Category: music

• The Sky of Merit

  

  A grounded folk-blues inspired by Chapter 17 of the Lotus Sutra and the Eightfold Path “The Sky of Merit” is a grounded folk-blues meditation on wisdom, merit, and the Eightfold Path. Inspired by Chapter 17 of the Lotus Sutra, this song strips away superstition to reveal the true heart of practice: seeing clearly and walking…

  William Altig

  October 17, 2025

  music, Nichiren

  acoustic blues, bodhisattva blues, buddhist blues, Buddhist folk song, Chapter 17, compassionate living, Dharma blues, Dharma music, Eightfold Path, Enlightenment, Folk Blues, folk philosophy, grounded spirituality, insight music, lotus flower symbolism, Lotus Sutra, meditation music, merit and virtue, mindful path, Mindfulness, modern Buddhism, right action, right view, roots folk, seeing clearly, soulful folk, spiritual awakening, spiritual folk, Suno AI, Transformative Wisdom, William Altig Choir, wisdom song

• The Sun Don’t Preach

  

  A raw, Delta blues track that wrestles with the difference between trying to fix a broken world with force and finding strength in a quieter, more patient wisdom. “The Sun Don’t Preach” is a story told through a bottleneck slide and a steady foot stomp, contrasting the “power of a God” with the “wisdom of…

  William Altig

  October 16, 2025

  music

  acoustic blues, Acoustic Guitar, Americana, Blues Music, bottleneck guitar, Buddhism, Compassion, Conscious Music, Contemplative, delta blues, Dharma, dharma song, Folk Blues, foot stomp, gritty, hope, indie folk, letting go, male vocals, Meditative, Original Music, Patience, Power, power of a god, powerful, Raw, resonator, resonator guitar, roots music, Singer-Songwriter, Slide Guitar, Soulful, spiritual blues, Spiritual Music, Spirituality, Storytelling, Struggle, The Sun Don’t Preach, wisdom, wisdom of the sun

• The Dewdrop and the Sea

  

  A stripped-down folk-blues meditation for anyone who’s ever felt the weight of the world on their shoulders. “The Dewdrop and the Sea” is a story about moving from the burnout of trying to fix everything to the quiet hope found in small, meaningful action. It’s a song about a simple truth: our individual acts of…

  William Altig

  October 16, 2025

  Chapter 25, music, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law

  acoustic, Acoustic Guitar, Avalokitesvara, Blues, Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva vow, buddhist music, Burnout, Compassion, compassion fatigue, Conscious Music, dependent origination, Dharma, Dharma music, Enlightenment, Folk Music, Harmonica, helplessness, hope, interconnectedness, kannon, karuna, Kuan Yin, Lotus Sutra, mahayana, meditation music, Mindfulness, original song, prajna, sacred music, Singer-Songwriter, spiritual folk, Spiritual Music, Suffering, The Dewdrop and the Sea, wisdom, zen

• Empty the Ocean

  

  What do you do when the world’s suffering feels too vast to bear? When your two hands seem powerless against an ocean of problems? This song was born from an ancient Buddhist teaching about Avalokitesvara—the Bodhisattva who listens to the cries of the world—and a very modern question: How do we stay engaged with compassion…

  William Altig

  October 16, 2025

  Chapter 25, music, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law

  acoustic spiritual, activist music, Avalokitesvara, Bodhisattva vow, buddhist folk, buddhist music, burnout recovery, climate anxiety, collective action, community organizing, compassion fatigue, compassion songs, Conscious Music, contemplative folk, contemporary dharma, Deep Listening, Dharma blues, dharma folk, Engaged Buddhism, environmental activism songs, fingerpicked blues, Folk Blues, gospel folk, Guanyin music, hopeful activism, interconnectedness, liberation music, meditation music, mindfulness music, non-dual wisdom, ocean metaphor, oceanic vow, protest spirituality, Skillful Means, social justice music, speaking truth to power, spiritual blues, spiritual folk music, sustainable activism, systemic change, wisdom tradition

• Love Till Love’s the Only Sure

  

  An old physician rolls into town with medicine that promises to cure any illness forever. But there’s a warning: “Many will hate this cure with jealousy.” Why? This 14-minute spiritual blues odyssey answers that question through the marriage of Buddhist philosophy and American roots music. It’s about three healers whose identities are threatened by ultimate…

