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Siddhartha Guatama was born around 560 B.C., below the Himalayan foothills. Siddhartha’s father was a king and his mother was a radiant queen. A holy man prophesied Sid would become a teacher of gods and men. Sid’s father hid his son in a lavish palace to keep him from seeing suffering, old age and death. Sid went out of the palace and saw the realities of time passing. Sid met a homeless holy man who seemed to have found a deep peace within. Sid bid his wife and child goodbye, cut off his hair with a sword and vowed to gain control over his body and mind by ridding himself of all passion. Sid almost died starving his body in meditation. Sid sat under a Bodhi tree, vowing not to leave until he found enlightenment. This god named Maya got mad cause Sid was seeking freedom from the world’s conditions, and sent an army of decaying corpses with flaming swords to scare him. The earth shook and there was flames and thunder. When fear didn’t mess up Sid’s composure, Maya sent his daughters to dance around him and invite him to partake of the goods. He was unmoved. Persisting in his meditation, Sid’s mind and body became still. Sid saw a series of previous births and deaths and new births and his thoughts were filled with compassion. Sid then saw peoples’ previous actions cause their present experiences, which is called karma. Sid realized that ignorance to one’s true nature causes them to suffer over and over again. Sid came to see that the projection of the mind is like a raindrop merging into the vastness of the ocean or a cloud disappearing into the sky. Sid touched the earth to witness his release from the round of birth and death. When Sid looked around him after his experience under the Bodhi tree, he saw the world with new eyes and was enlightened and the god Maya was enraged. Before “Blowing in the Wind”: Striped shirts, penny loafer shoes, pleated pants, everything’s ok, the government can be trusted, flat-top haircuts. Before “Girl from the North Country”: Date, no premarital sex, marry childhood sweetheart, get a job. Before “Masters of War”: Obedient, like cattle, don’t rock the American boat, say nothing. Before “Down the Highway”: Boredom Before “Bob Dylan’s Blues”: Andy Williams, Dean Martin, the Four Freshman. Before “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall”: Boring poetry in English class, iambic pentameter, crap. Before “Don’t Think Twice”: American Bandstand sweetness, waltzes, Sears acoustic guitar. Before “Bob Dylan’s Dream”: Underage drinking beer. Before “Oxford Town”: Status quo. Before “Talkin’ World War III Blues”: Grade school duck and cover, no questions asked. Before “Corrina, Corrina”: Pat Boone white-version songs of Little Richard. Before “Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance”: In time, smooth, shiny. Before “I Shall Be Free”: Nobody was, even though we thought we were. In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is one who has become awake and delays their own enlightenment in order to liberate and further the awareness of others. I don’t think Bob is Buddhist and I am pretty much a spiritual mongrel myself, but there are days every now and then when I think of myself as some sort of enlightened, lowdown, folk-rock half-assed blues poet, and that’s the result of hearing The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan when I was 17.
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