BRANT MILLER: Music

• MP3 play whole song, hi-fi (broadband)
• MP3 play whole song, lo-fi (modem)

Dawna Wright and I attended a gathering in Mexico of Native teachers, students and seekers (which also attracted a lot of non-Native seekers like myself) back in the '80s called Canto de la Tierra. There we heard Sun Bear talk about the medicine wheel, the cosmic framework that expresses how we travel the cycle of life over and over to learn and teach new lessons of healing and transformation. We returned to the States and wrote the framework of "Medicine Wheel" based on this experience. Once I encountered the teachings of the Buddhist monk, Nichiren, I came to see that the medicine wheel is an expression of how we have to face our karma over and over until we erase it. My Buddhist teacher, Nanjo, also my manager and co-writer, added new words and her own voice to the final version that we recorded in '96 with Col. Buster Doss in Nashville (featured here).

In the great wheel we live forever
Round and round we heal together
On earth, under the sky, from this Law no one can hide

Ooh, A-Ho! Hey Hey Around the medicine wheel we go
We laugh we lose we learn we grow

To the spirit we surrender so our homeland we can mend her
It strengthens us to look inside
To move beyond our pain and pride
We move beyond our pride

Oooh, A-ho! Hey Hey Around the medicine wheel we go
We stop we love we learn we know

Recitation: There's a beautiful sound pulsing eternal through all creation
Equally through all people
How could I not treasure this precious jewel in you?

From the pathway of past sorrow, we now face a new tomorrow

Ooh, A-Ho! Hey Hey Around the medicine wheel we go
We laugh we lose we learn we grow
Oooh, A-ho! Hey Hey Around the medicine wheel we go
We stop we love we learn we know

Around the wheel we go, around the wheel we go
Around the wheel we go, around the wheel, 'round the medicine wheel