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A Buddhist chant is a form of musical verse or incantation, in some ways analogous to Hindu, Christian or Jewish religious recitations. They exist in just about every part of the Buddhist world, from the Wats in Thailand to the Tibetan Buddhist temples in India and Tibet. Almost every Buddhist school has some tradition of chanting associated with it, regardless of being Theravada or Mahayana.

Traditional chanting [edit]

In Buddhism, chanting is the traditional means of preparing the mind for meditation; especially as part of formal practice (in either a lay or monastic context). Some forms of Buddhism also use chanting for ritualistic purposes.

While the basis for most Theravada chants is the Pali Canon, Mahayana and Vajrayana chants draw from a wider range of sources.

Theravada chants [edit]

In the Theravada tradition, chanting is usually done in Pali, sometimes with vernacular translations interspersed.^[1] Among the most popular Theravada chants^[1] are:

• Buddhabhivadana (Preliminary Reverence for the Buddha)^[2]
• Tisarana (The Three Refuges)^[3]
• Pancasila (The Five Precepts)^[4]
• Buddha Vandana (Salutation to the Buddha)^[5]
• Dhamma Vandana (Salutation to his Teaching)^[6]
• Sangha Vandana (Salutation to his Community of Noble Disciples)^[7]
• Upajjhatthana (The Five Remembrances)^[8]
• Metta Sutta (Discourse on Loving Kindness)^[9]
• Reflection on the Body (recitation of the 32 parts of the body).

Mahayana chants [edit]

In the Mahayana tradition, different schools are known for different chants, often accompanied by melodious chanting, elaborate rituals and utilization of musical instruments, such as the wooden fish, rin gong and drums (none of which are used in the Theravadin tradition):

• Central to daily Nichiren practice is the chanting of the phrase Nam Myoho Renge Kyo (Homage to the Lotus Sutra). Nichiren practitioners will sometimes chant certain chapters from the Lotus Sutra, in particular the 2nd and 16th chapters.
• Pure Land Buddhists chant nianfo, Namu Amida Butsu or Namo Amituofo (Homage to Amitabha Buddha). In more formal services, practitioners will also chant excerpts from the Larger Sutra of Immeasurable Life or occasionally the entire Smaller Sutra of Immeasurable Life.
• Popular with Zen, Shingon or other Mahayana practitioners is chanting the Prajñāpāramitā Hridaya Sūtra (Heart Sutra). In more formal settings, larger discourses of the Buddha (such as the Diamond Sutra) may be chanted as well. Particularly in the Chinese, Vietnamese and the Japanese traditions, repentance ceremonies involving paying deep reverence to the buddhas and bodhisattvas, as well as executing rituals to rescue and feed hungry ghosts are also occasionally practiced.

Vajrayana chants [edit]

In the Vajrayana tradition, chanting is also used as an invocative ritual in order to set one's mind on a deity, Tantric ceremony, mandala, or particular concept one wishes to further in themselves.

For Vajrayana practitioners, the chant Om Mani Padme Hum is very popular around the world as both a praise of peace and the primary mantra of Avalokitesvara. Other popular chants include those of Tara, Bhaisajyaguru, and Amitabha.

Tibetan monks are noted for their skill at throat-singing, a specialized form of chanting in which, by amplifying the voice's upper partials, the chanter can produce multiple distinct pitches simultaneously. Japanese esoteric practitioners also practice a form of chanting called shomyo.

Critique of melodious chanting [edit]

Ghitassara Sutta [edit]

In the Ghitassara Sutta, the Buddha teaches:

Bhikkhus, 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.^[10]

Defense of chanting [edit]

John Daido Loori justified the use of chanting sutras by referring to Zen master Dōgen.^[11] Dōgen is known to have refuted the statement "Painted rice cakes will not satisfy hunger". This statement means that sutras, which are just symbols like painted rice cakes, cannot truly satisfy one's spiritual hunger. Dōgen, however, saw that there is no separation between metaphor and reality. "There is no difference between paintings, rice cakes, or any thing at all".^[12] The symbol and the symbolized were inherently the same, and thus only the sutras could truly satisfy one's spiritual needs.

To understand this non-dual relationship experientially, one is told to practice liturgy intimately.^[13] In distinguishing between ceremony and liturgy, Dōgen states, "In ceremony there are forms and there are sounds, there is understanding and there is believing. In liturgy there is only intimacy." The practitioner is instructed to listen to and speak liturgy not just with one sense, but with one's "whole body-and-mind". By listening with one's entire being, one eliminates the space between the self and the liturgy. Thus, Dōgen's instructions are to "listen with the eye and see with the ear". By focusing all of one's being on one specific practice, duality is transcended. Dōgen says, "Let go of the eye, and the whole body-and-mind are nothing but the eye; let go of the ear, and the whole universe is nothing but the ear." Chanting intimately thus allows one to experience a non-dual reality. The liturgy used is a tool to allow the practitioner to transcend the old conceptions of self and other. In this way, intimate liturgy practice allows one to realize emptiness (sunyata), which is at the heart of Zen Buddhist teachings.

