“Flashes of radiant cognizance” is a 10¾-minute meditative improvisation by Ulrico on 8-string guitar interacting with a spacious echo reaching deep and reverberating in the loving heart. Its tonality is PentaCor and contains the so-called four corners of the sound temple plus the fifth, which anchors it harmonically, here on F (171 Hz, rel. A 432 Hz). The focus of this recording is to express harmony, boundless space, as well as the silence behind it all, here and now. This single is another preview of the future album “Tonalibus R, S & T” (along with the recent September 22 single release of “Swami Uodalric puja” — spontaneous celebration).
A dream of life starts to recognize the unicorn at last with one’s bare eye big and small dogs below and above wondering along how much crisis is finally needed to trigger change that is substantial not just cosmetic directed at others but a straight look into karmic mirrors detecting harmony beyond all delusion like the sun shining high above all clouds that’s always present in every loving heart admitting triple love gives some celibacy whatever that means just for oneself alone woven tight together like strands in a cloth for protective warmth through the cold night till the sun rises again hiding stars from view for more dreams of life.
“Dream projections” — let them fly high
Phrygian on D (rel. A 438 Hz) — 4-string guitar, crotales, tanpura — 7:43
Awareness embraces the dream of life
“All objects of the phenomenal world appear and disappear in the big empty space of awareness or, we could say, in the empty space of mind — what Suzuki Roshi called ‘big mind’. When we see in this way, there is a greater sense of spaciousness and ease because we are not fixated on or grasping after objects. But there is still a focus for attention, a thing to come back to again and again, which is the awareness itself. So we can also call this practice the awareness of awareness. It is subtle; awareness is not quite locatable. It is not an object that can be taken hold of; awareness is what holds objects. Your right hand can hold a stick, but it can’t hold itself. As Wei Wu Wei put it, ‘What we are looking for is what is looking.’
“Ajahn Sumedho likened it to our eyes:
Just like the question ‘Can you see your own eyes?’ Nobody can see their own eyes. I can see your eyes but I can’t see my eyes. I’m sitting right here, I’ve got two eyes and I can’t see them. But you can see my eyes. Looking in a mirror I can see a reflection, but that’s not my eyes, it’s a reflection of my eyes. But there’s no need for me to see my eyes because I can see! …
“Awareness can’t be grasped, but we know it’s there. As Ajahn Chah said, ‘You’re riding on a horse and asking Where’s the horse?’ Don’t search too hard. We know awareness by its functioning, its activity of revealing sense objects. If you lose touch with it, just ask, ‘Am I aware right now?’ Then stay with whatever you notice about the awareness. Over time, as this practice becomes more familiar, it will be easier to notice awareness itself.
“Awareness is not a thing that can be taken hold of — and we have to ask if it is in fact a thing at all. We might rather say that awareness is the activity of knowing what arises — not a noun but a verb. Awareness is the knowing. It is a functioning: a revealing, an illuminating of what appears.”
— Guy Armstrong, Emptiness: a practical guide for meditators, p. 213-214
First rays of an awakening sun on triple love
The old Yamaha, Ulrico’s first, now 4-string, the Levin classical 6-string, and the 12 now 7-string guitar
May you and I, may we all dream and live with compassion!
Reality is what one believes so stop believing to see reality is what one believes so stop believing to see the divine awakening in the present moment here and now.
(Or dream on believing in Santa Claus.)
“Bodhi Paloma” — home sweet home
PentaCor on A (438 HZ) — 7-string guitar, tenor ukulele, tanpura — 5:14
Free from enmity, affliction and anxiety
“There is what is given and what is offered and what is sacrificed; there is fruit and result of good and bad actions; there is this world and the other world; there is mother and father; there are beings who are reborn spontaneously; there are good and virtuous recluses and brahmins [priests] in the world who have themselves realized by direct knowledge and declare this world and the other world.”
— Majjhima Nikāya — the middle length discourses of the Buddha, translated from Pali by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi— Sāleyyaka Sutta, 41.14, p. 383
Undistorted vision of an empty harbor ready for winter
Small harbor docks emptied for winter — November 2025 — Lake Minnetonka, Excelsior, Minnesota
May you, I, and all be free from enmity, affliction and anxiety!
