Buddhist Chanting

Om Mani Padme Hum is a six syllable mantra in Tibetian Buddhism associated with the bodhisattva – Avalokitesvara. This mantra as known by the Buddhist generates positive energies within the body through mystical vibrations and frequencies when chanted repeatedly. The mantra has shown enhanced cognitive effects in organisms without auditory apparatus where the interaction is assumed to be taking place at a cellular and biochemical level (Pereira 2015a, b; Pereira 2016a,b). Based on the results of these studies, this paper evaluates the frequencies associated with each syllable of the mantra comparing it to therapeutic/healing effects that have been known or studied for some frequencies by holistic healers, meditators and non-invasive medical practitioners.The study confirms that the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum is made up of frequencies that are known to generate powerful vibrations when chanted. These vibrations during chanting are presumedto be creating a resonance effect,as a result offormation of constructive interference patterns between the frequencies of each syllable which maybe the reason this chant exhibits a therapeutic/ healing effect on the body and its functions.

บทคัดย่อ
การวิจัยครั้งน้ีเป็นการวิจัยทํานองเทศน์มหาชาติ กัณฑ์มัททีในประเพณีตั้งธัมม์หลวงของจังหวัดเชียงใหม่ โดยกระบวนการวิจัยครั้งนี้อาศัยหลักการทางมานุษยดนตรีวิทยา (Ethnomusicology) ซึ่งมีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษาสํานวนบทเทศน์ ข้อ มลูบริบทลักษณะวิธีการเทศนม์หาชาติกัณฑ์มัททีและลักษณะเฉพาะทางดนตรีในทํานองเทศน์มหาชาติ กัณฑ์มัทที ในประเพณีตั้งธัมม์หลวง จังหวัดเชียงใหม่
ผลการวิจัยพบว่า การเทศน์มหาชาติ หรือเวสสันดรชาดกมีที่มาจากพระคาถาพันเป็นภาษาบาลีอยู่ในนิบาตชาดก อันเป็นส่วนหนึ่งของพระไตรปฏิก มหาชาติหรือเวสสันดรชาดกประกอบด้วยเรื่องราวทั้งหมด 13 กัณฑ์
ผลการวิเคราะห์พบว่าทํานองเทศน์มหาชาติกัณฑ์มัททีในประเพณี ตั้งธัมม์หลวง ใช้สำนวนเทศน์ฉบับไผ่แจ้เรียวแดง ระบําเทศน์แบบพร้าวไกวใบ องค์ประกอบการเทศนม์หาชาติกัณฑ์มัททีแบ่งได้ 6 ส่วน ประกอบด้วย อาราธนาธรรม อื่อกั่นโลง กาบเก๊า ตั้งนโมฯ เนื้อธัมม์กัณฑ์มัทที และกาบปลาย การเทศน์ ของชาวล้านนาแบ่งออกเป็น 2 ประเภทได้แก่การเทศน์ทํานองแบบธรรมวัตร และการเทศน์ ทํานองแบบมหาชาติ พบเทคนิคการเทศน์ ดังนี้ ตั้ง เทียว เหลียว วาง ยั้ง ขึ้น หว้าย ก่า ย และยั้ง เทคนิค ต่างๆ นั้นจะอยู่ภายใต้กรอบของทํานองเทศน์ 4 รูปแบบ ซึ่งได้มี การกําหนด สัญลักษณ์ เพื่อช่วยในการเทศน์ ดังน้ี เหินสูง ( / ) เหินต่ำ (,) ละม้าย (๙) และลงเสียง (o) สัญลักษณเ์หล่าน้ีจะเขียนสําหรับเนื้อธัมม์ เพื่อเป็นแนวทางในการเทศน์ เพื่อช่วยในการออกเสียง ควบคู่ไปกับบทเทศน์
**บทความนี้เป็นส่วนหนึ่งของวิทยานิพนธปริญญาศิลปศาสตรมหาบัณฑิต สาขาดนตรี บัณฑิตวิทยาลัย มหาวิทยาลัยมหิดล พ.ศ. 2545
**อาจารย์ประจําภาควิชาศิลปะไทย คณะวิจิตรศิลป์ มหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่

