The Tibetan word Bardo means literally "intermediate state" - also translated as "transitional state" or "in-between state" or "liminal state". In Sanskrit the concept has the name ''antarabhāva''. It is a concept which arose soon after the Buddha's passing, with a number of earlier Buddhist groups accepting the existence of such an intermediate state, while other schools rejected it.

Used loosely, the term "bardo" refers to the state of existence intermediate between two lives on earth. According to Tibetan tradition, after death and before one's next birth, when one's consciousness is not connected with a physical body, one experiences a variety of phenomena. These usually follow a particular sequence of degeneration from, just after death, the clearest experiences of reality of which one is spiritually capable, and then proceeding to terrifying hallucinations that arise from the impulses of one's previous unskillful actions. For the prepared and appropriately trained individuals the bardo offers a state of great opportunity for liberation, since transcendental insight may arise with the direct experience of reality, while for others it can become a place of danger as the karmically created hallucinations can impel one into a less than desirable rebirth.

In the West, the term ''bardo'' may also refer to times when our usual way of life becomes suspended, as, for example, when we are on retreat. Such times can prove fruitful for spiritual progress, as external constraints diminish, although they offer challenges because our unskillful impulses can come to the fore, just as in the ''sidpa bardo''.

Intermediate State in Indian Buddhism

From the records of early Buddhist schools, it appears that at least six different groups accepted the notion of an intermediate existence (antarābhava), namely, the Sarvāstivāda, Darṣṭāntika, Vātsīputrīyas, Saṃmitīya, Pūrvaśaila and late Mahīśāsaka. The first four of these are closely related schools. Opposing them were the Mahāsaṃghika, Mahīśāsaka, Theravāda, Vibhajyavāda and the Śāriputra Abhidharma (possibly Dharmagupta) (Bareau 1955: 291).

Some of the earliest references we have to the “intermediate existence” are to be found in the Sarvāstivādin text the Mahāvibhāṣa 《阿毘達磨大毘婆沙論》. For instance, the Mahāvibhāṣa indicates a “basic existence” (本有), an “intermediate existence” (中有), a “birth existence” (生有) and “death existence” (死有) (CBETA, T27, no. 1545, p. 959, etc.). Bareau (1955: 143) provides the arguments of the Sarvāstivāda as follows:

The intermediate being who makes the passage in this way from one existence to the next is formed, like every living being, of the five aggregates (skandha). His existence is demonstrated by the fact that it cannot have any discontinuity in time and space between the place and moment of death and those of rebirth, and therefore it must be that the two existences belonging to the same series are linked in time and space by an intermediate stage. The intermediate being is the Gandharva, the presence of which is as necessary at conception as the fecundity and union of the parents. Furthermore, the Antarāparinirvāyin is an Anāgamin who obtains parinirvāṇa during the intermediary existence. As for the heinous criminal guilty of one of the five crimes without interval (ānantarya), he passes in quite the same way by an intermediate existence at the end of which he is reborn necessarily in hell.

Deriving from a later period of the same school, though with some differences, Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośa explains (English trs. p. 383ff):

What is an intermediate being, and an intermediate existence? 10. Intermediate existence, which inserts itself between existence at death and existence at birth, not having arrived at the location where it should go, cannot be said to be born. Between death-that is, the five skandhas of the moment of death – and arising – that is, the five skandhas of the moment of rebirth-there is found an existence-a "body" of five skandhas-that goes to the place of rebirth. This existence between two realms of rebirth (gatī) is called intermediate existence.

He cites a number of texts and examples to defend the notion against other schools which reject it and claim that death in one life is immediately followed by rebirth in the next, without any intermediate state in between the two. Both the Mahāvibhāṣa and the Abhidharmakośa have the notion of the intermediate state lasting "seven times seven days" (i.e. 49 days) at most. This is one view, though, and there were also others.

Similar arguments were also used in Harivarman’s *Satyasiddhi Śāstra, a quasi-Mahāyāna text, and the Upadeśa commentary on the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, both of which have strong influence from the Sarvāstivāda school. Both of these texts had powerful influence in Chinese Buddhism, which also accepts this idea as a rule.

The Saddharma-smṛty-upasthāna Sūtra (正法念處經) classifies 17 intermediate states with different experiences.

Six Bardos in Tibetan Buddhism

Fremantle (2001) states that there are six traditional bardo states known as the Six Bardos: the Bardo of This Life (p. 55); the Bardo of Meditation (p. 58); the Bardo of Dream (p. 62); the Bardo of Dying (p. 64); the Bardo of Dharmata (p. 65); and the Bardo of Existence (p. 66).

Shugchang, ''et al.'' (2000: p. 5) discuss the Zhitro (Tibetan: Zhi-khro) teachings which subsume the ''Bardo Thodol'' and mention Karma Lingpa, terma and Padmasambhava and list the Six Bardo: "The first bardo begins when we take birth and endures as long as we live. The second is the bardo of dreams. The third is the bardo of concentration or meditation. The fourth occurs at the moment of death. The fifth is known as the bardo of the luminosity of the true nature. The sixth is called the bardo of transmigration or karmic becoming.

# Shinay bardo (Tibetan): is the first bardo of birth and life. This bardo commences from conception until the last breath, when the mindstream withdraws from the body. # Milam bardo (Tibetan): is the second bardo of the dream state. The Milam Bardo is a subset of the first Bardo. Dream Yoga develops practices to integrate the dream state into Buddhist sadhana. # Samten bardo (Tibetan) is the third bardo of meditation. This bardo is generally only experienced by meditators, though individuals may have spontaneous experience of it. Samten Bardo is a subset of the Shinay Bardo. # Chikkhai bardo (Tibetan): is the fourth bardo of the moment of death. According to tradition, this bardo is held to commence when the outer and inner signs presage that the onset of death is nigh, and continues through the dissolution or transmutation of the Mahabhuta until the external and internal breath has completed. # Chönyid bardo (Tibetan): is the fifth bardo of the luminosity of the true nature which commences after the final 'inner breath' (Sanskrit: ''prana'', vayu; Tibetan: ''rlung''). It is within this Bardo that visions and auditory phenomena occur. In the Dzogchen teachings, these are known as the spontaneously manifesting Thödgal (Tibetan: ''thod-rgyal'') visions. Concomitant to these visions, there is a welling of profound peace and pristine awareness. Sentient beings who have not practiced during their lived experience and/or who do not recognize the clear light (Tibetan: ''od gsal'') at the moment of death are usually deluded throughout the fifth bardo of luminosity. # Sidpai bardo (Tibetan): is the sixth bardo of becoming or transmigration. This bardo endures until the inner-breath commences in the new transmigrating form determined by the 'karmic seeds' within the storehouse consciousness.

