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This composition describes the last chapter on earth a human being faces, preparing to make their transition back home.

"A boat with one passenger crosses the surface of a moonlit lake. It is guided and
drawn to a distant shore. By what force is it propelled and when will it arrive? The answer awaits us in the realm of the unknown."

We wrote the poetic lines above long before we ever discovered a painting by 見維which is the cover for this new version of Starshine. We feel magically guided and connected to the painting and other works by見維which are featured in The Wheel of Life. We would like to share the story behind it.

The artist created the piece for the funeral of a much loved community member. As a young adult, this person had left his small aboriginal town on the East Coast of Taiwan and came to the capital city Taipei where he lived and became quite successful for many years. Several years ago he made the choice to return back to his small town and connect more deeply with his aboriginal roots which were strongly linked to the ocean and fishing. He built a boat according to the customs of his tribe. He was newly married with an infant son. As he and the community were preparing for a festival celebrating fishing and the sea, he lost his life while fishing. It was a crushing tragedy. The artist created a painting as a comfort to his wife and others which was displayed next to the coffin at the funeral. The artist said "I gave him a boat". His depiction is so amazingly powerful, a simple boat guiding his friend into the transcendent realms, the incredibly beautiful destination of his journey. This is what the cover is about and also what we hope to point towars in The Wheel of Life.

The woman speaking early in the song is telling us about the stars watching down on us with compassion. She speaks her Taiwanese aboriginal TAU dialect. In this language the word “star” is created from the image of “eyes in the sky".

The wheel of life concept is inspired by the Eastern spiritual philosophy of reincarnation, the soul’s journey through life after life, ever evolving and learning.
The traditional Buddhist chant “Pure-Land Rebirth Dharani” heard in the end of the song is used to guide the soul from one life to the next at the time of death. In this tradition ultimate goal is to transcend the cycle of birth and death and find release from the roots of karma, returning to our home in the realm of formlessness.

lyrics

Starshine poem
The stars shine and the Moon could cry.
The way you look and the way you try
My mother and my father said
Everything comes back

credits

from The Wheel of Life, released October 3, 2023

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scott prairie Taipei City, Taiwan

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DYNASTY
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Most of the vocals on this page by Mia Hsieh are her made up languages! ... more

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