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Home , Burmese pagoda, Chinthe, Mingun Bell, Mount Popa, Mudita, Sangharaja

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Volume 6 Number 1 Article 1

2020

Metta, , and Metal: Dhamma Instruments in Burmese

Gavin D. Douglas University of North Carolina at Greensboro

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Recommended Citation Douglas, Gavin D. (2020) "Metta, Mudita, and Metal: Dhamma Instruments in Burmese Buddhism," Yale Journal of Music & Religion: Vol. 6: No. 1, Article 1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17132/2377-231X.1159

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale. It has been accepted for inclusion in Yale Journal of Music & Religion by an authorized editor of EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Metta, Mudita, and Metal: Dhamma Instruments in Burmese Buddhism

Cover Page Footnote Special thanks to U Hla Aung, the Tun family, Ko Doo, Gita Lulin Maung Ko Ko, and other friends in . Portions of this paper were presented at the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM) and the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) Performing Arts of study group conferences. I am grateful for the generous feedback provided at those meetings and from the anonymous reviewers. All errors are mine.

This article is available in Yale Journal of Music & Religion: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/yjmr/vol6/iss1/1 Metta, Mudita, and Metal Dhamma Instruments in Burmese Buddhism Gavin Douglas

Buddhist monasteries and are which one engages with fellow humans, sonically rich places. Despite the stereotypes with other living creatures (animals, of calm silence and serenity that imbue spirits), and with the universe more broadly. sacred spaces, the array of sounds found in They are regarded as the social attitudes that and around Buddhist practice is immense. inform or underlie the most appropriate and At a Burmese , one witnesses layers beneficial modes of conduct toward other of , gongs, chants, solo and group living beings.1 prayers, all sculpting the sonic environment These four sublime states are metta in meaningful ways. This paper examines (loving-kindness), karuna (), the soundscape of Buddhist social space mudita (sympathetic ), and upekkha in Myanmar and argues that these sounds (). They cultivate favorable provide a critical aural dimension to relationships between people and are four Buddhist practice, revealing an indispensable different ways that a spiritually mature perspective that is usually neglected in person relates to others. I seek here to discussions of Buddhist practice. explore how the sonic relationships I begin with an examination of several between beings in particular Buddhist sound-making instruments found through- spaces, and understood through these out Burmese pagodas and monasteries. These ideal mental states, aid in the interpreting, gongs and bells are generally referred to as constructing, and understanding of a dhamma instruments rather than musical Buddhist nature of reality. instruments, as their social life and meanings Buddhism encompasses a vast array are primarily in the sacred domain. Indeed, of traditions, styles, and philosophical there is minimal overlap of these instruments approaches to sound. There is no one with those of the traditions of Myanmar’s Buddhism and no consistent approach music. Following these instruments from or philosophy regarding the use of music the forge to the pagoda and the monastery, or sound. Few claims about music hold I explain their purpose in marking the throughout the Buddhist world. The acquisition and the distribution of kammic notion of a “” is essentially . Finally, through discussions with meaningless given the variety of Buddhist various monks and blacksmiths, I inspect sound and insofar as some traditions embrace the intersection of sound production and music while others are highly restrictive of perception with the cultivation of particular its use. Many monasteries found throughout states of mind. Most specifically, these sounds the and traditions promote an opportunity to attend to what the embrace music as a facilitator of meditation Buddha referred to as the brahma viharas, the and ritual,2 in contrast to the divine dwelling places of the mind. tradition, which is more suspicious of The brahma viharas are regarded as the music’s power to cultivate attachment. For ideal mental attitudes or sublime states by this reason, Theravada monks and devout

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 1 (2020) 1 laity are admonished to abstain from argue, prone to cultivating attachment. participation in musical activity. The nonmusical sounds that envelop the Independent of the precepts and pagoda exist to communicate particular protocols for engaging with “music”— aspects of the dhamma, to mark qualities of however one might define it—sculpted, social interdependence, and to relay specific organized, and intentional vocal and messages between the mundane and the instrumental sounds serve essential roles in supermundane worlds. all Buddhist societies. Sound (whether called In what follows, I present some sounds music or not) often defines the architecture through three different vectors of Buddhist of ceremonies and rituals marking particular inquiry: the philosophical, the religious, moments of a liturgy. The symbolism and the political. These three avenues attached to various sounds and sounding of investigation offer different insights objects highlights aspects of the Buddha’s into the practice of Buddhism and bring teachings, or dhamma, in many types of different understandings to the uses and Buddhism. While sound is an intrinsic meanings of sound. As a philosophical part of lay and monastic Buddhist practice, tradition, Buddhism offers insights it is often neglected by religious scholars into understanding consciousness and or treated as peripheral to other aspects of perception. The Buddha never said anything Buddhism. Furthermore, music scholars about the origins of the universe, about a often pass over sounds that are not framed supreme being or an independent sentient as music. Scholarly neglect of sound and entity that oversees the cosmos. Nor is the music analysis is particularly noteworthy in Buddha a judge of behavior and action. the Theravada Buddhist literature. His documented thoughts were primarily By examining sacred space among about understanding our perceptions and the Burman communities of Myanmar, I examining what they tell us about the assert that sound production and sound nature of reality. As a science of mind or a reception play a significant role in lay and philosophical tradition, Buddhism addresses monastic Buddhist practice. Awareness of our perceptions (or misperceptions) of sonic relationships helps to reconcile some that reality. Only after understanding the seemingly contrary understandings of nature of reality can one attend to proper Buddhism as a philosophy, as a religious living. Second, as adherents of a religious practice, and as a source of worldly power. tradition, Buddhists in Myanmar and elsewhere have developed an enormous Sound and Music in Theravada Buddhism variety of rituals, rites, and behaviors The seventh Buddhist precept implores that interact with existential problems monks and devout laity to abstain from beyond the quantifiable mundane world. dancing, singing, and music. Many of the These Buddhist practices reach toward the sounds presented in the following discussion metaphysical and arguably unverifiable are not regarded as music in the narrow (for example, karma and reincarnation) sense of the term—that is, music that evokes and engage various types of magic and aesthetic states of enjoyment or pleasure, apotropaic spells that are often realized or social functions such as entertainment. through sound.3 Third, Buddhist practice is Such traditions of sound making are, some set within the mundane social world where

