About

Why sing?

I have asked myself this question: ‘Why sing?’ I answered…

To be free from suffering. Can I have this goal as I sing? Why not? We don’t have to call ourselves ‘Buddhist’ to share this wish.

To be honest with myself, and others. To tell the truth. 

Why tell the truth? To be free from suffering. When I tell the truth of what I feel and know. I feel connected with others. Not alone. I find a sense of belonging.

To share. Perhaps the reason I sing comes from the same place as why people love. Have families. To share this life. Maybe I sing as I wish to give what I have.

Out of well-wishing, out of compassion. In my mind and heart, the only singing I wish to do is singing as a blessing. Ajahn Kevali so beautifully describes, “There came a blessing in the air”. When we sing with ‘chanda’ (wholesome desire/intention/purpose) singing is supermundane.

Singing as recollection

To remember the teachings that guide us on our path. So they come to us when we are in need. Direct us in the right direction. Restoring our faith.

To uplift our minds and hearts. Inspiring ourselves and others. Bringing feelings of joy, bliss, and elevation. 

Call me biased but I believe many of us sing the four noble truths. We sing of our suffering. If we’re lucky (wise) we sing of the cause of our suffering. We sing of the endings of our suffering. And we sing of the way we found peace. In this way, I don’t think we are much different to other species on this planet. We signal where danger is, where we’ve found safety and our escape routes. As we do this, we develop wisdom.

We sing to go beyond ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘mine’ and into a sense of timelessness. Even if the lyrics we sing feel personal, we can begin to understand their broad and universal nature.

Singing as awareness 

We sing to wholesomely engage our minds. And when we engage our attention on something wholesome, very simply we prevent the unwholesome arising.

It requires some effort, Ajahn Kevali aptly reminds “When things get too easy and too monotonous, too repetitive, our thinking mind, our proliferating mind likes to go off, go astray and wander away from what we were actually doing. A little application of thought, a little bit of wisdom applied at the right time enables us to come back to what we are actually doing, seeing the preciousness of it and making it meaningful.”

Singing as stilling the mind 

When I consider the teachings of the Anapanassatisutta: “Mindfulness of Breathing”. I am able to bring to an extent these teachings to the practice of singing. We can be mindful of the body, feelings, mind, and principles of impermanence, suffering and non-self. I am interested in exploring this further. Establishing mindfulness as a foundation.

Developing the ability to be fully absorbed or immersed in what we are doing. I sense is what people recognise as performance presence. In this state there is no room for doubt. People are able to be in the flow at the same time as being present with the details that ask for clarity and precision. Mindfulness can be cultivated. By developing these practices awareness can be maintained for longer durations.

Reference:

https://www.watpahnanachat.org/chanting-as-a-practice