On February 23rd, musician Hamlet Truong released the song "Your Shoulder Is Nirvana ," which drew much criticism from the audience. The majority of opinions argued that the title was sensitive and inappropriate, comparing a man's shoulder, in the context of love, to nirvana – the highest state of a spiritual practitioner who has eradicated greed, anger, and delusion to achieve absolute tranquility.
Hoang Hai's account wrote: "In Nirvana, there are no feelings left, so how can you compare love to that? You shouldn't force things when you don't fully understand and there's no compatibility."
A comment from user Khánh Toàn received much agreement: "When I first saw the song title, I thought he wrote it for Buddhism. Nirvana is not a 'realm' but a state of mind. In Buddhism, the 'realm of nirvana' is likened to the highest state, where the mind is free from defilements (afflictions), while desire is the source of suffering. I understand that in the eyes of someone in love, there are no doctrines, but using the word nirvana in this context is completely inappropriate."
Hamlet Truong sent reporters the new lyrics.
When contacted by VietNamNet reporters, musician Hamlet Truong said he had read all the audience comments. Regarding the title of the song "Your Shoulder Is Nirvana ," during his research, he came across this term in Hinduism meaning "the return of the individual soul to the great self."
"Coincidentally, this meaning coincides with the idea for the music video based on a short story of mine. In it, the boy has passed away, and the girl is the one left behind, reminiscing about their past love. Therefore, I wrote this song," the songwriter said.
After reading all the audience feedback, Hamlet Truong immediately made revisions. Specifically, the word "nirvana" in the song was changed to "peaceful". The new title is "Your Shoulder Is My Peaceful Realm ".
The old recording of "Your Shoulder Is Nirvana" has now been removed from all social media and online music streaming platforms. The release date for the music video has also been postponed.
Hamlet Truong went into the recording studio to adjust the audio recording.
"From my limited perspective, I thought the character in the work might see a shoulder as a place of 'absolute silence,' but that's not true. Anything that's wrong must be corrected immediately; that's the artist's responsibility. I feel fortunate that the music video and physical disc haven't been released yet, so there's still time to make adjustments," Hamlet Truong said.
The musician is grateful for the audience's feedback, which gives him the opportunity to learn more and correct his mistakes.
Before Hamlet Truong, many Vietnamese artists sparked controversy with their Buddhist-themed works. In 2014, singer Ung Hoang Phuc faced backlash for reciting the Great Compassion Mantra to upbeat dance music.
In 2019, the Vietnamese lyrics of the Chinese song " Do Ta Khong Do Nang" (The Buddha Cannot Save Her) were deemed blasphemous to Buddhism. Venerable Thich Nhat Tu pointed out that the Vietnamese lyrics used many exaggerated words, especially the arbitrary addition of the line: "The Buddha is too high up there / He will never be able to save her."
In 2021, the "Rap Nha Lam" group caused outrage when they released the rap song "Thich Ca Mau Chi," which contained blasphemous content against Buddhism and distorted the image of the Buddha. As a consequence, the group was fined 45 million VND and ordered to destroy the recording.
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