2 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 1 (2020) actors compete for access to resources and properties and the social interconnectedness power. Religious affiliation and membership of all agents in the arena. in particular communities afford various An aurally attentive visitor to a Buddhist tools to enhance earthly ends. The study of pagoda has the opportunity to rethink the Buddhism from this vantage point offers meaning, nature, and significance of social insight into claiming and deploying worldly experience, their ethical bond to community, political power through religious means.4 their relationship to power, and to assess This anthropology of Buddhism seeks to how their reality is understood. Attention to reconcile our understanding of Buddhist pagoda and monastery sound opens doors texts, rituals, and philosophies with human to understanding Buddhist psychology, actors and societies. All three lines of inquiry metaphysics, and social power. While this have sonic components that I will address. study focuses on the auditory terrain of the Musical compositions and songs with pagoda, the aural is not the only sense at instrumental accompaniment composed by work. The whole body/mind is relevant to lay Buddhists constitute some of the more the experience, calling for, as Michael Bull conspicuous examples of music within and Les Black articulate, a “democracy of the Theravada Buddhist practice. Chanting senses.”5 In the Buddhist epistemological of and canonical texts dominates context, accounting for all senses includes the sound world of the monastery—and not only the five bodily senses of sight, often of the neighborhood, when such hearing, taste, smell, and touch but also recitations are amplified on loudspeakers— the sixth sense of mental constructs. yet such sounds are not properly considered Mental perceptions, like other perceptions, to be music. The shrines, pagodas, and contribute to our understanding (and monasteries that constitute the social misunderstanding) of the world. The gathering places for both the public and the mind and mental constructions interact monks include a variety of other sounds that with sense objects to create impressions, I choose to examine here. In this setting, feelings, perceptions, attitudes, and other soundscape analysis draws our attention to psychological phenomena.6 a wide variety of sound types and sharpens Tens of thousands of pagodas our aural acuity to decipher proximal and ( or zedis) decorate the landscape distant sources, volume, density, sonic throughout Myanmar. Pagodas serve as layering, and the interplay of human- and hubs for community events, daily offerings, nonhuman-originated sounds. Beyond meditation, and pilgrimage, and many of an account of the variety and fidelity of the larger ones are tourist sites. No village is sound types, I choose also to interact with without one, and most have many pagodas. acoustemological ideas that link sounds to While serving as a site for social and religious epistemologies, highlighting the ways of activities, the pagoda’s primary function is knowing that are realized in these arenas. as a funerary monument that may contain a The sounds of Buddhist space at play here relic, image, or other sacred objects. Many are not simply sounds that contribute to pagodas throughout the country lay claim feeling the space and embodying religious to relics of and, in some practice. These sounds, as will be shown, cases, even previous Buddhas. Relics—a mark off relational, contingent, and reflexive tooth, a hair, or a bone fragment—are

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 1 (2020) 3 preserved to remind people of the Buddha’s 100 meters tall on top of a hill, it dominates corporeality and humanness, and in this way the skyline of the city and has been a potent uphold that enlightenment is a possibility site for much of Myanmar’s religious for all. Stupas without relics—the vast and political history. The mythology majority—still serve as reminders of the surrounding the Shwedagon predates the Buddha’s humanness and teachings. While founding of the Pagan Kingdom (eleventh the monks () steward the body of century c.e.) by over 1,500 years: the two teachings (dhammakaya), the laity maintain brothers Taphussa and Bhallika returned the material body of the Buddha in the form from India in 588 b.c.e. with eight of the of tooth, bone, or hair relics (rupakaya).7 Buddha’s hairs. With the help of King Thus, the pagoda is a shared meeting point Okalappa, they enshrined the hairs at the between the dhammakaya and rupakaya, top of Mount Singuttara, the site of the the sangha and the laity, the teachings and present-day Shwedagon.8 Over the years the the artifacts. pagoda has expanded to a massive complex The in Yangon, for that today houses an uncountable number example, is the most revered pagoda for of spires, bells, and Buddha images ringed Burmese Buddhists and is said to contain by numerous monasteries where thousands relics of the four past Buddhas. Standing of monks take residence (see Fig. 1).

Figure 1: The Shwedagon Pagoda

4 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 1 (2020) A visit to the Shwedagon Pagoda and . Off to the side, a monk may countless other pagodas throughout the be reciting scripture or providing discourse country is a full, six-sense experience. on the dhamma for other listeners. On Visitors approach the raised platform of the festival days or full moons, mass gatherings Shwedagon through one of four covered of monks or laity may recite together. At staircases that climb high above the noisy, difficult times in the country’s political heavily trafficked street. After removing history, the Shwedagon platform has shoes or sandals at the base of the hill provided a setting for voices of both dissent near the ten-meter-tall chinthe (lionlike) and authority. Over the years the site has guardians, one climbs the stairs past been host to anticolonial demonstrations, countless stalls selling a variety of tourist prodemocracy rallies, government curios and religious paraphernalia: statuary proclamations, and state rituals, all backed and images, prayer books and beads, by the unquestioned authority of this incense and electronic audio prayer players. sacred space. As a nexus of earthbound and The climb to the Shwedagon is modest spiritual power, where religious authority compared to many of the religious shrines meets mundane politics, the Shwedagon in the country that demand significant Pagoda is the location of choice for countless effort (such as Hill, Mount Popa, political activities. It is a charismatic place or Kyaiktiyo), but after 100-plus steps one that supports both worldly and spiritual emerges onto the pagoda platform with ends. As Kees Terlouw, drawing from an elevated heart rate from exertion in the Weber, writes, “charismatic places with a tropical climate. The smooth marble that link to the charismatic past are frequently surrounds the spire offers a tactile sensation used to legitimize traditional regimes; to bare feet that is unique to the pagoda similarly, bureaucratic regimes tend to use space. During the monsoon season, the tile charismatic places presenting the future to is likely to be wet and slippery, while during legitimize their rule.”9 Many spaces have the hot times of the year it burns the feet. unique sounds that embody and reinforce As one rests at the top of the stairs to take such charisma. What relationship, then, a breath, deep inhalation of incense burned exists between the sonic environment and in one of several thousand receptacles the charismatic power of this place? confronts the olfactory sense. Gold leaf and Recitation of scripture, prayers, kyi gold and white paint decorate countless zi (percussion plaques), and kaung laung spires and Buddha images, presenting a (bells) create sonic and spatial layers of visual overdose of bright, shiny gold and sounds that are ever-present at the pagoda white. And then the sounds . . . . and monastery. As the sound of bells is Countless bells, ranging from one inch constant but not overpowering, the degree to five yards in diameter, sound a steadily to which one is even aware of these sounds is tinkling and chiming aural glitter that variable. Unlike the wealth of religious spaces accompanies the other senses on overload. singled out for their acoustics throughout Above, through, and under the unremitting the Western world, the Buddhist pagoda acoustic sparkle, individuals chant is predominantly outside. No acoustically prayers and suttas, or perhaps a group of designed parabolic ceiling reverberates devotees collectively reads verses from the the sound of instruments or voices. Bells,

