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

Learn this Buddhist classic, the Lotus Sutra

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  • The Treasure Tower: Unpacking a 2,000-Year-Old Vision of Your Untapped Potential

    The Treasure Tower: Unpacking a 2,000-Year-Old Vision of Your Untapped Potential

    In our modern lives, the search for meaning can feel like a trek through a vast and confusing landscape. We look for purpose in our careers, our relationships, and our personal growth, often feeling that the profound answers we seek are somewhere “out there,” just beyond our reach. We read, we strive, we search, hoping…

    William Altig

    October 22, 2025
    Chapter 11, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law
    Buddha-nature, Ceremony in the Air, Chapter 11, Dharma for Bodhisattvas, Ekayāna, Emergence of the Treasure Tower, Essential Teaching, Gṛdhrakūṭa, Gohonzon, Great Wisdom, Honmon, Jeweled Stūpa, Kokū-e, Lotus Sutra, Mahāyāna, middle way, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, Nichiren Buddhism, Non-Duality, One Vehicle, Prabhūtaratna, Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra, Shakumon, Skillful Means, Stūpa, Tathāgatagarbha, Teaching of Equality, Theoretical Teaching, Three Truths, Tiantai, Treasure Tower symbolism, Two Buddhas Seated Together, upāya, Vulture Peak, Śākyamuni
  • The Sweet Illusion

    The Sweet Illusion

    A raw, acoustic song. This is a song about being stuck in a prison of your own making, calling the “poison water ‘sweet, good wine.’” It’s for anyone who’s been so lost for so long, they’ve “forgotten what goodness even feels like.” It’s about the paradox of grace: the moment a guide offers you a…

    William Altig

    October 21, 2025
    Chapter 7, music, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law
    acoustic, Americana, Blues, Buddhism, Buddhist, Dark Folk, Folk, Gillian Welch, grace, Illusion, Jason Isbell, Leonard Cohen, Lotus Sutra, Minimalist, Padmaprabha, parable, Raw Acoustic, Redemption, Singer-Songwriter, Soulful, spiritual folk, Storyteller, truth, william altig
  • 5 Surprising Truths About Suffering and Liberation from an Ancient Buddhist Text

    5 Surprising Truths About Suffering and Liberation from an Ancient Buddhist Text

    Ancient scriptures can feel intimidating. Dense and filled with unfamiliar names and concepts, texts like the Buddhist Lotus Sūtra can seem like relics from a world far removed from our own. Yet, hidden within their verses are often profound, timeless insights into the human condition that resonate with startling clarity today. This is especially true…

    William Altig

    October 21, 2025
    Chapter 7, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law
    akusala kamma, apāyas, Bodhisattva spirit, Brahma Verses, Chapter Seven, Delusion, dharma-prīti, Ekayāna, evil regions, fundamental ignorance, gampon no mumyō, Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha, Heavenly-King Brahmas, karma, Lotus Sūtra, lower realms, Mahābhijñā-jñānābhibhū, mithyā-dṛṣṭi, Moha, One Vehicle, Parable of the Conjured City, pleasure of the Dharma, Saṃsāra, Shakyamuni Buddha, sinful karmas, Skillful Means, spiritual amnesia, Suffering, treasure land, Universal Buddhahood, upāya, wrong views
  • Good Seed

    Good Seed

    “Good Seed” is a patient, grounding folk-blues meditation on the wisdom of tending life like a garden. With fingerpicked acoustic guitar, warm harmonica, and call-and-response vocals, this song explores what it means to plant good seeds, give freely without demanding results, and learn from the spaces where nothing grows. Drawing on timeless gardening wisdom and…

    William Altig

    October 20, 2025
    music
    #SunoAIMusic, acceptance songs, acoustic blues, Americana folk, authentic folk, bardic music, bluesy folk, call and response, conscious folk, contemplative music, DIY folk, earth-based spirituality, fingerpicked guitar, Folk Blues, folk philosophy, folk storytelling, folk tradition, garden song, gardening metaphor, growth and patience, harmonica blues, heartfelt blues, indie folk blues, learning from failure, letting go, life lessons music, meditation music, mindfulness songs, modern bard, nature wisdom, Non-attachment, organic folk sound, patience songs, planting seeds, roots music, sacred folk music, seasonal wisdom, slow living music, soil and seeds, spiritual folk music, teaching songs, timeless wisdom, trust in nature, trust the process, vintage blues sound, wisdom music, working hands
  • Faith Call, Insight Answers

    Faith Call, Insight Answers

    “Faith Calls, Insight Answers” is a Delta Dharma Blues song about the inner dialogue between faith and understanding — a call-and-response between the heart that believes and the mind that sees. Carried by slide guitar, handclaps, and a voice worn smooth by the road, this track brings the Eightfold Path down to earth. It’s not…

