The subject today is Differences and Tolerance with reference to the poetry of Sun Ra from a Buddhist perspective. I will begin by citing Sun Ra's poem, "Differences" and conclude by quoting from author and Buddhist scholar Daisku Ikeda and revered Japanese Buddhist, Nichiren Daishonin whose 12th century writings were based on the Lotus Sutra.

In the poem "Differences", Sun Ra talks about ignorance and wisdom as co-existing forces in life, while his own at-oneness with "the force that made life be" provides him with the confidence and ability to perceive his true self, rather than the self others may arbitrarily choose to recognize when looking at him. This is especially clear in his lines: Sometimes in my amazing ignorance/Others see me only as they care to see/I am to them as they think/According the standard I should not be.

Sun Ra is playing with the word "ignorance" from several viewpoints in this poem. Here, he might easily be mixing racial issues with another type of prejudice he often encountered: those who viewed him as a charlatan or fool, talking nonsense about space and altered realities, when actually his thoughts were carefully crafted to reveal deeper meanings, simply asking one to have an open mind to consider alternative truths.

At the end of the poem, Ra says that he is seeing them 'as they are to is', in this eternal moment containing past, present and future, and not the 'seeming isness of the was' or the illusion they have to reality that is not a real isness.

From a Buddhist perspective, Ra's reference to ignorance and wisdom might also be interpreted as the two aspects of life; illusion, or fundamental darnkness, and wisdom, or enlightenment. Both exist simultaneously in the life of each individual. Depending on our life condtion, one or the other may be manifest at any given moment and influence our view of self and other. Awarness of life's eternal nature and our harmony with the universal dharma may be close to Ra's description of "invincible invisible wisdom" - something "greater than life... greater than extinction." In the end, Ra concludes by saying that when he looks at others, he sees this same universal wisdom, present in the everyday mundane reality of life. In this sense, Buddhism (and perhaps Sun Ra in this case) recognizes equally the potential for enlightenment in oneself and others, regardless of outwardly perceived differences.

The Differences

Sometimes in the amazing ignorance
I hear things and see things
I never knew I saw and heard before
Sometimes in the ignorance
I feel the meaning
Invincible invisible wisdom,
And I commune with intuitive instinct
With the force that made life be
And since it made life be
It is greater than life
And since it let extinction be
It is greater than extinction.
I commune with feelings more than
prayer
For there is nothing else to ask for
That companionship is
And it is superior to any other is.
Sometimes in my amazing ignorance
Others see me only as they care to see
I am to them as they think
According the standard I should not be
And that is the difference between I and them
Because I see them as they are to is
And not the seeming isness of the was.

Sun Ra

More background onformation and an online context for this poem is available at:
http://www.elrarecords.com/sunra.html



In his book, For the Sake of Peace (Middleway Press, 2001), Daisaku Ikeda includes a chapter titled, The Path of Dialogue and Tolerance, that I find relative to the preceding poem by Sun Ra. For knowledgeable Ra fans, Dr. Ikeda's use of the term "cosmos" will create an obvious relativity. He expresses his views regarding dialogue and its importance to both our individual and collective cultures and how an understanding of the interdependency of life allows us to create the type of tolerance that is needed to positively influence civilization today.

"Undeniably, in our information-saturated society, we are being inundated by ready-made stereotypes obscuring the truth of people and situations. This is why person-to-person dialogue is more than ever in demand.

I am convinced that we can solve any problem as long as we keep our minds open and stand firm in our belief in our common humanity.

Tolerance is more than just a mental attitude; it must grow out of a sense of larger order and coexistence, a cosmic sensibility that issues up from the deepest wellsprings of life. As explained by the Buddhist doctrine of "dependent origination," no phenomenon in either the human or natural domains arises independently of all others. The cosmos is created through the interrelation and interdependence of all things. Tolerance rooted in a world view of dynamic interdependence can, I believe, be instrumental in enabling us to transcend the threat of a clash of civilizations and to realize a philosophy of coexistence that will permit us to build a world of human harmony." - pg. 67

As I mentioned earlier, in Sun Ra's poem "Differences", "invincible invisible wisdom" is not far from the Buddhist concept of the equal worthiness of all life which inherently contains the wisdom of the universe. In The Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin (Soka Gakkai, 1999) from the well-known treatise "On Attaining Buddahood in This Lifetime", Ra's "invincible invisible wisdom" is parallel to "the mystic truth":

"If you wish to free yourself from the sufferings of birth and death you have endured since time without beginning and to attain without fail unsurpassed enlightenment in this lifetime, you must perceive the mystic truth that is originally inherent in all living beings." - WND, pg. 3

Another line from the same work describes the process of perceiving this mytic truth in our own lives:

"A mind now clouded by the illusions of the innate darkness of life is like a tarnished mirror, but when polished, it is sure to become like a clear mirror, reflecting the essential nature of phenomena and the true aspect of reality." - WND, pg 4


In "The Entity of the Mystic Law", Nichiren writes, "The mystic principle that is the essential nature of phenomena posses two aspects, the defiled and the pure. If the deflied aspect is operative, this is called delusion. If the pure aspect is operative, this is called enlightenment." "Enlightenment means enlightenment to the essential nature of phenomena, and delusion, ignorance of it." - WND, pgs 417-18

The Chinese teacher T'ien-t'ai in his "Great Concentration and Insight" states, "Ignorance or illusions are themselves enlightenment to the essential nature of phenomena, but due to the influence of delusions, enlightenment changes into ignorance." Here, Tien-t'ai is saying that ignorance and enlightenment are a single entity, but ignorance must be curtailed while enlightenment requires effort in order to be manifested. Therefore, our individual efforts to aquire self-mastery are an important contribution to the construction of a peaceful society. Sun Ra often used the term "Disipline" when speaking of the efforts the musicians in his band made in order to play his arrangements "correctly", so that if someone played a "wrong" note, it would sound right because the whole band would play that note in the same moment!