Exegesis

Fremantle (2001: p. 53-54) charts the development of the bardo concept through the Himalayan tradition:

Originally bardo referred only to the period between one life and the next, and this is still its normal meaning when it is mentioned without any qualification. There was considerable dispute over this theory during the early centuries of Buddhism, with one side arguing that rebirth (or conception) follows immediately after death, and the other saying that there must be an interval between the two. With the rise of mahayana, belief in a transitional period prevailed. Later Buddhism expanded the whole concept to distinguish six or more similar states, covering the whole cycle of life, death, and rebirth. But it can also be interpreted as any transitional experience, any state that lies between two other states. Its original meaning, the experience of being between death and rebirth, is the prototype of the bardo experience, while the six traditional bardos show how the essential qualities of that experience are also present in other transitional periods. By refining even further the understanding of the essence of bardo, it can then be applied to every moment of existence. The present moment, the now, is a continual bardo, always suspended between the past and the future.

However, as shown above, Fremantle's idea that it was originally only "between one life and next" was not how it was used by the Sarvāstivāda school from the outset. Also, the idea that the ascendancy of this idea was due to the Mahāyāna is unfounded, and it is much more likely that it was due to the Sarvāstivāda influence, several centuries before the Mahāyāna had any real influence.

See also

Desire realm

Dzogchen: Reality vs dreams

Six Yogas of Naropa

Limbo

References

Further reading

''Abhidharma Kośa Bhāṣyām'.' 1991. de la Vallèe Poussin, L; translated by. Pruden, L. Vols I, II, III & IV. Asian Humanities Press.

''The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying.'' 1993. Sogyal Rinpoche. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

''Luminous Emptiness.'' 2001. Francesca Fremantle. Boston: Shambala Publications. ISBN 1-57062-450-X

''American Book of the Dead.'' 1987. E.J. Gold. Nevada City: IDHHB.

''Death, Intermediate State, and Rebirth.'' 1981. Lati Rinpoche. Snow Lion Publications.

''The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead.'' 1967. Timothy Leary et al. http://www.lycaeum.org/books/books/psychedelic_experience/tibetan.html

''Natural Liberation.'' 1998. Padmasambhava. The text is translated by B. Alan Wallace, with a commentary by Gyatrul Rinpoche. Somerville, Wisdom Publications.

''Bardo Teachings.'' 1987. By Ven. Lama Lodo. Snow Lion Publications.

''Mirror of Mindfulness'': The Cycle of the Four Bardos, Tsele Natsok Rangdrol, translated by Erik Pema Kunsang (Rangjung Yeshe Publications).

Category:Tibetan Buddhist practices Category:Buddhist philosophical concepts Category:Buddhist practices

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cs:Bardo (buddhismus) de:Bardo (Yoga) et:Bardo es:Bardo budista nl:Bardo (boeddhisme) ja:中陰 pl:Bardo (stan) pt:Bardo (budismo) ru:Бардо (буддизм) sk:Bardo (budhizmus) sv:Bardo (buddhism) vi:Trung hữu zh:中陰

Name	Todd Rundgren
Background	solo_singer
Born	June 22, 1948
Origin	Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, United States
Genre	Rock, Progressive rock, soft rock, power pop, pop rock, hard rock, blue-eyed soul
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, video director, recording engineer, computer programmer
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, saxophone, theremin
Years active	1967–present
Birth name	Todd Harry Rundgren
Label	Ampex, Bearsville
Associated acts	Nazz, Utopia, The New Cars, Meat Loaf, Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band
Website	http://www.tr-i.com/
Notable instruments	}}

Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP ''Something/Anything?'' in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings as solo artist, and during the seventies and eighties with the band Utopia. He has also been prolific as a producer and engineer on the recorded work of other musicians.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Rundgren engineered and/or produced many notable albums for other acts, including ''Straight Up'' by Badfinger, ''Stage Fright'' by The Band, ''We're an American Band'' by Grand Funk Railroad, ''Bat Out of Hell'' by Meat Loaf (now ranked as the fifth biggest-selling album of all time), and ''Skylarking'' by XTC. In the 1980s and 1990s his interest in video and computers led to Rundgren's "Time Heals" being the eighth video played on MTV, and "Change Myself" was generated on commercially available Amiga Computers.

His best-known songs include "Hello It's Me" and "I Saw the Light" which have heavy rotation on classic rock radio stations, and "Bang the Drum All Day" featured in many sports arenas, commercials, and movie trailers.

Early career

Rundgren was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He began his career in Woody's Truck Stop, a Philadelphia-based group based on the model of Paul Butterfield Blues Band. However, Rundgren and bassist Carson Van Osten left the band to form the garage rock group Nazz in 1967 with Thom Mooney (drums) and Robert "Stewkey" Antoni (vocals and keyboards). The group gained minor recognition with the Rundgren-penned songs "Open My Eyes" and "Hello It's Me". (He later recorded a solo, uptempo version of "Hello It's Me"; it became one of his signature songs.) Nazz released three albums during this time - ''Nazz'' (1968), ''Nazz Nazz'' (1969), and ''Nazz III'' (1971). "Open My Eyes" gained belated recognition thanks to its inclusion in ''Nuggets'' (1972), the genre-defining anthology of American 1960s garage punk and psychedelia compiled by musician Lenny Kaye. The group's second LP was originally intended as double album (titled ''Fungo Bat''), but instead a truncated version was released as ''Nazz Nazz'' in April 1969. Rundgren and Van Osten left the band shortly after. Under Stewkey's leadership the band continued (with new members) until 1970, and their label released a third LP ''Nazz III'' on which most of Rundgren's vocals on the unreleased songs from the ''Fungo Bat'' sessions were replaced by Stewkey's.