    William Altig

    October 20, 2025
    music
    acoustic roots, Americana, awakening songs, blues storytelling, buddhist music, call and response blues, delta blues, Delta sound, Dharma blues, Eightfold Path, enlightenment blues, faith and insight, Folk Blues, meditation music, mindful music, modern dharma music, porch blues, right understanding, roots folk, Songs of Awakening, soulful slide guitar, spiritual awakening, spiritual blues, The William Altig Choir, William Altig Choir, wisdom music
  • What If the Buddha Faked His Own Death? 5 Mind-Bending Truths from the Lotus Sutra

    What If the Buddha Faked His Own Death? 5 Mind-Bending Truths from the Lotus Sutra

    Introduction: The Buddha We Think We Know Most of us know the story: a young prince named Siddhartha Gautama, shielded from suffering, renounces his palace, seeks the truth of existence, and finally achieves supreme enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. This image of the historical Buddha—a man who found the path and taught it for several…

    William Altig

    October 20, 2025
    Chapter 16, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law
    attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime, Chapter Sixteen, Dharmakāya, Ekayāna, Eternal Buddha, Honmon, Lotus Sutra, Mahāyāna Buddhism, Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, Nichiren Buddhism, Nirmāṇakāya, One Vehicle, Origin teaching, Parable of the Skillful Physician, Pure Land, Saṃsāra is Nirvāṇa, Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra, Shakumon, Skill in Means, Tathāgata Lifespan, Three Bodies of the Buddha, Tiāntái school, Trace Teaching, Trikāya, universal salvation, Upāya-kauśalya, Śākyamuni Buddha
  • Poison Into Medicine 

    Poison Into Medicine 

    “Poison Into Medicine” is a bluesy folk anthem about finding strength in struggle and transforming life’s hardships into wisdom. Inspired by the Buddhist teacher Nichiren’s teachings, this song weaves ancient philosophy with raw, soulful blues to remind us that our greatest challenges can become our greatest teachers. Like the lotus that blooms from muddy water,…

    William Altig

    October 19, 2025
    music, Nichiren
    acoustic blues, American folk, authentic blues, blues folk fusion, buddhist blues, Buddhist chanting, conscious folk, Conscious Lyrics, contemplative songs, embracing difficulty, empowerment songs, existential folk, Folk Music, healing music, indie folk, inspirational music, life lessons music, lotus flower symbolism, meditation music, mindfulness music, muddy water lotus, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, Nichiren Buddhism, overcoming adversity, personal growth music, philosophical music, resilience songs, roots music, soulful blues, spiritual awakening, spiritual songs, strength through struggle, struggle and growth, transformation songs, turning poison into medicine, vintage folk sound, wisdom songs
  • Firewood and Flame

    Firewood and Flame

    From the heart of the struggle comes a song of profound hope. “Firewood and Flame” is a raw, bluesy folk anthem for anyone who has ever felt weighed down by their own imperfections. With a sound that feels like it was born on a dusty porch at twilight, this track weaves a timeless story of…

    William Altig

    October 19, 2025
    music, Nichiren
    acoustic, Americana, Blues, Bodhisattva, Buddhism, Compassion, Conscious Music, Dharma, dharmablues, Enlightenment, firewoodandflame, Folk, healing, hopeful, InnerPeace, LotusSutra, Mindfulness, newmusic, overcomingstruggle, Pema Chodron, resilience, selflove, singersongwriter, Soulful, spiritual folk, spiritualmusic, startwhereyouare, Transformation
  • Why Your Worst Day Is Sacred: 4 Ancient Ideas That Will Change Your Life

    Why Your Worst Day Is Sacred: 4 Ancient Ideas That Will Change Your Life

    Most of us live with a quiet assumption: that peace, spiritual awakening, or enlightenment requires an escape. We feel we must get away from our anger, our greed, our fear, and the challenging circumstances that trigger them. We search for an escape hatch from the messy, frustrating reality of our lives, believing that tranquility lies…

    William Altig

    October 19, 2025
    Nichiren
    All Phenomena as Ultimate Reality, Bonnō soku bodai, Buddha’s Pure Land, Buddhist Enlightenment in Everyday Life, daimoku, Earthly desires are enlightenment, Gohonzon, Ichinen Sanzen (Three Thousand Realms in a Single Moment of Life), Jikkai Gogu (Mutual Possession), Land of Tranquil Light, Lotus Sutra, Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, Nichiren, Non-dual Metaphysics, Practice of the Wonderful Dharma, Radical Immanence, Shohō-Jissō Shō, Suffering and Wisdom, T’ien’tai, Ten Realms, Tendai, Threefold Truth, Ultimate reality, Zhiyi
  • The Open Gate 

    The Open Gate 

    Inspired by a timeless spiritual paradox, “The Open Gate” is a blues-folk story that suggests the most profound truth isn’t hidden away for the chosen few—it’s accessible to everyone. Using the ancient parable of a loving father saving his children from a burning house, the song explores the idea that the greatest wisdom doesn’t require…

    William Altig

    October 18, 2025
    music, Nichiren
    acoustic blues, Americana, Blues Music, Folk Music, Hopeful Music, Houston Songwriter, independent artist, inspirational music, new music, original song, Padmaprabha, parable, resonator guitar, Singer-Songwriter, Slide Guitar, spiritual song, storytelling song, universal truth, wisdom
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