The Energy Of Chanting

Many of us have had the experience of chanting on autopilot while our brains have taken us in all different directions and then suddenly we’re at the end of the chant. Or sometimes we end up repeating verses or skipping verses—and suddenly everyone in the sangha is confused! Zen Master So Sahn in the Mirror of Zen cautions us against chanting in a pro forma manner: “Merely chanting with the lips is nothing more than recitation of the Buddha’s name. Chanting with a one-pointed mind is true chanting. Just mouthing the words without mindfulness, absorbed in habitual thinking, will do no real good for your practice.” As with all meditation practice, we must bring our attention back over and over again to the chant, the sound of our voice and the sounds of the voices around us. Zen Master Dae Bong said, “If there is any kind of thinking, any kind of feeling, or any kind of thing going on, take that energy and put it into the sound. Then there is no thinking at all, only the sound.”

Chanting is a wonderful practice both in together action and when practicing alone. The energy of strong together action in chanting upholds us, bonds us, and soothes the heat of our passions and thinking mind. The solitary chants or mantras at dawn bring centeredness to the day. The sound of chanting carries into the room and out into the world, touching lives with the compassion of Kwan Seum Bosal or the blessings of the Great Dharani.

Excerpt from Chanting: Moved By Love
Primary Point Summer 2022, Volume 39, Number 2
By Rebecca Otte JDPSN