[Buddha-l] On Dylan and Poetry

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Thu, 2005-09-29 at 10:11 -0700, Franz Metcalf wrote:

> Richard himself suggests this answer when he demands an explanation of 
> "why any Buddhist would listen to music for the purpose of being moved 
> by it." The answer lies precisely in this experience of being moved: in 
> being so moved, one is partially broken out of one's illusory sense of 
> separateness and experiences greater intimacy with one's world. Far 
> from doing "damage to the quality of one's soul," as Richard (I 
> suspect, playfully) puts it, I assert such experience of reading or 
> hearing poetry can bring one just a bit closer to kilesa-nirodha. 

I'm afraid I must disagree with this rather strenuously. As a reformed
musician, I am well aware of the potential of music to provide a brief
respite from the kilesas. It is very easy to "lose oneself" in music,
and that sounds like a good thing, from a Buddhist point of view. But
the loss tends to be quite temporary and thus is rather more like a
distraction from the task of attaining kilesa-nirodha than a means of
doing it. Music, I think, has many addictive properties. It provides a
temporary respite, as a result of which one keeps going back to it again
and again, but with diminished effect.
It is perhaps no accident that so many of the world's great musicians
(including Mr Dylan) have been alcoholics and/or drug addicts and have
led dissolute lives. Their lives are often testimonials to the dukkha
that goes with taking false refuge. So I remain unconvinced that music
has any dharmic value.

Less someone be tempted to imagine that my next move is going to be to
hijack an airplane and fly it into the recording studios of Columbia
records, I should perhaps add that I have never believed in imposing
discipline onto others involuntarily. While I find myself less and less
inclined to listen to music (and have not played an instrument or sung
for decades), I am not at all advocating a Taliban-like ban on all
things that do not edify. We can leave it to our Republican friends to
do that sort of thing. Still, I think it is worthy of serious reflection
to ask oneself just how much poetry and music (or, for that matter,
burning incense and chanting) do to bring one closer to nirvana.

> N.B.: Maybe the Buddha just knew Dylan's Christian stuff. If he had 
> listened to better songs he might not have said something so idiotic as 
> that one ought to always close the sound-gates when it comes to music 
> and poetry. Same with other forms of art. What a doofus! But let's 
> blame it on his social conditioning, eh?

I'd rather blame it on his penetrating insight. Although this would not
come as particularly good news to a lot of American Buddhists, I have a
feeling the lifestyle of an Amish or Mennonite or Hutterite anabaptist
comes a lot closer to the lifestyle recommended by the Buddha than does
the lifestyle followed by contemporary Buddhists (especially those of us
who do such obviously anti-nirvanic things as using computers and
subscribing to "Buddhist" e-mail discussion groups).

-- 
Richard Hayes
***
"The spiritual path is never one of achievement; it is always one of
letting go. The more we let go, the more there is empty and open space
for us to see reality." 
                                              --Sister Ayya Khema