The song opens with the chorus:
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight!
Bodhisattva Bob (BB) begins with an exhortation for us to start practicing. Not after the next inning or after we leave the office but RIGHT NOW. It is said that attaining a human birth is a very, very rare thing. How rare? The Buddha says:
"And suppose a blind sea-turtle were there. It would come to the surface once every one hundred years. Now what do you think: would that blind sea-turtle, coming to the surface once every one hundred years, stick his neck into the yoke with a single hole?"
"It would be a sheer coincidence, lord"...
"It's likewise a sheer coincidence that one obtains the human state. It's likewise a sheer coincidence that a Tathagata, worthy & rightly self-awakened, arises in the world. It's likewise a sheer coincidence that a doctrine & discipline expounded by a Tathagata appears in the world. Now, this human state has been obtained. A Tathagata, worthy & rightly self-awakened, has arisen in the world. A doctrine & discipline expounded by a Tathagata appears in the world".
In the "Way of the Bodhisattva", Shantideva tells us more forcefully:
"So take advantage of this human boat.
Free yourself from the stream of suffering!
This vessel will be later hard to find.
The time that you have know, you fool, is not for sleep!"
Upon seeing the preciousness of a human life and feeling the sense of urgency to practice, the song says that we need to stand up for our rights. Wonderful, but what rights do we need to stand up for? A good place to start is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the first article of which reads:
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood".
Preacherman, don't tell me,
Heaven is under the earth.
I know you don't know,
What life is really worth.
The concept of heaven (or heavens) is found in almost every religion on the planet. Descriptions and directions to it vary greatly but there is one thing that is universal: its up there, in the sky. No matter what faith you are (or aren't) you know that the concept of heaven points upward and not "under the earth". Would we expect a person of spirituality and faith, a "preacherman" to say that heaven isn't in the sky? Probably not, but BB raises this contradiction to set up the next two lines.
To tell us that "heaven is under the earth", the preacherman is going against something that we all know is true (at least conceptually). Why would a preacherman say such a thing? BB's point is that a genuine preacherman wouldn't. The preacherman of the song is an example of religion gone wrong. Perhaps he is a genuine quack, a charlatan, or maybe someone who unknowingly started to walk down the wrong path. Once on a mistaken path however, it is very easy to "forget what life is worth". In the Shurangama Sutra, the Buddha warns of this danger, saying:
"You are still not aware of the subtle demonic events that can occur when you cultivate shamatha and vipashyana. If you cannot recognize a demonic state when it appears, it is because the cleansing of your mind has not been proper. You will then be engulfed by deviant views".
BB paraphrases the old saying "all that glitters is not gold",which means that appearances can be deceiving. In "The Merchant of Venice", Shakespeare eloquently says:
All that glitters is not gold;
Often have you heard that told.
Many a man his life hath sold.
But my outside to behold.
Gilded tombs do worms enfold.
Being deceived by appearances is one of the oldest concepts prevalent in the Buddha's teachings and Indian religions in general, where it is known as 'maya' (माया).
When Prince Siddhartha was living in his palaces, he had every material pleasure he could have imagined. What he would discover however, was that only "half the story" had been shown to him. What was the other half? The part about the inexorable fading of life: old age, sickness, and finally death. Ignorance is not, and cannot possibly be bliss. In fact, ignorance (Pali: avijja) is the root cause of all suffering.
When we have "seen the light", we realize that the cycle of suffering, death, and rebirth (samsara) is the fundamental problem of human existence. As the Third Noble Truth (nirodha - cessation) states, it is possible to put an end to our suffering. The Fourth Noble Truth (magga -path) tells us how we can end suffering. With the path laid out, it becomes time for us to "get up and stand up".
Most people think,Here, BB is directly criticizing an escapist, deterministic, and fatalistic view of not just religion, but the human condition itself. In contrast to most other belief systems, Buddhism does not accept the ideas of fate, grace, or destiny. Rather, the explanations for why things are they way they are comes the Law of Karma, i.e. cause and effect. One way to understand karma, is mentioned in the "Reflections on Universal Well-Being":
Great God will come from the skies.
Take away everything,
And make everybody feel high.
"When they act upon intention, all beings are the owners of their action and inherit its results. Their future is born from such action, companion to such action, and its results will be their home. All actions with intention, be they skillful or harmful, of such acts, they will be the heirs".
In his famous speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gives a good description karma, saying "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.
The law of karma necessarily invalidates the ideas of fate, destiny, or predetermination because cause and effect is shown to be be fluid and dynamic, not static and fixed. We are responsible for our situation and we are able to change it. Unfortunately, the popular usage and understanding of 'karma' refers more to the "out of my hands" or "there's nothing I can do" attitude. This misunderstanding very common (ironically amongst Buddhists in particular) and has been used to rationalize everything from war to murder.
In Thailand for example, dogs are generally treated very poorly yet few see anything wrong with this because "people have bad karma to be born as dogs so we must treat them badly". This kind fatalistic attitude and relinquishing of responsibility is exactly what BB is speaking out against. In the song he is criticizing the "theological" equivalent: sitting back, doing nothing, and hoping for a "Great God"to "make everybody feel high". Instead of dwelling in the mindset of a helpless victim, BB responds to those who just want to wait around by saying:
But if you know what life is worth,We have seen earlier just how precious a human life is and "what life is worth". We are then asked to do something very interesting, that is "look for yours on earth". What are we looking for and why do we need to look for it on earth? Happiness, true happiness, is something to be found right here and now. It is not in some mystsical, far away place. In a famous sutta, the Buddha speaks to a deva named Rohitassa. Rohitassa describes his journey to the farthest reaches of the cosmos in his previous life as another celestial being and says that he couldn't find the edge of birth, old age, sickness, and death. The Buddha responds by saying:
You would look for yours on earth.
