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"All that glitters tends to be cold"
IT TAKES A CERTAIN KIND OF MUSICIAN to fly in the face of pop-convention and woo the club crowd with a bass-heavy and danceable track about the existential challenges of the human condition. It also takes a certain kind of person to pull it off. UK musician Jah Wobble is that kind of person. Somehow, he's gone from an alcoholic punk-rock hooligan --as the press and Wobble himself tell it-- to a sober, nonstop music-machine and working-class mystic. Starting in the late seventies as the surly backbone of John Lydon's brilliant post-Sex Pistols outfit, Public Image Limited, 'Wob' has clearly gone beyond: these days, he's appearing on BBC radio and even writing book reviews for England's The Independent newspaper. And he's never stopped adding to his immense catalog of world, experimental, and dub-reggae-influenced music. His work has often tread conscious and/or spiritual ground, including album-length tributes to the Celtic poets and William Blake, and the surprisingly successful 1994 lp Take Me to God. But this time around it seems the Buddha himself has gotten the Wobble remix, on the new cd, Mu (Trojan Records). That's not automatically a good thing, of course, as Buddhism has been getting strong, dubious marketplace treatment for a while now. ("Zen and the Art of Quilting," anyone?) Much of the "Buddhist-inspired" music out there is a bit weak, suffering from too little authenticity to win over anyone in the know or too much flimsiness to win over just about anyone else. This must be partly why people have the impression that Buddhists only listen to New-Age noodling -- at least when they're not meditating or being teetotalling goody-goodies. Can Wobble pass the authenticity test? Here, from the Mu press-release, he explains his album's title: "The title 'Mu' refers to an old Zen Koan [or, 'teaching story']. It came into being when a famous Chinese Zen master called Joshu (A.D. 778-897), was paid a visit by an aspirant monk. As a dog walked by the Monk asked Joshu, "has that dog got Buddha-nature or not"? Joshu immediately answered "Mu!" Mu, like the original Chinese Wu, can refer to the original void or state of non-being from whence the universe originated. As depicted on the [album's] cover all things and beings are contained within Mu (I personally tend to use the word God). Then again all these ideas are a form of concept and therefore not really Mu. Which is absolute, and therefore not relative, or quantifiable. Oh dear there I go again conceptualising. Look, put it this way[:] the moment I hit that low E on the Bass . . . THAT'S MU! " It would seem that Wobble has a working understanding of Mu. At the very least, he can talk about these big concepts - his Independent review of a new translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead surely verifies that. But his remark about his own "conceptualising" is a hint that he really does know how koans work, that they are meant to lead us into our Buddha-nature; which is to say, that they are meant to help us wake up, get over ourselves and all the things that we think are important, so we can deal with what actually is important. Which is to say, "all things and beings." Life is not just about us, or what we think. Now, typically, 'Mu' is the first of many koans that the fledgling student will encounter with a Zen teacher. It's the 'catchy first single' of Zen, either making a fan out of you or driving you away. If you stick with it, it can be a way in, a good hard look at the real stuff of life and death. Not exactly standard pop fare, but when it works, it works. The question is, can Wobble --who is not a Buddhist, Zen or otherwise-- make it work on record? It would appear that way on hearing Mu's own catchy first single, "Samsara." That not-so-catchy word, originating from Buddhism and other Indian systems of philosophy, refers to the ongoing but never-satisfying 'wandering' we humans indulge in --wasting our lives in selfish pursuits, essentially-- and the cycle of suffering that results. (It should be noted that no discussion of samsara would be complete without introducing the concepts of reincarnation or rebirth. Thankfully, this is just a record review, and doesn't have to be complete. But if you really want to read about those things, check out the Resource-links, below.) Wobble's muscular-but-playful take on selfishness and suffering is as easy on the mind as it is on the ears. Just the way us Westerners like it. The lyrics: I see what it is, mate. It's samsara; Samsara, samsara. Wobble doesn't pretend to be a Buddhist, much less a Buddhist teacher, so the tone here isn't preachy. Nor does it play the 'obtuse Zen-speak' card. It's direct. You might even get the sense that he's imagining the universe reminding him not to blow the wonderful life he's built for himself, post-recovery. However you read it, the words can remind us all of some fundamental ways we can live better lives -- things that, as regular old human beings, we might forget too easily. And while we might not get to everything on this spiritual To-Do list, maybe we'd ought to try our best in the life we've got. Seems Wobble has hit on something that many people --Buddhists included-- have yet to figure out for themselves: you don't need to be a 'Buddhist' to get immediate or ongoing value out of what Buddhism has to say. Depending on how you look at it, Buddhism is not 'a religion. Even some who might think of themselves as Buddhists feel that way. Whatever the lyrics, "Samsara" wouldn't be worth talking about if it didn't sound great, and it does. (Lest ye think Wobble is getting a free pass here, we should tell you that the song's video is pretty lame, and the album-art, designed by the man himself, looks about the same.) The Mu lp was originally composed to be played back in 5.1 Surround-Sound, and while it ultimately came out in plain old stereo, it's clear that the final album will place a premium on production. On 'Samsara,' at least, Wobble's vocals are quiet and only half-sung; his loping, slithering bassline is the star here. The drums, including what sounds like a tabla, are deliberate and steady, allowing the song to pulse without pounding. Horns and flutes punctuate the air of the track with solo leads, but rest assured: no flimsiness can be found. The song begs to come blasting out of a discotheque P.A. and, perhaps even more so, out of the car stereo during a solo drive to a weekend meditation retreat. With track-titles like "Kojak Dub" and "Viking Funeral," the Mu lp surely won't be considered "Buddhist" music (though other individual tracks like "Mu" and the ten-minute "Buddha of Compassion" may just, by some). It doesn't matter. What matters is that we've got people like Jah Wobble making music with "all things and all beings" in mind. Those happily suffering with only "Samsara" have finally seen the release of the entire Mu lp, backed by the very rare occurrence of a tour by Wobble and his English Roots Band. Wobble's not an easy guy to hear; he hasn't gotten much radioplay, with the exception of his one --very beautiful-- hit with Sinead O'Connor, "Visions of You." And he's rarely played North America. But it's worth seeking him out. Check the resources below if you want to start.
“Rebirth and Nirvana” [includes a discussion of samsara]:
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DHARMA-BURGER ARCHIVE 
