Creeper (part 1)

[Christopher Stewart]

(« Climbing Plant » by Popperipopp)

« Creeper » is directly inspired by the following aphorism from the Dhammapada :

The streams flow everywhere; the creeper, having sprung up, becomes established. When you see that creeper sprout, sever its root by intense insight. – (XXIV. Craving, #7)

and its accompanying translator's note :

The « creeper » is insidious suggestion, rooted in ignorance and craving, developing into bondage, aggression, and folly. To sever it the moment it sprouts is what the Tao Te Ching refers to as doing what is difficult when it is still easy. This is the purpose of vigilance, so highly recommended by Buddha.

The composition forms an allegory wherein destructive mental processes are compared to creeping plants, and depicts a confrontation between creeper and host in four stages : introduction, growth, conquest, and extinction.

Although the piece was not constructed as a suite, but rather as one long song, I present it here in two parts. The first part comprises the introduction and verses, which correspond to the first two stages.

As the lyrics suggest, the creeper represents worry, negativity, or doubt, which are generally rooted in ignorance or craving, and can act as magnets to undesirable and weird experiences when pursued intently.

Insidious suggestion
Difficult to contain
Tendency to worry
Threatening to bloom in pain

Stemming up from a doubt
Burgeoning from a no
Better sever the sprout
Or a vine could follow

Creative energy – Unleashed upon itself
Subtle adversary – Not yet under control
Creative energy – Cynical of itself
Unforeseen enemy - Between here and the goal

Coming back from the past
Sinister memory
Craving for attention
The voice of gravity

Surely as it will rise
Before long, paralyse
Surely as it will grow
In a spiral, down you go

Creative energy – Unleashed upon itself
Subtle adversary – Not yet under control
Creative energy – Cynical of itself
Unforeseen enemy – Between here and the goal