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Beastie Boys discuss tenets of Buddhism in their
songs "The Update" and
"Bodhisattva Vow" and the effect of this has
changed the message of their music
from negative to positive. Starting of as hard
core punk rockers in the early
1980s the Beastie (Boys Entering Anarchists States
Toward Inner Excellence)
Boys were on a path toward distruction. With
humorous yet unsettling lyrics
such as ___ and ______, parents were outraged at
what their kids were
listening to and idolizing.
Now almost 20 years and 5 hot albums later we
still get the same old
side-splitting rhymes but with out the emphasis
on degrating women, partying
and doing drugs. Now instead of hearing Shed drop
to her knees if wed just
say please... our ears are pleased and shocked to
hear the disrespect of
women has got to be through, to all the mothers
and the sisters and the wives
and friends I want to offer my love and respect to
the end. So what can we
attribute to this dramatic change? One factor
could be age, one could say the
the Beastie Boys have just grown into men, but
that is not all that has happened.
After a couple trips to Nepal and Kathmandu Yauch,
the oldest if the Beasties
began to study Buddhist Philosophy; this is what
he had to say about it, Most of
the teachings that I've read about almost seem set
up to distract the other side
of your brain in order to give your heart center a
chance to open up...,and It's
just seeing things from a different perspective.
There was a time when we would
joke around and say things that were disrespectful
of women and think that it
was funny, or that it wouldn't hurt anybody, or
that it would be taken with a
grain of salt. Then it became clear that that
wasn't the case, and we had to go
through the process of taking a step back and
realizing how those things affect
other people. ( Trycicle interview)
There is much more than age occuring here, its
almost as if he is just
now aquirring morals. It is the idea of
Buddhism, not only being a religion, but
a way of life an anyone who comes across it and
studies it, is opened up to a
whole new way of thinking, a compassion for all
living things that is put forth in
daily life. Yauch wants to get this point across
and awaken as many minds as he
can. When you have this knowledge of the way
things can be, you want to
share it with everyone, so that it can happen,
and everyone can acheive tis
peacefulness. Adam Yauch sees the opportunity he
has to spread the message,
through his words and he is doing just that. He
knows that the young
westerners follow his lead as they would any idol,
so instead of writing about ,
getting drunk and trashing hotel rooms, he writes
beautiful awakening poetry
on respecting mother Earth, awakening his mind and
praising the Buddhas as
they shine. Giving respect to Martin Luther King
rather than cheeba .
"I know we can fix it and it's not too
late I give respect to King and his
nonviolent ways, I dream and I hope and I won't
forget Some day I'm visit on a
Free Tibet."
lyrics from "The Update"
MThe Bodhisattva Vow means striving for
enlightenment to better help allother
sentient beings attain enlightenment. That's an
important issue--the objective of
that Vow. Being enlightened is the best way to
benefit all other beings--from that
point you are able to help more.
I realized that drugs weren't going to go veryfar
for me.
: The way I look at it, onemillion Tibetans have
been killed by the Chinese and
one million kids willcome on this tour. If we can
touch those kids, it'll be worth
the effort.
Yauch's rhymes are the most spiritual, conscious
and thought-provoking of the
three,
The pseudo-gangster lyrics and trite party themes
that pervaded their early days
have long since departed from their music in favor
of a respectable work ethic
that includes social activism, humorous and clever
lyrics, and a large menu of
eloquent samples and innovative grooves that draw
inspiration from blues, jazz,
funk, old school hip-hop and anything else that
suits them.
thats it so far but theres more to come
any comments I take constructive criticism well .
(reminder this is a COllege paper)
Tahnks
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