents of nuclear power and religiously motivated drop-outs. In 1984, Achim and Ilona Freyer produced the Stuttgart premiere of the Pharaonic opera Akhnaten. Glass worked his way toward these extensive scenic works with a cycle lasting over four hours, the piece entitled Music in 12 Parts (1971-1974), "a regular compendium of his previous techniques (repeated patterns, additive processes, uniform movement in fourths and eighths, static harmony with unexpected modulations, gradual exchange of melodic patterns) with a new method of linking the parts according to a strictly regulated scheme of keys" (Michael Struck). Glass made use of this cycle again for his Einstein. As early as 1980, Glass was described in the leading. English music encyclopedia as "perhaps the most popular serious composer" -and he has remained so. With his opera trilogy, Phil Glass has reached wide audience around the world and -according to the composer himself- skillfully shaped his career in a "more businesslike" way. In response to the charges -especially from European sources- that he had become a "crossover composer," he simply turned them around: "I began writing in a certain way because I've always been interested in the grammar of music, in the way it fits together. I'm a serious composer, but I'm working at a time when audiences no longer assume strong and exclusive allegiances to one musical style. The significant thing isn't what's happening to me, it's what's happening to audiences." Considering the level of his success, it is hardly surprising that the New York Met commissioned Glass in 1992 to write The Voyage in commemoration of Columbus's discovery of America; he received the highest fee ever paid for the composition of an opera to that point, $325,000.

  "A millennium celebration work for the Salzburg Festival"

  The approaching new millennium seems to have had the same effect as a shot of adrenaline for many people around the world. The desire for peace and harmony is -understandably- enormous, and whoever thinks of peace and "harmony" often associates it immediately with music. Classical music, of course, especially Mozart.

  As a result, a great idea was devised by a few powerful and moneyed personalities in Salzburg, Tokyo and New York to express in music the age-old dream for peace. A generous Japanese sponsor should made it possible to commission a symphonic work. The Music for Peace organization was founded, and a number of projects were launched. Philip Glass was prepared to come up with a "millennium celebration" which would be performed at the end of the Salzburg Festival in 1999 and then go on a world tour. When the Tokyo stock market came down, the sponsor disappeared, and he was followed by the influential personalities. Despite this fact, Salzburg was able to put on a first-class symposium with prominent participants in 1998 at which an Austrian composer (Olga Neuwirth) and a number of international music researchers seriously dealt with the question of whether composing "peace" is possible in the first place, and if so, how this has been done in the West and elsewhere over the centuries. (These essays will be available in book form at the opening of the Salzburg Festival in 2000.) Symphony No. 5 (Choral) is the name Phil Glass chose for his 75-minute work in 12 parts, which was composed in 1998/99. "Choral Symphony" refers to a particular symphony with choir, namely Beethoven's Ninth. At the start of its fourth movement, the first three movements are quoted before terrifying fanfares prepare the stage for the composer's objection: a baritone sings, "O friends, no more these sounds!" The sounds which should replace them are those of the "Ode to Joy," a vision of the future: "All men become brothers under the sway of thy gentle wings." Beethoven's Ninth is not only the first symphony which is resolved in its finale, it is for the first time a free composer and citizen's public address to humanity. Such a call must, due to its earth-shaking topic, at the same time be of high artistic quality and "popular" as it is intended to reach a wide audience. It is therefore no coincidence that Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" employs a catchy dance melody, a contredanse which recalls the songs of the French Revolution. A large number of people should unite under the banner of an idea, joy and fraternity. Beethoven's "Choral Symphony" is given an internal unity, though not by the aesthetic conception alone: A social ethic is bound together with an appropriate aesthetic plan. The music goes beyond the limits of the musical, becoming nothing less than an expression of human culture in this piece. (For this reason, this work was often instrumentalized for political purposes. The Bayreuth Festival was opened and re-opened with the Ninth, and it was used by the National Socialists, Hanns Eisler, and in East Germany, though with various political slants.

  Parts of Beethoven's conception of his Ninth Symphony were also employed in Philip Glass's "Choral Symphony".