Rundgren's distinctive style was informed by a wide variety of musical influences—British pop-rock (notably The Beatles, The Who, The Yardbirds, Cream and The Move), the intricate vocal harmonies of The Beach Boys, classic American rock'n'roll, Broadway musicals, the operettas of Gilbert & Sullivan and American soul and R&B;, but as his music evolved he demonstrated an increasing interest in other genres as well, such as hard rock and experimental music.

Particularly during the early years of his career, Rundgren's songwriting was heavily influenced by the music of singer-songwriter Laura Nyro:

:"I knew her fairly well. I met her right after ''Eli and the Thirteenth Confession''. I actually had arranged a meeting, just because I was so infatuated with her and I wanted to meet the person who had produced all this music. We got along, and we were kind of friendly, and actually, after I met her the first time, she asked me if I wanted to be her band leader. But the Nazz had just signed a record contract and I couldn't skip out on the band, even though it was incredibly tempting."

Rundgren's debut solo album ''Runt'' (1970) includes the strongly Nyro-influenced "Baby Let’s Swing", which was written about her and mentions her by name.

Nazz manager Michael Friedman who had joined Albert Grossman management brought Rundgren to the firm where he became both a solo artist and producer for many artists in the Grossman stable.

Solo work

After leaving the Nazz in 1969, Rundgren relocated temporarily to New York and began working as a producer for other groups. He also apparently considered working as a computer programmer. Ultimately, he became one of the first artists signed to the Bearsville Records label established by Albert Grossman, and in 1970 he formed the 'band' Runt, consisting of himself, Hunt Sales on drums, and his brother Tony Sales on bass (the Sales brothers are the sons of US comedian Soupy Sales and went on to play with Iggy Pop, David Bowie, and Tin Machine). Rundgren himself wrote, produced, sang and played guitars, keyboards and other instruments. Whether Runt is best described as a band or simply as a pseudonym for Rundgren as a solo artist is unclear—for the album ''Runt'' (1970) the group appeared to be a bona-fide trio, but on their second album ''Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren'' (1971), Hunt Sales plays only on two tracks and is replaced by N.D. Smart on the rest of the album. Furthermore, only Rundgren is pictured on the covers of both albums, and both albums have been subsequently reissued with the same titles and cover art, but bearing the artist credit "Todd Rundgren". Whether a solo project or a band, Runt had a #20 hit in the U.S. with "We Gotta Get You a Woman" in 1970, and two other Runt songs placed in the lower reaches of the Hot 100.

By 1972, the Runt persona/band identity had been abandoned, and Rundgren's next project, the ambitious double LP ''Something/Anything?'' (1972) was credited simply to Rundgren, who wrote, played, sang, engineered, and produced everything on three of the four sides of the album. ''Something/Anything?'' featured the top 20 U.S. hits "I Saw The Light" (#16; an original song, not the Hank Williams classic), and a remake of the Nazz near-hit "Hello It's Me", which reached #5 in the U.S. and is Rundgren's biggest hit. The former song featured Rundgren on all vocals and instruments. On his ensuing concert tour, his backing band was the Hello People, whose own album he later produced.

Changing style

Although he opposed the use of drugs during his days with Nazz, in the early 1970s Rundgren changed his views and began experimenting with various mind-altering substances including marijuana, LSD and the stimulant Ritalin and this had a marked effect both on the style of his music and his productivity:

:"It (Ritalin) caused me to crank out songs at an incredible pace. 'I Saw the Light' took me all of 20 minutes. You can see why, too, the rhymes are just moon/June/spoon kind of stuff..."

Speaking of the effect on ''A Wizard, A True Star'', Rundgren commented:

:"With drugs I could suddenly abstract my thought processes in a certain way, and I wanted to see if I could put them on a record. A lot of people recognised it as the dynamics of a psychedelic trip - it was almost like painting with your head."

Though he often revisited the classic popular song format, during the early 1970s Rundgren's music began to incorporate elements of progressive rock. 1973's transitional ''A Wizard, a True Star'' marked the beginning of this trend, which came to fruition with his next two solo albums ''Todd'' (1974) and ''Initiation'' (1975) and the early recordings under the aegis of his new group project Utopia.

''A Wizard, A True Star'', which was sequenced as a continuous medley, featured a wildly eclectic range of songs set in dazzling arrangements and production, with Rundgren experimenting with the synthesiser and exploiting virtually every studio effect and technique then available. Backing musicians included renowned horn players Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker, guitarist Rick Derringer and several other musicians who subsequently joined the original incarnation of Utopia. Although it featured predominantly original material (including the anthemic "Just One Victory", which became a concert favorite), the album set a pattern followed on subsequent solo albums, with Rundgren recording cover versions of his favorite songs—in this case, "Never Never Land", from the Broadway musical version of ''Peter Pan'', and a medley of soul classics, including a unique version of the Capitols' "Cool Jerk" played in the 7/8 time signature. The album was also notable for its extended running time—over 55 minutes in length, compared to around 40–45 minutes for a typical pop-rock LP of the period. This reflected Rundgren's skills as a mastering engineer, since this extended running time took the album close to the practical maximum for an LP—due to the inherent physical limitations of the vinyl LP medium, on records with running times over 45 minutes there is an unfavorable trade-off between duration and the audio quality and volume. On the album cover, packed with his handwritten notes, he advised listeners to crank up their Victrolas accordingly.

''Todd'' (1974) continued in this vein and featured similarly diverse material. Alongside originals such as "A Dream Goes On Forever" and "Heavy Metal Kids", both of which became concert staples, Rundgren also satirised his chosen profession with the song "An Elpees' Worth of Tunes" and revisited his teenage obsession with the music of Gilbert & Sullivan in a rendition of "The Lord Chancellor's Nightmare Song" (from ''Iolanthe'').

By contrast, Rundgren's work with Utopia (see below) and his next solo album took him decisively into progressive rock. ''Initiation'' (1975) addressed cosmic themes, showed a strong interest in spirituality (particularly Far Eastern religion and philosophy), and displayed the musical influence of psychedelic rock, as well as the avant-garde jazz fusion of contemporary acts such as the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Frank Zappa. Once again the original LP issue saw Rundgren pushing the medium to its physical limits, with the side-long suite "A Treatise on Cosmic Fire" clocking in at over 35 minutes.