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 1 (2020) 5 gongs, and percussion plaques in this space The Builders: Forging the Dhamma are designed to ring out and then disperse. Instruments Not formally considered music and not Tanpawaddy is a township of southern noticed by scholars, the pagoda soundscape Mandalay in central Myanmar, not far is absent in the literature.10 from the . Just south of the famous Mahamuni Pagoda (along with the Three Perspectives Shwedagon, one of the most revered shrines in the nation) is an area maybe six blocks To engage the many insights that these in radius where approximately 150 people sounds offer, I engage three groups of make all the gongs and bells for Myanmar people who provide different perspectives and much of . It is here that the on them. First, I introduce the standpoint commercial networks that serve all gong of the builders—the gong and smiths and bell consumers begin. Family businesses who forge the metal and distribute it to design and forge maung (gongs), kong users; second, that of the consumers who laung (bells), kyi si and toe si (percussion construct, patronize, and decorate the plaques) of various sizes in a manner pagodas; And finally, that of the devout virtually identical to those of many previous laity, monks, and others who are mindful generations. Of the products created, only of these objects, their sounds, and the a small fraction will end up being used by relations that their soundings connect. The musicians. Almost all of the bell and gong organization of this discussion into three market is destined for religious use. Unlike social categories reflects the social economy the builders of traditional Burmese musical of these objects and highlights the life of instruments, such as the saung (arched gongs as objects that move through the harp)12 and patt waing (drum circle) makers, hands of different people. However, this these gong makers have little interaction with organization is also a heuristic tool that trained musicians. This contrasts notably highlights particular actions, engages with gamelan traditions in Malaysia and specific ideas, and germinates certain Indonesia, where performers and instrument concepts along the way. Indeed, many builders work in close association. As individual people are in all three groups. these instruments are not associated with Alternatively, as Eliot Bates articulates in musicians, they are not mentioned in any of arguing for the study of the social life of the musicological literature. musical instruments, much of “the power, The instruments forged in Tanpawaddy mystique, and allure of musical instruments township are standardized in form, with . . . is inextricable from the myriad minor variations in shape, external design, situations where instruments are entangled and ingredients found among different in webs of complex relationships—between family recipes. The kong laung are heavy humans and objects, between humans and brass bells cast in a mold and can range in humans and between objects and other diameter from four inches to eighteen or objects.”11 Within this Buddhist context, twenty feet. Kyi si are suspended percussion Bates’s webs require expansion to include plaques which, when struck on the edge, spin all sentient beings as well—even spirits and to create an accelerating and decelerating animals, as will be noted below. pulsing tone. Toe si are similar to kyi zi

6 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 1 (2020) but are round in shape. Maung are bossed from marble or cast monuments and gongs ranging in diameter from five inches figures in brilliant brass. Indeed, the casting to three feet and have the most widespread technologies, the generationally transmitted usage. Multiple sizes of maung are tuned expertise, and the personnel who design and and set in a rack for use in the hsaing waing create bells and gongs are embedded into ensemble, or they can be used individually the business of faith artifacts. for any number of attention-getting needs Metalworkers begin work at two o’clock (for example, by street vendors or for calling in the morning, the coolest time of the waiters in restaurants), as well as at the day in the typically hot Burmese climate. pagoda or in domestic shrines (see Fig. 2). The interlocking rhythms of small work crews synchronizing hammers on molten metal echo throughout the otherwise quiet neighborhood in the middle of the night. The darkness allows the blacksmiths to easily see cracks in the mold of a softened piece of metal, though they can suffer eye damage as a result of long periods of staring directly at the bright molten lead. Cognizant of their associations with a long tradition of alchemy,13 these metal workers are highly protective of their knowledge and the ingredients of their family recipes. In conversation, the blacksmiths make frequent allusion to Zawgyi, the alchemist/sorcerer character found in many yokthe (marionette plays) and to the weikza supernatural figures in Burma associated with esoteric and occult practices, including alchemy.14 Through the night, most teams operate in small groups of five or six people centered around a family business. In the process of making gongs, Figure 2: Kong laung, kyi si, and maung for sale at one worker operates the bellows of the forge the Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon while the lead blacksmith manipulates and shapes the iron. Two or three men with Tanpawaddy township is recognized large wooden hammers pound out the red- primarily as the center of the Buddha hot form in tight synchrony. A night’s work image workshops for the country. Notably, might generate two large gongs (eighteen to gong and bell manufacturing is set within twenty inches) or ten to twelve small ones a large industry of religious statuary (five to seven inches) and yield about 10,000 and monuments. Traveling south along kyats for the average worker. This amount Mandalay’s Eighty-fourth Street past the (roughly seven dollars) is considered a good Mahamuni Pagoda, one will find dozens wage in this largely premodern economy, of shops that hand-carve Buddha images despite the harsh working conditions.15

