Tag: awakening

• The Forgotten Promise | By The William Altig Choir

  

  We all carry something ancient within us—a promise made before memory, a purpose that calls to us through the noise of daily life. “The Secret Vow” is a heavy blues meditation on the profound loss we feel when we’ve forgotten why we’re here. Drawing from the Buddhist teaching of the Bodhisattva vow—the commitment to return…

  William Altig

  November 9, 2025

  music

  acoustic blues, Americana, Ancient Wisdom, awakening, benefit all beings, Blues, Bodhisattva, buddhist music, Choir, choral arrangement, Collective Awakening, community music, compassionate action, Conscious Lyrics, Conscious Music, contemplative music, contemporary folk, Deep Blues, delta blues, emotional blues, existential blues, Folk Blues, gospel blues, harmonica blues, healing music, heavy blues, intentional living, introspective folk, life purpose music, meaningful lyrics, meditation music, mindfulness music, modern blues, Modern Spirituality, musical activism, philosophical music, promise, purpose, remembering, roots music, sacred music, service music, Slide Guitar, Soul Searching, spiritual awakening, Spiritual Music, storytelling folk, The William Altig Choir, transformative music, vow, world music fusion

• Fifty Aeons Long

  

  “Fifty Aeons Long” by The William Altig Choir is a hauntingly beautiful folk-blues meditation on time, freedom, and perception. The song explores how our suffering often comes from clinging to minutes, regrets, and imagined futures—when the truth is timeless and already here. With finger-picked acoustic guitar, slide accents, upright bass, and a baritone voice that…

  William Altig

  October 27, 2025

  music

  acoustic blues, Acoustic Guitar, Americana, Americana folk, awakening, baritone vocals, cosmic folk, delta blues, Dharma blues, Enlightenment, Fifty Aeons Long, Folk Blues, introspective song, meditation blues, Mindfulness, Perception, philosophical blues, reflective song, roots music, Slide Guitar, slow blues, song about time, Songs of Awakening, spiritual folk, texas blues, The William Altig Choir, time, timeless song, william altig, William Altig music

• Already Home

  

  A slow blues ballad about the moment everything changes. I spent so long trying to earn my way, step by step, brick by brick—keeping score, watching the clock run down, wondering if I’d ever be good enough. Then one single moment of grace broke through, and I realized: I don’t have to keep trying anymore.…

  William Altig

  October 25, 2025

  Chapter 17, music, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law

  acoustic blues, acoustic storytelling, already enlightened, always already, Americana, apocalypse, appalachian folk, arriving, assurance, authenticity, awakening, bent notes, beyond measure, blue note, Blues, blues ballad, born again, bottleneck, breakthrough, buddhist blues, burden, burden lifted, Campfire Song, cathartic, celestial shore, chains breaking, coming home, Comparison, confessional, Conscious Music, Contemplative, contemporary folk, conversion, country blues, darkness to light, Deep Listening, delta blues, destination, dharma folk, divine presence, earned salvation, emotional journey, end of wandering, Enlightenment, eternal now, eternal presence, existential blues, face to face, faith, fingerstyle guitar, flash, folk ballad, Folk Blues, found, freedom, good enough, gospel blues, grace, grace over works, harmonica blues, here and now, home, honest, Imagery, immanent, incomparable, infinite value, instant, instant faith, intimate encounter, intimate vocals, kingdom within, letting go, liberation, life changing moment, light breaking through, lightning, live feel, lo fi blues, long road, lyric driven, meditation music, melancholic blues, Merit, Metaphor, minimal production, moment of clarity, mountain music, muddy waters, Mystical, narrative folk, natural sound, never left, no longer lost, old time, one take, one thought, organic production, original enlightenment, peace, pearl of great price, personal relationship, philosophical blues, piedmont blues, poetry, porch blues, presence, promise, promised land, raw recording, raw vocals, redeemed, redemption song, release, relief, religious exhaustion, religious folk, resonator, rest, rest for the weary, Revelation, roots music, sacred music, safe harbor, Samsara, sanctuary, saved, score keeping, self acceptance, singer songwriter, single moment, slide, slow blues, Southern gothic, spiritual blues, spiritual burnout, spiritual folk, Storytelling, striving, sudden grace, sudden vs gradual, suffering and liberation, testimonial, testimony, texas blues, thunder, timeless truth, Traditional, traditional blues, transcendent, Transformation, transformational, treasure, triumphant, trying too hard, unconditional love, unveiling, vertical leap, vintage sound, voice calling, Vulnerability, vulnerable, wheel of life, witness, worth more than

•  The Treasure Tower

  

