Om. Or, if you prefer, Aum. 

If nothing else can summarize the past 6 months of my academic study, it’s this one word. For some reason, I have always been attracted to the idea of music in religion and the important role it plays. Though I have looked for its power in many cultures and traditions, there is perhaps no tradition that I can say as much about as Mahayana Buddhism—particularly of the Chinese (and that’s only barely filtering the results) vein, but of its other manifestations in Japan, India, et. al. as well. 

I bring your attention to one of the greatest and most surprising (in my case exciting) quotes from the Lankavatara Sutra 

“Wherever the Tathagatas enter with their sustaining power there will be music, not only music made by human lips and played by human hands on various instruments, but there will also be music among the grass and shrubs and trees, and in mountains and towns and palaces and hovels; much more will there be music in the hearts of those endowed with sentiency.”

(In case you weren’t aware, the term “Tathagata” is essentially a synonym for a buddha/awakened-being/enlightened-being that literally translates to [roughly] “thus come one”) 

Why is this such a profoundly intriguing passage? And why does it relate to Aum/Om? Essentially it’s because of the relative lack of contextuality this passage has—i.e. this passage is not taken out of context. The Lankavatara Sutra is (if any of you have read it) one of the more conceptually complex Ch’an/Zen Buddhist texts there is, and part of the reason it is so complex is for its persistent attempt to use non-duality to explain the gate of non-duality. Most other Ch’an texts I’ve encountered (specifically I’m thinking of the Bodhidharma Anthologies, the Vimalakirti Sutra, and the Diamond Sutra) end up using duality to explain the gate of non-duality and thenceforth attempt at divulging an understanding of Sunyata/Emptiness/Non-duality. Lankavatara, to make this comparison more clear, uses the famous example of the “flower in the sky” to explain the Ch’an ideology of the Tathagatagarbha/the idea that we’re all already in Nirvana/Enlightened and we need but realize that in order to become so. The ‘flower in the sky’ is best understood as the observer having something along the lines of a cataract, which projects a filtered image into the mind—the sky that is being filtered through the cataract is perfect and blue (the ever-presence of Nirvana) yet is made to seem not so by the filtration of the observer. Removing those cataracts will enable the viewer to realize that s/he was solely projecting imperfection onto perfection, and that perfection was there all along. 

I seem to have gotten somewhat off track. The passage about music. Om.

Now there’s some grand-scheme context behind the passage I provided. Do you see now why it is so strange? It is putting forth more of a Daoist-Huayan-y concept of equalizing the ‘Truth’ to a graspable concept in music. 

It’s true, there is a lot of Ch’an/Zen in the statement (what with expedient means containing the marks of emancipation (a la Vimalakirti)) however the fact remains that the passage concludes with music in the hearts of those in the presence of the Buddha; as well as music in the trees and the grass (very Daoist-y). It does not end with “And through this one can come to understand that all is emptiness.” It ends with “In the presence of the Buddha, the sound of the universe permeates and interconnects all (for lack of a better word) things.” 

I used the term ‘sound of the universe’ for a reason. With that, I bring us back to the image of ‘Om’/’Aum.’ It is the sound most present in the Sanskrit language (which could account for its importance), and the first part of the three-part sound ‘Ah’ is perhaps one of the most common sounds in languages worldwide. I don’t really know enough about the statistics or facts of the specific sound of ‘Aum,’ but what I care about is the idea—the concept of an all-pervasive energy/sound/vibration that permeates what is, what is not, and what is neither.

This concept seems to be also what the Lankavatara Sutra is getting at. This sound of the Way is perhaps the ultimate tool in achieving peace, serenity, and acceptance of the ways in which the world and cosmos continue to act. It is a sound that can cross the barrier of non-duality and enter both the material and the immaterial. It is a concept that I believe is somewhat unique to music. If you look for music in your life (spiritual or otherwise) as well as music in the lives of those around you, I think you will see something similar. There is an unseen power at work through this medium, and it can morph barriers, create understanding, and aide us all in arriving to the state in which we all must reside. 

Take a moment out of your day to find some place of particular beauty. Find that place and stay there for a moment. 

Listen.

What do you hear? 

But more important than what you hear with your physical ear; what do you hear with your celestial ear, your divine ear, your Dharma ear. In the language of almost every Chinese philosopher: There is more to be heard than one can hear, and one can not hear all that is to be heard. There requires a certain different sort of listening in order to get at the hidden realm of sound, of music. 

(Source: finding-shanti, via wordslessspoken)