“My Sweet Lord”

As a teenager in the early 1970s, the one time my critical defenses against religion would come down was when listening to George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord.” Despite its invocation of God and the sacred—something beyond the pedestrian rationality of my worldview—it went straight to the heart, offering a serene yet exuberant sense of pure joy. Suddenly the unseen dimensions of something great and holy were cool and alive. God was still beyond what I could accept logically, but the emotion was undeniable. Only later would I be able to see how it resonated with the non-theistic path of Buddhism, and especially the Vajrayana.

Over the years, whenever I listened to “My Sweet Lord” it made perfect sense. I can hear it as a devoted invocation of Guru Rinpoche, Tara, Jigme Lingpa, Longchenpa, and my own teachers. At one point, I thought it would be great if we could make a Buddhist version, adapting the lyrics in a few places. I put something together and ran it by our dharma brother, the renowned singer-songwriter Richard Page. It turned out he had the same appreciation for the song, along with several Beatles songs that had expanded our worldview to include the wisdom of India.

George’s supremely melodious song, with beautiful instrumentation, comes with lyrics that draw on key ingredients of Indian spirituality such as the concept of non-dual devotion and the lineage of God’s manifestations in this world. As a Buddhist, and particularly as a Vajrayana practitioner, the song resonates in terms of the path, where the Buddha, the guru, the deva, and the dakini are none other than the Great Middle Way, emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects—buddha nature. The guru and lineage of masters abide as the sphere of absolute reality, beyond time and space, and are not known through intellect but through yearning devotion. As Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo writes:

Through seeing your form, ordinary confused appearances cease.
Through hearing your secret speech, the wisdom of great bliss arises.
Through just remembering you, the fear of samsara and nirvana is ravished away.
We cry out to the only father guru: consider us with kindness.[1]

Moreover, for the Vajrayana yogi, all spiritual traditions are seen as sacred expressions of the ultimate. Here, it makes sense to sing praises to God as the non-dual wisdom that always abides as the ground of our being. The force of devotion dissolves the sophistries of thought and philosophy and connects us with the awake ground.

We adapted the lyrics with terms like “one taste” and “beyond extremes” to emphasize the immediacy of buddha nature and the view of emptiness. George’s original song proposed a shared vision of God across Hindu and Christian boundaries, with a chorus which alternated between the Hare Krishna mantra and Hallelujah. We changed that to include Buddhist chants such as Namo Buddha, Namo dharma, Namo sangha, and also several Vajrayana references. For the invocation of God’s avatars at the end of the song, we inserted the lineage of Dzogchen masters in our world, beginning with Garab Dorje (Prahevajra).

Above all, what carries this new version is Richard’s masterful rendition, with his powerful and melodious voice and beautiful refinements in terms of instruments, sound, song, and chorus—all achieved single-handedly in his home studio—adding up to a sublime version of George’s classic. I think anyone will agree.

Below are the lyrics we came up with. You can listen to and download Richard’s version in mp3 format here.

“My Sweet Lord”

My sweet lord
Hm, my lord
Hm, my lord

I really want to see you
Really want to be with you
Really want to see you lord
Here in my heart, my lord

My sweet lord
Hm, my lord
Oh, my lord

I really want to know you
Really want to go with you
Really want to join you lord
In one taste now, my lord (namo guru)

My sweet lord (namo guru)
Hm, my lord (namo guru)
My sweet lord (namo guru)

I really want to see you
Really want to see you
I really want to see you, lord
I really want to see you, lord
Here in my heart, my lord (namo guru)

My sweet lord (namo guru)
Hm, my lord (namo guru)
My, my, my lord (namo guru)

I really want to know you (namo guru)
Really want to go with you (namo guru)
Really want to join you lord (emaho)
Beyond extremes, my lord (namo guru)

Hmm (namo guru)
My sweet lord (namo guru)
My, my, my lord (namo guru)

Hm, my lord (namo Buddha)
My, my, my lord (namo dharma)
My sweet lord (namo sangha)
My, my lord (jay triratna)

I really want to see you (ha ri ni sa)
Really want to be with you (ra dza hri ya)
Really want to see you lord (mahasukha)
Beyond you and me, oh lord (jnanadhatu)

Hm, my lord (lama khyenno)
My, my, my lord (lama khyenno)
My sweet lord (lama khyenno)
Hmm (lama khyenno)
My sweet lord (Samantabhadra)
Hm, hm (Vajrasattva)
Hm, hm (Prahevajra)
Hey my lord (Manjumitra)
Vidyadhara (Shri Singha)
Ego destroyer (Jnanasutra)
Liberator (Vimamitra)
Lord of freedom (Tsokye Dorje)
My sweet lady (Yeshe Tsogyal)
Lady dakini (Yeshe Tsogyal)

My sweet lord (lama khyenno)
My sweet lord (lama khyenno)
My, my, my lord (lama khyenno) …

[1] Nalanda Translation Committee.

Featured image above: Jakob attending Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche at Vajradhara Gonpa, Australia. Photo by Sunyata Cousens.