To some, it may seem a stretch of cosmic proportions to compare Sun Ra and Buddhism, but I am convinced that many of Ra's writings can be interpreted from a variety of universal viewpoints, and many intersecting paths can be found that open a dialogue to the nature of humanity, society, culture and arts, without which our civilization would be something less than the sum of our creative spirits.

Kindly,
Garrison

It can be especially enlightening to read what Sun Ra thought about his own music. The following are excerpts from the liner notes of the 1957 lp, "Jazz By Sun Ra" on the Transition label, later reissued as "Sun Song" on Delmark. Having recorded singles until this point in his career, Sun Ra's first lp under his own name was an important musical step.

Sun Ra wrote these comments as a way of introducing and explaining the intent of his music to a wider audience and they illustrate his desire to contribute to a better world by raising the consciousness of people and their awareness of beauty and happiness as reflected in his music. Or, as he describes it, "to ignite that spark in people's hearts" and stimulate imagination through sound.

Ra refutes evil as a manifestation of ignorance while calling upon musicians to take responsibility for the future of good music, reminding them of their duty not to compromise by catering to "the basest public tastes, as popular music so often does." He defines the connection between poetry and music in his statement, "I consider every creative musical composition as being a tone poem" and finishes by instructing the "peoples of earth" to "learn to listen" and "open your ears!"

More information is available in the wikipedia listing of "Jazz By Sun Ra": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_By_Sun_Ra

A complete version is available at: http://delmark.com/rhythm.sunra.htm


Kind Regards,

Garrison


"Jazz By Sun Ra" (edited version)

THE AIM OF MY COMPOSITIONS: All of my compositions are meant to depict happiness combined with beauty in a free manner. The real aim of this music is to co-ordinate the minds of peoples into an intelligent reach for a better world, and an intelligent approach to the living future.

THE TECHNIQUES I EMPLOY: I always strive to write the sounds I hear both inwardly and outwardly. I use the simple rules of harmony as a basis but I employ my own rule as well. My rule Is that every note written or played must be a living note. In order to achieve this, I use notes like words in a sentence, making each series of sounds a separate thought. My watchword is precision. l never forget that a sound "sound" is just as important as a sound doctrine in a nonmusical field.

POEMS ARE MUSIC: some of the songs I write are based on my poems; for this reason, I am including some of them with this album in order that those who are interested may understand that poems are music, and that music is only another form of poetry. I consider every creative musical composition as being a tone poem.

BEAUTY AND THE PEOPLE: We cannot afford to keep people musically ignorant; to cater to the basest public tastes as "popular" music so often does. I believe it is the duty of all leaders (music and otherwise) to teach the people, because not to teach them is compromising with evil. Ignorance is evil. My aim is to educate as many people as I can so far as the appreciation and enjoyment of good jazz music is concerned. The jazz leaders of today must prepare the way for the jazz of tomorrow. Many musicians think that most people are destined to be musically ignorant, but I know that there is a spark in every person which will respond and glow to the touch of beauty. Because I know this, I am going to continue presenting beauty to the world until I ignite that spark in people's hearts.

INSTRUCTION TO THE PEOPLES OF EARTH: You must realize that you have the right to love beauty. You must prepare to live life to the fullest extent. Of course it takes imagination, but you don't have to be an educated person to have that. Imagination can teach you the true meaning of pleasure. Listening can be one of the greatest pleasures. You must learn to listen because by listening you will learn to see with your mind's eye. You see, music paints pictures that only the mind's eye can see. Open your ears so that you can see with the eye of your mind.

AFTER-THOUGHT:

I take my magic wand in hand and touch

the mind of the world;

I speak in sounds.

what am I saying?

Listen!

"These are the things spoken from

my heart...

these are of and are my intimate treasures,

I give them to those who live and love

both life and living."


Sun Ra, 1957

Anyone who knows me closely is aware of my fondness for Sun Ra's music, but perhaps less aware of my belief that his poetry has direct positive relativity to today's social and cultural challenges. Here are some of Ra's poetic works I would like to share with you, and allow them to speak for themselves while encouraging you to seek out other resources for his writings. An excellent book is Sun Ra: The Immeasurable Equation edited by James L. Wolf and Hartmut Geerken (Waitawhile).

Kindly,

Garrison

Somebody Else's World

Somebody else's idea of somebody else's world
It's not my idea of things as they are
Somebody else's idea of things to come
Need not be the only way to vision the future

- Sun Ra

The Outer Bridge

In the half-between world,
Dwell they: The Tone Scientists
In notes and tone
They speak of many things...
The tone scientists:
Architects of planes of discipline
Mathematically precise are they:
The tone-scientists

- Sun Ra

Freedom From Freedom

Freedom from freedom
From the liberty
Of the land
Where destruction's light
Is the land.

Freedom from the decree of freedom
From the liberty
Of the land of destruction
Is the decree
That can truly save
Those whose freedom
Is a burden and a shame
What price freedom that despairs?
What glory freedom that destroys?

- Sun Ra

Cosmic Equation

Then another tomorrow
They never told me of
Came with the abruptness of a fiery dawn
And spoke of Cosmic Equations:
The equations of sight-similarity
The equations of sound-similarity
Subtle Living Equations
Clear only to those
Who wish to be attuned
To the vibrations of the Outer Cosmic Worlds.
Subtle living equations
of the outer-realms
Dear only to those
Who fervently wish the greater life

- Sun Ra