tmbt: clear blue sky

After a slew of colder, drizzly fall days and a particularly cold evening, we awoke today to find a bright blue cloudless sky of sun and joy. In Buddhism, the sky is often used as a metaphor for the mind. Sometimes the thoughts are thick like the clouds blocking the sun and other times we have crystal clear awareness with no block to the brightness. I think we can see the effects of the sky on our minds, too, and today clarity seems in ready supply even if the late night moon antics have left me a little sleepy-eyed.

I wrote the song Clear Blue Sky in honor of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a great Tibetan meditation master and teacher, and his teachings which have inspired me greatly. I refer to one of his spiritual names, Chokyi Gyatso, in the refrain which means Ocean of Dharma (Truth). I think a deep ocean is much like a clear blue sky… both beautifully rich in inspiration and possibility.

LISTEN TO: Clear Blue Sky (c) 2008 Heather Marie Philipp

This track appears on the spring 2008 release, Under the Apple, a collection of original jazz/pop vocal arrangements I recorded in Boulder, CO over the last year. Visit www.heathermariephilipp.com for more music, news, and features.

~ by hmphilipp on September 16, 2008.