  The idea that was maintained is that of a symphony which addresses all of humanity -although this phrase has a different meaning today, namely world culture. Glass claims that he intended to "represent a broad spectrum of many of the world's great 'wisdom' traditions." And indeed: the text upon which the 12 movements of the symphony are based was taken from no less than 24 different sources, epochs and cultures. They were put together, not because of the variety they represent, but due to the ease with which they could be integrated into an underlying concept, a spiritual "world history": from our earliest past to the distant future, from the pre-creation (first movement) to the creation of the cosmos, life forms and man (second to fourth movements); life between joy and evil (fifth and sixth movements); suffering and compassion (seventh and eighth movements); to death, the final judgment and "Bardo," the intermediate state (ninth to eleventh movements); and the concluding "Nirmanakaya," a future enlightened existence (twelfth movement).

  Phil Glass's Fifth Symphony is arranged for five sole voices, a children's and a mixed choir, and a large orchestra (triple winds), strings and several other instruments often used by Glass: electric organ piano, celesta, glockenspiel, xylophone and harp. The texts are sung in English by the soloists and the two choirs, and are set to music in such a way (homophonous choirs) that the greatest possible proximity to the rhythm of normal speech facilitates comprehension.

  As is typical of vocal minimalist music -and not only the compositions of Phil Glass- the music, rather than reflecting the texts' contents, is at most influenced by their structures or forms. While the singers recite their texts, the orchestra weaves an acoustic foundation with repeated minimalist motifs to carry the words. In the "Choral Symphony" by Phil Glass, motifs are not elaborated upon and developed; they form repetitive patterns which remain more or less uniform within a section. This constitutes the fundamental difference in comparison to symphonies in the 19th and part of the 20th century. A relationship is therefore created only coincidentally through the return to a particular theme or the similarity between different themes. This takes place on a thematic or rhythmic level and not through variation or stringent harmonic processes. The thoroughly tonal, even simple harmonies remain static throughout relatively long passages.

  Each of the twelve movements, which last between six and eight minutes, is clearly organized into several sections, and these partial movements correspond to the accompanying texts. The tempi, the patterns, and -more or less- the instrumentation usually vary from one section to the next. Primarily soloists are employed in some movements, such as the second, fourth, ninth and eleventh, the Paradise movement. In others, there is a regular alternation between solo parts and choir (e.g. the switch between the women's choir and the mezzo-soprano or baritone in the fifth). Finally, new and characteristic combinations are formed with soloists, choirs or parts thereof, and orchestral groups. In the work of Phil Glass, musical form is constituted by a sequence of mainly closed sections. "Symphonic" in the sense of a vocal symphony as defined by works from Beethoven to Shostakovich refers primarily to intention and instrumentation in Phil Glass's works. In fact, the formal model is that of the 19th-century symphonic cantata or oratorio. The fact that such historical genre conventions can be easily applied to his latest work is quite significant with regard to Phil Glass and his attitude toward New Music in the second half of the 20th century. This is one of the primary prerequisites for the popularity of his music and for reaching a wide audience.

  On the other hand, this is a quite different kind of popularity than the one Beethoven intended to achieve with his "Choral Symphony" at the beginning of the 19th century, or what Gustav Mahler had in mind with his Eighth at the beginning of this Century.

  - JÜRG STENZL
  Translation: Steve Wilder

• TEXT COMPILED AND EDITED BY PHILIP GLASS, JAMES PARKS MORTON AND KUSUMITA P. PEDERSEN. © 1999 Dunvagen Music Publishers, Inc., New York.

  
  

  1. BEFORE THE CREATION
  2. CREATION OF THE COSMOS
  3. CREATION OF SENTIENT BEINGS
  4. CREATION OF HUMAN BEINGS
  5. JOY AND LOVE
  6. EVIL AND IGNORANCE
  7. SUFFERING
  8. COMPASSION
  9. DEATH
  10. JUDGMENT AND APOCALYPSE
  11. PARADISE
  12. DEDICATION
  
   
   
  1. BEFORE THE CREATION

     
     

     There was neither non-existence nor existence then;
     there was neither realm of space nor the sky which is beyond.
     What stirred? Where? In whose protection?
     Was there water, bottomlessly deep?

     There was neither death nor immortality [then].
     There was no [distinguishing] sign of night nor of day.
     That One breathed, windless, by Its own impulse.
     Other than that there was nothing beyond.

     Darkness was hidden by darkness in the beginning;
     with no [distinguishing] sign, all this was water.
     The life force that was covered with emptiness,
     That One arose through the power of heat.