THE MELODIC PREACHING OF MATTHEE EPISODE FROM THE GREAT JATAKA AT THE ANNUAL GREAT PREACHING CEREMONY (TANG DHARMA LUANG) IN CHIANGMAI

*** Thitipol Kanteewong
Department of Thai Art, Faculty of Fine Arts, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand.
Abstract
The objective of this paper is to examine the melodic preaching of the Great Jataka, from the Matthee episode, which is performed during the preaching ceremony (Tang Dharma Luang) in Chiang-Mai province. The principle of Ethnomusicology is being used as a fundamental in this research in order to study the melodic preaching, social contexts, and preaching demonstrations especially in music attribute to the Great Jataka (Matthee episode).
Results of the research show that the Great Jataka originated from Phra- Kha-Tha-Phan, a Pali Nibrtara Jataka, which is a part of Tripitaka. The Great Jataka preaching is comprised of 13 episodes.
The preaching shows that the script of the chant has been composed in a version of Phi Jae Riaew Daeng, while its melody is a version of Prao Kwai Bai. The Matthee episode of the Great Jataka preaching has six main components: A- rathana Dharma (Dharma Invitation), Ue Kan Long (Sound Testing), Karb Kao (Self Introduction), Tang Namo (beginning of Pali text), Matthee Dharma(Preaching Matthee Episode), and Karb Plai (Preaching Termination; finish, wish, farewell). The melody has been categorized into two types of chanting: Dharma Wat and Ma Ha Chart styles. In addition, both styles contain certain techniques of preaching; namely, Tang, Teao, Leao, Wang, Yang, Wai, Kai, and Yang. These techniques appear to have four main symbols to help control tone and rhythm of the chant: Huen Soong (/), Huen Taam (,), La Mai (๙) and Long Siang (o). These symbols, as mentioned, are considered guiding chanters to pronounce in their chants accurately.

Paritta-ritual chanting-is a central institution in Theravāda Buddhism, with deep roots in all historical forms of Buddhism in Asia. Nevertheless, no study provides a convincing framework for how the protective potency of the Buddha and his words is understood. Earlier strands of scholarship highlighted the psychological aspects of ritual chanting that were thought to have a positive effect on participants. Later scholars emphasized the role of paritta in the training of monks. These studies do not explain "how paritta works," that is, for example, why, according to the views encapsulated in the texts themselves, bringing the Buddha to mind can act against demons or change reality. This article offers a close reading of the central texts of the genre in order to conceptualize the metaphysical understanding they employ. It thus provides insights regarding the unique ontological position and cosmological function of the Buddha according to the texts.

The way you use your voice affects the health of your thyroid.  This is because the thyroid gland is stimulated by vocal vibrations, being located adjacent to the voice box.  Shouting can over-stimulate the thyroid, just as being too quiet can under-stimulate it.  This link between the voice and thyroid stimulation can explain some cases of hypo- and hyper-thyroidism, and offers a non-medical option for the treatment of these conditions.

Anthony B. Pinn called upon theologians to do theology in “non-traditional ways,”
by considering overlooked dimensions of African American life and black theology.
One way to do this is to consider a non-Abrahamic religious tradition that African
Americans practice, such as Nichiren Buddhism. As I am both African American
and a Buddhist, failure to consider such overlooked dimensions of African American
life and black theology cause people like myself to be excluded. In this article, I
examine the writings and liturgical recommendations of Nichiren Daishonin (1222–
1282) in order to construct his theological anthropology. Nichiren was a Buddhist
monk who publicly broke with the Japanese Tendai tradition in which he had been
ordained, by declaring that the best way to express devotion to the teachings contained
in the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra or The Sūtra on the Lotus Blossom of the Wonderful
Law (Lotus Sūtra) was to chant its title in the form of a mantra: Nam-Myōhō-
Renge-Kyō. I bring Nichiren’s writings into dialogue with Karl Rahner’s theology
of the symbol, as presented by US Hispanic Catholic theologian Miguel Diaz; with
feminist theologian Jennifer Beste’s work on trauma theory as a challenge to Rahner’s
theology of grace; and with womanist theologian M. Shawn Copeland’s notion of
“liturgy of the Spirit.” This dialogue shows that for Nichiren, the human being is
“Buddha-in-the-world,” and has an innate potential to express the life-state of Buddhahood;
one primary symbol, the Gohonzon, manifests this potential; and suffering
is the result of an innate capacity for “hellish experiences” due to a kind of ignorance
known as fundamental darkness. Further, Beste’s work on trauma theory and Copeland’s
notion of “liturgy of the Spirit” show that Nichiren’s theological anthropology is
concretized in the liturgical practice known as gongyō that he recommended his followers
engage in, and demonstrates that Nichiren gives sufficient attention to experiences
of brokenness
and healing, thereby avoiding the charge of having too positive
a theology.

