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Buddhist and Sound
Pollution
Recently, the Sri Lanka Central Environmental Authority drafted plans to curb community sound pollution because it is considered a serious health hazard. Judging from articles and letters published in Sinhalese newspapers, many people who are disturbed by loudspeaker noise are looking forward for this plan to take effect. The authors of the letters and articles complain about the various kinds of loud sounds produced by the loudspeakers of religious institutions, music-shows, politicians, ice-cream and lottery sellers, schools, etc, and the mentally and physically disturbing effects of these sounds on those who have to hear them. Western
Buddhists who are visiting Buddhist countries in Asia for the first time are
surprised on how noisy the environment is due to the blatant use of
loudspeakers. They are even more surprised when discovering that a lot, if not
most, of the noise is coming from Buddhist temples. Religious institutions of
any kind, all attempting to assert their importance over others, are known to
be noisy—a famous German statesman once remarked that church-bells are the
artillery of the Christian clergy. The Buddhist newcomers though, having
learned the original Buddhist teachings, expect Buddhist monasteries to be very
quiet places, but reality is often otherwise. Buddhist village and city temples
are among the worst sound-polluters in the world. In Burma, loud chanting of
the huge Abhidhamma text called Patthāna is blared for hours and days from
loudspeakers. In Sri Lanka very slow and long drawn “protective” (paritta) chanting is sometimes chanted
through loudspeakers for the whole night until dawn. Many people in Sri Lanka
don’t need to use an alarm clock and are automatically forced to wake up at 5
am every day because Buddhist “protective” chanting recordings are blared from
neighbourhood temple loudspeakers for an hour. The Uposatha or observance days,
when Buddhist laypeople come to the monasteries and take the eight precepts,
are often the noisiest days because of the five-precept chanting and sermons
blared over loudspeakers. Likewise in Thailand and Cambodia Buddhist ceremonies
(and any kind of ceremonies and meetings) are not complete without loudspeakers.
It is not
only foreign Buddhist visitors who are suffering from the noise, Asian Buddhist
meditators too are troubled. There are many forest monasteries where the
meditating monks are regularly disturbed by loudspeaker noises from temples and
houses kilometres away. For example, the author of this article could hear at
the time of working on this article, early in the evening on a Saturday at a
hermitage on a hill in Kandy, a strange multi-religious melange of the
following loudspeaker sounds: Buddhist chanting from three temples, Sinhala
Christian folk music from a church (which had been going on non-stop the whole
day), and prayer calls from several mosques. For
anyone familiar with the original teachings of the Buddha, the deliberate
sound-pollution caused by Buddhists appears to be in straight contradiction to-
the Buddha’s own example and advice. There are many instances in the Buddhist
scriptures that indicate that Buddha and his disciples were lovers of quiet and
peace, and were commending it to others. For example, in several discourses it
is related that when ascetics of other sects saw the Buddha coming to visit
them, one of them would say: “Be quiet, Sirs! Don’t make a sound! It is the
ascetic Gotama who is coming. That venerable is a lover of quietness (appasaddā, lit. “without sound,” can also be translated as
“silence”), one who praises
quietness.” Similarly, when a disciple of the Buddha, such as Ānanda or
Anāthapindika, would come to visit ascetics, one of them would say, “Be
quiet… The venerables are lovers of quietness, disciplined in quietness, praising quietness.” The phrase
“disciplined in quietness” suggests that the Buddha trained his pupils in being
quiet. There are
two training rules in the Buddhist monk’s Code of Discipline, which state that
a monk should be quiet while going and sitting in inhabited areas. The origin
story to the rules is as follows: “The Buddha was living at Sāvatthī…
At that time the group of six bhikkhus was going among the houses making a
loud, great sound. People looked down upon it, complained, became irritated:
‘How can the sons of the Sakyan go among the houses making a loud, great
sound?!’ [The Buddha came to hear about it, called the monks, and said:]
‘Foolish men, how can you go among the houses making a loud, great sound?! It
