Bodhisattva Guanyin (观音)
is the most popular Buddha figure in
China. Guan (观)
in Chinese means observation and yin
(音)
is for sound, and that expresses
Guanyin’s path to enlightenment
which is of observing by listening.
So on the night of 16
October, in the valley of Waiting
Immortal (待仙谷)
next to the Shaolin Temple, a grand
open theatre was set, and 700
musicians and 30,000 audience made a
united effort of listening. As on the
stage nine lotus flowers blossomed in
transient colours, and the Dharma
music blended into the raw elements
and natural environment, everybody
listened in hush to the ripples of
water (水乐),
textures of wood (木乐),
motions of wind (风乐),
sight of light (光乐)
and weight of stone (石乐).
At that very moment, all
the senses around them and inside
them were conveyed into the sound of
music, and synchronised into the
experience of hearing.
The Buddha says: All
appearances are illusions, so if you
see all appearances as no
appearances, then you see the all.
That is because, the appearance of
reality is without appearance, thus
it is called the appearance of
reality.
Therefore by listening
to the forms, smells, tastes,
textures and weights, they
contemplated the oneness of
everything, and unified the myriad
appearances.
The Buddha says: If you
do not enter forms, sounds, smells,
tastes, tangible objects and
doctrines, then you have entered the
flow of eternity. That is because,
for someone who is without the
appearance of a self, of others, of a
life and of Dharma, he has attained
freedom and liberation.
Therefore as they heard,
they observed the here and now, and
were for the moment truly themselves.
For one thing, in the
music of Dharma, knowledge and views
were not produced, studies and
learning were not performed. And thus
it is a true Dharma.
The Buddha once said: If
someone says I have spoken Dharma, he
slanders me due to his inability to
understand what I teach. That is
because the essence of and the path
to Enlightenment cannot be spoken,
and a conditioned doctrine is like a
dream, an illusion, a bubble, a
shadow, a drop of dew, a lightening
flash. It comes and it goes. It is
not real.
Then how should the path
and the essence be approached and
expressed?
By observing the sound,
observing the silence, observing
sound and rhythm in the midst of
space and silence as they have always
been, and observing how the
transience of sound echoes the change
and flow of life that we cannot hold
onto. And above all, by not grasping
at appearances but being in unmoving
thusness.
And that is why the
music is Dharma and the Dharma is
music, for what is spoken is not
really spoken, for what is not spoken
is truly spoken.
So listen carefully. And
keep listening.
Then, the Buddha says: A
unity of appearances is not a unity
of appearances. It is called a unity
of appearances, for a unity of
appearances cannot really be
expressed.
Thus do not even grasp
at the music of Dharma, as the sound
is not actually sound, it is called
sound.
The Buddha once said to
his disciple: "Subhuti, if
someone says that it seems as if the
Thus Come One comes and goes, you
shall know he is not a person who
understands the meaning of my
teaching. Why? The Thus Come One does
not come from anywhere nor does he go
anywhere. Therefore he is called the
Thus Come One."
Therefore, by essence,
the Dharma music festival at Shaolin
did not really begin at 7:30 pm on
October 16, nor did it finish before
the midnight. The Dharma music is
always there, and will forever be
there. And in everywhere.
Therefore, keep
listening. When you hear, you’ll
see.