Tathāgata or Buddha plurality over uniformity understanding over rejection consciousness over ignorance detachment over personification forgiveness over accusation harmony over clashes sharing over owning unity over duality spirit over mind joy over suffering inclusion over exclusion appreciation over repulsion acceptance over separation humility over arrogance reality over illusion love over hate peace over war giving over taking solutions over conflict movement over paralysis cooperation over isolation befriending over alienation tending over destruction everything over nothing nothing is everything!
“Flashes of radiant cognizance” — in empty space
PentaCor on F (171 Hz; rel. A 432 Hz) — 8-string guitar — 10:42
Emptiness, concepts, names, and more
“To abide in emptiness takes a leap of faith. You have to leave behind the familiar comforts of sense objects and the old habits of thinking, liking, and disliking. You set off on a wide sea with just intention as your rudder, and you don’t know what will come next. You can try paddling hard and kicking, but that only sends you in circles. Relaxing with awareness helps but does not bring complete security. The maps are encouraging, but so much of the vastness seems uncharted — and yet you have committed to the journey. You need to maintain your effort but without striving hard for a result. In such a moment, you have to trust in the journey — and you have to trust in emptiness enough to surrender to it. This expresses a deep faith in the unfolding.”
“The more we live in the world of concepts, the more we forget that what the name points to is just a momentary flashing into sense experience. We take the static concept as real and forget the changing reality… We need to remember that the name is just something we’ve invented because it is useful… Doctrines are also concepts; they are not reality itself. When one is in touch with the underlying reality of things, one doesn’t have to label it… [It] is what it is.”
Born in consciousness and attention
“Before an object appears, the light is invisible, unborn, and unmanifest. Once an object appears, the light is born and manifest. The object is then ‘born’ in consciousness.”
“Understanding the truth of things is the most beneficial view, and that ultimately relies on experience, not concepts… No one technique is always the best practice. What is best is what’s suited to your body and mind in a given moment. As a general rule, when distracted, focus on a simple object to collect the attention.”
— Guy Armstrong, Emptiness: a practical guide for meditators, pp. 159, 201-202, 238, 252
It is what it is — flowing in countless dribbles, falls, rivers, and streams
Water moving on in oh so many ways — October 2025 — Wild Water Trail above Tschingel, Kiental, Switzerland
• 道 可 道 非 常 道 • “The Dao that can be spoken of is not the ever-constant Dao.”
— Lao Zi, Dao De Jing, beginning of verse #1, minimalist translation by Bruce R. Linnell
The tonality of the moment for winter 2025-2026 is PentaCor.
PentaCor — extra sound sample, calm — 8-string guitar — June 2022 — 3:18 — as loop on a separate tab
PentaCor is a Core tonality and a partially anchored basic pentatonality. It is the tonality of “Flashes of radiant cognizance” from September 2025, which becomes a new Tonalibus single release on December 22. PentaCor is also the foundation of “Let’s listen” / “Let’s talk” from June 2022, which modulates from PentaCor via HexaCorMix (with the major sixth) to LoReachUpMix (with the minor second). An alternate smooth modulation path is to ReachUpMix (with the major second) instead, as used in “Journey Around the Sun” from April 2021 (PentaCor via ReachUpMix to Dorian and back).
Core tonalities are a diverse collection of specific hepta-, hexa-, and pentatonalites with a common core. Though only partially or progressively anchored (with the exception of fully anchored BlueMix), they are most uniquely anchored in that they contain all four corners of the sound temple. Besides the fundamental or octave, these are the minor third, tritone, and major sixth. As a result of containing all four corners of the sound temple, they tend towards dissolving tonality. Thus they can open up more freedom in experiencing sound.
The addition of the quint to the four corners of the sound temple produces the pentatonality PentaCor. The quint strengthens its fundamental and anchors it in a more common sense of harmony and tonality.
May your, my, and everyone’s heart open and prosper!