When touring, the music was presented in a lavish stage setting that echoed the ambitious space-themed shows of acts like Parliament/Funkadelic and he adopted an outlandish space-rock image on stage, including multi-coloured dyed hair. In this period he regularly played the eye-catching psychedelic Gibson SG (known as "Sunny") which Eric Clapton had played in Cream. After he had stopped using it ca. 1968, Clapton gave the guitar to George Harrison, who subsequently 'loaned' it to British singer Jackie Lomax. In 1972, after meeting at a recording session, Lomax sold the guitar to Rundgren for $500 with an option to buy it back, which he never took up. Rundgren played it extensively during the early years of Utopia before retiring the instrument, which he eventually auctioned off; he now owns a reproduction ''NME'' - September 1974

His 1976 album ''Faithful'' marked a return to the pop/rock genre, featuring one side of original songs and one side of covers of significant songs from 1966, including the Yardbirds' "Happening Ten Years Time Ago" (the B-side of that Yardbirds single gave Nazz its name) and a nearly identical re-creation of the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations". ''Faithful'' was followed by ''Hermit of Mink Hollow'' (1978); this included the hit ballad "Can We Still Be Friends", which reached #29 in the U.S. and was accompanied by an innovative self-produced music video, and the album became the second most successful of his career (after ''Something? Anything!''), reaching #36 in the U.S. During 1978 Rundgren undertook an American tour playing at smaller venues including The Bottom Line in New York and the Roxy in Los Angeles; this resulted in the double live album ''Back to the Bars'', which featured a mixture of material from his solo work and Utopia, performed with backing musicians including Utopia, Edgar Winter, Spencer Davis, Daryl Hall and John Oates and Stevie Nicks.

Subsequent solo releases included the album-long concept work ''Healing'' (1981) and the New Wave-tinged ''The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect'' (1982) which included a cover of The Small Faces hit "Tin Soldier". The latter album also marked the end of Rundgren's tenure with Bearsville Records. He then signed with Warner Bros. Records who issued his next album, ''A Cappella'' (1985), which was recorded using Rundgren's multi-tracked voice, accompanied by arrangements constructed entirely from programmed vocal samples. "Bang the Drum All Day", from ''The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect'' was a minor chart hit which has become more prominent in subsequent years, having been adopted as an unofficial theme by several professional sports franchises, notably the Green Bay Packers, and becoming popular on radio, where it was often featured on Friday afternoons. It is now considered one of Rundgren's most popular songs. In 1986, Rundgren scored four episodes of the popular children's television show Pee Wee's Playhouse.

''Nearly Human'' (1989) and ''2nd Wind'' (1991) were both recorded live - the former in the studio, the latter in a theater before a live audience, which was instructed to remain silent. Each song on these albums was recorded as a complete single take with no later overdubbing. Both albums marked, in part, a return to his Philly soul roots. ''2nd Wind'' also included several excerpts from Rundgren's musical ''Up Against It'', which was adapted from the screenplay (originally titled "Prick Up Your Ears") that British playwright Joe Orton had originally offered to The Beatles for their never-made follow-up to ''Help!''. ''2nd Wind'' was Rundgren's last release through a major label and all his subsequent recordings have been self-released.

After a long absence from touring, Rundgren hit the road with ''Nearly Human - 2nd Wind'' band, which included brass and a trio of slinky backup singers (one of whom, Michele Gray, Rundgren married). He also toured during this period with Ringo Starr's All-Starr band.

The next few years saw Rundgren recording under the pseudonym TR-i ("Todd Rundgren interactive") for two albums. The first of these, 1993's ''No World Order'', consisted of hundreds of seconds-long snippets of music that could be combined in various ways to suit the listener. Initially targeted for the Philips CD-i platform, ''No World Order'' featured interactive controls for tempo, mood, and other parameters, along with pre-programmed mixes by Rundgren himself, Bob Clearmountain, Don Was, and Jerry Harrison. The disc was also released for PC and Macintosh and in two versions on standard audio CD, the continuous mix disc ''No World Order'' and, later, the more song-oriented ''No World Order Lite.'' The music itself was quite a departure from Rundgren's previous work, with a dance/techno feel and much rapping by Rundgren. The follow-up, 1995's ''The Individualist'', featured interactive video content that could be viewed or in one case, played; it was a simple video game along with the music, which was more rock-oriented than ''No World Order.''

Rundgren returned to recording under his own name for ''With a Twist'', an album of bossa-nova covers of his older material. His Patronet work, which trickled out to subscribers over more than a year, was released in 2000 as ''One Long Year''. In 2004, Rundgren released ''Liars'', a concept album about "paucity of truth" that features a mixture of his older and newer sounds.

In early 2008, Rundgren launched his official Myspace page. Later that year, he released the rock album ''Arena''. In concert, he had been performing the album in full and in sequence before its release.

Rundgren released the live compilation album, ''For Lack of Honest Work'', in 2010. The album was advertised as a collection of bootleg recording that were approved by Rundgren himself.

April 2011 saw the release of ''Todd Rundgren's Johnson'', a collection of Robert Johnson covers which had been recorded more than a year earlier. On another 2011 release, scheduled for September 13, a further album of covers entitled ''re:Production''. sees him performing tracks he had previously produced for other acts, including Grand Funk Railroad's "Walk Like a Man" and XTC's "Dear God."

Utopia

Rundgren's back-up band for ''A Wizard, a True Star'' evolved into the first version of Utopia, a larger prog-rock ensemble, which included multiple keyboards, synthesizers and brass and featured a character completely disguised in a silver suit, "M. Frog Labat" (Jean-Yves Labat de Rossi) on synthesizers, who also put out his own electronics/keyboards-based solo album. This incarnation premiered on 1974's ''Todd Rundgren's Utopia'', which was book-ended by the 14-minute "Utopia Theme" (recorded live in concert) and the 30-minute suite "The Ikon", which occupied the whole of Side 2 of the album. Like ''Wizard'', the album also showcased Rundgren's skills as a recording and mastering engineer, clocking in at over 30 minutes per side.

