Enlightenment is now! Gate is the past tense form of „go“. Its not about going anywhere, it‘s about realizing you have always been there:
„Gone, Gone, gone over to the other shore, to enlightenment, hail!“
We start our spiritual journey with the Heart Sutra mantra. We are there when we have gone deeper and deeper, further and further, across the ocean of samsara, back to our Buddha nature, our bodhi. I have been writing for the German Yoga Journal about this mantra: „Our essence and our beginning are pure Buddha nature. Clear, always in the here and now and happy. Only through incarnating in this body on this earth, layers on layers of experience, happiness and suffering, the deal of duality, are build up. The mantra guides us back through our source, our origin.“ Seen from a different perspective we can say we have nothing new to learn, but unlearn our learning, let go of old ideas: „Let go, let go all your preconceptions and you will end up there where you have always been, one with your essence“. Zen-Master Kubon Chino puts it this way: „Disintegrate, fall apart into all your parts, we cannot do anything against it. There is nothing to hang onto.”
Chords
capo II / open h and e string
e | e | C | D open
I have combined the mantra with some English lyrics. These affirmations serve as reminders that beauty, truth, grace and wonder are always there with us. On the recording, the amazing Kiko Pedrozo is introduced. A harp player born 1955 in Paraguay, he began learning
the harp from his father with the age of 8. He came to Europe in 1976 and Germany in 1978 where he has been playing with many acclaimed musicians. His virtuosity is a gift beyond description for me, this album and all people coming in contact with his music.
►www.kiko-pedrozo.de
It is the first song on the album where harp (Kiko Pedrozo), bansuri (David Mages) and my guitar come together. The backings are by Dominik von Nordheim and Mira Maier, both special friends that
have freely and greatly contributed to the song.
from
Malikarjuna - Inner Journey,
released January 3, 2015
Words traditional buddhist mantra, heart sutra
Melody Philipp Stegmüller
Vocals & guitar Philipp Stegmüller
Vocals Dominik von Nordheim
Vocals Mira Maier
Concert harp Kiko Pedrozo
Bansuri David Mages
Synthesizer Laurens van de Loo