The three CDs on the One Bright Pearl Music label all feature what I call songs of Presence. They came about when I began meditating with my teacher, Ruth Gilbert.  At the time, I was working as a psychotherapist and training as an opera singer in Toronto. Shortly after receiving the Buddhist Dzogchen teachings on the Nature of Mind, original music – melodies and words, arose during Dzogchen practice in my daily life.  It was my intention to bring non-dual awareness into the experience of recording these songs, to the extent that I was able at the time that the CDs were made. These songs are a record of that process. One Bright Pearl was created in 1995-96; Boundless was created in 2000; Birdsong arose during a silent retreat in the summer of 2008 (listen to the title song below). I now live in a rural area of the Okanagan Valley with my husband Benjamin and our two cats, surrounded by endless sky.

I am grateful to my teachers, Ruth Gilbert, Jon Parmenter, and H.E. Garchen Rinpoche, and to all those who are on the path of awakening.  May these songs evoke the natural, infinite and ever-present light of awareness that we are.

Sharon Wiener,

British Columbia, Canada.