Art & Entertainment

The Hum Of Holy Breath

From Dharamshala to a Grammy: boy monks take the everyday rhythms of Tibetan monastic life beyond their pine groves

Advertisement

The Hum Of Holy Breath
info_icon
Tibetan Chants
Invocation and Offering to Mahakala
Mahamudra Lineage Prayer and Meditation to Receiving Blessings and Dedicating the Merit to World Peace and Harmony
info_icon

Tibetan chants are slow, sonorous renditions done to the accompaniment of traditional instruments. The ancient way of learning how to sing in the typically low-pitched, sepulchral style is to train near a fast-moving river or preferably a waterfall."The sound of the water drowns out our own voice; it enables us to sing with greater power and be one with the audible rhythms of the water," says Kalzhang.

He practices two hours a day at Sansal, a nearby stream, during the spring when it is heavy with water from snowmelt. His three main disciples—Norbu Gyaltsen, Tinley Gyurme and Namgyal—use the same technique. "Our vocal chords hurt and sometimes bleed during training, but we soon get used to it," adds Kalzhang.

The youngest in the group of chanters is 16-year-old Tempa Singye who also plays the massive temple drum, the nga chin. Phurpa Dorje and Tenpa Dawa play the gyaling, an oboe-like instrument played with a circular breathing technique: forcing the breath out with the cheeks while at the same time breathing in through the nose. There are also the radung, long (up to 10 feet) horns similar to alpenhorns. The sil-nyen and the rol-mo are flat and bulbous cymbals played mainly during prayer session intervals, building to a crescendo before the chanting resumes.

The Sherab Ling monastery is tucked into a thickly-wooded hillside at the foothills of the majestic Dhauladhar range, near Baijnath in Himachal. A narrow, winding ribbon of a road cutting through the forest is the only evidence of its existence here. Then, all at once, a riot of colourful Tibetan-style buildings with ornate decorations in blue, gold, green and orange on walls, pillars and roofs, breaks out from within the dark forest. Housing around 375 monks, the monastery has emerged as a major seat of the Karma Kagyu sect over the last 50 years.

The head of the sect is Karmapa Urgyen Trinley Dorje, a boy lama who fled Tibet in '97 and took refuge in Dharamshala. Kagyu practitioners date back to the 7th century and the lineage can be traced to the current Karmapa. Sherab Ling takes its inspiration from the 350-year-old Palpung monastery in Eastern Tibet, virtually dysfunctional now after its inhabitants fled Tibet in the '50s, when Chinese forces occupied it. But much of its tradition of prayer ceremonies, music, dance, painting and tantric arts has been preserved and nurtured in India, with not a little help from visiting monks from Tibet.

Kalzhang himself is from Sikkim. Most of the young monks at Sherab Ling nowadays are Indian Buddhists from Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti, Sikkim and Arunachal. The Grammy is for Tibetan chants, but they're sung by Indian Buddhists, senior lamas point out. "So the award's as much for India, which has given us refuge and the freedom to practice our religion."

Advertisement

Tags

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement