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Singing
Just as the short poems of the gathas can help us return to the present moment, the music and words in a song help us share the present moment with others. Singing, alone or with others, is also a kind of food: when we sing music and words that are heart-warming, the heart and the mind are both warmed. Singing together, we are both feeding others and being fed. Together, we create the voice of the Sangha Body, and it is stronger and more joyful.
Very old musical instruments are highly prized, because the repeated vibration of their singing has changed the very nature of their body. The tight connections of glue and wood have loosened, and they have attuned themselves to the rhythms and the harmonies that they themselves have created, song by song, day by day, year after year. The voice grows more resonant over time.
The atoms in a bell, which seem to the eye and to the touch to be permanent and solid, are also fluid. They look without looking for the most comfortable positions, and arrange themselves around the nature of their sound. If you could record the sound of a bell in time-lapse audiography, I am sure you would witness its ripening.
If you pick up a new stringed instrument and a cherished older one, you might compare, and dismiss the newer one for lack of quality. If you looked deeply, however, you could see the beautiful, seasoned melody waiting in the young one. It would be like the oak that is waiting in the acorn: you would water and care for the sprout or the sapling, that it might grow to give you shade. Playing that younger instrument diligently, gently and with attention, you and the instrument and time can make a kind of music that is eternal.
This list of songs is collected from Plum Village songbooks and resources. Where possible, we include links to resources on line, where you can hear one or more versions of the music as performed and recorded by members of the fourfold Sangha. These are indicated with a sunshine character: ❂. If your favorite version isn’t listed, please send us a link!
Practices we enjoy
Breathing In, Breathing Out
Breathing in, breathing out 
×2
I am blooming as a flower
I am fresh as the dew
I am solid as a mountain
I am firm as the Earth
I am free.
Breathing in, breathing out ×2
I am water reflecting
What is real, what is true
And I feel there is space
Deep inside of me
I am free. I am free. I am free.
Here is a version of the song (YouTube)
can be sung as a round
Dear Friends
Dear friends, dear friends
Let me tell you how I feel
You have given me such treasure
I love you so …
Love, joy, peace and ease
Like a summer morning breeze
Oh! My dear you are so welcome
Love gives you ease …
From the Plum Village Service Meditation song sheet, and sung to the tune of “Mama’s Little Baby Loves Shortnin’ Bread”
Every little cell in my body is happy
Every little cell in my body is well ×2
I’m so glad every little cell
In my body is happy and well! ×2
Every little cell in my body is happy
Every little cell in my body is well ×2
Every little cell in the Sangha’s body is happy
Every little cell in the Sangha’s body is well ×2
I’m so glad every little cell
In the Sangha’s body is happy and well! ×2
Every little cell in the Sangha’s body is happy
Every little cell in the Sangha’s body is well ×2
Every little cell in Mama’s body is happy
Every little cell in Mama’s body is well ×2
I’m so glad every little cell
In Mama’s body is happy and well! ×2
Every little cell in Mama’s body is happy
Every little cell in Mama’s body is well ×2
I Am a Cloud
I am a cloud
I am the blue sky
I am a bird
Spreading out its wings
I am a flower
I am the sunshine
I am the earth
Receiving a seed
And I am free when my heart is open
Yes I am free when my mind is clear
Oh dear brother
Oh dear sister
Let’s walk together
Mindfully ×2
I Am Home
Awakened spirit of
the Earth,
I feel you growing me ×2 I am
home, I am home ×2
Awakened spirit of the Rain,
I feel you flow in me ×2 I am home, I am home ×2
Awakened spirit of the Wind,
I feel you blow through me ×2 I am home, I am home ×2
Awakened spirit of the Sun,
I feel you burn in me ×2 I am home, I am home ×2
We are home, We are home ×2
Here is a version of the song (Be Still and Heal / YouTube)
I Have Arrived
I have arrived, I am home,
in the here and in the now. ×2
I am solid, I am free,
I am solid, I am free,
in the ultimate I dwell,
in the ultimate I dwell.
We Are the Leaves of One Tree
We are all the leaves of one tree ×2
The time has come for all to live as one
We are all the leaves of one tree
We are all the waves of one sea ×2
The time has come for all to live as one
We are all the waves of one sea
We are all the stars of one sky ×2
The time has come for all to live as one
We are all the stars of one sky
We are all the leaves of one tree
We are all the waves of one sea
We are all the stars of one sky
The time has come for all to live as one
We are all the leaves of one tree
My Smile Can Move a Mountain
My smile can move a mountain
painting joy up to the sky
like the vapor of the ocean
it continues in all life
My speech can move a mountain
bringing peace in every sound
like the vapor of the ocean
it will always be around
My mind can move a mountain
it goes beyond space and time
like the vapor of the ocean it was never born
and it will never die
it continues in all times ×2
*There is a version of this song at 28:15 of this deep relaxation (Plum Village Online Library)*
No Coming, No Going
No coming, no going
No after, no before
I hold you close to me
I release you to be so free
Because I am in you
And you are in me ×2
Here is a version of the song (Voces del Bosque / YouTube)
No Discrimination
The sun it shines on everyone ×2 No discrimination ×2
The rain it falls on everyone ×2 No discrimination ×2
My heart belongs to everyone ×2 No discrimination ×2
A poem by Thầy, set to music
Please call me by my true names
My joy is like spring, so warm,
It makes flowers bloom
all over the Earth.
My pain is like a river of tears,
So vast it fills the four oceans.
Please call me by my true names.
So I can hear all my cries and laughter at once,
So I can see that my joy and pain are one.
Please call me by my true names.
So that I can wake up,
And the door of my heart
can be left open. ×2
(The door of compassion)
Here is a version of the song (Voces del Bosque / YouTube)
Standing Like a Tree
Standing like a tree with my roots dug down
My branches wide and open
Come down the rain
Come down the sun
Come down the fruit to a heart that is open to be × 4?
The Rain
Music and lyrics by Sister Chân Đức
The rain is falling so softly
Washing every leaf of every tree
Washing every care Namo ‘Valokiteshvaraya ×2
The rain is falling so strongly
Reaching every root of every tree
Reaching every root of affliction Namo ‘Valokiteshvaraya ×2
The rain is falling so lovely
Playing the music of joy
For ten thousands of beings Namo ‘Valokiteshvaraya ×2
*Here is Sister Chân Đức singing this song (YouTube)*
words by Thích Nhất Hạnh, music by Br. Phap Linh
Unborn and Indestructible
Refrain:
This body and these feelings
were transmitted to me
by my mother and my father
by my teachers, my friends and all living beings.
refrain
And that which is transmitted
is no less than the transmitter
and I who receive the transmission,
what am I but that which is transmitted to me.
refrain
I am my mother, I am my father
I am my teachers, my friends
I am one and yet am many
I am none, I am all, no beginning, no end.
refrain
This body is not me, these perceptions are not me
and I am not limited by this body
I am one with all of life
I have always been free.
refrain
Here is a version of this song from the Wake Up Plum Village album