Ritual Instruments 2

7/29/2019 Ritual Instruments 2

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TENGA TULKURITUAL INSTRUMENTS (2/3)

The motivation of the Boddhichitta is very important at the beginning, so first one should thinkthat all beings should achieve the state of buddhahood.

In the Vajrayana, the Buddha taught that if one is doing it in an elaborate form one uses thesymbols, drum etc.; or if one is not doing it in an elaborate way then one uses meditation andones imagination. Both elaborate and simple ways were taught by the Buddha.

These teachings of the Buddha were brought to Tibet at the time of Guru Rinpoche whotranslated all these teachings and so this is what is practiced in Tibet.

So in Tibet one is given the name of four traditions, Kagyu, Nyingma, Gelugpa and Sakyapa.There is no real difference between any of the four, their path and ground is exactly the sameand they are all practicing the teachings given by the Buddha.

In some Dharma traditions there is no need for music, drums and cymbals etc. This is nottaught by the Buddha. These dharma teachings are not needed in Tibet. All the dharmateachings there are taught by the Buddha and are being practiced. So in some of the tantrasthe Buddha says that one needs to use the drums and cymbals etc. and so for that reason theyare used.

In some teachings there is no mention that music is needed, so for example in the Vinaya thereis one teaching which is called The Continuity which is recited by monks in Tibet during thesummer retreat which in India was held for 3 months, but in Tibet is held for 1 months. Themonks recite this teaching every day which means every day continuous prostrations andrecitations and no music is used in during this practice or retreat. This practice is done by all

the four traditions and they all dont use instruments.

The Buddha has also taught pujas where one needs to use instruments. In the Vajracharyasutra the Buddha said that one can make offerings with various kinds of flowers, various kindsof music, incense and with lights and perfumes. There are arranged the seven offerings on theshrine and this was taught by the Buddha in the tantras that this should be done.

In the tantra of Transformation when one is making offerings it is necessary to use bells andmake offerings of singing and music. Concerning the canopies, pennants and victory bannersused in the temples, made of silks and brocades, are not used just to show how wealthy themonasteries are. The Buddha taught that these things , in large spaces, should be put up all

around the temple. For very small offerings they are arranged on a smaller scale. Also, in theshort Chakrasamvara tantra describes how one uses the bell and how the practitioner shoulduse the drum.

In the Tantra of Transformation one needs to use many cymbals whose sounds shouldpermeate everywhere and thus permeate all the Buddha realms.

If one wonders why one uses the drum, bell, dorje, conch, long horns etc.; the reason is that inthe vajrayana this is a special skillful means or method used in order that one can gather theaccumulations of merit and purify ones bad karma and obscurations. When using thesemusical instruments, one imagines that all the pleasant music of the whole world is gathered

together in this music and this is offered to the Buddhas and yidam deities.

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In this Tantra of Transformation one should use the flute and damaru and if one plays the fluteand makes the offering of this to the Buddhas and bodhisattvas this means that one has powerover all the great deities of the universe such as Brahma and Ishvara etc.

It is also said that if one plays the chantiou which is a kind of damaru and one makes thisoffering to all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas then one will be able to purify and remove all theillnesses and sufferings of beings, so there is a very great purpose and meaning to using it.

Playing the flute can bring Brahma and Vishnu into ones power, and playing the damaru canremove the suffering of beings. It is not that the flute and damaru has this power but it isthrough making these offerings to the Buddhas and Boddhisattvas and through the merit thatone accumulates through doing this that creates the power with these results.

In Tibet one may wonder where the instruments came from. These were made in Tibet usingthe Indian musical instruments as an example. This was taught by the Buddha. If one mastersthese instruments one has mastered the music of India.

In India, the music came from the teachings of the Vedas and this was used traditionally in

making offerings to the deities and also dancing was used. So this is a non-Buddhist traditionand some masters and siddhas in the Vajrayana traditions also used musical instruments whenmaking offerings.

There are 18 types of music in India. There are 7 types of drum. There is a very big drum tiedto a pillar which is too big for one person to hold or carry. Another one is a big drum is tiedonto ones body. The small drum can be carried in ones hand. Then there is the pot drums,two drums shaped like pots put together. Another pot drum is just a single drum. There are thegongs made of brass. There is a drum which is long and cylindrical with the drum skin at eitherend. So in Tibet, the big drum used is the second Indian drum; the small drum one uses inones hand was based on the small Indian drum. The pot drum is used in some Tibetan music

but not normally in pujas.

