Dzogchen



I have been doing spiritual practice for the past 35 years, with the aim of being free. I train individuals who are interested in establishing a regular practice leading to Presence (ongoing innate awareness, non-separation,  union with all that is). The training is based on the Buddhist Dzogchen teachings, which are mystical teachings of the non-dual state. The practices are experiential, designed to be integrated 24/7 in daily life. Students have regular sessions in person or by Zoom or phone, and I usually offer an annual retreat in my home where they can practice together and benefit from shared energy and commitment. It is not an easy path. And yet some are called. . . If this interests you please contact me at sharonw27@shaw.ca

SONG FOR NOBODY

A yellow flower
(Light and spirit)
Sings by itself
For nobody.

A golden spirit
(Light and emptiness)
Sings without a word
By itself.

Let no one touch this gentle sun
In whose dark eye
Someone is awake.

(No light, no gold, no name, no color
and no thought:
O, wide awake!)

A golden heaven
Sings by itself
A song to nobody.

-Thomas Merton

 


About The Music

Sharon Wiener, Meditative Music, DzogchenThe three CDs on the One Bright Pearl Music label all feature what I call songs of presence, or mystical songs. They came about when I began receiving meditation instruction from 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. I now live on Vancouver Island, inspired by the ocean and the endless sky.

I am grateful to my teachers, Ruth Gilbert, Jon Parmenter, and H.E. Garchen Rinpoche, to my students, 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.

“We sing not for that which dies, but for that which never dies.” -Steven Levine

Sharon Wiener
British Columbia, Canada.


The Songs

Full songs are available on all the current digital platforms including:


You can still order any of the physical CDs using Paypal or a credit card from our secure online store via the links below, or by e-transfer to: sharonw27@shaw.ca

“A beautiful evocation of our natural heart space of clarity, peace and joy.” — Sharon Saltzberg, Vipassana teacher & author.


Sharon Wiener, Meditative Music, DzogchenBirdsong Sharon’s CD of meditative music, released in November 2008. It features a ‘Yogic Song’ (Song of the Vulture) from the Dzogchen tradition, a meditative arrangement of a Jewish prayer and Christian hymn, as well as 4 original meditative songs that were inspired by Dzogchen practice and mystical poetry. The songs are intended to take the listener into a state of presence, a spacious, relaxed and compassionate state of awareness. They feature arrangements and instrumental performances by Stu Goldberg, an award-winning composer, producer, arranger and keyboardist.



Sharon Wiener, Meditative Music, DzogchenBoundless was released in 2001, and contains original meditative songs inspired by present-day mystical poetry (Kavita, and Ron Ellis), as well as two famous Buddhist ‘prayers’ from the Dzogchen tradition.  Boundless features producer/arranger Hans Christian (of RASA) on cello and many other eastern instruments, as well as Shea Comfort on duduk, and Girish Gambira on mridangam and udu.



Sharon Wiener, Meditative Music, DzogchenOne Bright Pearl was released in 1997. It marked Sharon Wiener’s debut as a writer and singer of meditative songs that arose out of the experience of her Dzogchen meditation practice, as well as from the inspiration of medieval and modern mystical poetry. This first CD contains many songs for a cappella solo voice, as well as four songs that were arranged and accompanied by George Koller (from the Loreena McKennitt Band), playing sitar, sarod, esraj and bass.


“Thus, the bright pearl, existing just so and being beginningless, transcends changes in time and place. The whole universe is one bright pearl… The entirety is Brilliant Light, One Mind… Who can be anxious as to whether birth and death are or are not the bright pearl? Even if there is doubt and anxiety,they are the bright pearl… There is not a single activity or thought that is not the bright pearl…”
-Zen Master Dogen, (1238), from Francis H. Cook, ‘The Sound of Valley Streams: Enlightenment in Dogen’s Zen’ (Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1989).