Alaya SoundLab
A Digital Lab for Dharma Music
We're a digital lab exploring how music and technology can serve dharma transmission. Every teaching at Alaya SoundLab starts with carefully selecting source material—whether working from English-language teachings by contemporary masters, respected existing translations of classical texts, or undertaking new translations from Tibetan sources under scholarly guidance. This is followed by creative direction from trained practitioners. AI tools handle the technical production, but the scholarship, artistic vision, and spiritual intention remain entirely human. From traditional prayers reimagined to modern masters in bossa nova—we're bridging ancient wisdom and contemporary sound.
Until now, most Dharma music attempts have tried to keep traditional melodies or emulate traditional Indian or Tibetan musical styles. This can be genuinely beautiful and has its place—we deeply respect these offerings. But this approach also tends to keep Dharma still feeling exotic rather than bringing Dharma into our culture. It can position Buddhist teachings as something "other"—beautiful, appropriate for practice settings but still outside the musical language most people actually listen to daily.
Some contemporary projects are beginning to explore modern genres. However, much of this is beautiful "art music"—music to watch and admire—but less often music people would sing along to in their free time, or play on repeat during their commute. These projects are valuable and we celebrate them. But Alaya SoundLab hopes to add something to this growing movement, not replace it. We're not trying to diminish carefully human-produced music—that work is precious. We're simply exploring a different approach: using technology to rapidly experiment across genres, making teachings accessible in the musical languages people actually live with daily. Because millions of people, especially younger ones, are far more interested in listening to pop, rock, jazz, electronic, or samba than traditional devotional music. That's not a rejection of Dharma—it's simply the musical language new generations in the West speak.
Alaya SoundLab wants to explore deeper: What if Milarepa's spontaneous songs or even the wisdom of contemporary masters were expressed in the musical idioms that actually move people today? What if Mahamudra's mind-bending vastness was explored through psychedelic rock? What if profound teachings met you in the music you already love?
Our Approach:
Vibe Coding Meets Dharma
At Alaya SoundLab, we're pioneering what might be one of the first explorations of applications of "vibe coding" to Buddhism, and surely we are the first to explore vibe coding to make music with Dharma—and we couldn't have found a more natural fit.
What Is Vibe Coding?
Coined by AI researcher Andrej Karpathy in early 2025, vibe coding describes a creative paradigm where you focus on high-level intent—the emotional essence, the feeling, the vibe—while AI handles the technical execution. Instead of programming note-by-note or, in the case of music, building tracks layer-by-layer, you work more like a director: humming a melody, describing a mood, guiding the atmosphere you want to create.
"Vibe coding is an emerging creative coding paradigm in 2025, focused on merging intuition, emotion, and algorithmic logic into artistic and musical projects. Think of it as coding that captures a project’s “vibe” — where human feeling inspires the algorithmic flow. Vibe coding allows programming to become an extension of the creator's personality and intentions, seamlessly integrating self-expression into the code."(Vibe Coding for Creative Projects: Mastering Art, Music & More)
It's iterative, conversational. You offer intention. The AI responds. You refine. It evolves. Back and forth until the output matches your inner vision.
The Philosophy Behind Vibe Coding
Vibe coding rests on three core principles:
Intuition-led design: Code that mimics natural creative impulses rather than rigid logic
Emotional resonance: Algorithms crafted to evoke or respond to moods and feelings
Algorithmic flexibility: Programs that generate unpredictable yet meaningful outcomes
It’s like turning your creative process into a live conversation between you and the digital canvas, where the code listens and adapts.
(Vibe Coding for Creative Projects: Mastering Art, Music & More)
Intention Over Implementation
This is more than a production technique. It's a philosophy that honors both traditional wisdom and contemporary tools. We're not trying to mechanize Dharma or replace human creativity—we're using technology the way Buddhism has always used skillful means: to make the teachings accessible, memorable, and transformative for the people who need them now.
The vibe we're coding? The timeless frequency of awakening, translated into the musical languages that move hearts today.
Feel curious about Vibe Coding? Start by reading "The Tao of Code" by the legendary music producer Rick Rubyn
Why This Matters for Dharma Music
This approach aligns beautifully with how Dharma itself works. Buddhist teachings have always been about transmitting essence across cultures and languages—not clinging to rigid forms, but adapting skillfully to meet people where they are.
