Tag: karuna

• 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

• 5 Surprising Lessons from an Ancient Bodhisattva on How to Face an Overwhelming World

  

  It is a deeply familiar weight in our modern age: we are confronted daily with a seemingly endless tide of global problems, and in the face of such overwhelming need, we feel crushingly inadequate. We look at the scale of what is necessary and, as one ancient text observes, come to “believe that we are…

  William Altig

  October 16, 2025

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

  Abhaya, Amitabha Buddha, Anatta, Avalokitesvara, Bodhicitta, Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva vow, Buddhist Compassion, Buddhist deity, Buddhist Ethics, Buddhist iconography, Buddhist meditation, Buddhist Philosophy, Buddhist practice, Buddhist psychology, Buddhist Symbolism, Buddhist teachings, Buddhist vows, Buddhist Wisdom, Chapter 25 Lotus Sutra, Chenrezig, Chinese Buddhism, comparative religion, Compassion, compassionate action, dealing with suffering, dependent origination, East Asian Buddhism, emptiness, fearlessness, gender in Buddhism, Goddess of Mercy, Guanyin, helping others, interconnectedness, kannon, karuna, Kumarajiva, Lotus Sutra, Mahayana Buddhism, mindfulness practice, Non-self, oceanic vow, overcoming despair, prajna, pratityasamutpada, Pure Land Buddhism, religious studies, Shantideva, Skillful Means, spiritual hope, Spiritual Transformation, Sunyata, thousand-armed Avalokitesvara, Upaya, wisdom and compassion

• 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 Promise of Deliverance: An Exploration of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva and the Breaking of Bonds in the Lotus Sūtra

  

  The Lotus Sūtra, a cornerstone of Mahayana Buddhism, holds a revered position as a scripture that elucidates the profound truths of existence and the inherent potential for enlightenment within all beings.1 Central to its teachings is the figure of the World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva, known by various names across cultures, including Avalokiteśvara, Kuan Yin, Kannon, and Kanzeon.3…

  William Altig

  May 3, 2025

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

  #EscapeIgnorance, Avalokiteshvara, bodhisattva-of-compassion, buddhahood-potential, buddhist-philosophy, chapter-25-universal-door, Compassion, compassion-karuna, Delusion, Guanyin, Ignorance, ignorance-and-delusion, kannon, kanzeon, karuna, liberation, liberation-from-bonds, Lotus Sutra, lotus-sutra, Mahayana Buddhism, mahayana-buddhism, practice, recitation-practice, skillful-means-upaya, spiritual-deliverance, Sutra Recitation, symbolic bondage, symbolic-bondage, ten fetters, ten-fetters, world-voice-perceiver