Padayon 07/20/2010
The De La Salle University Chorale singing Padayon at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod 2010. Janine Quintana (daughter of Gil Quintana and Jojie Diloy, both from Leyte) leads the choir with her strong and powerful voice. Excellent performance. They placed second in the Chamber Choir Division. Music and lyrics by Grace Nono, from her album Tao Music. Padayon (in Visaya, means "continue", "move on") Padayon, padayon lamang Ang higayon, musubang karon Padayon, ug panlimbasug Ang panahon, anaa sa imong kamot Kung and imong kusug nahinanok Pagpahulay, hinay-hinay Padayon, dawat ug gasa Ipaambit sa tanan Padayon, ug isaulog Kining lakaw sa kinabuhi Ug kung ikaw nagmasulub-on Hinumdumi kung dunay adlaw A dunay pagdag-um Padayon, magmadasigon Ang imong pangandoy Makab-ot karon Padayon, magmalaumon Ang imong gipaabot Mahimugso karon. Ay yay yay yay... Om Benza Satto Hung (Purification Mantra) 07/19/2010
 I thought I'd share with you a purification mantra, as sang by Deva Premal with the Gyuto Monks of Tibet from her latest album, Tibetan Mantras for Turbulent Times. Om Benza Satto Hung is chanted 108 times. "This mantra helps transform negative karma created over many lifetimes." - Deva Premal Beautiful hang music 07/10/2010
PBS' The Buddha 06/09/2010
The Buddha is a documentary about the Buddha's life. It presents his indulgent and protected life as a prince, his ascetic life as a renunciate in search for the release of suffering, his attainment to Buddhahood, and his life as a teacher. Buddha asks the question, why do we suffer and how can we be free of suffering. Juxtaposing Buddha's life and his teachings (presented in animation) with commentaries from Buddhist teachers like Robert Thurman, Mark Epstein, the Dalai Lama and others, filmmaker David Gruber presents this film as an easy to understand introduction to Buddhism for non-Buddhists and a powerful reminder to practicing Buddhists alike. Richard Gere narrates. Duration 1:55:00. The mantra of Tara 05/07/2010
 In Tibetan Buddhism, Tara is the Bodhisattva of compassion and action. The mantra for Tara is Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha. Reciting this mantra "eliminates disease, troubles, disasters and Karma and will also bring believers blessings, longer life and the wisdom to transcend one's circle of reincarnation." - Wikipedia
[To recite mantras, you will need a mala. (See our store.) The beads are used to keep track of the number of mantras you've recited. Malas can be made up of 19, 21, 27, 54, or 108 beads. The kind of beads may vary from each mala. You choose which beads to use according to the purpose of the mantra.] Us before and now 03/21/2010
To all the baby boomers and martial law babies in this island, a walk down our memory lane. Imelda to us was either someone we hated or someone we admired.. like a fan. This is David Byrne's new production Here Lies Love about Imelda, the whole cd/dvd package to be out in April. Check his site here.  Imelda was Marcos' best ambassador. When other leaders wouldn't budge to his demands, he'd send Imelda. In Please Don't, 'Imelda' sings: "A woman knows just how to do, only rub his leg./ He understood my point of view so I don't have to beg." She's a tragic character, and Byrne figuratively shows through Imelda our prostituted women and country very well. Meet Mishka 03/02/2010
I'm no reggae fan, it's just not my type of music however much of an islander I am. BUT, listening to Mishka, I am now a convert He's half Bermudan and half Canadian, but grew up in Bermuda, the country of shorts and reggae. He has, in my opinion, become the next Bob Marley of the West. Right now, I'm listening to his album Above the Bones. The songs Above the Bones and Coastline Journey (click Play below to listen) are my personal favorites.  With his reggae, soulful folk music, I have only one word to describe it. Cool. Unlike other reggae artists and bands I haven't listened to, Mishka doesn't inspire hate, desperation nor anarchy but instead "his lyrics speak of his engaging perspective on life, distrust of authority, distaste of corruption, and faith in love and in our world’s people" (quoted from his website). To know more about Mishka and his music, click here. Simple Life 02/26/2010