When we transform a teaching into music, we're not just translating words. We're translating feeling—the texture of compassion, the spaciousness of wisdom, the energy of devotion. Vibe coding lets us work at that level naturally. We can focus on whether a passage needs the warmth of bossa nova or the expansive quality of psychedelic rock, rather than getting lost in technical production details.
How We Work
Our process begins with rigorous human scholarship: selecting genuine Buddhist teachings or translating Dharma texts, understanding their context, selecting passages that carry transformative potential. Then comes the musical direction—choosing genre, emotional tone, melodic direction.
From there, we enter the creative "jam session" with AI. We hum melodies, describe atmospheres, guide arrangements through conversational feedback. The AI becomes our production partner, handling the intricate layering and technical execution while we maintain complete artistic direction.
Every decision—text selection, genre choice, emotional arc, final approval—remains human. We're the translators, the directors, the guardians of dharma integrity. AI is our instrument, responsive to our vision.
Why Alaya SoundLab was created?
Vibe coding indeed has endless possibilities of applications to the Dharma (And I am interested in explore many of them!), but I have chosen to start with music, taking my younger self as inspiration. Although I had encountered the Dharma in my early 20s, I was far more interested in listening to music than attending religious teachings or sitting through lectures. The Buddhadharma was profound, but it felt distant from my life and didn't speak to me as the music that deeply moved me.
Now, after a few decades, I see the same pattern in my 18-year-old son, who took refuge at 16yo but is still way more interested in listening to music than attending lectures or even sitting down to read prayers. He's a sincere admirer of the Buddha, but contemporary music speaks his language in ways that traditional presentations sometimes don't. Here's what I notice: he'll spend hours exploring Spotify and minutes with Dharma texts. Traditional lectures don't hold his attention the way music does.
So these questions won't leave me alone: What if these worlds could converge? What if dharma teachings could be transformed into songs—singable, memorable, impossible to forget—while preserving their original meaning? What serves the Dharma more: distracted reading profound wisdom once while retaining almost nothing, or carrying them in your heart word-by-word because they're set to music we love? And could well crafted music be the first spark for seeking the authentic Dharma path for younger generations?
Alaya SoundLab exists because I need to know the answers. Not theoretically—practically. So these aren't abstract questions; Alaya Sounds is my laboratory for finding real answers.
This work is for young practitioners like my son, for music-oriented people like myself, and for anyone who wants Dharma to flavor their entire life—not just their formal practice.
If the Buddhadharma's wisdom could accompany us through our daily soundtrack, in post-meditation, as naturally as on the cushion, wouldn't that be worth exploring?
The Vision: Seeding a Movement
Alaya SoundLab embraces AI production and vibe coding because it unlocks creative possibilities that would otherwise remain inaccessible—enabling us to experiment rapidly across genres, iterate on emotional tones, and transform Dharma wisdom into contemporary music without the constraints of traditional production timelines, and, especially, the very high costs.
This human-AI collaboration allows for bold creative exploration: testing whether a teaching resonates better as lo-fi, psychedelic rock or bossa nova, refining subtle shifts in mood and energy, and discovering unexpected musical expressions of ancient wisdom.
I envision a future where many talented musicians—those who can bring the irreplaceable depth of human artistry, lived practice, and embodied wisdom—feel inspired to create Buddhist music in the genres people actually listen to: lo-fi, indie rock, electronic, hip-hop, R&B, folk, whatever musical language resonates with contemporary audiences, be it by vibe coding or with only traditional means. Some musicians are already doing contemporary Dharma music beautifully, and I hope Alaya SoundLab demonstrates there's both need and appetite for more.
Currently, Alaya SoundLab operates through careful human-AI collaboration: human creativity shapes the Dharma message into musical form, determining rhythm, genre, and emotional tone. When possible, original melodies and reference vocals are composed by humans, which then, through vibe coding, AI develops into full productions under precise creative direction. Whether working from human-composed melodies or detailed musical parameters, every track reflects intentional human choices about how the teaching should sound and feel—AI serves as the production tool, not the creative vision.
If Alaya SoundLab can demonstrate that dharma deserves a place in contemporary music culture and inspire even a handful of talented musicians to explore this path, it will have served its purpose. Think of these AI-assisted tracks as seeds—catalysts for a larger movement.
The goal isn't to replace human musicianship with AI, but to prove there's an audience hungry for wisdom wrapped in contemporary sound—and to also invite skilled artists to meet that hunger
with their full creative talents.
Do you feel inspired to make Dharma music with us?
We would love to have more translators and musicians collaborating with us.
Let us know how you would like to make Dharma music for the benefit of all beings
