Today I’d like to talk to you about Brian’s deep interest in Eastern philosophy, generally, and Buddhism, in particular. Last Tuesday, I started the topic a little bit with Brian’s amazing version of the Beatles’ song ๐๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ง๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ that has some Buddhist reference in it. Now, I collected a couple of quotes to illustrate his way to accepting this kind of a world view from previously being raised as a born-again Christian by his mother.
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| Photo credit: Miss Alex Invisible |
(๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ข๐๐, 30 ๐ด๐๐๐๐ 2009)
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: “I was raised a born-again Christian. I gave my life over to Jesus when I was 11; took it back when I was 14. But that stays with you for a long time.”
(๐ ๐๐๐ ‘๐’ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ด๐๐๐๐, “๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐”, ๐ด๐๐๐๐ 2001)
After a period of rebellion against his religious education, young Brian became more and more interested in spirituality and humanism rather that any kind of specific religion. However, Buddhist attitude to life, world and people got to be the most attractive and acceptable to him.
Brian took his first longer travel to India when he was on a pretty dark side in his life and desperately needed a cardinal change – just to survive… Staying there appeared to be very helpful for him.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: "I lived in India for four months at the end of our previous tour [Black Market Music tour]. [...] I have never seen people so kind and generous elsewhere than in Asia. The less you have and the more you give … What I like in Buddhism, in opposition to the Judeo-Christian religion, is that ... here, you are punished for your sins, while there, you are punished by your sins, it weighs on your karma. And it seems more realistic to me."
(๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐โ, 2006)
It was exactly the time when ๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐จ๐๐๐ฒ๐ was written.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: "The theme of “Song to say goodbye” is keeping only the best aspects of your life. It's the first track I wrote in India. I went there for a lot of reasons, one of them being to try and change my lifestyle. I wanted to make me understand that I should not become a rock'n'roll clichรฉ and that the world doesn't need another dead rock star. I've written it as a letter to myself."
(๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐, ๐ด๐๐๐๐ 2006)
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ค๐จ: I don’t like Western religion. I like Eastern religion very much.
๐ฐ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐จ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐?
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ค๐จ: I’m very attracted to Buddhism because it’s not about some bearded guy in the sky telling you what to do; it’s about you. And I think if we stopped to actually understand the effects that we have on the world, then we would make the world a better place. Unfortunately, as people we’re all very emotional and our culture is very important in terms of what we choose to believe.
I think so many people have ghetto-ised religion and made it into something that is bad, but in fact it’s something that helps us all be better people and that’s what we want.
(๐ฝ๐ข๐๐๐ "๐ผ๐๐ก๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ค ๐ค๐๐กโ ๐ต๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐", ๐๐๐๐โ 2010)
๐พ๐’๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐’๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐จ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐; ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐?
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: I’m interested in Buddhism because it is a philosophy of life rather than a religion. In Buddhism, there’s no god and that is a big part of the attraction for me. Right thoughts, right action. No god, no attachments - no worries.
(๐ต๐พ, ๐ด๐ข๐๐ข๐ ๐ก 22, 2013)
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: “In my personal life, Buddhism influenced me positively. In 2012, I went to Thailand where I talked to Buddhists. I don’t belong to those who necessarily perceive Buddhism as a religion. But this philosophy and the art of meditation that I learned helped me a lot.”
(๐พ๐ข๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐ 2013)
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: Meditation is very important. I try to do it every morning. Meditation has a calming effect on me and helps me to ground myself. On days I don't meditate I am much moodier and have less patience. It is something I discovered in Thailand in 2011. When I was there for a few months, in the north, in the mountains, I started to love meditation.
๐ฏ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐?
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: For two months. I wanted to learn how to meditate and to study Buddhism.
๐ซ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐?
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: Oh, yes. Very much indeed.
๐ญ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐?
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: The Dalai Lama has written several very readable books which had a positive effect on me. The best-known and probably most successful is 'The art of happiness’.
(๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ ๐ , ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ 2013)
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| Photo credit: Trip Fontaine |
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: For one hundred percents. Especially me, I see the reason in my enthusiasm for Eastern culture. For Buddhism, for meditations, or for the written work of German philosopher and spiritual person Eckhart Tolle, who wrote an amazing book called The Power of Now. Also, nowadays I live an incomparably healthier life than I did in my times."
(๐ ๐๐๐ & ๐๐๐ ๐ถ๐ง๐๐โ ๐ ๐๐๐ข๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ 2013)
When it comes to the visible attributes, we all remember Brian wearing his ๐ป๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ which have special meanings depending on colour.
There were quite a few moments in Placebo’s career connected to Buddhism in some way.
In 2008, there was an absolutely significant concert at ๐จ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐พ๐๐, a 12th-century Buddhist temple, aimed to raise awareness about human trafficking.
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: “We thought it was one of the most important things we could do with our careers.”
(๐๐๐ธ ๐ต๐๐๐, 23๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ 2009)
In 2013, Placebo played a ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ณ๐๐๐ ๐ to help ๐ป๐๐ ๐ด๐๐๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐๐๐ and ๐บ๐๐๐๐ ๐ณ๐๐๐ ๐ป๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ . Before the show started, Brian personally greeted the audience with a beautiful explanation of what ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ means.
https://bit.ly/36Hk6I0
An impressive story of founding the monastery was told by one of the monks invited by Brian.
๐ https://bit.ly/3rcnzIf
In 2016, one of the concerts of the ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ป๐๐๐ at Forum di Assago in Milan was opened with a ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ instead of a support band show. Such a special performance was done by ๐พ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐, a friend of Brian and a founder of the project Alma Matters which deals with Tibetan healing practice and meditation. You can read more about this concert in one of my older posts:
๐ https://bit.ly/3xL4P52
Over the years, Brian used to share inspiring Buddhist statements and pictures on ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฐ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ like this one, the Buddha statue posted on June 2nd, 2018.
Many of you may remember that recently, Brian asked us, Placebo fans, to help protect aforementioned monastery ๐บ๐๐๐๐ ๐ณ๐๐๐, a wonderful spiritual place that means a lot to him. The peaceful valley was supposed to be used for target practice by the US Army special forces… Then, Brian also told us a moving story of his friend and teacher, Lama Yeshe, the abbot at Samye Ling.
๐ https://bit.ly/3z5kSe4
Happily, spreading the word worked out! The military backed down on their plans of using the area. “๐ฐ ๐จ๐ด ๐ท๐ฌ๐น๐บ๐ถ๐ต๐จ๐ณ๐ณ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฟ๐ป๐น๐ฌ๐ด๐ฌ๐ณ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐จ๐ป๐ฌ๐ญ๐ผ๐ณ”, wrote Brian in his full of love message
๐ https://bit.ly/2UK52GZ
How could I finish my today’s post?.. I just genuinely hope that all the power and wisdom of Buddhist philosophy can help Brian enough to keep the peace of mind he’s been always longing for…๐
Pist by Olga