     Desire came upon That One in the beginning;
     that was the first seed of mind.
     Poets seeking in their heart with wisdom found
     the bond of existence in non-existence.

     Their cord was extended across.
     Was there below? Was there above?
     There were seed-placers; there were powers.
     There was impulse beneath; there was giving-forth above.

     Who really knows? Who will here proclaim it?
     Whence was it produced? Whence is this creation?
     The gods came afterwards, with the creation of the universe.
     Who then knows whence it has arisen?

     Whence this creation has arisen -
     perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not -
     the one who looks down [on it], in the highest heaven,
     only he knows - or perhaps he does not know.

     The Rig-Veda 10:129¹
     (Sanskrit)
      
      
      

  2. THE CREATION OF THE COSMOS

     
     

     When He decrees a thing,
     He buts says to it,
     "Be," and it is.

     The Qur'an 2:117²
     (Arabic)
      
      

     In the beginning
     when God made heaven and earth,
     the earth was without form and void,
     with darkness over the face of the abyss;
     and a mighty wind that swept over the surface of the waters.
     And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light;
     And God saw that the light was good;
     and He separated light from darkness.
     He called the light day, and the darkness night.
     [So evening came and morning came, the first day.]
     So God said:
     "Let there be a vault between the waters,
     to separate water from water."
     [So God made the vault,
     and separated the water under the dome
     from the waters which above it,]
     and so it was;
     and God called the vault Heaven.

     Genesis 1:1-8³
     (Hebrew)
      
      

     When space turned around, the earth heated,
     When space turned over, the sky reversed,
     When the sun appeared standing in the shadows
     To cause light to make bright the moon,
     When the Pleiades are small eyes in the night,
     From the source in the earth was earth formed.
     From the source in the dark was darkness formed.
     From the source in the night was night formed.
     From the depths of darkness, darkness so deep;
     Darkness of day, darkness of night,
     Of night alone.

     The Kumulipo⁴
     (Hawaiian)
      
      

     "White clouds shall float up
     from the great waters at the border of the world
     clustering about the mountain terraces.
     They shall be borne aloft and abroad
     by the breath of the surpassing soul-beings,
     by the breath of the children,
     they shall be hardened and broken by your cold,
     shedding downward, in rain-spray, the water of life
     into the hollow places of my lap."

     "Not only you shall help our children!"
     And he spread his hand out with the palm downward.
     Into all the wrinkles and crevices
     he set things looking like shining yellow corn-grains;
     in the dark of the early world-dawn they gleamed like sparks of fire.
     They moved as his hand moved over the terraces,
     shining up from below,
     moving in the depths of the water.

     "And as these grains gleam up from the water,
     so shall seed grains like them, but numberless,
     spring up from your bosom
     when touched by my waters
     to nourish our children."

     Zuñi Creation Story⁵
     (Zuñi)
      
      
      

  3. THE CREATION OF SENTIENT BEINGS

     
     

     Izanagi no Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto stood on the floating bridge of Heaven and held counsel together, saying,

     "Is there not a country below?"

     Thereupon they thrust down the jewel-spear of Heaven,
     and groping about found the ocean.
     The brine which dripped from the point of the spear came together
     and became an island. This island was named
     Ono-goro-jima,
     and they made Ono-goro-jima the pillar of the center of the land.

     Now the male god circled to the left,
     and the female god circled to the right,
     they went round the pillar separately.
     When they met
     they united as husband and wife.
     They gave birth to the islands, the sea, the rivers, the mountains,
     the ancestor of the trees, the ancestor of the herbs.

     The Nihongi⁶
     (Japanese)
      
      

     In the lead the whales proceed,
     Mingling [and submerging] beneath the sea;
     The 'opule fish advance in the distance;
     They fill the deep ocean;
     Like kumimi crabs clustered on the reef;
     the youngest is carried by the current
     into darkness.
     Black as night the opaque sea.

     The Kumulipo⁷
     (Hawaiian)
      
      

     Zambe, the son of the One Who Bears the World,
     dipped his hands in the water, and sprinkled hair all over the body of the chimpanzee and said to him, moreover, "You will always live in the forests."

