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Alternative meditation music
Lee82
Veteran
in Meditation
About a year ago I stumbled across a new type of music and I have listened to it ever since. Just now while sat in silence I thought I would put some music on and chose one of these particular albums. The music used to be thought provoking to me but now I find I am able to close my eyes and listen to it without thinking about anything at all, just hearing the instruments and focusing on my breathing. I do not know what music people typically use for meditation and wonder what other people might think of this music as a way to empty the mind. The genre is 'post-rock' although I don't know where the 'rock' element comes in to it, it is music without words and many claim it to be modern classical music. My favourite artists/bands are Explosions in the Sky, This Will Destroy You and 65 Days of Static, unusual names for such calming music! Here is a link to the song that is playing now as I write this, interested to know peoples thoughts:
3
Comments
Not what I want to listen to for meditation.
Silence is what I like for meditation.
So maybe I'm the wrong person to give my opinion, as any music during meditation will get a big thumbs down from me.
They are extremely different. You'll never hear Sigur Ros play their guitars in this fashion.
I'm fairly certain Buddhist monks find pleasure in various chants, which is a form of musical expression. I don't see why that is any different.
That being said, I want quiet when I meditate. Except for the chirping of crickets in the summer-the best music to meditate to IMO. Or maybe the ocean, or the wind outside, or the rain...I like it to be as quiet as possible, I want to add no noise, and if I am somewhere, I want to hear all the ambient noises.
My suggestion is make time for both musical relaxation and meditation. Once you can differentiate the two it'll be a whole lot easier.
@ThailandTom there is nothing to say you can't take pleasure from things, music, sex, video games, food
Thanks for all the comments, very insightful, the thing with music for me is that I have always been amazed by the association it can give to a past time and place. If I can learn, or have learnt, to listen and enjoy the music without that association and without attachment or desire to listen again then to me that means I have developed my mind and am better equipped to live in the present.
Edit: Perhaps having something to enjoy detracts from the meditation and I would be better without it but I do find it relaxes my mind, at least for now as a beginner.
I recently bought a singing bowl for meditation. It is a marvellous tool. The tone and vibration seems to reach into your very soul. I would also recommend this series of Tibetan Singing Bowl music. It is more formless than commercial music and I think more conducive to meditation.
Maybe I'm just a little too austere. These days I do the whole facing a blank wall zen shabang.
For the record, I dig the song. I have a weird affinity for somewhat ambient music that I can just put on and feel like it's background music to my life. That's how that song strikes me.
I really liked the music you shared with us. I often use music as "therapy"... to uplift, to think, to meditate, to emotionally purge. Music is the perfect tool for many things... Music without words/lyrics work best (for me, at least).
I don't do formal, sitting meditation, at least not for the last few years. I prefer to incorporate my thoughtfulness and mindfulness within nearly every activity I can, all day every day. I think this came about because now I am 'retired' and my days have only the structure I choose to impose on them- not a boss, or a scheduled job, schooling, etc., so I don't feel a need to 'set aside' a specific time for serious-get-down-to-it meditation -
But even back when I did so, I would put on headphones and use various types of music, chanting, singing bowl sounds or nature sounds to relax me. It also helped to cancel out other household noises and distractions when one or more of my three kids were still living at home.
I always cringe when I hear anyone say that the Buddha/the precepts mean for us not to appreciate music, art or any of the other truly beautiful things in our world... that it was somehow a "sin" to enjoy these things. I will never, ever buy that one.
To me there is a very distinct difference between enjoying something for what it is and how it enhances ones' life -- and being "attached to it" in a negative way and to the detriment of other things one needs to be doing or should be caring about.
Oops, Sorry, I rambled a bit there.
It's not a "sin" to listen to music, maybe that comes from some judeo-christian perspective. But it is unskillful and distracting for serious laypeople to do so.
You may not accept it personally, but it is accepted by both Mahayana and Theravada.
And needless to say, the monks who follow the guidelines the Buddha gave us, do not deliberately listen to music.
No. Those who follow the five are serious, those who follow the eight are more serious, and those who follow the 227 rules and become monks are yet more more more serious.
That's all....