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.