And now you've seen the light,
You stand up for your rights.
"'I tell you, friend, that it is not possible by traveling to know or see or reach a far end of the cosmos where one does not take birth, age, die, pass away, or reappear. But at the same time, I tell you that there is no making an end of suffering & stress without reaching the end of the cosmos. Yet it is just within this fathom-long body, with its perception & intellect, that I declare that there is the cosmos, the origination of the cosmos, the cessation of the cosmos, and the path of practice leading to the cessation of the cosmos'".
In his famous "Song of Zazen", Japanese Zen Master Hakuin, expresses a similar idea:
"How boundless and free is the sky of Awareness! How bright the full moon of wisdom! Truly, is anything missing now? This very place is the Lotus Land; This very body, the Buddha".
Once we recognize that Awakening is possible right here on earth, and not in an imaginary heavenly realm, we "see the light", just as in the previous verse.
Get up, stand up! (jah, jah!)
Stand up for your rights! (oh-hoo!)
Get up, stand up! (get up, stand up!)
Don't give up the fight! (life is your right!)
Get up, stand up! (so we can't give up the fight!)
Stand up for your rights! (lord, lord!)
Get up, stand up! (keep on struggling on!)
Don't give up the fight! (yeah!)
The chorus repeats albeit with some extra exhortations thrown in. "can't give up the fight" and we must "keep on struggling on". The Transcendent Perfection of Diligence (vīrya pāramitā -वीर्य पारमिता) is one of the qualities that a being must cultivate on the path to Awakening. Other translations for 'vīrya' include energy, vigor, effort, and heroic perseverance. Shantideva says:
"Diligence means joy in virtuous ways.
Its contraries have been defined as laziness,
An inclination for the unwholesome,
Defeatism, and self-contempt".
The song finishes off with a little rap, courtesy of Peter Tosh, another of reggae's pioneers:
We're sick an tired of a your -ism-schism game -
Dyin' n' goin' to heaven in a Jesus' name, lord.
We know and we understand:
Almighty God is a living man.
The "-ism-schism game" referred to here is the strife and suffering caused by people (violently) grasping on to labels, specifically religious ones. It is unfortunate that religion has been used to justify so much violence and suffering throughout world history. Crucifixions, The Crusades ("Dyin' n' goin' to heaven in a Jesus' name"), colonialism, Kristallnacht, the Cultural Revolution, and Islamic terrorism are all based on "-isms and schisms". In these situations you are either a human part of the group or you are an inhuman enemy. Nonetheless, there are many brave people who refuse to give into such delusion, people who "know and understand that Almighty God is a living man".
To say "Almighty God is a Living Man" may seem highly unusual, controversial, and even a blasphemous thing to say but is it really so? In the Dhammapada chapter called "Violence" (Dandavagga) it says:
"All tremble at violence; All fear death. Seeing beings as like yourself, Do not kill or cause others to kill. All tremble at violence; Life is dear for all. Seeing other beings as like yourself, Do not kill or cause others to kill".
The concept of tathāgatagarbha (Buddha Nature) teaches that we all have the potential to realize Full Awakening. If this is indeed the case, then its not so absurd to look upon all living beings as future Buddhas. For those who believe in Supreme Being, understanding "Almighty God is a living man" means we recognize the divine essence that is within us all. The traditional Indian (and subsequently Buddhist) gesture of 'Namaste' (or Gassho) means "I bow the common divine essence which we both share". In Buddhist terms, the saluation of the Buddha Nature, or "ground of being", is nicely described by Thich Nhat Hanh's salulation of "A lotus for you, Buddha to be".
You can fool some people sometimes,
But you can't fool all the people all the time.
So now we see the light (what you gonna do? ),
We gonna stand up for our rights! (yeah, yeah, yeah!)
Many intelligent and reasonable people can often be swayed by charismatic figures. An infamous example from American history is the McCarthy period. Senator Joseph McCarthy was responsible for a "Red Scare" during the 1950's. As part of the "House of Un-American Activities Committee", he sought to keep the nation safe by ridding it of Communist collaborators. What soon happened however, was that innocent people were being accused, tried, and imprisoned simply because their beliefs or lifestyles were deemed "unacceptable". At the time, many people in American and in the government went along with McCarthy unquestioningly but there were others who were able to see through the fear mongering and make a stand. Prominent broadcaster Edward R. Murrow was able to show the world the illegal and unethical tactics that McCarthy engaged in. Murrow's investigative news stories eventually contributed to McCarthy's downfall.
Murrow's courageousness is an example of how "you can't fool all the people all the time".
The song ends with a chorus fade out:
So you better:
Get up, stand up! (in the morning! git it up!)
Stand up for your rights! (stand up for our rights!)
Get up, stand up!
Don't give up the fight! (don't give it up, don't give it up!)
Get up, stand up! (get up, stand up!)
Stand up for your rights! (get up, stand up!)
Get up, stand up! ( ... )
Don't give up the fight! (get up, stand up!)
Get up, stand up! ( ... )
Stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up!
Dont give up the fight!
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