Conversation with the Monk about Buddhism and Singing Bowl

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I really have to admit that Mr. Chitrakar has motivated me to engage myself in learning more about the singing bowls. The conversation with Mr. Chitrakar became a foundation to understand about the bowls. After I return from the workshop, I planned to search the information about Singing Bowls and its usage. But as we know things doesn’t go as planned. When I reached home there were other academic works that I had to complete so I completely forgot about my earlier wishes.

One day while roaming at Basantapur Durbar Square with my friends, I noticed a monk with a singing bowl in his hand. He was there without any movement and was in complete silence. It was like he was meditating and begging at the same moment. So, I didn’t interfere him and gave some money and walked away.

Shree Ghal: a pilgrimage site in Nepal

The following week, I again met him at Shree Ghal, one of the pilgrimage site for Buddhists in Nepal. In Shree Ghal, there is a stupa which resembles Swoyambhu stupa in the center of the premises and in the northeastern side of the premises there is a monastery, which follows Mahayana Buddhism and in the northwestern side of the premises, there is a monastery which follows Hiyana Buddhism or Theravada Buddhism. The compound also comprises of pagoda style temple of Harati Mata. The idol of the temple, Harati Mata face towards the south while its location is in the northwestern direction of the stupa. There are other several Chaitya of Five Dhyani Buddha.

At Shree Ghal, he was having a tea with other fellow monks. I approached him with the intention to learn something about Buddhism. He welcomed me and offered me a tea. He gradually shared me his knowledge. Thanks to him, I get insights about the Buddhism. After causal questions, I moved on to the question of Buddhism. One of my layman questions was -- Even though there were more Buddha in the past, why Siddhartha Gautama Buddha is the famous and more popularized one.

In reply, he answered Siddhartha Gautama Buddha is the present time Buddha. He lived and preached about Buddhism in the present context. All of the teachings were oral but later on, the monks transcribed the teachings. Therefore, it was preserved in this matter. If the teaching were not transcribed, then obviously it will be forgotten. But this is not the case, we can find almost all of the teaching of Buddha in a written form and also in audio-visual form. The teaching has been included in the academic textbooks and also it has been used in foreign policy also. We can find the usage of Buddhism in different fields. This is the main reason for every man to be able to know about Siddhartha Gautama Buddha. But for other past Buddha, they are only known to the person who is Buddhists or the person who have an intense desire to know about the Buddhism.

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Monks and Singing Bowls

During the conversation with him, I remembered about Mr. Chitrakar and his workshop. Also, when I noticed him at Basantapur Durbar Square earlier week he had a singing bowl with him. So I questioned him about the singing bowls.

He answered that the singing bowl is used as a begging bowl by the monks in the early period, but its implications are varied- like from using as a storage to a tool for healing and meditation. The singing bowls are also called Tibetan singing bowl or Himalayan bowl. The history of singing bowl is still not clear. It is believed that the bowls are used as a storage device in the history and later on the Buddha used it while begging. It is believed that the bowl is brought to Tibet from India by Padmasambhava, also known as Guru Rinpoche dated around the 8th century CE. We can find antique singing bowls in the monastery of Tibet. The bowl placed in Drepung Monastery, Tibet and is exhibited once in a year i.e. on July 15th and all people visits the monastery at that time. It is believed that this bowl was used by the previous Buddha. So people make offerings to the bowl because it is regarded as a relic.

As for the usages, the bowl is used to start and end the silent meditation in the present context. It is also used in different healing therapies.

After the conversation with the monk, I think my knowledge about the Buddhism has increased and I also got an opportunity to learn about the history of a singing bowl. Earlier singing bowls were not associated with Buddhism, but in the present context, it is. It has become one of the images of Buddhism. Therefore, I thanked him personally.