  William Altig

  October 15, 2025

  Chapter 10, music, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law

  432 Hz adjacent, 65 BPM, acceptance music, acoustic blues, acoustic gospel, activist music, agape, all is one, already free, americana blues, analog warmth, applied dharma, authentic blues, authentic recording, authentic self, awakening songs, beyond words, blues as dharma, blues philosophy, bodhisattva music, bodhisattva vow music, body wisdom, breath music, Buddha Nature, buddhist blues, Buddhist Christian dialogue, Buddhist meditation music, buddhist music, Buddhist Wisdom, call and response, centering music, church music, civil rights music, Compassion Meditation, compassion practice, confessional music, conscious blues, Conscious Music, consciousness music, Contemplative blues, contemplative music, contemporary spirituals, cosmic support, counterintuitive truth, crossroads blues, Deep Blues, Deep Listening, defended by love, delta blues, devotional blues, Dharma blues, Dharmapala music, direct pointing, ego death songs, Ekayana, embodied spirituality, emptiness and form, endurance music, enemy love, Engaged Buddhism, enlightenment music, esoteric blues, everyday awakening, existential blues, fearless compassion, flesh and spirit, folk gospel, forgiveness blues, four vows, freedom songs, frequency music, gospel blues, gospel soul, grounding songs, guardian songs, Hammond organ blues, harmonica blues, healing music, hidden teachings, hidden wholeness, highest teaching, holy blues, hope music, identity transformation, impossible love, indigenous wisdom, ineffable blues, Infinite Compassion, inherent enlightenment, interbeing music, interfaith music, intimate blues, Jack Kornfield vibes, Japanese aesthetics, juke joint gospel, karuna, letting go music, live feel, lo-fi blues, long suffering, Lotus Sutra music, love your enemies, Loving-kindness, ma music, Mahalia Jackson style, Mahayana music, medicine songs, meditation music, metta music, mindful listening, mindfulness music, MLK inspired, modern gospel, movement music, Music as Medicine, mystery songs, mystic traditions, mystical blues, narrative folk, natural tuning, neo-traditional blues, Nichiren Buddhism, non-dual awareness, nonviolent resistance, Odetta inspired, one take energy, one taste, One Vehicle, ordinary magic, original blessing, parable song, paradigm shift music, paradox music, patient love, Pauline Oliveros inspired, pause and presence, peace music, Pema Chodron style, perennial wisdom, perfectly imperfect, persecution and compassion, perseverance blues, philosophical blues, prophetic blues, protection music, protest blues, radical love, raw production, raw vocals, reconciliation songs, resilience songs, resistance music, revival blues, revolutionary spirituality, rootedness music, roots music, sacred blues, sacred mundane, sanctified blues, secret doctrine, secular sacred, Self-realization, serenity blues, Sharon Salzberg metta, silence and sound, slow ballad, slow blues ballad, socially engaged spirituality, somatic blues, Son House feel, soul blues, sound healing, space between notes, spiritual awakening, spiritual blues, spiritual folk, spiritual warrior, steel guitar blues, stones to doves, storytelling blues, street level enlightenment, suffering and redemption, supreme dharma, surrender songs, teacher of dharma, teaching songs, testimony songs, theological blues, Thich Nhat Hanh inspired, Tiantai Buddhism, traditional blues, transcendent music, transformation songs, transformative music, transmission music, true self music, truth telling, turn the other cheek, ultimate truth music, unconditional love, unconventional wisdom, unity consciousness, universal love, universal spirituality, unplugged blues, unpolished beauty, vibrational healing, vintage sound, votary songs, wabi-sabi music, we are one, wisdom tradition, witness music, woke blues, wrathful compassion, Zen and blues, zen blues

• The Light You Already Got

  

  A bluesy folk tale about a man who burned for a thousand years and a girl who smiled just once—and how they both found the same light. This song weaves an ancient Buddhist paradox into American roots music tradition. It’s the story of Strong-Heart, who gave everything—even setting himself ablaze for centuries—trying to reach enlightenment…

  William Altig

  October 14, 2025

  Chapter 10, music, Parables, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law