A slightly altered version of this group performed on the eclectic 1975 live album ''Another Live''. It featured three new extended progressive tracks (which appear only on this LP), a version of "Heavy Metal Kids" (from ''Todd'') and covers of "Something's Coming" (from "West Side Story") and "Do Ya" by The Move. By the time this album was recorded the Utopia lineup included keyboard player/trumpeter/vocalist Roger Powell and drummer John "Willie" Wilcox.

In 1976 Siegler left Utopia and was replaced by Kasim Sulton (bass, keybaords, vocals), who had previously played with New York singer-poetess Cherry Vanilla. This formidable ensemble was widely regarded as one of the best live acts of its day—all four members were highly accomplished on their main instrument as well as being able to play multiple other instruments, and all four could sing lead vocals.

After 1977's prog-rock fusion homage, ''Ra'', Utopia moved toward a more concise pop-oriented style with 1977's ''Oops! Wrong Planet'', which included "Love Is the Answer", later a hit for England Dan & John Ford Coley, followed by the more successful ''Adventures In Utopia'' in 1980, which spawned the hits "Road to Utopia", "Set Me Free" and "Caravan". During that year Utopia also acted as the backing band for the Rundgren-produced Shaun Cassidy solo album ''Wasp''.

Other releases include ''Deface the Music'' (also 1980), an uncanny Beatles homage that borders on parody; the more politicised ''Swing to the Right'' (1982), incorporating more new wave elements; their pop-referenced, self-titled album ''Utopia'' (1982), as well as ''Oblivion'' (1984), which showed a cynical side of Utopia, sporting a black cover; 1985's ''P.O.V.'' includes "Mated", later a staple of Rundgren solo tours. Rundgren eventually disbanded Utopia in the mid-80s; they released ''Trivia'' (1986) as their "swan song" effort. However, in 1992 a brief tour of Japan reunited the Rundgren/Powell/Sulton/Wilcox lineup, and "Redux '92: Live In Japan" was released on Rhino Records.

Eventually, the compilation ''Oblivion'', ''P.O.V.'' and ''Some Trivia'' was released in 1996, an effort by Rhino Records to re-release selections from the Todd/Utopia discography. In addition, many Utopia concerts from the mid-1970s onwards were taped (e.g. their 1975 London debut, recorded by BBC Radio) and these were widely bootlegged by fans, although some have since gained an official release and can now be obtained as commercial digital downloads from iTunes.

Production, video and other work

In addition to his own recordings, Rundgren has engineered and/or produced albums for many notable acts. Sparked by his dissatisfaction with the sound quality of the Nazz albums, Rundgren learned how to engineer and master his own records and since 1970 he has overseen production of all his solo recordings and those by Utopia. His earliest outside credits were as producer on a long-unreleased Janis Joplin track (recorded with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band) and as recording engineer for the LP ''Stage Fright'' by The Band. Other notable production credits include Halfnelson (first incarnation of Sparks), New York Dolls, Badfinger, Grand Funk Railroad, Hall & Oates, Ian and Sylvia (on their "Great Speckled Bird" album), Meat Loaf, Patti Smith, Shaun Cassidy, The Tubes, Tom Robinson Band, XTC, Bad Religion, Cheap Trick, The Hello People, Hiroshi Takano, Bourgeois Tagg, Dragon (aka Hunter), 12 Rods, The Pursuit of Happiness, The Psychedelic Furs, Steve Hillage, The American Dream, and many others. The difficult XTC sessions produced the album ''Skylarking'', now considered a high point for band and producer despite its acrimonious origin. Rundgren's production of Meat Loaf's ''Bat out of Hell'' (on which he also played lead guitar) helped that album become one of the top selling LPs released in the 1970s. The industry regard for Rundgren's production work has been a lofty one: Jim Steinman, with whom Rundgren worked on ''Bat Out of Hell'', has said in interviews that ''"Todd Rundgren is a genius and I don't use that word a lot."''

Rundgren has long been on the cutting edge of music and video technologies. His music video for the song "Time Heals" was among the first videos aired on MTV, and a video he produced for RCA, accompanied by Gustav Holst's ''The Planets'', was used as a demo for their videodisc players. His experience with computer graphics dates back to 1981, when he developed one of the first computer paint programs, dubbed the Utopia Graphics System; it ran on an Apple II with Apple's digitizer tablet. He is also the co-developer of the computer screensaver system Flowfazer.

In the 1990s, Rundgren was an early adopter of the NewTek Video Toaster and made several videos with it. The first, for "Change Myself" from ''2nd Wind'', was widely distributed as a demo reel for the Toaster; he also used the system for videos from ''No World Order'' (songs "Fascist Christ" and "Property"). Later, he set up a company to produce 3D animation using the Toaster; this company's first demo, "Theology" (a look at religious architecture through the ages featuring music by former Utopia bandmate Roger Powell) also became a widely-circulated item among Toaster users. Most of Rundgren's Toaster work is available on the video compilation ''The Desktop Collection.''

Rundgren composed music for the 1986 TV series ''Pee-wee's Playhouse'' and ''Crime Story'' as well as the movies "Undercover" (a/k/a "Under Cover") (1987), and ''Dumb and Dumber'' (1994), plus background cues for several other TV shows. He hosted a syndicated radio show called "The Difference" in the early 1990s.

As the Internet gained mass acceptance in the mid-1990s Rundgren, along with longtime manager Eric Gardner and Apple digital music exec Kelli Richards, started Patronet, which offered fans (patrons) access to his works in progress and new unreleased tracks in exchange for a subscription fee, cutting out record labels. The songs from Rundgren's first Patronet run were later released as the album ''One Long Year.'' Since then, Rundgren has severed his connections with major record labels and continues to offer new music direct to subscribers via his website, although he also continues to record and release CDs through independent labels. (However, as of November 2007, the PatroNet.com website offers the following message: "PatroNet is undergoing a major software revision and is not accepting memberships at this time.")

Rundgren produced the 1999 debut album for the band Splender, entitled "Halfway to the Sky."