will not lead to faith in those who have no faith; it will not lead to the
increase [in numbers] of those who have faith’… [and he laid down the training
rule:] ‘I shall go quietly in inhabited areas, this is a training to be
done.’’’ In the
Monuments to the Dhamma Discourse (MN 89), King Pasenadi said that he was
greatly impressed by the discipline of a large assembly listening to the Buddha
because there was not a single sound to be heard other than the Buddha
speaking. In the Dīgha Nikāya (DN 25) the noisy members of other
sects and the quiet, silent Buddha are contrasted: “Different are these
wanderers of other sects, who, having assembled and come together, are noisy,
making loud and great sounds, and are engaging in various kinds of pointless
talk such as talk about kings …. And different is the Fortunate One who uses
remote dwellings in forests, woods, and groves, which are quiet, free from loud
voices, deserted, secluded from people, conducive to seclusion.’’ In the Cātumā
Sutta (MN 67), it is related that a large group of monks headed by
Sāriputta and Moggallāna came to visit the Buddha. The monks, when
arriving in the monastery, made some noise while greeting resident monks and
setting up their lodgings. Hearing the noise, the Buddha asked his attendant
Ānanda, “Who are these loud and noisy people? They are like fishermen
hawking fish.” Then, after calling the visiting monks, the Buddha dismissed
them and told them to leave the monastery. Why did
the Buddha put so much emphasis on a quiet and peaceful environment? The reason
is simple: it is much easier to concentrate and focus the mind in a quiet
environment than in a noisy one. Only a peaceful, quiet environment provides
the right conditions for concentration and contemplation. This is why, for
example, in libraries there are signboards forbidding library users to speak
loudly and to make noise. In the context of Buddhist meditation, anyone who has
tried to meditate knows how sounds draw away the mind from its object of
meditation. Experienced meditators say that when the mind becomes quite calm, a
sudden loud sound can be physically and mentally quite shocking and painful.
According to the Buddha, loud sound is a major obstacle, a “thorn”, to the
first deep and stable stage of meditative calm, jhāna. It is
part of virtuous conduct to leave one’s neighbours in quiet and peace. The
noise one makes does not stop at the walls of one’s house but can affect the
whole community. When one deliberately disturbs others and deprives them of the
opportunity to study, think, meditate,
or rest, it can be considered a harmful act and therefore unwholesome. The
harmful effect of loudspeaker sounds is exemplified by a modern way of torture:
loud pop music is blasted for hours and days from loudspeakers at suspects and
victims in order to break their will. Of
course, there are occasions when the use of loudspeakers can be justified; for
example when a monk gives a sermon to a large crowd of people who otherwise
would not be able to hear him. But there is no need to turn the loudspeakers on
louder than is necessary to reach the whole crowd and to turn them outward from
the crowd so as to make the sound heard from miles away, as is often the case
now. The sermon should only be audible to those who are motivated enough to
come to the place where the speech is given. The
Buddha’s teachings emphasise compassion, tolerance and non-violence. The
Buddha, the peaceful sage, would strongly disagree with anyone noisily blaring
his teachings through loudspeakers, disturbing the peace and quiet of many,
including those who try to practise his teachings in the way he most
recommended, i.e., through meditation. Until recently, the Buddha’s teaching
was quietly spread by way of mouth and writing all over Asia; there was no need
for loudspeakers. The sound of sermons and chanting could not be heard from
kilometres away, but instead was confined to the place where it belonged. There
was no need to play loud “protective” chanting recordings in order to protect
Buddhism and assert its importance over other religions. On the contrary, as is
shown, in the passages quoted above, members of other religions were impressed
by the Buddha and his followers because of their quiet demeanour. The
loudspeaker was only invented in the 20th century and there is no indication
that Buddhists' faith has been strengthened because of its use. On the
contrary, making loud sounds seems antithetical to faith. It does not lead to
inspiring faith in those who have no faith and to the increase in those who
have faith, which are the reasons for the Buddha laying down disciplinary
rules. |