     Bulu Creation Story⁸
     (Bantu)
      
      

     Still Bumba our Creator was in pain.
     He strained once again and from his mouth
     nine living creatures came forth:
     the leopard named Koy Bumba,
     and Pongo Bumba the crested eagle,
     the crocodile, Ganda Bumba,
     and one little fish named Yo;
     next, old Kono Bumba, the tortoise,
     and Tsetse, the lightning, swift, deadly, beautiful like the leopard,
     then the white heron, Nyanyi Bumba,
     also one beetle,
     and the goat named Budi.

     The creatures themselves then created all the creatures.
     The heron created [all] the birds of the air,
     The crocodile made the serpents and the iguana,
     The goat produced every beast with horns.
     Yo, the small fish, brought forth all the fish of all the seas and waters.
     The beetle created insects.
     Then the serpents in their turn made grasshoppers
     and the iguana made the creatures without horns.

     Boshongo Creation Story⁹
     (Bantu)
      
      
      

  4. THE CREATION OF HUMAN BEINGS

     
     
     The dawn has approached
     Preparations have been made
     and the morning has come
     for the provider, the nurturer
     born in the light
     begotten in the light

     Morning has come for humankind
     for the people of the face of the earth

     The Creators went on thinking in the darkness, in the night
     as they searched and they sifted
     they thought and they wondered
     and here their thoughts came out in clear light
     they sought and discovered what was needed for human flesh

     the yellow corn
     the white corn
     from the Split Place
     from the Bitter Water Place
     [the ears of yellow corn and white corn]

     the corn became the human flesh
     the water became the human blood
     the making, the modeling of our first mother-father
     This was done by the Bearer, Begetter
     Sovereign Plumed Serpent

     The Popul Vuh¹⁰
     (Quiché Maya)
      
      

     Surely We created man of clay
     of molded mud
     and before man, We created the jinn
     of fire flaming.
     And your Lord said to the angels,
     "See, I am creating a mortal of clay
     of molded mud.

     When I have shaped him, and breathed My spirit in him, fall down,
     and bow before him!"
     Then the angels bowed [themselves
     all together,]
     save Iblis; [he refused to be among those bowing.]

     God said, "What ails you, Iblis, that
     you are not among those bowing?"

     Said he, "I would never bow
     before a mortal
     whom You have created of a clay
     of molded mud."

     Said He,
     "Then go forth from here;
     you are accursed.
     Upon you shall rest My curse, till
     The Day of Doom."

     Said Iblis, "My Lord, respite me til the day
     they shall be raised."

     Said He, "You are among those
     that are respited unto the day
     of a known time."

     Said he, "My Lord, since you have seduced me
     I shall tempt mankind [so] on earth."

     The Qur'an 15:26-39¹¹
     (Arabic)
      
      
      

  5. LOVE AND JOY

     
     

     Come to the orchard in spring.
     There is light and wine and sweethearts
     in the pomegranate flowers.
     If you do not come
     these do not matter.
     If you do come
     these do not matter.

     Rumi¹²
     (Persian)
      
      

     My beloved speaks and says to me:
     "Arise, my love, my fair one,
         and come away!
     for lo, the winter is past,
     [the rain is over and gone.]
     The flowers appear on the earth,
     the time of singing has come,
         and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land."

     Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind!
     Blow upon my garden, let its fragrance be wafted abroad.
     Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits.

     I come to my garden, my sister, my bride,
     I gather my myrrh with my spice,
     I eat my honeycomb with my honey,
     I drink my wine with my milk.

     The Song of Songs 2:10-12, 5:16¹³
     (Hebrew)
      
      

     As the mirror to my hand,
     the flowers to my hair,
     kohl to my eyes,
     tambul to my mouth,
     [musk to my breast,]
     necklace to my throat,
     ecstasy to my flesh,
     heart to my home -

     as wing to bird,
     water to fish,
     life to the living -
     so you to me.
     But tell me,
     Madhava, beloved,
     who are you?
     Who are you really?

     Vidyãpati says, they are one another.

     Vidyãpati¹⁴
     (Bengali)
      
      

     At the first note of his flute
     down came the lion gate of reverence for elders,
     down came the door of dharma,
     my guarded treasure of modesty was lost,
     I was thrust to the ground as if by a thunderbolt.
     Ah, yes, his dark body
     [poised in the tribhanga pose]
     shot the arrow that pierced me;
     no more honor, my family
     lost to me,
     [my home at Vraja
     lost to me.]
     Only my life is left - and my life too
     is only a breath that is leaving me.