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 1 (2020) 7 The primary market for the tuned gongs laung, kyi zi, and Buddhist statuary, he is (maung) is in Thailand, where they are a renowned maker of the pa zi, the bronze recognized as the premium style of gong. frog drum most strongly associated with the In Myanmar, only a small percentage of Karen ethnic minority.17 His large compound, maung find their way to a life in the music with numerous assistants and apprentices, industry as members of hsaing waing suggests a successful career in a lucrative ensembles. Kyi naung (single gongs) for a industry. In discussing the preferred sound kyi waing (brass-gong circle) and a tuned aesthetic of the instruments that he makes, maung saing set as found in the hsaing U Hla Aung directs conversations quickly waing ensemble have to be preordered; to health, both physical and psychological: they are not in regular production. As “The sound of the kyi si, in particular, is pure they are purchased only by musicians (of a and clean. It imparts feelings of calmness, tradition that is losing ground), there is no lowers the temperature of the body, and significant demand for them. The fact that helps one meditate. It also reaches beyond they last a long time also means that they the world of human ears and is welcomed are not in regular need of replacement. by spirits.” The social lives of the kyi si and kong U Hla Aung and others report that laung instruments are primarily found in the sounds of quality bells are cooling. An the religious sphere and, as such, have not overheated body and mind lead to physical been acknowledged in musical scholarship. and mental ailments. These sounds have a the commercial interests of the kyi si and cooling effect, and the resonances penetrate kong laung makers are principally directed the body and the mind like a peaceful salve. toward the pagoda, the devotional market, Mental and physical illness results from and the monastic setting. For this context, an excess of heat within the body/mind, the quality and purity of the sound are and cooling practices are thus beneficial. essential, though discrete pitch (necessary Traditional medicine, alchemic practices,18 for matching with other instruments) is and practice (samathi)—all irrelevant. The pure, clean tones of these health activities found in the region— instruments result from molten brass discuss such cooling efforts, but nothing poured into molds made of clay and wax. (to my knowledge) in the medical literature After the molds are cooled, carvings and references the cooling (and heating) engraved designs are meticulously added. properties of different sounds. The brahma Often quotes from Buddhist scripture or vihara quality of equanimity (upekkha) is incantations of magic (weikza) are found present here in the capacity of influencing on the bells. Truckloads of Buddha images the body and mind to establish balance and in the favored bhumisparsha ,16 along calmness. Upekkha is the fire in the heart that with kaung laung, kyi si, and other religious is steady and constant. The “cooling” aspect artifacts, leave Tanpawaddy township to be of the sounds of well-made bells, with their sold in shops throughout the country. steady and sustained tone, sympathetically U Hla Aung, now in his seventies, has resonates with a desired home base for a spent a lifetime in the industry forging well-cultivated mind. Buddha images and bells in Tanpawaddy. The radiant tone and long tone duration In addition to his experience making kaung that comes from a well-made bell will be

8 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 1 (2020) heard from long distances. The incredible can be found where a good-luck talisman sustain of these instruments sonically paints might enlist the aid of otherworldly powers. the area of the pagoda and contributes to Lottery ticket carts and jewelry stores often making it a health-conducive space. The ring kyi si after a sale (particularly a big one) stamp impressed upon all of the kyi si of the in the hope of attracting more of the same. Tun family shop (a few hundred yards down While bells and gongs appear in a multitude the street from U Hla Aung’s compound) of nonreligious contexts, their associations proclaims a than ah ma kan, “the sound with spirits and Buddhism point to a sonic that lasts forever.” As with the “illimitable” authority that blurs the boundaries between (apamañña) qualities of the brahma viharas, religious and nonreligious activity; sacred which in their perfection and their true and nonsacred space, the mundane (loka) nature should not be narrowed by any and the supermundane (lokuttara). limitation as to the range of beings toward In the Burmese Buddhist context, dāna whom they are extended, so too a long- (ritual or generosity) is arguably sustaining bell limitlessly rings and extends more critical than good behavior in the to beings. economy of merit. Offerings to Buddhism— After much care and deliberation, bells to the pagoda, to the monks, and to the and gongs are sold to devotees, who use monastery—are central to accruing kammic them in a variety of ways to enhance their merit. Indeed, good deeds earn one merit, economic and spiritual lives. While some but donating to the perpetuation of uses are found in secular arenas, U Hla Buddhism is an exceptionally meritorious Aung takes great pride in the role he plays act, what Melford Spiro has referred to as in supporting the religious activities of his “the merit-path to salvation.”19 By giving community. “As a maker of religious objects,” to monks (sangha) and monasteries (a he continues, “I get satisfaction from the daily cultural practice in Myanmar), the contribution I make to other people’s merit.” laity earn kammic merit. This practice of Moving outside of the forging compound, dāna, a ritual exchange of giving, makes the social lives of these instruments stretch merit, cultivates generosity, and ultimately in multiple directions. (in theory) destroys the impulse that leads to attachment and further suffering. The The Consumers: Social Economy of Sound and donor (of food, robes, shelter, or furnishings Sound-Making Devices for the monastery or pagoda) earns not Outside of the pagoda and explicitly musical only kammic merit but also an increase in contexts, these bells, plaques, and gongs social and political status and legitimacy. show up in a wide variety of daily settings, Buddhism in this anthropological reading where they visually and audibly decorate is fundamentally political, based upon an social, religious, and commercial space. economy of merit. One of the primary social Single maung are the favored noise-making roles of the sangha is to be a “field of merit”—a devices that one finds used by mobile conduit through which the laity may make vendors on food carts. A steady pulsing on merit. The monastery and the pagoda are a small gong often accompanies a call for the beneficiaries of such donations and are boiled peanuts, fried vegetables, or sweet also the primary locations for engaging sugar cane drinks. Kyi si, in particular, offerings. Especially meritorious offerings

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 1 (2020) 9 might include sending your child to be Myanmar Buddhist identity is found in initiated as a monk, building a pagoda, or almost all of these domestic shrines, as they supplying the materials for a pagoda. are often densely adorned with pictures Not only are kaung laung bells (and of the country’s major religious sites others) given as donations themselves— (ubiquitous are images of the Shwedagon, and the blacksmiths in Tanpawaddy district Mahamuni, and Kyaitiyo Pagodas), as well delight in their contribution to this religious as photos of famous monks (historical and economy—they are also used as signals at contemporary: Ledi , countless locations to mark that a donation Sayadaw U Vicittasarabivamsa, and U has been offered. Kaung laung and kyi si, as Thuzana, for example). Daily prayers and seen and heard on the pagoda platform, are meditation before the shrine (for some more both donations and the sound of donations. regular than others) are followed by a stroke Even off the platform, where meditation of a gong or the kyi si to acknowledge the clubs, community service groups, and offering, send merit out to the world, and lay dhamma associations walk the streets complete the ritual. Daily recitation of suttas accepting donations, the kyi si (carried along that emphasize compassion (karuna), one of with the donation basket) acknowledge the the brahma viharas, directs well-wishes for offering. Heard beyond the grave, they are all beings (including or especially for the also associated with death and the passing dead) to be free from suffering. As one of of someone to a future life. Kyi si are struck my friends noted, “My mother rings that at funerals and in memory of the dead, and thing every day for all the people that have the leader of a funeral procession carries and passed away.” Karuna (compassion) is a strikes the kyi si (see Fig. 3). cultivated and limitless state of mind that extends toward all other creatures, here found in daily practice and ritualized (by an individual) and expressed sonically (for the community) through the bell.