The article aims to identify and characterize musical symbolization of chanting notation by examining correspondence between the symbolic systems representing on the manuscript and intonational chanting of Maha Chat Khamluang (Jataka epic) which is part of the research on "A Study of Mahachat (Mahajataka) Khamluang Chanting: Its Melodic Concepts, Musical Articulation, and Notation on Ancient Manuscript." The study was based on an antique

Although we also have other services, I  decided this will be the main liturgy at Amidaji temple. Unlike other services that you can see in various temples, this one is easier to follow, especially because all parts (including the Three Invitations) are recited, not chanted.
What makes this service unique is also that it contains various types of recitations of the Name of Amida Buddha taken from the Larger Sutra (like the recitation of the Twelve Lights of Amida), as well as the Ten Character Name and Nine Character Name which were also recited by Shinran Shonin himself from time to time.

Translations of each phrase to be recited are added so that you can always know what you recite.

The reason we use this Sino-Japanese transliteration is that people of various countries and languages have a common liturgy when we meet and worship together in the same temple. Thus, be sure we'll do this service when you visit me at Amidaji! Any temple or dojo related with Amidaji that will be open in the future will also have this liturgy.

Of course, this type of service is NOT an obligation for people to do at home, as the follower can simply say Nembutsu in the form of Namo Amida Bu, Namo Amitabha, Namo  Amituofo, Namo Adida Phat, etc, without anything else.

目錄

《華嚴字母新探：明清宗教、語言與政治》序言   黃耀堃

序論　　唱韻考──以《悉曇經傳》為中心
一、韻主和尚
二、《悉曇經傳》唱韻所用韻圖考
三、《悉曇經傳》所載唱韻過程復原
四、其他韻師的唱韻

第一章　　四十二字門與華嚴字母
一、五十字門與四十二字門
二、四十二字門的來源和應用
三、華嚴字母與華嚴字母韻表
四、華嚴字母韻表的作者問題
五、華嚴字母韻表的唱法

第二章　　從宗教史看華嚴字母韻表諸本
一、《大理叢書》本與明教
二、單刻本八十華嚴與《禪門日誦》系列諸本
三、聲韻學著作中的華嚴字母韻表

第三章　　華嚴字母韻表的語音特徵
一、韻表結構與韻攝排序
二、華嚴字母韻表代表字的宋元韻書來源

第四章　　華嚴字母韻表與明清聲韻學
一、華嚴字母韻表與明清十二、十三攝
二、華嚴字母與《康熙字典‧字母切韻要法》
三、華嚴字母所載符號與明清小學

第五章　　華嚴字母在明清小學中的應用
一、對華嚴字母與古音關係的誤解
二、對二合、三合性質的誤解
三、華嚴字母與字母增刪
四、普世的音系：劉獻廷《新韻譜》對華嚴字母的揚棄

第六章　　聲音在清代的政治化：以華嚴字母為中心
一、乾隆與華嚴字母
二、括宇宙之大文：清廷對聲韻起源的官方說法
三、清代有關字母、反切起源的討論

餘論

外一章 《重編改正四聲全形等子》初探——兼論《四聲等子》與《指玄論》的關係
一、《四庫》本以前的空白
二、《重編改正四聲全形等子》簡介
三、《四聲等子》、見母列位與切身
四、《指玄論》新論：重編本序探析
附    今本序與重編本序比較

