Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama will release an album of mantras and teachings set to music, Getintothis’ Lewis Ridley reports.
Khandro Music will release a unique album of mantras and teachings by The Dalai Lama set to music, entitled Inner World.
Released to honor his 85th birthday celebrations on 6 July, 2020, the album has been launched with a first single, Compassion, out now.
When asked why he accepted the request to make the album, he answered, “The very purpose of my life is to serve as much as I can.”
He also added, “Music can help people in a way that I can’t.”
The first single sees The Dalai Lama reciting the mantra of the Buddha of Compassion (known in Tibetan as Chenrezig and in Sanskrit as Avalokiteshvara), which is said to open our hearts and bring us closer to others, to feel love and compassion through wisdom, generating a desire to help.
The origins of Inner World began in 2015, when one of the project’s co-executive producers and a longtime student of The Dalai Lama, Junelle Kunin, wrote to him requesting his participation, by fervently explaining her feelings that an album by such a compassionate and wise being would help people particularly who struggle with emotional stress.
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After reading her letter, his response was enthusiastic, saying, “This will benefit many people!”. She and her husband Abraham Kunin, both from New Zealand, spent the next five years working with a small team to bring the project to life.
The Dalai Lama’s recordings have been thread through music composed by Abraham and performed on thirty-plus instruments by himself and a cast of collaborators from around the world, including a special guest performance from Anoushka Shankar on Ama La.
The composer integrated the live performances with artful programming and production, building a peaceful bedrock for these sacred offerings.
Net proceeds from the sales of Inner World will go to The Gaden Phodrang Foundation of the Dalai Lama (Switzerland) chosen programme: Social, Emotional and Ethical Learning (SEE Learning), an international K-12 education program and part of an academic collaboration between Emory University and His Holiness; and Mind and Life Institute.
Inner World tracklisting:
1. One Of My Favorite Prayers
2. The Buddha
3. Compassion
4. Courage
5. Ama La ft. Anoushka Shankar
6. Healing
7. Wisdom
8. Purification
9. Protection
10. Children
11. Humanity
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