In the summer of 2001, Rundgren joined artists such as Alan Parsons, The Who's John Entwistle, Heart's Ann Wilson and Ambrosia's David Pack for the successful "A Walk Down Abbey Road" tour, in which the musicians played their own hits alongside Beatles favorites. The also did a short tour of Japan in Winter of 2001. John Entwistle's guitarist/vocalist, Godfrey Townsend acted as musical director for the tours and stayed on for the following year's "sequel" tour which included Todd and Parsons returning, with a slightly changed lineup which featured Jack Bruce of Cream, Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad, Christopher Cross and Eric Carmen. Godfrey also brought drummer/vocalist Steve Murphy on board for "A Walk Down Abbey Road's" 2002 Summer tour.

Rundgren toured the US and Europe in 2004 with Joe Jackson and the string quartet Ethel, appearing on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' performing their collaborative cover of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". (video)

In 2009, Rundgren produced ''Cause I Sez So'' by the New York Dolls. In October, in one of the last concerts at the famed Wachovia Spectrum, Rundgren and Philadelphia area musicians The Hooters and Hall & Oates headlined a concert titled "Last Call". Tickets were as low as $6.00, the deep discount reflected ticket prices in 1967 when the Spectrum first staged concerts.

The year also included a lecture at DePauw University in Indiana, in which he discussed "Music, Technology and Risk-Taking."

In late-October to early-November 2010, Rundgren was the IU Class of 1963 Wells Scholars Professor at Indiana University. He taught a course with IU Professor Glenn Gass entitled The Ballad of Todd Rundgren.

The New Cars

In late 2005, rumors began circulating that the influential Boston-based band The Cars were planning to re-form despite bass player Benjamin Orr's death and the oft-mentioned refusal of former lead singer Ric Ocasek to even consider any reunion. Soon the rumors mentioned that Rundgren had joined Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes in rehearsals for a possible new Cars lineup. Initial speculation pointed to The New Cars being fleshed out with Clem Burke of Blondie and Art Alexakis of Everclear. Eventually it was revealed that The New Cars were to complete their lineup with veteran bass player and former Rundgren bandmate Kasim Sulton and studio drummer Prairie Prince of The Tubes, who had played on XTC's Rundgren-produced ''Skylarking'' and who has recorded and toured with Rundgren.

In early 2006, the new lineup played a few private shows for industry professionals, played live on ''The Tonight Show'' and made other media appearances before commencing a 2006 summer tour with the re-formed Blondie.

Rundgren has referred to the project as "an opportunity ... for me to pay my bills, play to a larger audience, work with musicians I know and like, and ideally have some fun for a year."

The New Cars' first single, "Not Tonight," was released on March 20, 2006. A portion of the song is featured on a promotional teaser for the band online. A live album/greatest hits collection, ''The New Cars: It's Alive'', was released in June, 2006. The album includes classic Cars songs (and two Rundgren hits) recorded live plus three new studio tracks.

Touring, 2009-2011

In April 2009, Rundgren discussed his career during an Ubben Lecture at Indiana's DePauw University.

In September 2009, Rundgren assembled a very limited-engagement tour with Jesse Gress, Kasim Sulton, Prairie Prince, Greg Hawkes, Bobby Strickland, and Roger Powell (and his wife Michele as costume designer and back-up singer for the concerts finale'), covering his 1973 album, "A Wizard, A True Star." The shows included a complete, start-to-finish rendition of the album, with multiple costume changes and theatrical props to accent the songs. The opening band for the shows was Utopia, with Roger Powell, Kasim Sulton, and Prairie Prince.

In December 2009, Rundgren once again took the AWATS Live show on the road with four shows in California. Roger Powell returned to his real job in the computer/software industry and was replaced by Ralph Schuckett, who played keyboards on the studio recording of the original album.

The AWATS show has had two European dates as well; playing in London, England at the Hammersmith Apollo on February 6, 2010, and the Paradiso in Amsterdam, Holland on February 8, 2010. Rundgren opened the London and Amsterdam shows by showcasing his new project, entitled 'Todd Rundgren's Johnson'; consisting of Rundgren, Jesse Gress (guitar), Prairie Prince (drums) and Kasim Sulton (bass) reworking Robert Johnson songs.

In January 2010 Rundgren gave his first ever concert performance in Australia as a participant in the ''Rogue's Gallery'' show, produced by Hal Willner for the 2010 Sydney Festival. In October 2010 Rundgren returned for a three-date tour of Australia performing his 'Johnson' project, with concerts at The Basement, Sydney, the Great Southern Blues Festival at Bateman's Bay and the Corner Hotel in Melbourne. The band consisted of Todd, guitarist Jesse Gress, Australian bassplayer Damien Steele Scott and Australian drummer Mick Skelton.

A Photographic Journal of each American show was created by rock photographer J Bloomrosen.

In October 2010, Rundgren was selected as the Class of 1963 Wells Scholars Professor at Indiana University (Bloomington). In that capacity, he taught two weeks of a four-week, one-credit hour honors seminar designed for 22 Wells Scholars (HON-H300: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren). Co-teaching the class was IU Professor of Music Glenn Gass—whose relationship with Rundgren helped make the professorship possible—and IU Distinguished Professor of Sociology Bernice Pescosolido, who was instrumental in helping to plan the course.

In September 2010, Rundgren performed his "Todd" and "Healing" albums live for the first time ever in Akron, OH and followed that up with five more of the album concerts in Muskegon MI, Indianapolis IN, St. Louis MO, Glenside PA, and Morristown NJ. A large LED display and lasers were on display throughout the shows with Todd and the band dressed in extravagant costumes. Todd brought out his SG Gibson "The Fool" replica guitar and also performed a few songs on the piano. Todd's band consisted of Jesse Gress, Greg Hawkes, Prairie Prince, Bobby Strickland, and Kasim Sulton. Led by Choir Master Dirk Hillyer, local choirs from near each venue joined Todd and the band during parts of the "Healing" album set which added a brand new element to the music for fans that had only heard it by listening to the album. The shows closed with the song, "Sons Of 1984" which included fan participation even after Todd and the band left the stage.

In January 2011, a reunion of the most of the members of the 1974 Utopia personnel (Rundgren, Klingman, Shuckett, Siegler, and Ellman) was held for two nights in New York City, with proceeds to defray medical treatment for Klingman. Material was drawn from the 1972-1975 catalogs of Rundgren and Todd Rundgren's Utopia.