History and Mythology of Bells in Myanmar Such sounds also have an earthly power. As explicated by Julianne Schober,20 the acquisition of kammic merit though the act of dāna has a worldly component, since sizable offerings (and the ritual presentation of those offerings) potentially increase Figure 3: Kyi si at donation booth, Shwedagon one’s political stature. To be recognized as a Pagoda significant donor and a patron of Buddhism Beyond the public religious spaces, kyi has been essential for every Burmese si and maung are found in home shrines. politician and king for hundreds of years. Virtually all Burmese Buddhist homes The exchange of merit for world power contain a small shrine with a Buddha image defines the parameters of politics in this that is attended to daily with incense, context. Kammic merit is earned through flowers, fresh fruit, and water. A national donations but also accrues to political

10 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 1 (2020) power. While Schober has clearly articulated De Brito tried to transport it across the the connection between dāna and political Bago River to be melted down for cannons. power, I add here a sonic dimension to this The raft holding the bell broke apart as it power actualization that is largely absent crossed the confluence of the Bago and from the discussion. Such earthly power is Yangon Rivers, and the bell sank into the sounded and must be heard. deep silt of the river along with De Brito’s The forging, inscribing, and donating of ship. De Brito’s forces were eventually bells is a long-held tradition in Burma. All overpowered at Syriam, and he suffered kong laung and maung found on pagodas a brutal execution. Even today De Brito is are the results of generous benefactions. near-universally despised in the country Those places that generate the most and is a symbol of pillage and plunder, not donations are also the places that have the least for his “seizing objects of worship of most significant and numerous bells. Some the Buddha” and “committing sacrilege to of the world’s biggest bells are found in the point of forcibly demolishing Buddha Myanmar and were cast for gifts at religious images and sacred shrines and pagodas.”21 shrines. King (r. 1782–1819), Though forgotten by many in the for example, the longest-reigning monarch interim, 400 years later the Dhammazedi of the Konbaung Dynasty, had the ninety- Bell continues to bridge the mundane and ton forged in 1810 as a large the supermundane worlds. The significance donation, but also as a demonstrative of this particular bell is evidenced by example of his power. The bell sits beside continuing rumors and active mythology. the Mingun Pagoda, the base of what could Over the years numerous search-and- have been the largest pagoda in the world, salvage operations have pursued the if its construction had not been abandoned bell unsuccessfully. In August 2014, the after Bodawpaya’s death. The building of the Myanmar press reported that it had been Mingun Pagoda itself was a huge donation found (again!) and that salvage efforts and a significant display of Bodawpaya’s and plans to restore it to its station at the power. The Mingun Bell, forged with gold, Shwedagon were underway.22 Contrary to silver, bronze, iron, and lead, is one of the various news accounts, the discovery of the most massive working bells in the world bell has not been confirmed. Some doubt and is a noted symbol of the country that that it ever will be found, given the shifting links Buddhism to the king and the king to sands of the delta; others question whether the country. the bell ever existed, while still others assert Further back in history, King that the search is cursed. One search team Dhammazedi (r. 1471–92), a former monk claimed to have spotted the Great Bell, but it and a significant figure in the patronage was under the protection of dragons. Team of Theravada Buddhism, cast the largest leader San Lin said the team had spotted the bell ever made, in 1484. The Great Bell sunken bell, “but we have to compete with of Dhammazedi hung at the Shwedagon spirits to salvage the bell. They won’t give for centuries until Portuguese merchant it to us eagerly.” As documented by BBC mercenary Filipe de Brito e Nicote sacked reporter Jonah Fisher, San Lin believes “that the capital and captured the bell in 1608. Buddhist ‘nats’ or spirits are preventing the After removing the bell from the pagoda, bell from being found and that only the

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 1 (2020) 11 spiritual approach that he advocates can In order that pilgrims and devotees placate it. GPS and maps are secondary may happily strike this big bell to hear tools behind monastic and weikza power a sweet sound and pray that they obtain insight. ‘We must use our traditional ways magga-, the path and fruition of so that the dragon spirit does not keep hold sanctification, a gift of sound is effered of the bell.’”23 [sic] to the Pagoda. A bronze bell of 15,555 viss, 7 cubits and two spans in height, 15 cubits circumference, 5 cubits in diameter at the mouth, and two spas in thickness was cast and donated to the Shwedagon Pagoda on the first day waxing of Tabodwe in the year 2322 of the Buddhist Era, 1140 of the Myanmar Era. For this meritorious gift of sound, replete with the of beneficence, may he [King Singu] be conducted to and obtain the blessings of men, devas and brahmas. May he in his future existences obtain only the reigning state Figure 4: Inscribing a kong laung bell at the among men and devas. May he have Mahamuni Pagoda, Mandalay a pleasant voice like the voice of the Bird-King Karaweik, a voice heard at The power of bells as donations and whatsoever place desired.25 markers of connections between spiritual The material gift of the physical bell authority and worldly power continues is well documented as a merit-making today, as bell makers find regular customers. (dāna) activity, but the sounding of it also Bells usually have inscriptions along the accrues worldly power. Worldly power is side (see Fig. 4) giving the names of heard. Pictures of politicians and notable donors and the dates of and reasons for the elites donating to the monasteries are donations. Khin Maung Nyunt describes commonplace on Myanmar television and in the significance of inscribed bells as primary state propaganda. Included with countless historical evidence of monastic and civilian state-produced photos and videos of relationships.24 donations and prostrations before monks are The Singu Min Bell currently stands snippets of leaders striking gongs and bells in the northwest corner of the Shwedagon as a sonic declaration of their merit making. Pagoda. This twenty-five-ton bell measures seven feet tall and six and a half feet wide at The Sound of Bells the mouth, and is named after King Singu The physical act of striking the bell and (r. 1776–82). Twelve lines of calligraphy producing an audible, long-sustained, are inscribed around the bell, along with and far-reaching tone is also a component floral designs that “are not mere decorations of meritorious activity. Bells and gongs but are in the nature of magic diagrams and sonically contribute to cultivating a spiritual, .” Line 10 reflects the intersection of sacred space and provide an aural element to worldly status, merit-making offering, and a sense of place: a sense of mindfulness in the idea of sound and voice. place. The sonic dimensions of mindfulness