  #interfaith, #Truth, 1960s folk revival, 3am song, accessible wisdom, acoustic, acoustic blues, ageless wisdom, aha moment, ahead of time, alan watts blues, album track, all paths one, already enough, already home, alt folk, American primitive, american zen, Americana, americana archive, amness, analog, analog warmth, artisan, as above so below, attention, authentic, authentic emotion, authentic seeking, authentic voice, awakening, awareness, back to the land mysticism, balanced path, bare, based on ancient teaching, basic, be here now folk, beat zen, beatnik blues, beautiful mess, before and after the same, being itself, being not doing, bespoke, bluegrass adjacent, Blues, both and, both and neither, boundaried yes, breath, Buddha-nature, buddhist americana, buddhist folk, bus stop satori, call and response, Campfire Song, can’t shake it, canonical, chop wood carry water folk, classic, clear, coal miner’s daughter adjacent, coffee and contemplation, commune folk, compassionate refusal, Conscious Lyrics, Conscious Music, consciousness, Contemplative, core, country blues, craftsman, creative, cross cultural wisdom, custom, daily bread, dark night of the soul, dawn breaking, deep, deep cut, deep lyrics, delta blues, democratic dharma, depression era sound, dharma folk, dialectic folk, different rivers same ocean, direct, distinctive, DIY mysticism, documentary worthy, dust bowl folk, ear worm, earned wisdom, Earnest, East meets West, echo, effortless effort, effortless path, empty highway, endurance, Enlightenment, esoteric folk, essence, essential, eternal now, eternal return, everyday enlightenment, everyday sacred, existence, existential folk, exposed, extreme and simple, faith and effort, fermata, field recording adjacent, film music adjacent, fingerstyle guitar, fire and smile, Folk, Folk Blues, folk ecology, folk philosophy, folk religion, folk renaissance, folk tale, for sustained listening, fractals in folk, fresh, front porch blues, front porch sessions, fundamental, gentle force, genuine, glorious imperfection, golden mean, goldilocks dharma, good news folk, gospel blues, grace not works, grassroots spirituality, grocery store kensho, handmade, handmade holiness, Harmonica, Haunting, headphone music, heart, Heartfelt, hegelian blues, here, hidden wisdom, high and low, hippie trail, hold, holographic universe, holy text blues, honest, honest doubt, human, human and holy, hummable, I and thou, imaginative, imperfect, important, indie-folk, individual universal, inherent worth, inner light, inner outer, innovative, instant enlightenment, intelligent, intentional community music, isness, jack kerouac dharma blues, journey not destination, joyful noise, just as you are, just right folk, keeping it real, ken burns folk, kind rebellion, kitchen recording, kitchen sink spirituality, kitchen table folk, knower and known, koan blues, late night, laundromat liberation, legend reimagined, less is more, library of congress, literate, lived experience, lo fi, long drive music, long haul, Lotus Sutra, loving resistance, lyrical, many doors one room, marathon not sprint, meaningful, meditation music, memorable, microcosm macrocosm, middle way, Mindfulness, moderation, Modern Folk, mountain and valley, mountain mysticism, mountain song, mundane divine, mystery tradition, myth retold, naked, narrative song, neo traditional, new, new sincerity, Nichiren, no BS, no irony, no original sin, non dual folk, non striving, not a single, not too tight not too loose, nothing special, noticing, now, old soul music, old tale new telling, old time music, one day at a time, one of a kind, One Vehicle, open, open road, ordinary mind, original, original blessing, parable, paradox song, parking lot awakening, Patience, pause, peaceful power, pema chodron folk, people’s Buddhism, Perennial Philosophy, perseverance, personal political, philosophical, philosophical blues, philosophical folk, piedmont blues, pilgrimage song, plain, plain speech dharma, Poetic, porch music, post ironic, prairie dharma, presence, process not product, profound, prophetic, protest adjacent, question and answer, quiet strength, ram dass adjacent, Raw, real, real faith, real feeling, real talk, reality, recognition, redemption song, relaxed intensity, remembering, resonance, rest, reverberation, riddle song, room tone, roots music, roots revival, sacred and profane, sacred music, sacred story, scripture folk, seer and seen, self and other, Self-realization, separate waves one water, serious, significant, silence, simple, simple living, sincere, singable, Singer-Songwriter, Skillful Means, slow blues, slow burn, smart, smithsonian folkways, social consciousness, soft revolution, Soul, Soundtrack, space, spirit, spiritual americana, Spiritual Music, standard, statement and reply, stays with you, Storytelling, straight up, straightforward, stripped down, stuck in your head, subject object, substantial, suchness, sudden vs gradual, sustain, sustainable practice, sutra song, systems thinking, taking out trash dharma, talking blues, tape hiss, tathata, temperance, tender no, testimony, thesis antithesis synthesis, thich nhat hanh acoustic, this, this moment only, thoughtful, thus, Timeless, timeless present, traditional folk, train song adjacent, true sound, true story, trying not trying, undefended, unique, unity consciousness, universal spirituality, universal truth, vintage sound, visionary, voluntary simplicity, vulnerable, waking up, walking music, warm, washing dishes blues, weighty, whistle while you work, wisdom traditions, witness, witness and witnessed, wordsmith, working class mysticism, wu wei folk, you are enough, zen and the art of folk music, zen blues

• The Ballad of Elias Stone

  

  “The Ballad of Elias Stone” is a bluesy folk tale that explores two paths to the same truth. It tells the story of Elias, a legendary musician who achieves greatness through twenty years of grueling sacrifice, embodying the belief that enlightenment is earned only through immense struggle. His path is challenged when the conservatory’s Founder…

