Trailblazers
Tina Turner: The Queen of Rock & Roll
(November 26, 1939 - May 24, 2023)
Tina Turner left this world on May 24, 2023, at the age of 83. Her remarkable life started in rural Tennessee as Anna Mae Bullock, born between “the final days of the Great Depression and the first days of World War II.” Enduring an unhappy childhood, abandonment, an abusive marriage, and later, discrimination in the entertainment industry, she rose to become the beloved superstar known to the world as the “Queen of Rock and Roll.” Her success was the result of her belief in her dreams, her strong resolve to realize them, and the power of her Buddhist spiritual practice.
In her book Happiness Becomes You: A Guide to Changing Your Life for Good, Tina Turner shares that achieving personal fulfillment in all areas of her life started by unlocking the door of her Buddha nature. Her connection with the Soka Gakkai (Nichiren Buddhist) sangha, study of Buddhism, and the physical and emotional benefits of chanting enabled her to build up her own connection with the universe, dispel the ghosts of the past, and achieve all that she did in her lifetime.
Tina Turner did not wish happiness only for herself, but for all of us. “Manifesting the life condition of Buddhahood, here and now, as you are, is standing up for your life—opening the wellspring of wisdom, courage, and compassion within your essence, enabling you to overcome any adversity.”