Myths and MusicTibetan Monks

Vesa Matteo PiluduHelsinki

Department of Comparative Religion

University of Helsinki

Tibetan Monks Chanting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvTHoTmjKZc&feature=related

Part of the ceremony the monks do before beginning to work on a Sand Mandala. The particular mandala they are working on is for Avalokiteshvara, one of the deities of compassion.  

Part of the ceremony the monks do before beginning to work on a Sand Mandala.The particular mandala they are working on is for Avalokiteshvara, one of the deities of compassion.

CD: sacred chants of the Tibetan Buddhism Trance 1, track 2

Tibetan Monks

The entranced are the musitians

Performing vocal and instrumental music in a mystical trance state

the entranced are the musicians and the singers

Instruments: Bass trumpets, drums, handbells, four drums

Overtone singing

each singer produces three at once: One Voice Chord

type of singing, that manipulates the harmonics

chanting style that would embody both the masculine and the feminine aspects of the divine energy

Sound Vehicles

The Tibetan monks believe, that in the creation of the 'One Voice Chord', the monks do not 'make' the sound.

Rather, they become a vehicle through which the sacred sound may manifest

Mantra (invocation)

Sanskrit word: 'the thought that liberates and protects'

The sounds and words are changing the consciousness of the reciter.

to unite the reciter with a particular deity or energy form.

To empower the reciter

to resonate and activate the chakras (focal point of energies) of the reciter.

Mantra

Each sacred scripture is an invocation to a specific deity or a collection of deities.

The chanters visualize these deities while creating a Mandala, a circular cosmological painting which they inwardly visualize in archetypal symbols

This combination of vocalization and visualization allows the monks to become the embodiment of the energies they are invoking

Mandala

Mudras – sacred gestures

practice of mudras

movements and positions of the hands which have profound symbolic meaning

Tantra

Mahayana: Union of wisdom and compassion for the suffering of all

Tantra: uses the energies and also the passions for spiritual growth

Chanting is combined with visualizing deities in the adept’s body

CHAKRAS

The rites are designed to mobilize the practitioner’s psychic and physical energies

Chakras seem to be the focal point of manifestation for energy which makes up the subtle body

7 as the notes

Chakras

Chakras7 as the notes

The adept may have the possibility to experience the opening of the enlightenment in his lifetime

Goal