Lyrics Relating to Buddhism

Another Brick in the Wall Part 3

By: Pink Floyd

I don’t need no walls around me.

And I don’t need no drugs to calm me.

I have seen the writing on the wall.

Don’t think I need any thing at all.

No. Don’t think I need anything at all.

All in all it was all just the bricks in the wall.

All in all it was all just the bricks in the wall.

These lyrics can be interpreted in a variety of ways. If you look closely at them you can see connections with Buddhism and the four noble truths. These truths, first introduced by Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) pave the way to end all suffering. It was his belief that if you understood the four noble truths and followed the eightfold path you would reach enlightenment.

The four noble truths in a nutshell are:

1. Everyone suffers

2. Desire causes suffering

3. To end suffering you must end desire

4. The path that leads to the end of desire is the eightfold path.

It is possible to interpret from Pink Floyd’s lyrics that he has ended his desire and wants us to end ours. It is clearly evident that he has ended his suffering; in the first line he rejected the need of friends to make him happy. Then in the second line the need of drugs to make him happy is not needed either. That statement is then reinforced in the line “No. Don’t think I need anything at all” This is the Buddhist way of thinking, you should only want what you need to survive, and even that might be too much.

All in all it was all just the bricks in the wall. “Just the bricks in the wall” could mean that