Tears of Avalokiteshvara
— symphonic poem

Opus 21 — Timing: 14:56
for orchestra and two 4-part choirs, with piano and large organ, and with prominent part for vibraphone

Avalokiteshvara comes to rescue tormented beings from hell…

Avalokiteshvara, also known as Chenrezig to Tibetans, is known as the Buddha (or Bodhisattva) of Infinite Compassion, on account of his alleged vow never to attain full enlightenment until every sentient being has been liberated from ‘samsara’, the supposed uncontrolled cycle of rebirth and suffering. This symphonic poem is inspired by a beautiful legend. The story is as follows; I quote this from The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche (my own insertions or amendments are in square brackets).

Countless ages ago…a thousand princes vowed to become buddhas [fully enlightened beings]. One resolved to become the Buddha we know as Gautama Siddhartha [the historical Buddha]; Avalokiteshvara, however, vowed not to attain enlightenment until all the other thousand princes had themselves become buddhas. In his infinite compassion he vowed too to liberate all sentient beings from the different realms of samsara [the uncontrolled cycle of rebirth and suffering]. Before the buddhas of the ten directions he prayed: May I help all beings, and if ever I tire in this great work, may my body be shattered into a thousand pieces.

First…he descended into the hell realms, ascending gradually through the world of hungry ghosts [tormented spirits], up to the realms of the gods. From there he happened to look down and saw, aghast, that though he had saved innumerable beings from hell, countless more were pouring in. This plunged him into the profoundest grief; for a moment he almost lost faith in that noble vow he had taken, and his body exploded into a thousand pieces. In his desperation he called out to all the buddhas for help, who came to his aid from all directions of the universe,… ‘like a soft blizzard of snowflakes’.

With their great power the buddhas made him whole again, and from then on Avalokiteshvara had eleven heads and a thousand arms, and on each palm of each hand was an eye, signifying [the] union of wisdom and skilful means that is the mark of true compassion. In this form he was even more resplendent and empowered than before to help all beings, and his compassion grew even more intense as again and again he repeated his vow before the buddhas: May I not attain final buddhahood before all sentient beings attain enlightenment.

This symphonic poem does not attempt a detailed literal representation of the story, but rather portrays its essence. I've sought to treat the subject in a gentle manner tinged with a hint of humour throughout; this is more in keeping with the enlightened view than getting extremely involved with emotions as they arise and getting over-serious, and in any case it's in line with the beautiful quality of the legend.

Two main musical characters are portrayed — that of Avalokiteshvara's supposedly noble compassion on the one hand (adorned with the sweet sound of the vibraphone) and eerie depictions of tormented beings on the other.

From a gentle beginning the animation and intensity gradually build up, the crux of the work being a brief direct vision of the roaring flames of hell* with the agonized cries of beings roasting in the midst of it; they are in such tremendous pain that they are unable even to find words. This scene is cut with an interlude that could reflect Avalokiteshvara's anguish and grief at seeing the hordes of new inhabitants of the hell realms.

* In the religions and even Buddhism, notions of what hell is are a distortion of the actual situation. In Night terrors and hell experiences — Understanding and clearing them I explain what hells really are. The religions have all got it distorted, because their supposed knowledge is based on channellings (which all come from the garbage with an agenda to mislead) and on beliefs, which latter are themselves all ultimately sourced, again, from channelling and thus from the garbage.

The fortissimo sound of a large organ is required for just one brief phrase — no romantic grandiosity here but a crushing monolithic blast of defeat and hopelessness for the tormented beings in hell. Avalokiteshvara rushes in again to the rescue, now sounding more resplendent and powerful, the music having a still more spacious and ‘multiple’ quality. There follows a mysterious and powerful incantatory section reflecting Avalokiteshvara's repeated vows to the buddhas, and the work's ending is once again in the peaceful light of his boundless compassion.

As in previous works of mine, the two choirs are required to be well spaced out laterally and reasonably separate, for much use is made of antiphonal effects. In the hell fire scene a live choir would be directed to vary their vowel sounds to make their sung cries sound truly agonized, but unfortunately such effects couldn't be achieved in my MIDI rendition of the work. The split infinitive in the incantatory section may look bad to British readers, but it's absolutely necessary in order to enable the words to fit properly into the 6/8 rhythm there.

…And now a big caution about that story, Buddhism, and all religion

For extremely important reasons, since 2007 in particular I distanced myself from the teachings of Buddhism and indeed ALL teachings of ALL religions and ALL spiritual traditions, and I explain why in Exit Spirituality — Enter Clear-Mindedness on my Clarity of Being site.

