𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐌𝐎𝐋𝐊𝐎 𝐎𝐍 𝐁𝐔𝐃𝐃𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐌 & 𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘

Dear soulmates,
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 𝐀𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞 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.

 Photo credit: Miss Alex Invisible

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: ''When I was a kid I was raised a born-again Christian. […] my Mum … was the person who got me into Jesus.''
(𝑅𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑, 30 𝐴𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑙 2009)

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: “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.”
(𝑅𝑜𝑐𝑘 ‘𝑁’ 𝑅𝑜𝑙𝑙 𝐴𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑎, “𝑇𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑎 𝑉𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛”, 𝐴𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑙 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.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: "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."
(𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑠 𝑀𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ, 2006)

It was exactly the time when 𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐚𝐲 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐛𝐲𝐞 was written.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: "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 cliché and that the world doesn't need another dead rock star. I've written it as a letter to myself."
(𝑅𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝑀𝑎𝑔, 𝐴𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑙 2006)

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨: I don’t like Western religion. I like Eastern religion very much.
𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕?
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨: 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.
(𝐽𝑢𝑖𝑐𝑒 "𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑙𝑘𝑜", 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 2010)

𝑾𝒆’𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝑨𝒔𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔; 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕?
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: 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.
(𝐵𝐾, 𝐴𝑢𝑔𝑢𝑠𝑡 22, 2013)

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: “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.”
(𝐾𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑟, 𝑆𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 2013)

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: 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.
𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆?
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: For two months. I wanted to learn how to meditate and to study Buddhism.
𝑫𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕?
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Oh, yes. Very much indeed.
𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆?
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: 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’.
(𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝑂𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟 2013)

Photo credit: Trip Fontaine

𝑰𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒖𝒑-𝒕𝒐-𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑳𝒐𝒖𝒅 𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆?
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: 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."
(𝑅𝑜𝑐𝑘 & 𝑃𝑜𝑝 𝐶𝑧𝑒𝑐ℎ 𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐, 𝑁𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 2013)

When it comes to the visible attributes, we all remember Brian wearing his 𝑻𝒊𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒏 𝑩𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒔 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 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒌𝒐𝒓 𝑾𝒂𝒕, a 12th-century Buddhist temple, aimed to raise awareness about human trafficking.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: “We thought it was one of the most important things we could do with our careers.”
(𝑁𝑀𝐸 𝐵𝑙𝑜𝑔, 23𝑟𝑑 𝑂𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟 2009)

In 2013, Placebo played a 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝑳𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒔 to help 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒚 𝑪𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝑩𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒌𝒐𝒌 and 𝑺𝒂𝒎𝒚𝒆 𝑳𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑻𝒊𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒏 𝑩𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝑪𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝑺𝒄𝒐𝒕𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅. Before the show started, Brian personally greeted the audience with a beautiful explanation of what 𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄 means.
👉 https://bit.ly/36Hk6I0

An impressive story of founding the monastery was told by one of the monks invited by Brian.
👉  https://bit.ly/3rcnzIf

In 2016, one of the concerts of the 𝟐𝟎 𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝑻𝒐𝒖𝒓 at Forum di Assago in Milan was opened with a 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒉 instead of a support band show. Such a special performance was done by 𝑾𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒁𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒂, 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:
👉 https://bit.ly/3xL4P52

Over the years, Brian used to share inspiring Buddhist statements and pictures on 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝑰𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕 like this one, the Buddha statue posted on June 2nd, 2018.
 👉 https://bit.ly/3xNZERY

Many of you may remember that recently, Brian asked us, Placebo fans, to help protect aforementioned monastery 𝑺𝒂𝒎𝒚𝒆 𝑳𝒊𝒏𝒈, 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.
 👉 https://bit.ly/3z5kSe4

Happily, spreading the word worked out! The military backed down on their plans of using the area. “𝑰 𝑨𝑴 𝑷𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑶𝑵𝑨𝑳𝑳𝒀 𝑬𝑿𝑻𝑹𝑬𝑴𝑬𝑳𝒀 𝑮𝑹𝑨𝑻𝑬𝑭𝑼𝑳”, wrote Brian in his full of love message#
 👉 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… 💝

Post by Olga