A decade ago, the venerable Lama Jamyang Tashi Dorje founded Sakya Tashi Ling, the first and foremost Buddhist monastery in Catalonia, Spain. Over the past ten years, the Sakya Tashi Ling Monastery has become a place that many people visit in hopes of finding a cure for their physical, mental and spiritual ills, and where many begin an apprenticeship that will enable them to become happier and able to contribute to the happiness of others. During the course of their teaching, the monks of Sakya Tashi Ling decided to record an album of mantras and rituals to bring their message of peace and love to the masses through the universal language of music. My Spirit Flies To You will be released in the U.S. August 29th on Decca Records.
Recorded in their monastery during ten hours of consecutive chanting, My Spirit Flies To You was initially released on Vale Music in Spain to critical acclaim and quickly reached Platinum status. The album fuses Zen-like mantras and chants with pure energy and eclectic beats that provide global appeal. The CD’s first single of the same name reached number one on the iTunes chart in Spain.
The mantras on the album are mystic phrases or sentences which, when recited, connect one’s being with a particular energy, or with an aspect of the perfect mind-the Buddhist mind. The power of the mantra leads us to higher states of consciousness, bringing us closer to experiencing inner states of plenitude that we can share with our immediate surroundings in order to spread true happiness. Such happiness does not depend on any external factor, and therefore cannot be destroyed by anything or anybody; the Tibetan term for "mantra" roughly translates to "protection of the mind."
The monks recite the Vajrasattva mantra as a means of facilitating purification. The Buddhists of Sakya Tashi Ling believe that the practices of purification are themselves a direct commitment to happiness; they are to heal, to promote the end of a negative presence in order that a new and more perfect, positive disposition may emerge. Repentance is good only if it makes you change, from a chaotic attitude with negative results to a focused willingness aiming at positive effects. Becoming aware of one’s errors is, in reality, to grow.
On "Secret Energy," the White Tara mantra develops the feminine aspect that cares for beings so that their health may be strong and enduring, and that they may overcome any kind of impediment to longevity. It is an injection of vitality, of joy, of stability and of
growth. The sound of the recitation of this mantra causes the mind to enter into an alert and vital state that enables it to overcome the deficiencies caused by the wear and depletion experienced by any growing being. It is like a pure white light that re-establishes and regenerates our entire being cell by cell, organ by organ, thought by thought. It connects us with what we are; from there, we can recover all that we have lost.
"Lotus Sunset," the album’s final track, envelopes the listener in the mantra of Universal Compassion, causing each cell in his body to rejoice in the sensation of being completely impregnated by personal and limitless intercommunication with the energy that makes the great beings of humanity mobilize and act. All suffering is relieved by bathing in the energy of Compassion, and he who knows it and learns to develop it firstly for himself is subsequently capable of mobilizing it for the good of other beings.
The Sakya Tashi Ling community channels a great part of its energy and resources into the promotion of social and humanitarian projects and cultural activities. One of the monastery’s main functions is to extend positive energy, and to help people rid themselves of negative energy. In order to achieve this objective, they teach their students the value of spiritual tools such as meditation, prayer, ritual, karma yoga, and community work.
Now the secretarial member of the Spanish Federation of Buddhist Communities and a member of the European Buddhist Union, the Sakya Tashi Ling Monastery operates under the spiritual protection of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and with the authority of His Holiness Sakya Trizin. With many centers across Spain and in South America, the Sakya Tashi Ling teach courses in meditation at different levels and offer retreats to cultural associations, companies, and schools.
The Honorable Dalai Lama has acknowledged the success of the record and has sent word of congratulations to the Lama Jamyang Tashi Dorie and the Sakya Tashi Ling Community. All of the album’s profits will go toward the community’s social and cultural projects, guided by the "Foundation for the Preservation of Inner Values."
Source: UMG
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