12 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 1 (2020) are linked to the merit-making activities cycles of ), these bells help the mind associated with gongs and bells. Dāna has to cool. heretofore been discussed in a physical and Both monks and blacksmiths related economic sense. Donations to monasteries the creation and reception of these sounds and pagodas in the form of gifts, food, to the brahma viharas, the four sublime furnishings, robes, icons, and money mental states, or four immeasurables. are ubiquitous. Though not a universal Scholars of chant have noted the import of sentiment, many monks, patrons, and the voice in embodying the dhamma. Paul blacksmiths regard the sounds themselves as Greene, Céline Coderey, and Hammalawa welcome offerings. The sound of the kyi si Saddhatissa move well beyond text analysis and kaung laung as described by U Hla Aung to evoke the connections between melody, is pleasing to the spirits who are receptive timbre, style, and Buddhist ethical and to the offering. “A well-made kaung laung,” metaphysical principles.26 What has not he continues, presents a “pleasurable sound been addressed by scholars are the nonvocal offered to the Buddha.” The sound itself sonic attitudes that actualize or realize the brings merit. dhamma through acts of sounding and While the beauty of a sound is listening. Our understanding of the dhamma potentially a dangerous attachment, Abbot is here deepened through an analysis of the U Nayaka, the cofounder of the Phaung interconnected relationships that are reified Daw Oo Monastic School in northeast through sound. Mandalay, which provides free education Cultivation of metta (loving-kindness), to over 7,000 underprivileged children of karuna (compassion), mudita (sympathetic Mandalay, highlights the desire for offerings joy), and upekkha (equanimity) realizes the to be functional as well as beautiful. What four different ways that a spiritually mature role does the sound of these bells have? person relates to others. They are “the great When I asked monks about the importance healers of social tension and conflict, the of sound at the pagoda, they recurrently builders of harmony and cooperation; they spoke of fostering awareness and cultivating serve as potent antidotes to the poisons particular states of mind. How, then, do the of hatred, cruelty, , and partiality so sounds of bells facilitate the development of widespread in modern life.”27 In many a specific state of mind? sermons, the Buddha spoke about the four Meditation practice, at home, in states of mind as the four brahma viharas.28 monasteries, and at pagodas, is central to They are godlike or brahmalike: an ideal much of Buddhist practice in Myanmar. perfected mental state. They are called Meditation, as described to me by Ashin vihara (abode or home) because they should Doctor Asabha, head abbot of the Shwe be the mind’s permanent dwelling place. War Win Meditation Center in Dagon, is They are not a place to visit occasionally but, “a cooling practice. In cooling the body, ideally, a permanent place, lived in and lived we mitigate , anger, greed, and through. Many meditation practices in the ignorance.” Bell makers similarly point to Theravada world are designed to cultivate the cooling aspect of the sounds created these sublime mental states. by well-made bells. For both humans and Each of these four mental states relates to spirits (who are equally caught up in the aspects of social relationships. Metta aims to

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 1 (2020) 13 promote the welfare of others and is one of to partake of your kamma is signaled in this the most theorized and discussed concepts context by sound, sending long-sustained of Theravada Buddhism and meditation tones out in radiating circles from the practice. It is the opposite of ill-will. Karuna source of merit. The sound of the bell is metta: is the hope and desire for all sentient beings loving-kindness. to be free from suffering and contrasts with The mental state of metta results in an cruelty. Mudita is found in the celebration action that is identifiable and measurable, of the successes and of others; and is a condition that inspires outwardly it counters jealousy and . visible future behavior. Mudita, in contrast, Finally, upekkha recognizes all sentient is a wholly internal state that contemplates beings as equals irrespective of current the past events of others and cultivates relationships, accepting the empathy with them. It is difficult to quantify of temporal relations. Meditation practice and measure and cannot be identified by cultivates these sublime states that are others, only by the self. It is known and felt considered immeasurable and infinite in only by the mind. Perhaps for this reason, the their reach. secondary literature on mudita is quite small What, then, is the relationship between compared to metta.29 Mudita is considered these states of mind and sound? On the to be the most difficult of the brahma pagoda platform, metta and mudita, in viharas to obtain, as it directly confronts particular, are associated with the act of base selfishness and jealousy. Sympathetic sounding and hearing the bells. After joy for someone else’s success is perhaps making an offering or prayer of any sort, in natural in the case of a parent delighting a public space or at a domestic shrine, one in the accomplishments of a child. To take strikes the bells (usually kaung laung or kyi delight in the achievements and successes of si) to acknowledge the offering and, as an act friends, colleagues, coworkers, strangers, or of loving-kindness (metta), to invite others enemies is more difficult. who hear the sound to share in the merit that As I hear a bell, I recognize that someone has been made. To make an offering clearly has made an offering or a prayer; I realize meritorious, other sentient beings (humans that person is earning merit and, as an act or spirits) are invited to participate in the of loving-kindness (metta), is asking me kammic deed as well. While dāna (offering) to share in their merit. This gift improves has a mundane political/social component my kammic legacy. As a receiver of the and serves specific worldly-power ends, it sound, I am not merely invited to share in also, as emphasized in the Buddhist canon, the merit but, as several monks highlighted cultivates generosity and nonattachment. to me, have an opportunity to be aware of Metta is the desired state for dealing with and to mark someone else’s success. I now fear, and enemies in particular. Thus, the celebrate that person’s accomplishments was the chosen text to recite and meritorious deeds. Hearing the during the 2007 political and economic sound of the bell is, in effect, a reminder uprising (the so-called Saffron Revolution), for me to cultivate mudita: to find joy in as monks confronted their fears and the achievements and advancements of enemies with loving-kindness. Sending someone else. Benefiting from someone loving-kindness to others by inviting them else’s merits may appear contradictory, but