Although the above story certainly has a sort of beauty about it, it's highly problematical because it reinforces the notion that making a vow is somehow a good or virtuous thing to do. In the relevant section in Affirmations & declarations of intent for healing & self-actualization I explain how vows ALWAYS reflect garbage involvement — yes, in all religions and spiritual traditions as well as in any other situations — and thus are something that we need even less than we need a hole in the head!

Also, the story underlines the very widely held and harmful notion that it's somehow virtuous, good and beneficial to devote yourself to helping others while not attending properly to your own needs.

Throughout the world ‘healers’ and other people with the kindest of intentions do themselves and others a huge amount of harm through falling into that trap and trying to help others rather than themselves. As I explain on my Clarity of Being site, to be effective in helping others, first you need to attend to yourself and be a good role model of living in a balanced mindset.

If you keep trying to help people, what you're really doing is feeding their own feelings and attitudes of powerlessness and self disempowerment, and draining your own energy. What they actually need is people who are fully attending to their own self-actualization process to act as catalysts and inspirers for self-healing and self-actualization — not ‘helpers’!

It's important to read the preceding notes about the story in this light, in that they are incorrectly assuming that the picture was of something occurring that was truly wonderful and beyond ordinary human experience. As I re-read the notes at this time, after all the tremendous ordeals that the garbage took me through particularly in late 2003 to early 2007, I can see how the whole story underlying this work has come to us from the garbage as part of its pervasive agenda to keep us lured away from simple and direct self-actualization.

Compassion, for example — much exalted in Tibetan Buddhism — is an outlook and feeling that is distorted with underlying painful emotion that is being manipulated by the garbage. It is thus NOT a positive thing in that form. A truly enlightened and self-actualized person doesn't experience ‘compassion’ (which is a religious thing, linked to an underlying agenda of obligation and ‘virtuousness’, and is all garbage-sourced) but empathy and loving, aware positive intent, which is an intrinsic aspect of fundamental human nature.

On the basis of the story about Avalokiteshvara, I'd say that he still had a lot of self-actualization work to do for himself in order to achieve true clarity and freedom from ‘dark’ influences. The need would have been for him to become enlightened (I think that full ‘self-realization’ is meant there) as soon as possible, so he could then be greatly more effective in helping others, primarily as a role model of proper human functioning — physically helping only when and in whatever form that would be genuinely helpful to them and not unduly weakening for him. So much for Tibetan Buddhism supposedly bringing us the pinnacle of enlightenment and self-actualization!

In any case, as I explain in The true nature of ‘the forces of darkness’ and its interference and attacks, to my current understanding, all these supposed ‘Great Buddhas and Bodhisattvas’ beyond the physical ‘here and now’ are actually completely bogus, and are simulations given to people by the garbage just in the same way that angels, archangels, ascended masters, gods, goddesses and guides (and indeed God) are all likewise. It's through such means of impersonation and deception that the garbage unremittingly seeks to lure and divert people away from true self-actualization.

There's also a problem about the words that I gave the choir, in that all references to ‘light’ or ‘Light’ are perpetuating an old and extremely harmful misunderstanding that has come to us from the garbage via all manner of religions and ‘spiritual’ and mystical traditions — that our true nature and that of any higher presence or ‘reality’ is ‘light’ or ‘Light’. In reality (sic), they are clarity and naked awareness (whatever they are!), NOT ‘Light’.

Words sung by the choir

(all original apart from the mantra)

All these lines are subjected to many repeats in different voices and are sung in varying sequences.

(Tormented beings)

Please help us!
We are lost, in torment!

(in hell)

Raging fires do burn!
We have nowhere to turn!

(the sung agonized cries during the tremolando furioso sections for the strings are wordless)

(Avalokiteshvara)

Om mani padme hum …
Behold the dazzling light!
Leave torment behind!
Come with me and banish night!
The Light is love and knows no bounds;
Know now your buddha mind!
Quickly now, become the Light!

(incantatory section)
(— men)

O may I not attain final buddhahood
Before all beings attain enlightenment!
I vow to you to never gain enlightenment
Until all beings are liberated.

(— women, as though echoing)

Until he has liberated all of them…
(Final section — comment by the ‘Enlightened Ones’)

(first 3 entries — upper voices)

Love shines like the sun;
Unending compassion
Shines on every being.

(last 3 entries, repeating — lower voices)

In the light of love, all are one.

Avalokiteshvara comes to rescue tormented beings from hell…

Words sung by the choir

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