There were 5 types of cymbals used in India. One particular type is called citril in Tibetanwhich looks like a mouth at one end with lots of little bells which jingle. There is another onewhich consists of two pieces of wood which go together and makes a zing zing sound. Thenthere other cymbals which are flatter, smaller and narrower used in Tibet. Then there is therolmo cymbals which are broader and wider and identical in shape and name to the Indianones. Then there is the type called pido which are very small. The five types of cymbals inIndia are chagi citrol, karway citrol, silnyen, rolmo and pidu. In Tibet are used the silnyen,romlo and form of pidu.

For the deities that are being offered to, sometimes they are peaceful deities and sometimesthey are wrathful deities. For the peaceful deities it is the silnyen cymbals that are used.Occassionally the rolmo is used for the peaceful deities, but on the whole it is the silnyen that isused. For the wrathful deities, Makala and Guru Drakpo the rolmo is used mostly. Forexample in the Amitabha puja it is just the silnyen that is used. Then for the guardian orprotector puja one uses the rolmo. In Makala for the invitation of peaceful activity to bemanifested it is the silnyen that is used. Then toward the end of the puja one is invoking thewrathful activity and one is doing the summoning practice and the rolmo. The Buddha didntsay that you should use the silnyen cymbals for the peaceful deities and the rolmo cymbals forthe wrathful deities, but in Tibet this is what the great masters arranged for the four greattraditions in Tibet. So for example for the Karma Kamsang the Karmapa has written down what

has been done, so that is what is followed.

There are six types of flute in India. The lute, the guitar and the flute are counted together asbeing pleasant musical instruments. So there is one lute or guitar which has just one string.

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Then there is another one which has three strings. Then there is the six string lute. Thesethree types of lute are said to be one continuity, three continuities and six continuitiesaccording to the number of strings. The flute or wind instruments are those that you blow into.Then there is the shell conch. The red one is the long horns.

In the long Dorje Sempa puja, at the beginning there is the chasing away of the geks or thedestructive spirits and the kangling Later on the last part is the liberating of the kleshas of the

mind poisons of beings which is slightly wrathful. These are the only times that the kangling isused in the puja.

In the Makala puja, wrathful appearance or manifestation, the kangling is used. If one is doinga long Makala puja, during the Vashravinga practices and the Naga practice and Saringmapractice which are peaceful deities and also Karnak one uses the jaling for them.

Dorje Pama has a peaceful appearance so jaling is used. Koldemchuk is all jaling except forthe end of the puja you do the four armed Makala practice which is wrathful so the kangling isused.

For playing the jaling, the music one uses varies from one tradition to the other. For example inthe Karma Kamsung tradition there is one piece of music called the Glorious Copper ColouredMountain. So this music called the Glorious Copper Coloured Mountain comes from the sixthKarmapa who had the experience of going to the mountain and meeting Guru Rinpoche andreceiving from him empowerments and instructions. At that time the dakinis and dakas wereplaying music as an offering to Guru Rinpoche which the Karmapa remembered and passedonto us.

Another in the Karma Kamsung tradition is another piece of jaling music. In lower Tibet there isthe Dzogchen monastery founded be Dzogchen Pema Rinzen who had the experience ofhearing this music which is practiced at the monastery and then was taught to the Karma

Kamsung tradition and is called Dzogchen music.

So there are many different kinds of jaling music like that which all come from a visionaryexperience by the lamas. So they are not composed by somebody that is very good with windinstruments and who wants it to sound better.

There is one new piece of music called The Victory Banner of the Dharma. While TenguRinpoche was living at Rumtek, one morning the Karmapa woke up and called for two jalingplayers to come very quickly. He taught them how to play the music and the Buddha Dharmawould increase so he gave it the title The Victory Banner of the Dharma.

So in all the four traditions there are many different kinds of jaling music, all coming from thevisionary experiences of the gurus. There is also the human thigh bone kamling and thiscomes from the tradition of Machik Labdron, practicing the cho in order to cut through the egoclinging as practiced in the cemeteries. This tradition comes down from Machik Labdron.

There are a few terms from Guru Rinpoche in which he teaches that one should use a damarumade from human skulls and human thigh bones.

The long horns are used for both the peaceful and wrathful deities.