Non-canonical uses of Buddhist chanting [edit]

There are also a number of New Age and experimental schools related to Buddhist thought which practise chanting, some with understanding of the words, others merely based on repetition. A large number of these schools tend to be syncretic and incorporate Hindu japa and other such traditions alongside the Buddhist influences.

While not strictly a variation of Buddhist chanting in itself, Japanese Shigin (詩吟) is a form of chanted poetry that reflects several principles of Zen Buddhism. It is sung in the seiza position, and participants are encouraged to sing from the gut - the Zen locus of power. Shigin and related practices are often sung at Buddhist ceremonies and quasi-religious gatherings in Japan.

See also [edit]

• Funeral (Buddhism)
• Householder (Buddhism)
• Paritta - phrases recited by Buddhists to ward off danger and evil
• Puja (Buddhism) - devotional acts
• mantras - sacred sounds, often chanted by Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains

Notes [edit]

1. ^ ^{a b} Khantipalo (1982, 1995).
2. ^ For an example of Pali text and an English translation of this chant, see Indaratana (2002), pp. 1-2. To listen to this being chanted in Pali by Venerable Indaratana Maha Thera, go to http://www.buddhanet.net/filelib/mp3/02-chant-02.mp3.
3. ^ Ibid., pp. 1-2. Audio file at http://www.buddhanet.net/filelib/mp3/03-chant-03.mp3
4. ^ Ibid., pp. 1-2. Audio file at http://www.buddhanet.net/filelib/mp3/04-chant-04.mp3
5. ^ Ibid., pp. 3-4. Audio file at http://www.buddhanet.net/filelib/mp3/05-chant-05.mp3
6. ^ Ibid., pp. 5-6. Audio file at http://www.buddhanet.net/filelib/mp3/06-chant-06.mp3
7. ^ Ibid., pp. 7-8. Audio file at http://www.buddhanet.net/filelib/mp3/07-chant-07.mp3
8. ^ For the text, see Thanisaro (1997).
9. ^ For a bilingual edition, see, for instance, Indaratana (2002), pp. 32-34. To listen to this being chanted, go to http://chantpali.org/metta.html.
10. ^ Gītassara Sutta (A.iii.250) from "Association for Insight Meditation" at http://www.aimwell.org/Books/Suttas/Ghitassara/ghitassara.html.
11. ^ Loori, John Daido (2007). "Symbol and Symbolized". Mountain Record: the Zen Practitioner's Journal XXV (2). 
12. ^ Yasuda, Joshu; Anzan, Hoshin. "Gabyo: Painted Rice Cakes by Eihei Dogen Zenji". White Wind Zen Community. Archived from the original on 2008-03-07. Retrieved 2008-03-26. 
13. ^ Loori, John Daido (1997). "Zen Mountain Monastery Dharma Talk". Mountain Record: the Zen Practitioner's Journal. 

References [edit]

• Indaratana Maha Thera, Elgiriye (2002). Vandana: The Album of Pali Devotional Chanting and Hymns. Penang, Malaysia:Mahindarama Dhamma Publication. Available on-line at: http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/vandana02.pdf.
• Khantipalo, Bhikkhu (1982). Lay Buddhist Practice: The Shrine Room, Uposatha Day, Rains Residence (The Wheel No. 206/207). Kandy, Sri Lanka:Buddhist Publication Society. Also transcribed (1995) and available on-line at: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/khantipalo/wheel206.html.
• Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997). AN 5.57, Upajjhatthana Sutta: Subjects for Contemplation. Available on-line at: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an05/an05.057.than.html.

External links [edit]

• "Buddhist Chanting" at BuddhaNet Audio.
• "A Chanting Guide", by The Dhammayut Order in the United States of America.
• "Chanting with English translations and Temple Rules", chant book of the Kwan Um School of Zen.
• "Perceive Universal Sound", article on Zen chanting by Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn, originally published in "The American Theosophist" (May 1985) and reprinted in "Primary Point," Vol. 5, No. 3 (November 1988).
• Buddhist Chanting Service Important Theravada chanting texts digitized for online contemplation and chanting
• Pali Chants A collection of audio files of Pali chants. Morning/Evening chants, reflections, discource, blessings, etc.