     Jagadãnanda-dãsa¹⁵
     (Bengali)
      
      

     Come, come, whoever you are!
     Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.
     Come.
     This is not a caravan of despair.
     It doesn't matter if you have broken your vows a thousand times.
     Still come, and yet again come!

     Rumi¹⁶
     (Persian)
      
      
      

  6. EVIL AND IGNORANCE

     
     

     Thoughts came into existence and they gazed
     Their vision came all at once
     Perfectly they saw, perfectly they knew
     [everything under the sky, wherever they looked]
     Everything was seen without obstruction
     As they looked, their knowledge became intense
     Their sight passed through trees, through rocks, through lakes,
     through seas, through mountains, through plains
     [they saw everything under the sky perfectly
     they understood everything perfectly.]

     "We have understood everything!" they said,
     though they were only works and designs.
     And so the Bearer, [Begetter,] took back their knowledge.
     They were blinded as the face of a mirror is breathed on.
     Their vision flickered.
     They could only see clearly close up.

     Such was the loss of understanding,
     with the means of knowing everything.

     The Popul Vuh¹⁷
     (Quiché Maya)
      
      

     All things, O monks, are on fire.
     And what are things are on fire?

     The eye is on fire, forms are on fire
     the ear is on fire; sounds are on fire
     the nose is on fire, odors are on fire
     the tongue is on fire, tastes are on fire
     the body is on fire, things touched are on fire
     the mind is on fire, thoughts are on fire.

     [And with what are these on fire?]

     Fire of passion
     Fire of hatred
     The fire of infatuation with birth, old age and death.

     The Fire Sermon, from The Mahã-Vagga 1:21¹⁸
     (Pali)
      
      

     Lost souls of little understanding and fierce deeds
     rise as the enemies of the world for its destruction.

     "This have I gotten today,
     and that desire I will fulfill.
     This wealth is mine, and that also shall be mine.
     That enemy I have killed
     and others I will kill.
     I am the lord of all.
     I enjoy, I am [prosperous], mighty and happy.
     I am rich, of high birth.
     Who is equal to me?
     I will offer sacrifice, I will give, I will enjoy."
     Thus, deluded by ignorance,
     [bewildered by so many fantasies,]
     entangled in the meshes of desire,
     addicted to pleasure
     they fall into loathsome hell.

     The Bhagavad Gitã 16:9, 13-16¹⁹
     (Sanskrit)
      
      
      

  7. SUFFERING

     
     

     My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
     Why are you so far from helping me,
     from the words of my groaning?

     O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
     and by night, but find no rest.

     Psalm 22:2-3²⁰
     (Hebrew)
      
      

     My limbs fail and my mouth is parched.
     My body is shaken and my hair stands on end.
     The bow Gandiva slips from my hand
     [and my skin is on fire.]
     I cannot hold myself steady;
     my mind seems to whirl.

     The Bhagavad Gitã 1:29-30²¹
     (Sanskrit)
      
      

     Let the day perish wherein I was born,
     and the night which said,
     'A child is conceived.'
     Let that day be darkness!
     May God above not seek it,
     nor light shine upon it.
     Let gloom and deep darkness claim it.
     Let clouds dwell upon it;
     let the blackness of [the] day terrify it.
     That night - let thick darkness seize it!

     Why did I not die at birth,
     come forth from the womb and expire?
     Why did the knees receive me?
     Or why the breasts, that I should suck?
     For then I should have lain down and been quiet;
     I should have slept; then I should have been at rest.

     Why is light given to him that is in misery,
     and life to the bitter in soul,
     who long for death, but it does not come,
     they search for it more than hidden treasure,
     who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad,
     when they find the grave?
     Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,
     whom God has hedged in?
     For my sighing comes as my bread,
     and my groanings are poured out like water.
     For the thing that I fear comes upon me,
     and what I dread befalls me.

     Job 3:2-6, 11-13, 20-25²²
     (Hebrew)
      
      

     There is no faithfulness or kindness,
         and no knowledge of God in the land;
     there is swearing, lying, [killing], stealing, [and committing adultery],
         they break all bounds and murder follows murder,
     Thus the land mourns,
         and all who dwell in it languish,
     and the beasts of the field,
         and the birds of the air,
         and even the fish of the sea are taken away.

     Hosea 4:1-3²³
     (Hebrew)
      
      
      

  8. COMPASSION

     
     

     All people have the heart
     which cannot bear to see the sufferings of others.