  “The Treasure Tower” is a cinematic folk-rock journey that builds from a single acoustic guitar and vocal into a soaring, full-band spiritual experience. Drawing inspiration from the epic imagery of the Lotus Sutra, the song tells the story of a profound revelation. It charts the journey from sitting on the “hard earth” as a humble…

  William Altig

  October 22, 2025

  Chapter 11, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law

  awakening, Blues, Buddhism, Cinematic Folk, Conscious Music, Enlightenment, Epic Ballad, folk rock, gospel blues, Hammond organ, Lotus Sutra, meditation music, Mystical Music, Singer-Songwriter, Slide Guitar, spiritual awakening, Spiritual Music, The Tower and the Gem

• More Than a Reward: 5 Radical Ideas Hidden in a 2,000-Year-Old Buddhist Text

  

  For many, religious or spiritual practice is often seen through a transactional lens: perform specific actions, say the right words, do good deeds, and you will receive a reward—a better life, good fortune, or a favorable place in the hereafter. This view presents spiritual development as a kind of karmic accounting, where we steadily accumulate…

  William Altig

  October 17, 2025

  Chapter 17, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law

  awakening, Bodhisattva Ideal, Bodhisattva Path, Buddha-nature, Chapter 17, Compassion, daimoku, devotional practices, Dharma Body, Dharmakāya, Discrimination of Merit and Virtue, Enlightenment, Eternal Buddha, Final Dharma Age (mappō), Fumbetsu Kudoku Hon, King of Sūtras, Limitless Merit, Lotus Sūtra, Mahāyāna Buddhism, Merit Transference, Namu Myōhō-renge-kyō, Nichiren, Non-Duality, One Vehicle (Ekayāna), Pariṇāmanā, Puṇya, Pure Land, Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra, Skillful Means, Tendai, Tiantai, upāya, Virtue (De), Wisdom (Prajñā)

• 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 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

• The Bow That Sees

  

  I bow to the wanderer, ragged and worn,To the scornful eye, to the heart forlorn.For within your silence, within your pain,The seed of the Dharma sings its refrain. I will not call you lazy, nor lost,For the lotus blooms where the waters are tossed.Your path may stumble, your steps may fall,But the One Great Vehicle…

  William Altig

  October 3, 2025

  Chapter 14, poems, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law

  awakening, Bodhisattva Never Disrespectful, Buddhist Poetry, Buddhist teachings, Compassion, Dharma poem, Enlightenment, folk blues inspiration, Inner Peace, Lotus Sutra, Mappō age, mindfulness poem, Non-Contempt, peaceful practices, reverence, Spiritual Growth, spiritual humility, Third Peaceful Practice, Universal Buddha-nature, wisdom and compassion

• The Buddha’s Eyes Blues

  

  Buddha’s Eyes Blues is a slow-rolling, rootsy folk-blues meditation on the heart of Chapter Ten of the Lotus Sūtra. With warm finger-picked guitar, mournful slide, and harmonica sighs, it honors the sutra’s call to make offerings of devotion and daily action. Each verse carries the listener down a dusty road of incense smoke and open…

  William Altig

  September 25, 2025

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

  acoustic blues, Americana, awakening, Blues Folk, Buddha Nature, buddhist blues, devotional blues, dharma songs, equality and difference, fingerpicked guitar, Harmonica, Lotus Sutra, mindful music, Offerings, roots music, Slide Guitar, slow blues, soulful meditation, spiritual awakening, spiritual folk

• Lotus Sūtra’s Hidden Enlightenment

  

  I. Executive Summary Chapter Eight of the Lotus Sūtra marks a profound turning point in Buddhist thought, where five hundred of the Buddha’s monks realize the limitations of their previous spiritual attainments. Their declaration, “The Nirvāṇa we attained was Only part of the immeasurable treasures of yours. We were like a foolish man with no…

  William Altig

  September 15, 2025

  Chapter 8, The Great Teachings of the Lotus of the True Law

  altruistic mission, Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, Arhat, awakening, Bodhisattva, Bodhisattvayāna, Buddha, Buddha-nature, Buddhist path, Chapter Eight, Compassion, devotional practices, Dharmakāya, Dukkha, Ekayāna, emptiness of all phenomena, emptiness of self, expedient means, foolish man, Hinayāna, immeasurable treasures, impartial compassion, Latter Day of the Law, Lotus Sūtra, Mahāyāna, monks, Mystic Law, Nichiren Buddhism, Nichiren Daishonin, Nirvāṇa, non-dual, One Vehicle, Parable of the Burning House, parable of the jewel in the robe, Parinirvāṇa, personal liberation, Provisional Teachings, realization, recitation, revaluation, Samsara, spiritual complacency, Spiritual Journey, Suffering, Tendai, three vehicles, Tiantai, transcription, treasure tower, Universal Enlightenment, universal salvation, upāya, Zhiyi, Śrāvakayāna