Music: A Path to Awakening

This talk will examine contemporary songs with strikingly Buddhistic lyrics, instrumental examples drawn from world music, classical music, and jazz which exemplify core aspects of the Buddha’s teachings, music as a Buddhist practice, and an interactive workshop with the goal of getting into the “creative flow."Our special speaker, Rev. Peter Hata, is a minister at the Higashi Honganji Los Angeles Betsuin. He brings with him a wide variety of interests, including Buddhist chanting music and our American cultural traditions. Rev. Peter was an original member of the jazz-fusion group Hiroshima with whom he played guitar in the 1970s and 80s. He later left the group to pursue more traditional jazz, which led to his writing a book entitled “Speaking Jazz: The Natural Way to Jazz Improvisation.” He has taught graduate and undergraduate music courses at California State University and continues to perform jazz.