     Mencius 2.A.6²⁴
     (Chinese)
      
      

     Gladly do I rejoice
     In the virtue that relieves the misery
     Of all those who suffer
     And place them in happiness.

     Thus by the virtue collected
     Through all that I have done,
     May the pain of every living creature
     Be completely cleared away.

     May I be the doctor and the medicine
     And may I be the nurse
     For all sick beings in the world
     Til everyone is healed.

     May a rain of food and drink descend
     To clear away the pain of thirst and hunger
     And during the aeons of famine
     May I myself change into food and drink.

     May I become an inexhaustible treasure
     For those who are poor and destitute;
     May I turn into all the things they could need
     And may these be placed close beside them.

     Sãntideva: Bodhicaryãvatãra 3:1, 6-9²⁵
     (Sanskrit, translated from the Tibetan commentary
     by Thog-me Zang-po)
      
      

     The heart of compassion
     Is the seed of benevolence.

     Mencius 2.A.6²⁶
     (Chinese)
      
      

     May I be protector for those without one,
     A guide for all travelers on the way;
     [May I be] a bridge, a boat and a ship
     For all who wish to cross the water.

     May I be an island for those who seek one
     And a lamp for those wishing light,
     [May I be] a bed for all who wish to rest
     And a slave for all who want a slave.

     May I be a wishing jewel, a magic vase,
     Powerful mantras and great medicine,
     [May I become] a wish-fulfilling tree
     And a cow of plenty for the world.

     Just like space
     And the great elements such as earth,
     May I always support the life
     Of all the boundless creatures.

     And until they pass away from pain
     May I also be the source of life
     For all the realms of varied beings
     That reach unto the ends of space.

     Sãntideva: Bodhicaryãvatãra 3:17-21²⁷
     (Sanskrit: translated from the Tibetan)
     commentary by Thog-me Zang-po
      
      

     I was hungry and you gave me food,
     I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
     I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
     I was naked and you covered me,
     I was sick and you visited me,
     I was in prison and you came to me.

     Truly I say to you, as you did it
     for the least of [these] my brothers and sisters
     You did it for me.

     Matthew 25: 35-36, 40²⁸
     (Greek)
      
      
      

  9. DEATH

     
     

     People seldom find their way
     To this wide and desolate plain.
     Except for my grave, there is nothing here,
     Only wild beasts roaming about
     And quarreling over my bones.
     The wandering ghosts that haunt this tomb
     Fly with the wind over the pines,
     Quick as a lightening flash before the eye,
     And brief as the morning dew.
     Must I remain forever hidden beneath the moss,
     Here in these shadows of grass?
     [Then] I would rather be buried once and for all,
         in dark oblivion!
     Such pains of desire burn my soul!
     This is my dwelling, the Burning House,
     This is my dwelling, the Burning House!

     Kanze Kiyotsugu Kan'ami: The Sought-for Grave²⁹
     (Japanese)
      
      

     In this world
     the living grow fewer,
     the dead increase
     how much longer must I carry this body of grief?

     How sad,
     to think I will end
     as only
     a pale green mist
     drifting the far fields.

     Ono no Komachi³⁰
     (Japanese)
      
      

     On a journey, ill
     And over fields all withered
     Dreams go wandering still.

     Bashõ Matsuo: His Death Haiku³¹
     (Japanese)
      
      

     My foes will become nothing.
     My friends will become nothing.
     I too will become nothing.
     Likewise all will become nothing.

     Just as in a dream
     whatever I enjoy

     will become a memory,
     whatever has passed will not be seen again.

     Leaving all I must depart alone.

     Sãntideva: Bodhicaryãvatãra 2:36-37, 35³²
     (Sanskrit: translated from the Tibetan
     commentary by Thog-me Zang-po)
      
      
      

  10. JUDGMENT AND APOCALYPSE

      
      

      When heaven is split open,
      when the stars are scattered,
      when the seas swarm over,
      when the tombs are overthrown,
      then a soul shall know its works, the former and the latter.

      The Qur'an 82:1-5³³
      (Arabic)
       
       

      When the sun shall be darkened,
      when the stars shall be thrown down,
      when the mountains shall be set moving,
      when the pregnant camels shall be neglected,
      when the savage beasts shall be mustered,
      when the seas shall be set boiling, when the souls shall be coupled,
      when the buried infant shall be asked for what sin she was slain,
      when the scrolls shall be unrolled,
      when heaven shall be stripped off,
      when Hell shall be set blazing,
      when Paradise shall be brought nigh,
      then shall a soul know what it has produced.

