Buddhism (16)


("Dance of the Lord of Death" by Jean-Marie Hullot)



« Between Worlds » is a composition that started as a song entitled « Requiem » which was written in response to the deaths of my father and maternal grandmother, both due to cancer, at the beginning of the 1990s. Inspired by « The Tibetan Book of the Dead, » the piece eventually turned into a suite in five movements intended to present the successive stages of the death process as described in Tibetan culture.


« Dissolution » is a very short sec

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Between Worlds (Epilogue)


("Maitreya the Conqueror" by Nicholas Roerich)



I read the The Tibetan Book of the Dead twice. I started with a French translation, and then read the Robert A. F. Thurman version. My motivation at the time was to learn more about the death process and what comes after.


At the time, I was agreeably surprised to discover that the text, which is traditionally read to the dead and is intended to guide them through the experiences that the consciousness has during the interval between death and the nex

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Departure (Between Worlds part 1)


("Buddha painted on a rock wall in Tibet" by Unknown Artist - photography by onwardtibet.org)




« Between Worlds » is a suite in five movements that started as a song entitled « Requiem » which was written in response to the deaths of my father and maternal grandmother, both due to cancer, at the beginning of the 1990s. The original draft eventually became what now constitutes « Departure, » the introductory section of the whole composition.


A few years later, after discovering Buddhism, I acquired

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Determination (Between Worlds part 5)


("Akshobhya Buddha" by VanemTao)



« Between Worlds » is a composition that started as a song entitled « Requiem » which was written in response to the deaths of my father and maternal grandmother, both due to cancer, at the beginning of the 1990s. Inspired by « The Tibetan Book of the Dead, » the piece eventually turned into a suite in five movements intended to present the successive stages of the death process as described in Tibetan culture.


The last section of « Between Worlds » is entitled «

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« Into The Ashram » is the first chapter of the « Entering The Stream » trilogy, which also comprises « The Chrome Lake » and « Leaving The Ashram. »


The composition is intended to depict the progress of an individual getting fed up with their day to day life to the point of taking an extended time off for reflection and introspection.


The piece is an instrumental which counts the following four movements :

  • The Ordinary
  • Running Out Of Breath
  • Dweller On The Threshold
  • Jambudvipa

In the cosmology of Buddh

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Deliberation (Between Worlds part 4)


("The Dhyani Buddha Akshobhya" - Unknown Artist)



« Between Worlds » is a composition that started as a song entitled « Requiem » which was written in response to the deaths of my father and maternal grandmother, both due to cancer, at the beginning of the 1990s. Inspired by « The Tibetan Book of the Dead, » the piece eventually turned into a suite in five movements intended to present the successive stages of the death process as described in Tibetan culture.


« The Dance Of The Archetypes » culmin

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The Music Of Poligraf : Void part 2


("Primeval Center" )

On a background of Wall Street Bailout and the Large Hadron Collider, “Void” paints the Buddhist concept of emptiness.

From Wikipedia :

In Buddhism, the realization of emptiness of inherent existence is a “state of pure consciousness” in which the practitioner realizes all particular objects and images to be appearances of the subjective mind.

The song is made up of twelve short verses, one longer vocal interlude, and no chorus. The vocal sections are tied together with short in

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("Enigma" by Matías Argudín)

The third and fourth parts of “Leaving The Ashram” are respectively entitled “The Tabla Master’s Enigma” and “The Ordinary II.” Our unidentified introspective hero has completed his retreat and is going back to ordinary life.

As I now leave behind the echoes of complaints
The struggles of ego in the hall of constraints
I recall my time here one of introspection
Of intense pondering and of liberation

Long I sat by myself in silence and darkness
One by one noticing the causes

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(Ashram by Nicholas Roerich)

An instrumental in 4 movements (The Ordinary, Running Out Of Breath, Dweller On The Threshold, Jambudvipa), the composition aims to evoke the progress of an individual getting fed up with their day to day life to the point of taking an extended time off for reflection and introspection.

In the cosmology of Buddhism, Jambudvipa is the name of the continent of the terrestrial world where ordinary human beings live. From Wikipedia :

It is in Jambudvipa that one may recei
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Essay : On Desire

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Photo of the magnetic field of two bar magnets with like poles close together » by Alexander Wilmer Duff)



In Buddhist culture, there exists the core notion of the three poisons, which are considered to be the cause of all sufferings.


In English, the poisons are generally translated as confusion, desire, and hatred, or variations of these terms.


In my experience, while confusion and hatred are generally grasped correctly, the poison of desire is often misunderstood.


In short, confusion refers to t

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On Individualistic Spirituality

In my opinion, on some social networks there appears to be a tendency to avoid challenges altogether in order to protect beliefs.The rationale seems to be that the intent of the challengers is merely to « make wrong, » and that those who challenge are just not « confident in their own beliefs. »But what then if the intent is not to « make wrong » ? What if the intent is to shed a different light ? What if the prompting comes from the heart and not the ego ? What if the ego tries to ignore the ov
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Why « Samsara » ?


(Album Cover for « Samsara » by Christopher Stewart)


Poligraf’s first album will be entitled « Samsara » in reference to the cycle of reincarnation in Buddhist culture.


Samsara is a Sanskrit and Pali term derived from to « flow together, » « to go or pass through states, » « to wander, » and which translates as « continuous movement » or « continuous flowing. »


In Buddhism, it refers to the concept of a cycle of birth and consequent decay and death, in which all beings in the universe participate

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(The Wheel of Becoming - Symbolic Representation of Saṃsāra in Tibetan Buddhism)

Poligraf's first album is entitled "Samsara." Traditionally, the term refers to the Buddhist concept of the cycle of birth and death in which all beings in the universe take part and which can be escaped only through enlightenment. Personally, I agree with the view that it is rather that very same process of enlightenment, in which ups and downs are in fact the appearance of constant motion towards spiritual growth.
I
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Music has been an essential part of my life since the end of the 80s.
The adventure began during the second of my four years of studying electrical engineering at Université Laval in Québec City. Through various friends and contacts I reconnected with progressive rock, a form of music to which I had already been exposed to in my youth thanks to my older brothers and sisters. Hearing the music of bands such as Yes, Rush, Genesis, and King Crimson felt like meeting old friends, and quickly I knew I
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Poligraf has been an essential part of my life since its inception at the beginning of February 1998.
The adventure began after the collapse of a band that probably never really existed as it only had a handful of rehearsals, but for which I had already written a lot of material. Left alone at the helm, I connected with a group of experienced musicians via a co-worker friend and after agreeing on a general aim and formula, we raised sail and headed to the terra incognita of progressive rock.
Over
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(Buddha the Conqueror by Nicholas Roerich)

Buddhism has been an essential part of my life since the mid-90s.
The adventure began when I stumbled upon a feature in an encyclopedic dictionary that highlighted the Four Noble Truths. That finding immediately sparked my curiosity and a few days later I was buying a copy of The Dhammapada at a local bookstore. While slowly digesting the aphorisms in the weeks that followed, I found that its teachings were in continuity with a process of introspection
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