In March 2011, Todd took the "Todd" and "Healing" albums live concerts back on the road for a mini-tour and included stops in Hartford CT, Boston MA, Red Bank NJ, Toledo OH, and Columbus OH. A summer tour promises a selection of the artist's "greatest hits."

Personal life

Rundgren's son, Rex (born 1980), was a minor league baseball player for several years.

In popular culture

Rundgren also composed and recorded theme music for the American pilot for cult UK sci-fi comedy ''Red Dwarf'', though it never aired.

On the day Mark David Chapman shot and killed John Lennon, he left an eight-track tape of Rundgren's album ''The Ballad of Todd Rundgren'', along with other artifacts, in his New York hotel room in an orderly semicircle on the hotel dresser. "I left it as a statement, I guess," he was quoted as saying in ''Let Me Take You Down: Inside the Mind of Mark David Chapman, the Man Who Killed John Lennon'' (Jack Jones, Villard Books, 1992). Chapman had been obsessed with Rundgren and told Jones, "Right between the chambers of your heart is how Rundgren's music is to me. I cannot overestimate the depth of what his music meant to me."

In the pilot of ''That 70s Show'', the main characters attend a Todd Rundgren concert. One of the jokes has character Jackie pretending to be a serious Rundgren fan, but she doesn't know how to pronounce his name correctly ("Runderman", "Grunion"). During the end credits, all the main characters sing along to "Hello It's Me". This credit sequence was again used in the final episode of the show.

Rundgren's "I Saw The Light" featured prominently in a scene in the Farelly Brothers film ''Kingpin'', but this wasn't his first association with the Farellys. He also did the score for ''Dumb and Dumber'', and "Can We Still Be Friends" appeared in that film's soundtrack. Also, in the Farelly Brothers produced film The Ringer, the two main characters sing Rundgren's "We Got to Get You A Woman" from his Runt album.

"Can We Still Be Friends" can also be heard briefly during the climactic sex scene in the movie ''Vanilla Sky'', and during an emotional relationship situation between the doctors of the TV series ''Nip/Tuck''.

Stephen Colbert, on his Comedy Central show ''The Colbert Report'', invited Cars vocalist and guitarist Ric Ocasek to add anyone of his choice to the "On Notice" board. Ocasek chose Todd Rundgren.

The song "International Feel" is featured in the film ''Daft Punk's Electroma''.

On the ''30 Rock'' episode "The C Word," Tina Fey's character Liz Lemon is telling producer Pete and writer Frank about the obscenity Lutz called her, stating, "He called me the worst name ever. I'm not gonna repeat it. That's how much I hate it." Then after multiple guesses by the two, she says, "No! It's the one that rhymes with the name of your favorite Todd Rundgren album," referring to ''Runt'', but Frank replies, "It rhymes with ''Hermit of Mink Hollow''?" As an additional bit of trivia, Fey and Rundgren both attended the same suburban Philadelphia high school.

Two tracks from ''Healing'' appeared on ''Miami Vice'', "Tiny Demons" in the episode "Little Prince" and "Flesh" in the episode "Tale of the Goat".

On the NBC show the ''The Office'' episode "The Fight," Michael Scott Steve Carell parodies the chorus of "Bang the Drum All Day", substituting the word "drum" with "mug".

In an episode of ''Gilmore Girls'', Kelly Bishop's character tells her daughter that something minor she did was the worst possible thing. Lauren Graham's character retorts saying something along the lines of "Liv Tyler grew up thinking Todd Rundgren was her father, don't you think that's a little bit worse?"

In the closing moments of episode 11 of season 3 of ''Six Feet Under'', Nate sits in the car that his missing wife last drove as "I Saw The Light" is playing on the radio.

His song "Hello It's Me" was featured in a "Tums" Commercial.

His songs "A Dream Goes on Forever" and "Hello It's Me" were both featured in the soundtrack of the movie ''The Virgin Suicides''.

In their song "Synthesise" (2009) the English electronic duo Simian Mobile Disco repeatedly use a sample, of Rundgren singing "I was born to Synthesize", taken from his song "Born to Synthesize".

His song "Izzat Love?" was sampled by Neon Indian for their song "Deadbeat Summer".

His song "Hodja" from his album A Cappella is performed by John Stamos and others in the "Full House" episode "A Pox in Our House."

Several of Rundgren's songs have featured on Robert Florence and Ryan Macleod's Scottish videogame review shows, ''Consolevania'' and ''videoGaiden''. These include "Bang the Drum All Day", "Hello It's Me", "A Dream Goes On Forever", "Sons of 1984", "Can We Still Be Friends", "I Saw The Light", "Just One Victory" and "Today".

Argentina rock musician Charly Garcia released in 2002 a record called Influencia (Influence). It contains two versions of Todd Rundgren's song Influenza, one in Spanish with lyrics adapted by Charly, and one in English. Todd's influence in Charly Garcia's music is manifested in this record, even though he is almost unknown in Argentina.

In the movie Duets, Paul Giamatti, sings "Hello, It's Me" in a karaoke contest.

TV Girl sampled "Hello, It's Me" on "If You Want It" from their self-titled 2010 debut EP. Todd Rundgren replied by asking Warner Music Group to issue takedown notices to their bandcamp and all the blogs that featured the song.

In her 1997 recording "Blurring the Edges," American singer/songwriter Meredith Brooks lists "...lots of Todd Rundgren" in the lyrics to the opening track, "I Need."

Discography

References

External links

Official website

The Todd Rundgren Connection

TR & Utopia Video Vault

Todd Rundgren "Todd" and "Healing" albums performed live 2010 Tour information

Rundgren Radio online talk show for Todd fans

Rundgren audio interview from Toddstock 2008 on RundgrenRadio.com

Ubben Lecture at DePauw University, includes A/V April 8, 2009

The New Cars official site

Todd Rundgren at the Internet Off Broadway Database

Rundgren audio interview about his album ARENA on RundgrenRadio.com

Rundgren audio interview about his album A Wizard, A True Star on RundgrenRadio.com

"A Wizard, A True Star" Concert Photo Books by Rock Photographer J Bloomrosen

Interview with Todd Rundgren RadioLIVE New Zealand, June 2010.