14 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 1 (2020) while kamma may be evaluated individually, bridged by scholars of Sinhala Buddhism, there is an interconnected and social quality who argued it should be treated as having to its acquisition. two complementary systems: one an ethical As expressed by U Hla Aung, “I walk system (doctrinal Buddhism) centered on with my own agenda across the pagoda, Karma, meditation, and ultimately achieving focusing on my own problems; on my self. nibbana, the other . . . aimed at helping I suddenly hear the kyi si or a maung, and I devotees in this life through offering to recognize someone else—someone I do not deities.”31 Similar scholarship on Myanmar know but someone who is earning merit Buddhism32 casts doctrinal Buddhism at a and has invited me to join with them.” An musical (sonic) distance from other more opportunity to take joy and celebrate is at mundane (worldly) practices such as spirit hand through an invitation to partake of the () propitiation. Sykes challenges such action of someone else. The sound of the bell a division through a close reading of the is mudita: sympathetic joy. Berevā drumming tradition, asserting that it To strike a gong or hear a bell does not, of should be acknowledged as “Buddhist.” course, say anything about the actual mental The kaung laung, kyi zi, and other state of the participants. However, these dhamma instruments are not engaged spaces are designed to cultivate awareness of in a performative sense (akin to Berevā self and others, and many activities, such as drumming or the Burmese hsaing waing and circumambulation of the , recitation of nat pwe ceremony), but they are nonetheless prayers or suttas, and meditation, promote ubiquitous to the spaces where Buddhism such attentiveness. A full-body experience is practiced. The instruments and sounds in such spaces aims not only to cultivate that I have discussed highlight the ethical, awareness of our relationships with other doctrinal contexts (or frames), as well as sentient beings but also to raise awareness the more mundane and worldly contexts, of of our sense perceptions that feed particular practical Buddhism. They similarly bridge, mental states. The mental faculties of the or rather challenge, the conceptions of receiver (of sound, touch, sight) play a Buddhism as doctrine and philosophy built primary role in making one’s reality. on mindful meditation, on the one hand, and The musicology of Theravada Buddhism those of the worldly and magical associations is growing, but, as I have shown, it is still with deities and kammic intervention, on quite limited and primarily concerned with the other. chant (not considered music) and inattentive In the process of doing this research, my to nonvocal sounds.30 In The Musical Gift, own perceptions of Buddhist social space Jim Sykes proposes that a “division between have changed significantly. I have visited Buddhism as a cultural institution and ethical the Shwedagon and many other pagodas system has long made ‘Theravada Buddhist dozens of times over the years and enjoyed music’ appear equivalent to . the atmosphere created by the bells, but the . . while drumming in rituals . . . propitiating aural wallpaper of sound was peripheral to gods and demons struck observers as not my visual experience and not, so it seemed, authentically Buddhist.” The division something that should warrant my attention. between doctrinal Buddhism and the “spirit Shifting my perception to the kaung laung, religion,” Sykes continues, “was long ago the kyi si, and the small, shimmering bells

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 1 (2020) 15 that cover the (umbrella) of the pagoda In a conversation with U Hla Aung about spire, and then attending to what they reveal the shape of the kyi si, he sketches out with about my relationships with other beings in chalk the typical form of the instrument the vicinity, recalibrates my understanding that provides the purest tone and the of the community. I now move through the appropriate pulsations when spun. As he pagoda grounds differently. My awareness shares his thoughts on a long life of making has changed, and so have my perceptions of dhamma instruments and thinking about my relationship with others. In a very real their meanings, he continues to doodle on sense, those relationships have changed. the table, emphasizing particular lines of Bells don’t just ring: sounding them and the kyi si and further shaping the image. listening to them is an ethical imperative. He goes on to highlight the spirits that witness the bell, the feelings of calmness The Kyi Si that it produces, and the role it plays in Finally, specific attention to the kyi si offers actualizing an ideal state of mind. “The bell more specific connections to Buddhist is the Buddha,” he says emphatically, and, thought. The kyi si is a suspended, roughly with a flick of the chalk, the kyi si no longer triangular slab of metal. The shape reminds looks like a triangle but like an image of some people of the mythical , the Buddha in the bhumisparsa mudra, the an image found in most familiar mudra found among Burmese representing the center of the physical, Buddha images. Sitting in lotus position metaphysical, and spiritual universe. Mount with his right-hand fingertips touching the Meru is depicted in the artwork of countless ground, this mudra points to the moment Buddhist traditions. Visually, the flat disc of enlightenment when the earth was called blurs as it rotates in three-dimensional space to witness that the (now) Buddha had to create an impression of the mountain. overcome the temptations of . The sound created by a kyi si when struck The phenomenological knowing of a on the edge is unique. A loud, sharp, metallic place is a multisensory experience. On the clang is followed by a rapid vibrato of the platform of the pagoda, a charismatic space tone caused by the spinning plate. The sound imbued with deep historical and spiritual widens as the momentum of the plaque authority, all six senses are engaged in slows, stops, spins in the opposite direction, an experience that is set apart from the and accelerates again. Through the long mundane and understood through the sustain, a pulsing sound ebbs and flows as senses as sacred (bare feet, incense, white sound waves are compressed and stretched and gold visuals, bells chiming, and so on). from the spinning. The long sustain of the Despite the prohibition against music, kyi si slowly fades as the pulsations alternate a variety of sculpted sounds are used to between accelerando and decelerando. That facilitate numerous goals found in Burmese accelerating and decelerating beat patterns Buddhism. Examined through different can be found throughout many Buddhist vectors of inquiry, we here identify sounds musical traditions worldwide (log drums and sound-making objects (and the in temples, barrel drums and cymbals production and reception of the same) in in Tibet, the muyu in China) is a subject the political life of Buddhism, where they worthy of further study. are deployed to mark and herald worldly

16 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 1 (2020) status. We hear in the sounds of religious The cultivation of metta, karuna, mudita, practice the acquisition and the sharing and upekkha, the mental states of the divine, of kammic merit. Moreover, we attend is linked to the experience of producing and epistemologically to sound as it draws receiving sound and offers an insight into attention to the cultivation of particular the sonic community of Buddhism. In their mental states and dispositions. The three construction, production, distribution, interwoven groups of people here presented and sounding, kyi zi, kaung laung, and (dhamma instrument makers, consumers, other dhamma instruments show an devout laity and monks), who imagine, important aural dimension to the practice produce, distribute, create, receive, and of Buddhism. think about sounds, reveal that Buddhism is a tradition that is practiced through the creation and perceptions of sound.