  William Altig

  October 14, 2025

  Chapter 10, music, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law

  acoustic, Americana, Blues, Buddhism, Elias Stone, Enlightenment, faith, Folk, folk rock, Harmonica, hopeful, joy, Lotus Sutra, Melancholic, parable, Philosophy, Singer-Songwriter, Spiritual, story song, Storytelling, zen

• The Woman in 4B

  

  A Blues Folk Ballad Three voices, one family breaking apart. A mysterious neighbor with an open door and endless tea. A blues-folk story about the three poisons we carry—greed, anger, and numbness—and the unexpected way we learn to set them down. Told through the eyes of a daughter scrolling her pain away, a son burning…

  William Altig

  October 13, 2025

  Chapter 10, music, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law

  acoustic, alt folk, Americana, Anger, apartment, apartment living, awakening, Blues, Blues Folk, Bob Dylan inspired, Bodhisattva, Buddhism, buddhist folk, call and response, city life, community, Compassion, Connection, Conscious Music, Contemplative, contemporary folk, Dharma, elder wisdom, Enlightenment, existential, family, finger picking, Folk, folk ballad, found family, gospel folk, Greed, grief, Harmonica, healing, healing journey, hope, indie folk, letting go, loneliness, Lotus, meditation music, mental health, Mindfulness, modern parable, mother daughter, multi-voice, narrative song, neighbor, open door, philosophical folk, Redemption, roots music, siblings, social isolation, Spiritual, Storytelling, tea, tea ceremony, therapeutic, three poisons, three voices, Tracy Chapman style, Transformation, urban folk, urban stories, wisdom

• Cell Block Chant

  

  A blues anthem for anyone who’s ever felt broken beyond repair. This song tells the story of Maya Chen—a disbarred lawyer serving time for embezzlement—and Rosa, the older woman who taught her a simple Buddhist chant in their shared cell block. What starts as desperate skepticism becomes a practice of transformation: Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Through gritty fingerpicked…

  William Altig

  October 12, 2025

  music, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law

  acoustic blues, acoustic soul, acoustic storytelling, american dharma, american prison blues, american roots music, Americana, awakening song, blues anthem for healing, Blues Folk, blues for the broken, broken made whole, buddhist blues, Buddhist chant, Cell Block Chant, chant music, compassion music, courage through suffering, delta blues, emotional storytelling, enlightenment in darkness, female resilience, folk blues anthem, folk blues ballad, folk blues storytelling, folk gospel, forgiveness song, grit and grace, heartfelt blues folk, humanity and hope, Lotus Sutra, mantra music, maya chen, meditation and mantra, meditation blues, mindful blues, mirror metaphor, modern dharma songs, modern gospel, modern spirituals, music for healing, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, Nichiren Buddhism, poetic storytelling, power of prayer, prison reform, prison song, rebirth song, redemption song, roots revival, rosa, songs of transformation, soul revival, soulful storytelling, spiritual awakening music, spiritual blues, strength in scars, survival blues, transformation blues, turning poison into medicine, william altig, William Altig Choir, women in prison, women’s voices in blues

• The Patient Heart Blues

  

  “The Patient Heart Blues” – A Song About Standing Strong While Walking Away Sometimes the hardest thing in the world is knowing when to stay and when to go. This song came from studying an ancient Buddhist text about patience—but not the kind of patience where you just take whatever comes. Real patience, the kind…

  William Altig

  October 11, 2025

  Chapter 10, music, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law

  12-bar blues, acoustic blues, acoustic soul, acoustic storytelling, alternative blues, Americana, americana roots, authentic blues, Ballad, Blues, blues poetry, blues standard, boundaries, buddhist blues, Chicago blues, classic blues, Compassion, Conscious Lyrics, Contemplative blues, contemplative music, Contemporary Blues, crossover blues, deep lyrics, delta blues, Dharma music, elder wisdom, emotional intelligence, empowerment, Folk Blues, Folk Music, folk rock, Forgiveness, harmonica blues, healing music, honest lyrics, independent blues, inner strength, letting go, life lessons, mature themes, meaningful music, meditation music, mental health, Mindfulness, modern blues, narrative folk, non-violence, old soul, organic sound, original blues, Patience, peaceful resistance, philosophical blues, porch blues, protest blues, raw vocals, real talk, recovery music, resilience, resonator guitar, roots music, roots poetry, self-care, self-protection, shuffle blues, Slide Guitar, slow blues, social consciousness, spiritual blues, spiritual folk, spoken word blues, story song, Storytelling, substance over style, survivor song, teaching song, therapy music, timeless wisdom, traditional blues, unsigned artist, vintage blues, walking away, wisdom music