ToddFan.com - A Todd Rundgren Fan Community

Category:1948 births Category:Living people Category:People from Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania Category:American multi-instrumentalists Category:American pop pianists Category:American record producers Category:American rock guitarists Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Blue-eyed soul singers Category:Musicians from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:American New Wave musicians Category:Protopunk musicians Category:Progressive rock musicians Category:The New Cars members

de:Todd Rundgren es:Todd Rundgren fr:Todd Rundgren it:Todd Rundgren nl:Todd Rundgren ja:トッド・ラングレン no:Todd Rundgren ru:Рандгрен, Тодд simple:Todd Rundgren sv:Todd Rundgren uk:Тодд Рандґрен zh:托德·朗德格伦

region	Tibetan Buddhism
color	#87cefa
name	Ngawang Kunga,the 41st Sakya Trizin
birth date	September 7, 1945
birth place	Shigatse, Tibet
school tradition	Sakya
notable ideas	}}

Sakya Trizin means "Sakya Throne Holder" in the Tibetan language. It is the traditional title of the head of the Sakya Order of Tibetan Buddhism.

The Sakya Order of Tibetan Buddhism was founded in 1073, when Khon Konchog Gyalpo, a member of Tibet’s noble Khön family, established a monastery in the region of Sakya, Tibet, which became the headquarters of the Sakya Order of Tibetan Buddhism. Since that time, the leadership of the Sakya Order has descended within the Khön family.

Current Sakya Trizin

The current Sakya Trizin is the 41st Sakya Trizin. His legal name is "Sakya Trizin" and he is referred to as His Holiness Sakya Trizin. His religious name is Ngawang Kunga Tegchen Palbar Trinley Samphel Wangyi Gyalpo.

Sakya Trizin was born on September 7, 1945 in Tsedong, near Shigatse, Tibet. From his father, Vajradhara Ngawang Kunga Rinchen, he received important initiations and teachings in the Sakya lineage. He began intensive religious study at the age of five. In 1952, he was officially designated as the next Sakya Trizin by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. He continued intensive training from his main teacher Ngawang Lodroe Shenpen Nyingpo and many other famous Tibetan scholars, studying extensively in both the esoteric and exoteric Buddhist traditions. In 1959, at the age of fourteen, he was formally enthroned as head of the Sakya Order of Tibetan Buddhism. In the same year, due to the political situation in Tibet, the Sakya Trizin, his family, and many lamas and monks from the Sakya Monastery relocated to India.

To maintain the unbroken lineage of the Khon family, in 1974 Sakya Trizin consented to requests that he accept Tashi Lhakee, daughter of a noble family from Dege in Kham as his consort. In the same year his first son, Khonrig Ratna Vajra Sakya, was born. In 1979, a second son, Khonrig Gyana Vajra Sakya was born.

After leaving Tibet, in 1963, the Sakya Trizin re-established the seat of the Sakya Order in Rajpur, India, building a monastery known as Sakya Centre. Since that time, he has worked tirelessly to preserve the thousand-year-old religious heritage of the Sakya Order and to transmit its teachings to succeeding generations. He founded and directly guides a number of institutions, including Sakya Monastery in Rajpur, Sakya Institute, Sakya College, Sakya Nunnery, Sakya College for Nuns, Sakya Tibetan Settlement, Sakya Hospital, dozens of other monasteries in Tibet, Nepal, and India, and numerous Dharma Centers in many countries.

Sakya Trizin is a highly accomplished Buddhist master respected by all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism and teaches widely throughout the world. He has bestowed the extensive Lam Dre teaching cycle, which is the most important teaching of the Sakya Order over 18 times on various continents, and also transmitted major initiation cycles such as Collection of All the Tantras, and the Collection of all the Sadhanas, which contain almost all of the empowerments for the esoteric practices of the various schools of Tibetan Buddhism to hundreds of lineage holders in the next generation of Buddhist teachers. He has trained both of his sons, Khonrig Ratna Vajra Sakya and Khonrig Gyana Vajra Sakya as highly accomplished Buddhist masters, and they both travel widely, teaching Buddhism throughout the world.

The year 2009 marked the fiftieth anniversary of Sakya Trizin’s headship of the Sakya Order. The occasion was celebrated as a Golden Jubilee with extensive celebrations and tributes to his success in preserving and maintaining the Sakya Order of Tibetan Buddhism.

Sakya Trizin lineage

Lharig, the divine generation :According to legend Ciring descended from the Rupadhatu (Realm of Clear Light) to earth.

Ciring

Yuse

Yuring

Masang Cije

Togsa Pawo Tag

Tagpo Ochen

Yapang Kye

Khön family, the royal generation :Because the previous generations subjugated the rakshas (demons), the family became the Family of Conquerors (Khon gyi dung shortened to Khön) and therefore a royal family.

Khön Bar Kye

Khön Jekundag, minister of Trisong Detsen, student of Padmasambhava

Khön Lu'i Wangpo Srungwa

Khön Dorje Rinchen

Khön Sherab Yontan

Khön Yontan Jungne

Khön Tsugtor Sherab

Khön Gekyab

Khön Getong

Khön Balpo

Khön Shakya Lodro

Sherab Tsultrim

Sakya lineage, generations as Buddhist teachers. : Khon Konchog Gyalpo founded the monastery in Sakya in 1073, and therefore the lineage was renamed Sakya.

Footnotes

References

Penny-Dimri, Sandra. (1995). "The Lineage of His Holiness Sakya Trizin Ngawang Kunga." ''The Tibet Journal''. Vol. XX, No. 4 Winter 1995, pp. 64–92. ISBN 0970-5368.

Trizin, Sakya. ''Parting from the Four Attachments''. Shang Shung Publications, 1999.

External links

His Holiness Sakya Trizin’s official website

Biography of Sakya Trizin

Hungarian website of His Holiness Sakya Trizin including some information about Her Eminence Jetsun Kushok Chimey Luding see last section

The Kalyanamitra Fund

''Parting from the Four Attachments'' by His Holiness Sakya Trizin

Category:1945 births Category:Living people Category:Lamas Category:Sakya Category:Tibetan people Category:Tulkus

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