NOTES

1 , The Four Sublime 4 See Julianne Schober, Modern Buddhist States (Penang, Malaysia: Buddha Education Conjunctures in Myanmar: Cultural Narratives, Colonial Association, Inc., 1999). Legacies, and Civil Society (Honolulu: University of 2 For examples of diverse music in northern Hawai’i Press, 2011); and Spiro, Buddhism and Society. Buddhism, see Pi-yen Chen, Chinese Buddhist 5 Michael Bull and Les Black, eds., The Auditory Monastic Chants (Middleton, WI: A-R Editions, Culture Reader (Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2003), 4. 2010); Jeffery W. Cupchik, “Buddhism as Performing 6 See Bhikku Bodhi, The Connected Discourses Art: Visualizing Music in the Tibetan Sacred Ritual of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya Music Liturgies,” Yale Journal of Music & Religion (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2000), 1123. 1/1 (2015): 31–62; Gavin Douglas, “Buddhist 7 Julianne Schober, “A Tooth Relic and the Music,” Oxford Bibliographies Online: Music (New Legitimation of Power,” in Frank E. Reynolds and York: Oxford University Press, 2015), http://www. Jason Carbine, eds., The Life of Buddhism (Berkeley: oxfordbibliographies.com; and Beth Szczepanski, University of California Press, 2000), 47. The Instrumental Music of Wutaishan’s Buddhist 8 John Strong, Relics of the Buddha (Princeton, Monasteries: Social and Ritual Contexts (Farnham, UK, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004), 78–79. and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2012). 9 Kees Terlouw, “Charisma and Space,” Studies 3 For Burmese contexts, see Melford Spiro, in Ethnicity and Nationalism 10/3 (2010): 336. Buddhism and Society: A Great Tradition and Its 10 With the notable exception of Yi Burmese Vicissitudes, 2nd ed. (Berkeley: University of Yuan, “When Soundscape Studies Encounter California Press, 1982 [1970]); Paul D. Greene, “The Buddhism: Methodology Development of Dhamma as Sonic Praxis: Chant in Burmese Soundscape Studies Conducted at Chinese Buddhist Theravāda Buddhism,” Asian Music 35/2 (2004): Temples,” Monititeteinen musiikintutkimus Suomen 43–78; and Céline Coderey, “Healing Sounds in Musiikintutkijoiden (Sixteenth Annual Symposium for Rakhine (Myanmar): Auspicious and Apotropaic Music Scholars in Finland), 2012. Recitations in a Theravada Buddhist Context,” in 11 Eliot Bates, “The Social Life of Musical Hearing Southeast Asia: Sounds of Hierarchy and Instruments,” Ethnomusicology 56/3 (2012): 363. Power in Context, ed. Nathan Porath (Copenhagen, 12 While not explicitly tied to Buddhist Denmark: NIAS Press, 2019), 307–40. practice, the Burmese harp has significant Buddhist

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 1 (2020) 17 associations through its repertoire, history, and 23 Jonah Fisher, “The Search for Myanmar’s construction. See Linda Simonson, “A Burmese Mysterious Dhammazedi Bell,” BBC News, Aug. Arched Harp (Saùng-gauk) and Its Pervasive 18, 2014, http://www.bbc.com/news/world- ,” Journal of the American Musical asia-28832296. Instrument Society 13 (1987): 39–64. 24 Khin Maung Nyunt, The Historic Bells of 13 Maung Htin Aung, “Alchemy and Alchemists Yangon (Yangon, Myanmar: Department of Historical in Burma,” Folklore 44/4 (1933): 346–54. Research and National Library, 2016). 14 Alicia Turner, Guillaume Rozenberg, and 25 Ibid., 27. Benedicte Brac de La Perrière, eds., Champions of 26 Paul Greene, “Dhamma as Sonic Praxis,” Buddhism: Weikza Cults in Contemporary Burma Céline Coderey, “Healing Sounds,” and Hammalawa (Singapore: NUS Press, 2014). Saddhatissa, “The Significance ofparitta and Its 15 For an account of Burmese metallurgy, see Application in the Theravada Tradition,” in David Sylvia Fraser-Lu, Burmese Crafts: Past and Present J..Kalupahana, ed., Buddhist Thought and Ritual (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1994). (Delhi: Motilala Banarsidass, 2001), 125–38. 16 The bhumisparsha mudra is the favored body 27 Thera, The Four Sublime States, 1. posture for Buddha statues in Myanmar. With the 28 See the Anguttara Nikaya Sutta 3.65 and Buddha’s right hand extending to touch the ground, The Path of Purification, written in the fifth century the gesture represents the moment of the Buddha’s c.e. by the scholar and commentator Buddhaghoṣa. awakening and the earth’s bearing witness to his : The Path of Purification: The Classic enlightenment. Manual of Buddhist Doctrine and Meditation, translated 17 Increasingly rare in the country, the from the by Bhikku Ñãnamoli (Sangharaja Karen bronze drum requires a particular specialized Mawatha, Kandy, : Buddhist Publication knowledge to forge accurately. U Hla Aung was Society, 2011). the only maker of these bronze drums in Mandalay. 29 See Nyanaponika Thera, Natasha Jackson, Shortly before my visit to him in the summer of 2013, C. F. Knight, and L. R. Oates, Mudita: The Buddha’s he had received an order to make ten such drums to be Teaching on Unselfish Joy: Four Essays, Access to placed in monasteries in Kayin (Karen) State: a large Insight (Legacy Edition), Nov. 30, 2013, http:// order that would take years to complete. That this www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/various/ rare drum has such associations with both political wheel170.html. power and ethnicity is significant. See Richard M. 30 Consider, for example, that Grove Music Cooler, The Karen Bronze Drums of Burma: Types, Online doesn’t mention Theravada Buddhism at Iconography, Manufacture, and Use (Leiden and New all. There is only a brief mention of chanting in York: E. J. Brill, 1995). Thailand: see Francesca Tarocco, “Buddhist Music,” 18 See, for example, Céline Coderey, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/ “Immortal Medicine: Understanding the Resilience /10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/ of Burmese Alchemic Practice,” Medical omo-9781561592630-e-0000004254 (accessed Anthropology 38/4 (2019): 412–24, DOI: Nov. 27, 2019). 10.1080/01459740.2018.1550756. 31 Jim Sykes, The Musical Gift: Sonic Generosity 19 Spiro, Burmese Buddhism,103 in Post-War Sri Lanka (New York: Oxford University 20 Schober, Modern Buddhist Conjunctures in Press, 2018), 27. Myanmar, 10. 32 Melford Spiro, Burmese Supernaturalism 21 Damrong Rajanubhab, Our Wars with the (New York: Routledge, 1996). Burmese (Bangkok: White Lotus Co., Ltd., 2001), 188–89. 22 See Aung Zaw, “Chiming with History,” The Irrawaddy, Feb. 23, 2018; and “Dragons Add Mythical Twist to Search for Dhammazedi Bell,” The Irrawaddy, Aug. 26, 2014.

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