Laurie Anderson's Buddhism: Art, Meditation, and Death as Adventure

Grammy Award winning artist Laurie Anderson, a longtime student of Buddhism and meditation, joined us today to share her personal path with Buddhism, approaching art with a beginner’s mind, staying present with suffering without letting it overwhelm you, and making our lives meaningful.
Laurie Anderson is one of our greatest living artists. Her work includes spoken word and performance, top-charting albums and music videos, digital art, film, virtual reality, and the invention of ingenious instruments like the tape bow violin and the talking stick. She’s won the Grammy Award and many other honors, and is currently the subject of a fantastic solo show at the Hirschhorn Museum in Washington, D.C.
www.skepticspath.org/podcast/...
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Also, join us for our first online class: A Skeptic’s Path to Enlightenment in 9 Meditations.
www.skepticspath.org/9-medita...

[@annemoyls9243]

Laurie, you've been one of the jewels on my tree since 1982! SO MUCH gratitude!!! 🥰🙏🕊

[@constantinosfiakkas6865]

SAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@constantinosfiakkas6865]

I've read the book and all the instructions so I can imagine Laurie on it. no joke :)

[@FrazeonStekowiec]

Definitely same thing here

[@josephsanders2556]

I'm not that original in my thoughts. I adopt what is already there. Improvising is all there is to do.

[@nicholasfulford6753]

Songs of the Bardo was my 4:00 a.m. refuge when looking after my mum as she passed through mid to late stage dementias. I would often awaken at that early hour, and in the bardo between sleep and consciousness float through the bardo realms painted in my mind by the music. I can think of no way better to travel through the underworld of those times, and at the end was beauty and the rising sun. In the early summer, the morning damp with dew and song birds announcing the return of day, I would cycle down to the lake to watch the sunrise. Vitality seeped in from every nook and cranny while I floated on currents alternating between the night of death and birth of day. Thank-you.

[@ZenBreeze]

Thank you for posting this wonderful talk. I just finished Laurie's Norton Lecture Series, which was amazing. And I've listened to Songs from the Bardo a number of times. Maybe it's being older or having breakthrough Covid twice (and being one of the many who have "lingering symptoms"). This all resonates with me. It can be lonely being out of step with all those frantically insisting we're "back to normal".

[@FrazeonStekowiec]

Spending the War without You. great stuff. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bH3YfJp9o5qYaMk

[@zenbuddah420]

Buddha's name be praised 🙏🏽

[@maryannesoerensen6696]

a moment of hope during these times…a boost for me into Buddhism…meditation…thankyou

[@davidlloyd14]

Such a wise and receptive soul.

[@skepticspath]

Agreed!

[@mcglass7573]

Sadhu, sadhu, sadhu🙏

[@pattibradshaw4752]

Brilliant. So helpful to me

[@AnnaPrzebudzona]

I really appreciated this conversation. I personally would prefer if it didn't have cuts because they disrupt the flow and take away the opportunity for the listener to better absorb what s/he's hearing; a listener also needs time to think and that's what the silences are for.

[@ellengienger7322]

Amazing artist you are and thrilled to hear you practice Buddhism. I would have guessed. I am also an artist and I agree making art and Buddhism are one in the same .

[@7125Mhz]

Mind itself is Buddha.

[@roslynsavage836]

I love Laurie and she is helping me get my painter's feet on again. To open the mind. To know no one is in charge. But, why Buddhism? It's a religion. It seems derivative of the school of Patanjali. To be open, explore space, etc ... are all just qualities of this state of consciousness, Vaishvanara. Not state of mind. State of consciousness. If one is really concerned with the Hard Problem, why aren't you looking at what and why is the source of thought? One can be quite expensive in the usual "I" based themes in dreaming and waking. But the space underneath, the Chitta or latent unconscious seems to be what you are picking and choosing from ... all in a Laurie way. In her unique set of illusions of the source. Anyway. I am opening my mind to a different way of exploring this waking state. However, it is just the smallest portion of our sleepiness to who and what we really are.

[@jillfryer6699]

life is suffering. ok. got that. life is joy. it is it? feel sad, if you're not an idiot, but make sure you are not being sad. waal ah'm not absolutely convinced, all the best nevertheless.

[@websurfer5772]

I wish Laurie Anderson would inform herself more about the truth regarding Zelinsky and Ukraine. Maybe she could look up videos about them in another platform.