So, immediately after that, I got a commission to write a piece for chamber orchestra, and in working on the material I discovered it was possible to incorporate the Buddhist teachings into the music, so that's what I started to do.

So okay, I accepted, and I realized while working for that concert that I'd been missing something very important and vital to me, and that something was music.

Well, by the end of the millennium, five, six months from now, we hope to somehow manage to move into a new location where we have the whole building, so we can devote space to all our activities.

The Vision Festival was packed every night, always has been for the four years it's been happening.

In fact, since no one's been interested in my work, I took the responsibility recently to invest in my own work, so I'm producing a concert that was done at the Vision Festival in May.

Only here, because of the illusion of intellectualism, our society separates the validity of human expression.

Lotta people don't realize when you grow up with people, you have an affinity, a relationship you don't get with anyone else. After you're twenty years old, anyone you meet after that, it's different from the people you knew before.

You know, Equal Interest played at the Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival Awards and not one musician from that category was even thought of. Even thought of! The idea, that here's this vital energy, and that element doesn't even know it exists!

Well, dojo is a traditional Japanese word for training hall.

Well, actually, I don't consider myself a jazz legend or anything.

So, immediately after that, I got a commission to write a piece for chamber orchestra, and in working on the material I discovered it was possible to incorporate the Buddhist teachings into the music, so that's what I started to do.

Well, remember that we were all members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.

When Christopher and Charles passed away, I was completely depressed, I felt rejected and real down, and so Roscoe invited me because he had this spirit of compassion, and we had gone to school together, were friends and everything.

People doing the kind of sound research that I'm interested in still have a difficult time.

I hadn't been practicing or playing or anything. But that had been a vital part of my life.

I've been informed by both sides, jazz, western music, Asian music, African music, all sides, because I've been interested in the sound of the universe, and that sound is without limit.

I've been fortunate in that I've been forced to move from zone to zone.

But back to your question, it was a wonderful experience with the Art Ensemble, and I keep in contact and sort of follow what's going on, but it was also very important to make this step, you may say this leap of faith.

You know, face painting in non-Western cultures is a sign of collectivism, is a sign of one representing the community, it's not unique at all.

It took me a long time to reach the decision to retire, actually, from the Art Ensemble.

So all of the music had reference, or is inspired by something of the dharma that I've come in contact with.

People call to keep me abreast of what's going on.

We were doing performance art as far back as 1965, just not calling it that.

When asked if I consider myself Buddhist, the answer is, Not really. But it's more my religion than any other because I was brought up with it in an intellectual and spiritual environment. I don't practice or preach it, however.

I grew up in a mostly Buddhist environment.

I don't know whether I believe in God or not. I think, really, I'm some sort of Buddhist. But the essential thing is to put oneself in a frame of mind which is close to that of prayer.

Because of my Buddhist practice, I'm never lacking for inspiration.

My first encounter with Buddhist dharma would be in my early 20s. Like most young men, I was not particularly happy.

A Buddhist or a good atheist is as acceptable to God as a good Catholic.

I think Gore does have to worry. He is tied to Bill Clinton. We know that there were telephone calls that he made from his office. We know that there were visits to the Buddhist temple.

Mary, my little girl, was confirmed in a Buddhist temple. She saw the Life write up on Buddhism, with pictures of the ceremony, and she said she wanted to be confirmed there because she only liked Jesus as a kid. She was a little disappointed in him when he grew up.

So, immediately after that, I got a commission to write a piece for chamber orchestra, and in working on the material I discovered it was possible to incorporate the Buddhist teachings into the music, so that's what I started to do.

Well I travelled quite a lot in the east, and one of the things that impressed me greatly was the buddhist notion of the continuity of things, the wheel of life which is what we're talking about, the ever turning wheel.

I am a practicing Buddhist. I have been for 25 years.

Right now, I'm following the Buddhist principle: Smile as abuse is hurled your way and this too shall pass.

I admire the fact that the central core of Buddhist teaching involves mindfulness and loving kindness and compassion.

I don't know what religious people do. I kind of wished I'd been a Christian with the blind faith that God is doing the right thing. As a Buddhist, you feel like you have more control over the situation, and that you can change your karma.

I used a lot of pancake makeup and a prayer, and a Buddhist chant.

Unfortunately, however, I have too many desires to make a good Buddhist.

I want to love all the children of God - Christian, Jew, Moslem, Hindu, Buddhist - everyone. I want to love gay Christians and straight Christians.

You haven't partied until you've partied at dawn in complete silence with Buddhist monks.

I think my Buddhist practice has a profound influence on my life and encompasses my creative projects.

Well, I'm Buddhist, Ray, and so part of my Buddhism has allowed me to look a little more deeply at people and the events in my life that created me. And I think a lot of that Buddhism comes out in the world view in this novel.

When she was younger, my mother was quite committed to Roman Catholicism. But she got disillusioned with it and moved closer to something like Buddhist beliefs near the end of her life.

Yoga has brought me closer to myself. It's helped me realize the interconnectedness of the mind, body and spirit, in the Buddhist sense of the word.

I'm a Buddhist.

I'm not a Buddhist, or a card-carrying member of any religion.

When you use music to worship you are not attempting to entertain.

Pop music, disco music, and heavy metal music is about shutting out the tensions of life, putting it away.