Mr. Altig’s Overview of the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sutra

Slow sanctified blues / 12-bar feel / weary, circular, inward-turning

Verse 1

I went down to the river, looking for a sign,

Asked the old-time healer, said,
“Show me something fine.”

I been chasing every wonder, every whisper, every flame,

But every road I followed brought me back here just the same.
They said, “Lift up the mountain, turn the midnight into day.

Give us something we can point to, something no one can explain.”

Teacher looked across the crowd, didn’t thunder, didn’t plead—

Said, “The miracle you’re asking for
Is the one you have to be.”

Chorus

The sign is already showing,

But you got to stand still to see.

The sign is already showing,

In the eye that sees the eye that sees.
You can run till the road runs under,

You can kneel till you bruise your knees,

But the sign is already showing

In the eye that sees the eye that sees.

Verse 2

I heard tell of old alchemy, lead turning into gold,

Men bent over furnaces, trying to buy back what they sold.

But that ain’t the kind of burning

That the teacher came to name—

We were looking for the fire,

We were standing in the flame.
Attention was the furnace, mercy was the air,

Noise went up like smoke, but the gold was always there.

Not a treasure from the heavens, not a crown for getting through—

Just the quiet thing uncovered
When the false thing falls from you.

Chorus

The sign is already showing,

But you got to stand still to see.

The sign is already showing,

In the eye that sees the eye that sees.
You can run till the road runs under,

You can kneel till you bruise your knees,

But the sign is already showing

In the eye that sees the eye that sees.

Bridge

You don’t become the light, child.

You stop calling yourself the dark.

You don’t climb up to heaven.

You listen where you are.
Ain’t no lock on the doorway.

Ain’t no distance to cross.

Just the name you kept repeating

For the thing you thought was lost.

Final Chorus

The sign is already showing,

But you got to stand still to see.

The sign is already showing,

In the eye that sees the eye that sees.
You can run till the road runs under,

You can kneel till you bruise your knees,

But the sign is already showing

In the eye that sees the eye that sees.
The gold was never missing,

The flame was never far from me.

The sign is already showing

In the eye that sees the eye that sees.

Outro

In the eye that sees…

The eye that sees…

Lord, the sign is already showing

In the eye that sees the eye that sees.