The little cymbals, the pidu, and in Tibet the tingcha, are used to help beings in the bardo and

one does the sword practice and makes offerings of burnt food, and also in the mornings whenone is making a gift to the spirits, and offerings to Sambala one also uses cymbals and burntofferings.

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In the teachings of the Buddha, if there is one person on his own, he can play the bell andrecite the texts. One can use ones imagination. If there is two people, then one can play thedrum and one can play the cymbals. If there is a lot of people, one can play the cymbals, onethe drum, two can play the jalings, two the conch, two the long horns etc.

It is said that when one makes the imaginary offerings, there are the outer offerings of flowers,light, incense and so on. Then there is the inner offerings of pleasant visual form, pleasant

sounds, smells, texture, taste and touch. Then there is the secret offering which is the offeringof bliss and emptiness. There is the thatness offering which is ones practice of theMahamudra. The inner offering has greater benefit than the outer one, and the secret offeringhas greater benefit than the inner one, and the thatness offering has greater benefit than thesecret one. It is not that the Buddhas or Boddhisattvas are very happy when someone isplaying the jalings and drums etc and they give more blessings, and if music is not beingplayed then they are less happy and give less blessing. It doesnt work like that. This is taughtby the Buddha as a very special means by which one can gather the accumulations and purifyones bad karma and obscurations.

When one is offering the music, one doesnt just play the music, one imagines that a countless

number of the shaptoma, music offering goddesses, are emanated, yellow in colour andholding the lutes and flutes etc. and this is offered to all the Buddha realms. One makes thewishing prayer that through playing the music that oneself and all beings will be able to againcomplete the prajna paramita and that in the future one will be able to turn the wheel of thethree levels of dharma to other beings. So that is the description of and the reason for themusical instruments.

Does anyone have any questions?

You mentioned the damaru and the drums. Is this a different thing?

It is not classed amongst the class of musical instruments, but in the Brahman Sutra they usethe chantiou instrument. The chantiou is an Indian version of the damaru and it has a longershape than the damaru and the skin is held on with strings whereas in Tibet it is stretchedwithout cords. The small damaru in Tibet, the small round one, is based on the chantiou butmade smaller. The cloth going around the damaru has the symbols for the five dakinis in thecentre. Therefore one needs to use five colours of cloth, red, white, blue, green and yellow.On this should be sets of three shells around this which symbolises severing all the thoughts ofperception and perceiver. The beaters should have two heads each (four of them). Thesesymbolised the four immeasureables for unlimitless contemplations. Nowadays there is justone beater on each side.

For the human thigh bone, the top one, the right lump is the place of the gods; the left lump isthe place of the spirits and should be lower down. The space in between is the path for thedifferent spirits and deities and should be as wide as possible. Then when you come downfrom the lumps, the slight hollow should be very smooth because this is the place where all thedakinis dance. The ridge of the thigh bone is the life, or pillar of life, of the yogi practitioner soshould be straight. There are two holes on the length of the thigh bone which represents thecaves of Padampa Sonje so they have to be very good ones.

One has to have the damaru made from the two skulls joined together. The best kind is wherethe skull of the male was born in the year of the tiger and he should have died at sixteen. Thefemale skull should be of a female born in the year of the dragon who died at sixteen. You join

them together back to back. When this is played this will have the effect that all the dakas anddakinis will naturally come to where you are. This comes from Guru Rinpoches Termateachings.

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The Indian music tradition has a very complicated scale system, and if all our chanting is basedon the Western scale as used here in pujas, are these a fair representation of the Indian orTibetan melodies?

I dont know how the chanting in India was, but it was probably very much the same.

Is the way we chant here very different from the Indian or Tibetan chants?

It is exactly the same.

Can you explain how when you play a particular musical instrument it can effect different partsof your body? Can you explain what these are and what the reasons are for playing theinstrument in specific ways and has it something to do with chakras?

For the dancing, then this is something that has this effect on the body. It removes the energychannels of the kleshas and opens up the ones of wisdom. For playing the music, it doesntreally have this effect on the body, it is for making offerings to the Buddhas and Boddhisattvasand this gathers accumulation of merit for ones mind. There is no particular effect on the body

when playing these instruments.

Can you explain the ceremonious use of the Tibetan singing bowls?

They are not used in pujas. For the bells, you go around the rim, but this is more to examinehow good the bells are. It is not actually used in pujas.

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