Mad Rush

The traditional Buddhist depiction of the hell realm as places of extreme heat or extreme cold is terrifying in its own way as anything that medieval Christianity has to offer. According to ancient Tibetan scriptures, the hell realms are located at a great distance below Bodh Gaya, the place in India where the Buddha attained enlightenment. Commenting on these scriptures, the Dalai Lama has pointed out that this would theoretically place hell in the middle of America.

That extract is from Mick Brown's recommended book The Spiritual Tourist.  Portrait of Philip Glass is by Luis Alvarez Roure. It is in the collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and graces the cover - thankfully and bravely without intrusive typography - of the recent Philip Glass Solo album. Mad Rush on that album is a piano transcription of the organ piece written by Glass in 1978 for the flexibly-timed arrival of the Dalai Lama at the cathedral of St. John the Divine (New York) to give his first public address in the US in 1979.

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