      The Qur'an 81:1-14³⁴
      (Arabic)
       
       

      Upon that day men shall issue in scatterings to see their works,
      and whoso has done an atom's weight of good shall see it,
      and whoso has done an atom's weight of evil shall see it.

      The Qur'an 99:6-8³⁵
      (Arabic)
       
       

      That you are suffering so comes from your own actions;
      it is not due to anybody else.
      it is by your own actions.
      The good spirit born with you,
      will come now and count out your good deeds with white pebbles,
      and the evil spirit born with you,
      will come now and count out your evil deeds with black pebbles.
      Then you will be frightened, awed and terrified.

      Then the Lord of Death
      will place round your neck a rope and drag you along;
      he will cut off your head, extract your heart, pull out your guts,
      lick up your brain, eat your flesh, and gnaw your bones,
      but you will not die.
      Although your body be hacked to pieces, it will live again.
      and cause great pain and torture.
      But be not frightened and terrified,
      and fear not the Lord of Death.
      Your body is the nature of emptiness,
      you need not be afraid.
      Emptiness cannot injure emptiness.
      That is the emptiness of your true nature,
      before whcih your mind shines clearly and lucidly,
      and at which you feel awe,
      emptiness by nature luminous,
      luminous light inseparable from emptiness.

      The Tibetan Book of The Dead³⁶
      (Tibetan)
       
       

      At the end of four ages
      The earth's surface is wasted.

      There arises a dreadful drought that lasts for a hundred years.
      Then all these earthly beings perish completely through oppression.

      And so Lord Vishnu, who abides in himself,
      Appears as terrifying Shiva and destroys all creatures.

      Through the sun's seven rays, he drinks up all the water.

      Then seven rays become seven suns
      and, blazing, ignite all three worlds.

      These worlds then blaze like a frying pan.

      All things are consumed by flames.

      Dreadful clouds arise.
      Like elephants they fill up the sky.
      Roaring loudly, pouring down rain,
      They completely extinguish this dreadful fire.

      When the fire is thoroughly quenched,
      The clouds, raining day and night,
      Overwhelm the entire world with water.

      When everything has perished in the watery darkness,
      Rain pours down for another hundred years.

      So it is at the end of every Eon.

      The Vishnu Purãna³⁷
      (Sanskrit)
       
       
       

  11. PARADISE

      
      

      It is the time of union,
      It is the time of vision,
      It is the time of resurrection,
      It is the time of grace,
      It is the time of generosity,
      The treasure of gifts has arrived,
      The brilliance of the sea has flashed forth.
      The dawn of blessing has arisen.

      Rumi³⁸
      (Persian)
       
       

      As was the man of dust,
      so are those who are of dust;
      as is the man of heaven,
      so are those who are of heaven.
      Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust,
      we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
      [When the perishable puts on the imperishable,
      and the mortal puts on immortality,]
      then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
      "Death is swallowed up in victory."

      First Corinthians 15:48-49, 54-55³⁹
      (Greek)
       
       

      On that shore [there] is a city, where the rain of nectar [pours and pours, and] never ceases.

      There the sky is filled with music.
      The harp strings jingle and there the drums beat.

      There is no rising and setting of the sun;
      In this ocean of love, day and night are one.

      There I have seen joy filled to the brim.
      There falls the rhythmic beat of life and death:
      Rapture wells forth, [and all] space is radiant with light.

      Millions of lamps of sun and of moon are burning;
      There the drum beats, and the lover swings in play.
      There love-songs resound, and the light rains in showers.

      Kabir⁴⁰
      (Hindi)
       
       
       

  12. DEDICATION

      
      

      May I be a protector for those without one
      And a lamp for those desiring light,
      [May I be] a bridge, a boat, a ship
      For all who wish to cross the water.

      May the forest of razor-sharp leaves
      Become a beautiful pleasure grove,
      And may the trees of knives and swords'
      Grow into wish-fulfilling trees.

      May the regions of hell become places of joy
      With vast and fragrant lotus pools
      Beautiful with [the] exquisite calls
      Of wild ducks, geese and swans.

