Buddhist music

The tradition & historical record

Buddhist music is music (Sanskrit: vàdita, saṅgīta) created for or inspired by Buddhism and includes numerous ritual and non-ritual musical forms. As a Buddhist art form, music has been used by Buddhists since the time of early Buddhism, as attested by artistic depictions in Indian sites like Sanchi. While certain early Buddhist sources contain negative attitudes to music, Mahayana sources tend to be much more positive to music, seeing it as a suitable offering to the Buddhas and as a skillful means to bring sentient beings to Buddhism. Buddhist music retains a prominent place in many Buddhist traditions, and is usually used for ceremonial and devotional purposes. Buddhist music and chanting is often part of Buddhist rituals and festivals in which they may be seen as offerings to the Buddha. Most Buddhist music includes chanting or singing, accompanied by instruments. The chanting is often of traditional texts which include: sutras, mantras, dharani, parittas, or verse compositions (such as gathas, stotras, and caryagitis). Buddhist instrumental music does exist, though it is less commonly heard in temples. Examples of Buddhist musical traditions include the Chinese Buddhist fanbai, Newari Buddhist Gunlā Bājan, Tibetan Buddhist music, Japanese Buddhist shōmyō, modern Indian Buddhist bhajans, and Cambodian Smot chanting. ¹

In Buddhism, chanting is a traditional Buddhist devotional practice, as well as a means of enhancing and preparing the mind for silent meditation. It is a common part of formal group practice, in either a lay or monastic context. Some forms of Buddhism also use chanting for ritualistic, apotropaic or other magical purposes. In Mahayana Buddhism, the offering of music is a traditional part of devotional offerings to the Buddhas (others include water, flowers, and light). The offering of music is thus considered to bring good merit. The idea of music as an offering to the Buddhas can be found in various Mahayana sutras. Common instruments included the veena, drums, and flutes (venu). Furthermore, in some Mahayana sources, Buddhist music is considered to be a skillful means (upaya), a way to guide people to the Buddhist path and to teach them the Buddha's teachings. Some Mahayana sutras also depict the Pure Lands as filled with divine music. ¹

Various passages from the early Buddhist texts contain criticisms of musical performance directly from the Buddha. The main criticism is that music leads to sense desire and attachment, and is thus a hindrance to meditative concentration (samadhi), and to peace of mind. However, there are other passages in which the Buddha praises music and chanting. Aside from textual sources, there are numerous depictions of musicians and musical instruments at ancient Indian Buddhist sites like Sanchi, and Amaravati, as well as at various Greco-Buddhist sites in Buddhist Gandhara, such as Chakhil-i-Ghoundi. ¹

In the Ghitassara Sutta (Anguttara Nikaya 5.209), the Buddha admonishes Buddhist monks for reciting the teaching (Dhamma) in a musical way: ¹

Monks, there are five dangers of reciting the Dhamma with a musical intonation. What five? Oneself gets attached to the sound, others get attached to the sound, householders are annoyed, saying, "Just as we sing, these sons of the Sakyan sing", the concentration of those who do not like the sound is destroyed, and later generations copy it. These, monks, are the five dangers of reciting the Dhamma with a musical intonation. Meanwhile, in the Sigalovada Sutta, a sutta addressed to laypersons, music is included as a negative sense desire: There are these six drawbacks of frequenting festivals. You're always thinking: 'Where's the dancing? Where's the singing? Where's the music? Where are the stories? Where's the applause? Where are the kettledrums?'Early Buddhist sources include the practice of uposatha, in which laypersons observe a set of eight precepts. The seventh of these states one should abstain from wordly entertainments, shows and music. The Uposatha Sutta asks Buddhists to reflect how noble disciples "have given up singing and dancing, the playing of musical instruments and the watching of entertainments, which are stumbling blocks to that which is wholesome." The canonical Buddhist Vinayas (monastic codes) generally reject the use of musical chanting and singing for reciting the Buddhist scriptures, since it was seen as a sensuous distraction. They are prohibit monks and nuns from listening to or performing music since it is connected with sensual pleasure. ¹

Certain passages in the early Buddhists are much more positive about music. Digha Nikaya sutta no. 21 (Sakka's Questions) and its Chinese parallel at DA 14, contains a passage in which a gandharva (a celestial musician) named Pañcaśikha sings some verses to the Buddha accompanied by a lute, and the Buddha approves of it. In the Dirgha Agama version, the Buddha listens and praises Pañcaśikha saying: Good, Pañcaśikha, good! You're able to praise the Tathāgata with your clear voice and harmonious cymophane lute. The sound of both your lute and voice are neither long or short. Their compassion and gracefulness moves people's hearts. Your song is replete with many meanings and explains the bonds of desire, the religious life, the ascetic, and Nirvāṇa!The Mahaparinibbana sutta states that before the death of the Buddha, "heavenly music played in the sky in honor of the Realized One. And heavenly choirs sang in the sky in honor of the Realized One." After the Buddha's death, laypeople venerated the Buddha "with dance and song and music and garlands and fragrances". In the Chinese version of the Mahaparanirvana sutra, the Buddha approves of devotional practices through music when he states "there are four kinds of people in the world who should be memorialized by building a shrine and providing incense, flowers, silk canopies, and music there". These four types of people are said to be: tathāgatas (Buddhas), pratyekabuddhas, sravakas (disciples) and noble wheel-turning kings. The Mahāli Sutta (DN 6) mentions that through a certain samadhi, one may hear heavenly sounds from the deva realms. Other sources, like the Jatakas, and Avadanas, contain various stories which depict music in a positive light. ¹

One Indian Buddhist figure who was well known as a musician was the 2nd century poet Aśvaghoṣa. Both Tibetan (Taranatha) and Chinese sources mention that he was also a great musician and traveled with a choir. Xuanzang (7th century) mentions that when he traveled to India, the music of Aśvaghoṣa was still remembered as having the power to impress upon people the truth of impermanence. One of his musical hymns, the Gaṇḍīstotragāthā (Chinese: Kien-ch'ui-fan-tsan, Hymn on the Bell), has survived in Chinese transliteration and Tibetan translation (which also include some musical notation). ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Buddhist music”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Buddhist music is music genre, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 5 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²