Sanzen

i've been a dredg fan for a while now and have gotten my friends hooked on them too. the thing i like about them is that they write observationaly most of the time instead of from within themselves. like this song which i think is about writing and it's time that people start writing original stuff that later on down the road will be apriciated. also i think the line "until they're torn out and pasted, see the inside of irony" is "until they're torn out and pasted into the inside of my memory." listening to the real version here it makes a bout 10x more sense than "see the inside of irony." i mean maybe i'm wrong who knows. even if it is irony then hey the song is still sweet. i wish these guys would come to cleveland already.

it is about an artist who does something, but he doesn't really likes it, he wrote it without inspiration, it is the same as everything out there:

"I can't even concentrate on this It's overthought, anticipated"

He then thinks it is a piece of crap, that he wasted "precious ink" on it, for nothingm, that it is trash:

"The pen ink is running dry It's been thrown to paper and wasted "

then, he says he was blocked, he had no creativity intencionality on it:

"Creativity has been blocked and overtasted Maybe in time I'll appreciate it"

the chorus (I think) talks about the coming of the future:

"Hold on, hold on We'll be with you soon We'll be with you"

the next part talks about that thing theartist made is aprecciated as if it was a masterpiece, and it was a product of lack of creaticity and imagination, tat is why it says:

"See the inside of irony Where I can later look and see them in a new gallery Where they can later be viewed and appreciated"

I'm not sure about the exact lyrics on th next part, so, I dunno.

what i got from this along with catch without arms are both representation of the shallowness of peoples' tastes in music. It sounds like he's saying that they are making these songs and trying to get these messages out to people through music but they're are just getting rejected for the meaningless mainstream music of today.

All I have to say is....DREDG IS CRAZY!, But they rock! :) ;D

"We've got the past, lost the future, only now we wait '

should be:

"forgot the past lost the future only now remains"

actually, the meaning of "sanzen" doesn't have to be that complex and buddhism-connected. in japanese, sanzen means 3000. i have a hard time thinking that this would have anything with buddhism to do at all. though i don't know why they would name a song "3000". maybe they just.. liked the word. as for the ret

jellohead.. your interpretation was really helpful and does makes sense... and about it not being connected to buddhism as the above comments refered...well i think dredg connect everything to their lyrics..i mean they could've written it in english if you think that obvious relevance is important..

so...it could be connected to buddhism...

wow...i'm here five years after the first comment...that's so crazy...you were talking about dredg being appreciated...five years ago...!!! and still i don't see much of that towards them...dredg kicks and i await that comment five years from now...

Sanzen: sitting meditation. Truly, it is "just sitting."

Being present in the moment; awareness. Not being caught up in thought, simultaneously not denying its naturalness.

Some things mentioned by Jellohead do hold some validity, although, not absolute truth. This song points to a mind which is torn by longing for something to please itself, and loathing and pushing the things it hates away. A mind full of static conceptual views.

It points to a truth which cannot be spoken, but only found in the present moment which is in constant flux and change.

"Longing for what hasn't been tamed" This should actually be:

"Longing for what hasn't been obtained"

And to expand on what le_pooploser has already said, the verse

"Longing for what has been lost Longing for what hasn't been obtained It's a small cost We've got the past, lost the future, only now we wait"

My take on it is he's stuck trying to regain his past creativity and motivation. Also, he's longing for the time when he'll finally get back to that state of creativity. The part about it being a "small cost" is the fact that the waiting and struggle to renew his artistic side will be worth it when he achieves it. He has his memories, but he used them to design the future that was lost. Now he can only wait until this new begining intitiates. (sidenote: the complete tempo change for this makes this stick in my mind, almost as if this is a hint to his own epiphany about his situation.)

As for the question about Sanzen I googled a defination. It meaining pertains to Buddhism.

"Sanzen is the instruction given by master to pupil, which, in the Rinzai school, takes place during the the private interview between the two known as dokusan"