Many many years ago my friend Peaux put together a compilation tape (this was in the days before CDs and Ipods) for me, and I have been following up on it here and there ever since. One song really haunted me, but I didn't know the actual name of it and I only vaguely remembered that the singer was someone named Tim Buckley. Well recently I came across the song, "No Man Can Find the War" and I downloaded it from here:
http://music.allofmp3.com/site_map.shtml
The song is really amazing, you really have to hear it. As with most songs the lyrics can't really convey the full feeling of it, and Tim Buckley's voice is amazing. I actually downloaded the whole album it is from "Goodbye and Hello" and its so good I may actually have to stop listening to PJ Harvey for awhile to let this stuff sink in fully. But anyway, back to "No Man Can Find the War", I think that even though the lyrics alone can't convey the whole feeling of it, nevertheless they might convey how timely such a song is and I hope people will be intrigued enough to hear it for themselves. Here are the lyrics:
Photographs of guns and flame
Scarlet skull and distant game
Bayonet and jungle grin
Nightmares dreamed by bleeding men
Lookouts tremble on the shore
But no man can find the war
Tape recorders echo scream
Orders fly like bullet stream
Drums and cannons laugh aloud
Whistles come from ashen shroud
Leaders damn the world and roar
But no man can find the war
Is the war across the sea?
Is the war behind the sky?
Have you each and all gone blind:
Is the war inside your mind?
Humans weep at human death
All the talkers lose their breath
Movies paint a chaos tale
Singers see and poets wail
All the world kows the score
But no man can find the war
Here, I'll share something else that I connect with this song. They are verses 103-105 of the Dhammapada as translated by my good friend (kalyanamitra) Glenn Wallis:
Though one might conquer in battle
a thousand times a thousand men,
the one who conquers himself alone
is supreme in battle.
It is better indeed to conquer yourself
rather than other people
For a person who tames himself
acting consciously always,
neither a radiant one nor an aerial spirit,
nor Mara together with Brahma
could turn into defeat the victory
of a person such as that.
(The Dhammapada: Verses on the Way, pp. 23-24)
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei
This is a very profound truth for me !
.... Have you each and all gone blind:
Is the war inside your mind ....
A few months ago, one morning, I was chanting and doing Gongyo and I was "going through my so-called list of 'villians.' " Later that morning, I was driving and stopped at a stop sign intersection. Although I don't approve of graffiti, there was value created from the graffiti under the word, "STOP." The graffiti said, " THE WAR WITHIN YOU." (Stop the war within you). This was definitely a message for me. Probably if we want to stop war on a global basis, it must begin with us on a personal level, since there is such a principle as Esho Funi, after all. Yes, I must speak for myself, since this is something I have not yet perfected for myself !
Posted by: Neal at February 6, 2007 06:37 AMI sent this cd to some friends awhile back and was surprised to get no reaction. Thanks for the reality check.
Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" (unfortunately) still has much to say to our times...