附錄一  明清聲韻學及華嚴字母年表

附錄二  明清僧人刊刻及編撰聲韻學著作一覽

附錄三  四十二字門及華嚴字母對照表

附錄四  華嚴字母韻表彙校

附錄五 《大理叢書》本〈華嚴字母起止道場大略〉

附錄六  華嚴字母韻表小韻字比較

參考書目

後記

IntroductionDuring hard times, religious chanting/praying is widely practiced to cope with negative or stressful emotions. While the underlying neural mechanism has not been investigated to a sufficient extent. A previous event-related potential study showed that religious chanting could significantly diminish the late-positive potential induced by negative stimuli. However, the regulatory role of subcortical brain regions, especially the amygdala, in this process remains unclear. This multi-modal MRI study aimed to further clarify the neural mechanism underlying the effectiveness of religious chanting for emotion regulation.MethodologyTwenty-one participants were recruited for a multi-modal MRI study. Their age range was 40–52 years, 11 were female and all participants had at least 1 year of experience in religious chanting. The participants were asked to view neutral/fearful pictures while practicing religious chanting (i.e., chanting the name of Buddha Amitābha), non-religious ch...

Conclusion: This preliminary study showed that repetitive religious chanting may induce strong brain activity, especially in response to stimuli with negative valence. Practicing religious chanting may structurally lateralize a network of brain areas involved in biased memory formation. These functional and structural results suggest that religious chanting helps to form a positive schema to counterbalance negative emotions. Future randomized control studies are necessary to confirm the neural mechanism related to religious chanting in coping with stress and negative emotions.

In humans, music therapy is a proven relaxation technique that helps manage stress and acts as a form of secondary treatment for several neural based disorders. The basis of this study was to understand whether the " Om Mani Padme Hum " meditative chant, can enhance brain related activities mainly cognitive behaviour in snails post exposure to an induced stress, thus hypothesizing the interaction and recovery to be mediated at a cellular level. Cognition is an important attribute of every living organism which although varies considerably from species to species, helps facilitate their day to day activities. Hypothermia stress and recovery in snail Achatina fulica has shown no long-term effects of hypothermia and therefore has been proposed as a model of studying consciousness in a previous study (Pereira 2016). The intention of this study was to validate whether the vibrations generated by the " Om Mani Padme Hum " chant can enhance and improve cognitive abilities and behavioural responses in snails which have been imperilled to hypothermic stress. In this study, a significant effect of hypothermia induced stress was observed as reduced cognitive capabilities of snail Achatina fulica despite the quick recovery from the hypothermic induced stressed state. Significant improvement was observed in cognitive abilities of the snails subjected to hypothermic stress, when exposed to the Om Mani Padme Hum chant confirming a therapeutic effect that can be directly correlated to the frequencies associated this chant. The results of these studies confirm that the " Om Mani Padme Hum " meditative chant generates vibrations that can augments cognitive capacity of the brain and simultaneously demonstrate significant therapeutic effects. The significant effect of hypothermia induced stress on cognitive abilities and its recovery from this state is a first time report for this snail species.

Om Mani Padme Hum is a six syllable mantra in Tibetian Buddhism associated with the bodhisattva – Avalokitesvara. This mantra as known by the Buddhist generates positive energies within the body through mystical vibrations and frequencies when chanted repeatedly. The mantra has shown enhanced cognitive effects in organisms without auditory apparatus where the interaction is assumed to be taking place at a cellular and biochemical level (Pereira 2015a, b; Pereira 2016a,b). Based on the results of these studies, this paper evaluates the frequencies associated with each syllable of the mantra comparing it to therapeutic/healing effects that have been known or studied for some frequencies by holistic healers, meditators and non-invasive medical practitioners. The study confirms that the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum is made up of frequencies that are known to generate powerful vibrations when chanted. These vibrations during chanting are presumed to be creating a resonance effect,as a result...

In humans, music therapy is a proven relaxation technique that helps manage stress and acts as a form of secondary treatment for several neural based disorders. The basis of this study was to understand whether the “Om Mani Padme Hum” meditative chant, can enhance brain related activities mainly cognitive behaviour in snails post exposure to an induced stress, thus hypothesizing the interaction and recovery to be mediated at a cellular level. Cognition is an important attribute of every living organism which although varies considerably from species to species, helps facilitate their day to day activities. Hypothermia stress and recovery in snail Achatina fulica has shown no long-term effects of hypothermia and therefore has been proposed as a model of studying consciousness in a previous study (Pereira 2016). The intention of this study was to validate whether the vibrations generated by the “Om Mani Padme Hum” chant can enhance and improve cognitive abilities and behavioural respo...