Origins, History and Usage of the Tibetan Singing Bowl

By Trishna Nirmala

Origins

In Buddhist practice, singing bowls are used as a support for meditation, trance induction and prayer. For example, Chinese Buddhists use the singing bowl to accompany the wooden fish during chanting, striking it when a particular phrase in a sutra, mantra or hymn is sung. In Japan and Vietnam, singing bowls are similarly used during chanting and may also mark the passage of time or signal a change in activity.

The sue of singing bowls in Tibet is the subject of much debate and many stories. Some people say they were used for meditation while others say they were magical tools for transformation of self and of matter.



As Perry (!996) and Jansen (1992) state, little is known in western scholarship regarding Himalayan singing bowls. It is likely they were used in rituals, having a specific function like other instruments (such as the ghanta, tingsha and shang).

History

The oral and written traditions from the Himalayan region are vast and largely unknown in the west. To date, no specific texts have been found discussing the use of singing bowls in depth, but according to Joseph Feinstein of Himalayan Bowls (2006), paintings and statues dating from several centuries ago depict singing bowls in detail.

Singing bowls from at least the 10th-12 century are found in private collections. The tradition may date significantly earlier since bronze has been used to construct musical instruments since ancient times. Bronze bells from Asia have been discovered since as early as the 8th-10th century BCE (Feinstein, 2006).

Usage

Singing bowls are played by the friction of rubbing a wooden, plastic, or leather wrapped mallet around the rim of the bowl to produce overtones and a continuous 'singing' sound. Genuine antique singing bowls produce a complex chord of harmonic overtones.

Singing bowls may also be played by striking with a soft mallet to produce a warm bell tone.

Antique singing bowls are unique because they are multiphonic instruments, producing multiple harmonic overtones at the same time. Antique singing bowls are the fruit of sophisticated metallurgy, techniques currently deemed lost and provide a unique study in the time line of materials technology as do high quality bells and other instruments.

The overtones are a result of their metalworking and fabrication which consists of multiple metals and were produced by a sophisticated hammered or beaten technique. The majority of new bowls are cast metal and not hammered and beaten with Metalworking hand tools, and produce only one tone.