Surfing is like a metaphor for life, a surfer friend once told me. And she explained to me the mechanics of surfing, how only one surfer can ride a wave at a time so there's a grabbing and a giving way going on at the same time among the surfers waiting for the right wave to come along. How sometimes, you've to brave a typhoon to get the best wave, or brave surfing with baby sharks who are out there on the lookout for food. This was the life of the local surfers who make do with what waves they are given. I came across this locally made music video of and by Leyte surfers. It's called Gudti nga kinabuhi (Simple life), and it's written in Waray, the dialect/language of Leyte. It's a lot Jack Johnson-ish, especially the guitar works and the melody and rhythm, but the lyrics by Rommel Osias is just excellent. It talks about this grabbing and giving way that I mentioned, a sort of a battle between non-attachment and wanting, and then shrugging it off because it's only a passing moment.  Why grabbing? Because "unta diri ka maunahan / kay ini talagsaun la / ha aton gudti nga kinabuhi" [roughly, hopefully, no one gets ahead of you/ for this only comes rarely / in our small and simple lives]. And why giving way and giving it up? "Huna huna nim damu na it im aram / Paglingi nimo damu pa ngayan it kulang / Usa nga butang kuno nga gimamahali / ayla kabaraka kay diri man paunahay ini." [You think you already know a lot / And when you look, it is not much / They say it's the most important thing / don't worry it's not about getting ahead.] I know I'm stretching it a bit, but here's what it says about mindfulness: "Bisan ka pa lumibot ha kalibutan / kun diri ka maaram kun diin ka nagtikang." [even if you go around the world, if you don't know where you came from or where you are...]. I always think surfers are the masters of living in the moment. I would have preferred more shots of the locals' simple lives juxtaposed with the guys surfing. But we get what we get and we take it. So say the masters. [Song was written by Romel Osias, in collaboration with guitarist Rex Makabenta. Video was filmed in Dulag, Leyte, 2010 and cut and edited by Derek Delgado. This track can also be found in a tribute album to Dyndyn, who recently gave way to cancer.] (Thanks to Derek Delgado for posting this video on youtube.) Zen at Cheerio Road 02/25/2010
For those of you who are just now stumbling into the Buddhist path, I'm sure you're looking puzzled at all the many diverging paths you're confronted with. Zen, Chan, Pure Land, Tibetan, Mahayana, Theravada, Vajrayana, and now Western Buddhism which is branching out to many groups as well. And here you thought that the Dalai Lama is to Buddhists what the Pope is to Catholics. Which is not the case. So today, I want to discuss Zen. Except there's really nothing to discuss about it. All you know or don't know about Zen is all you need to know about it. But if you want more guidance, here's my best choice blog on the web: Cheerio Road by Karen Maezen Miller. Maezen is an American Zen priest who writes wisely about laundry, chores, gardening, mothering, mindfulness, practice and more laundry. This is as simple as Zen can get. In her post today, she talks about practice:  "Only one thing transforms my life: practice. I mean both my formal practice on a meditation cushion, and my everyday, standing-at-the-sink, emptying-the-hamper practice of giving up my chronic search for something else. The life we are most devoted to is the life we don't have... I don't practice Zen because I'm a better person. I practice because I'll never be anyone else." - Maezen The Cove (2009) 02/22/2010
We're days before summer officially starts, and already we're feeling the summer heat. The weather bureau has a forecast of endless sunshine (and heat), they call it el niño. So, as we head off to the beach, visit aquariums, whale-watch, and swim with the dolphins and the dugongs (seacows) you might be surprised how fewer these sea mammals have become.  Last year, a documentary called The Cove came out, showing what a little town in Japan is doing to dolphins. These dolphins could have been on their way here to our islands, but never reached their destination. It's a very controversial movie, one that questions our inhumanity, our gross appetite for delicacies over the lives of endangered species, and most of all, it questions why we're not doing anything about it. So if you get the chance, watch this movie. Show it in your classrooms. Tell your friends about it. Awareness is always a good thing. It means being awake. Why is it important that we become aware of what's happening to dolphins? Because we're doing the same thing in our country to our other endangered sea creatures (turtles, sharks, dolphins, etc). We eat them, or we export them to Japan. For more information on The Cove movie, click here. | ArchivesJuly 2010 CategoriesAll  |
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