      May the heaps of burning coals change to heaps of jewels,
      May the burning ground become a polished crystal floor,
      And may the mountain of [the] crushing hells
      Become celestial palaces of worship filled with Buddhas.

      May the rains of lava, blazing stones and weapons
      [From now on] become a rain of flowers,
      And may all battling with weapons
      [From now on] become a playful exchange of flowers.

      May the naked find clothing,
      The hungry find food;
      May the thirsty find water
      And delicious drinks.

      May the poor find wealth,
      Those weak with sorrow find joy;
      May the forlorn find new hope,
      Constant happiness and prosperity.

      May all who are sick and ill
      Quickly be freed from their illness,
      And may every disease in the world
      Never occur again.

      May the troubled wanderers who have lost their way
      Meet with fellow travelers,
      And without any fear of thieves or tigers
      May their going be easy without [any] fatigue.

      May those who find themselves in trackless, fearful wilderness -
      The children, the aged, the unprotected,
      Those stupefied and the insane -
      Be guarded by beneficent celestials.

      And may the land everywhere be pure,
      Smooth and devoid of any rocks,
      Level like the palm of the hand
      [And] of the nature of lapis lazuli.

      May the celestials bring timely rains
      So that harvests may be bountiful.
      May kings act in accordance with Dharma
      And the people of the world always prosper.

      By the merits I('ve accumulated),
      May every single being
      Abandon all forms of evil
      And forever engage in virtue.

      For as long as space endures
      And (for) as long as living beings remain,
      Until then may I too abide
      To dispel the misery of the world.

      Sãntideva: Bodhicaryãvatãra 3:17, 10:6-9, 20-22, 25-26, 35, 39, 31, 55⁴¹
      (Sanskrit: translated from the Tibetan
      commentary by Thog-me Zang-po)
       
       
       

- END -

• NOTES

  
  

  1. O'Flaherty, pages 25-26.
  2. "The Cow." Arberry, Vol. 1, page 42.
  3. The New English Bible.
  4. Johnson, page 3. Slightly adapted.
  5. Adapted from Frank Cushing, "Outlines of Zuñi Creation Myths," Thirteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1896, pages 379-381. As cited in Sproul, pages 285-286.
  6. Tr. William George Aston, Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D.697, London: 1896. As cited in de Bary, pages 25-26.
  7. Johnson, page 109.
  8. Adapted from Adolf N. Krug, "Bulu Tales from Kamerun, West Africa," Journal of American Folklore, 25 (1912-1913), pages 111-112. As cited in Sproul, page 46.
  9. Adapted from E. Torday and T. A. Joyce, Les Boshongo, Annales des Musée de Congo Belge, Ethnographie Anthropologie, Series 4, Vol. 2, 1910, pages 20ff. As cited in Sproul, page 46.
  10. Adapted from Tedlock, page 145.
  11. "EI-Hijr" Arberry, Vol. 1, pages 282-283. Slightly adapted.
  12. Barks 1995, page 37.
  13. Revised Standard Version.
  14. Dimock and Levertov, page 15.
  15. Ibid., page 28.
  16. Barks 1997, page 3.
  17. Adapted from Tedlock, pages 147-148.
  18. Warren, page 352. The Maha-Vagga is part of the Vinaya-pitaka.
  19. Nikhilananda, pages 175-177.
  20. Revised Standard Version.
  21. Nikhilananda, pages 7-8. Slightly adapted.
  22. Revised Standard Version. Slightly adapted.
  23. Ibid.
  24. Adapted from Lau, page 83.
  25. Batchelor, pages 22-23.
  26. Lau, page 83.
  27. Batchelor, page 25.
  28. Revised Standard Version.
  29. Jackman, page 45.
  30. Hirshfield and Aratani, pages 28, 30.
  31. Henderson, page 30.
  32. Batchelor, page 16.
  33. "The Splitting." Arberry, Vol. 2, page 328.
  34. "The Darkening." Arberry, Vol. 2, page 326.
  35. "The Earthquake." Arberry, Vol. 2, page 347.
  36. Adapted from Evans-Wentz, pages 166-167.
  37. Dimmit and van Buitenen, pages 41-43.
  38. As cited in Harvey and Baring, page 158.
  39. Revised Standard Version.
  40. Tagore, pages 25, 24, and 20.
  41. Batchelor.

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