[Buddha-l] liturgical languages]

[curt]

jkirk wrote:

>>I recall reading some time ago that the Buddha did not want his monks to
>>chant rhythmically and melodically lest people get them confused with
>>brahmans. Probably he would give other reasons nowadays. Now he would
>>probably say he doesn't want his disciples chanting mantras lest people
>>get them confused with new age space cadets.
>>
>>--
>>Richard Hayes
>>    
>>
>==========================
>Well, I'm glad that the monks I heard chanting in Kalaw, Burma, up on pagoda
>hill, who sounded like the music of gandharvas from the heavens, were
>insufficiently worried about getting attached to the sound of their own
>voices that the effects could be appreciated from afar----by me (among any
>others who may have been near), as I sat spellbound on the stairs going up
>the hill, while the abbot resplendent in a red robe and carrying a long
>staff strode out to the edge of the hill to survey the world below.
>  
>
Amen to that! I would just add that chanting by non-specialists can also 
be just
as moving. In a way more so - because when you hear that music from the 
heavens
and you realize that you are participating in it directly, its pretty 
cool. Of course,
chanting by ordinary Western lay people is not always beautiful - but if you
have the right group of people can be marvelous. You need to have at 
least six or eight
people (preferably twice that), at least a fourth of them need to know 
the chants
pretty well, and some of those people need to have good voices. And a 
significant
percentage of the chanters need to be willing to chant loudly and 
clearly. It also
helps to have some children in the group - because they are less apt to 
be self-conscious
about chanting.

- Curt