Beyond Bells and Religious Chants

The article opens with a simple provocation: "Buddhist Music: What is it? Is it gongs, bells, and chants? Well, yes. And, no."

While traditional ceremonial sounds remain important in Buddhist practice, the piece argues that as dharma has traveled West, the very definition of what constitutes Buddhist music has radically expanded. Sound has always been central to Buddhism—from the oral transmission of teachings before written texts existed, to the songs of Milarepa, the tantric yogi and poet who taught through music.

Listening With Your Whole Body

The article features a powerful passage from Haleigh Atwood's piece "The Power of Sound," noting that Milarepa is often portrayed "with his head cocked and a hand cupped to his ear, listening with his whole body."

Atwood writes that sound "urges us to remember what we often forget" and that the ring of a bell "acts as a humble reminder that this sound has existed longer than any one of us."

Punk Rock Dharma?

Here's where it gets interesting. Lion's Roar points out that modern Buddhist-influenced music is "varied, fun, and meaningful." The piece uses a clever example: if you grew up as a punk-rock kid, you might have discovered Ruin, described as the "first Buddhist punk band."

The key insight? "Music plays a huge part in many people's lives, and that isn't going to change when they take up a Buddhist practice." You don't need to abandon your record collection for monastery chants.

Genre-less Dharma

Today's Buddhist-influenced music spans an astonishing range. The article notes that traditional elements "might be sampled or stood in for by scalding punk guitars, otherworldly vocals, or wholly unforeseen new approaches across a variety of genres."

From jazz to metal to rap to hybrid forms, the connections to Buddhism might be explicit or subtle. As the piece observes, "like the dharma itself, Buddhist-inspired music can prompt us to see beyond the boundaries we so often take for granted."

The Liberating Conclusion

The article's ultimate message is beautifully simple: Buddhist music today can be "(almost) anything."

This isn't about diluting the dharma—it's about recognizing how Buddhist wisdom has always adapted to new cultures and forms. Whether through ancient chants or contemporary beats, the essential teaching remains: sound can be a vehicle for awakening, for remembering our interconnectedness, for transmitting wisdom across generations.

For anyone creating music informed by Buddhist teachings—whether lo-fi, rock, electronic, or entirely new genres—this Lion's Roar piece offers validation: you're part of a living tradition that has always evolved while maintaining its essence.

The Gap That Remains

While Lion's Roar's article celebrates the diversity of Buddhist-influenced music, the accompanying playlist reveals a striking reality: there's still a significant scarcity of high-quality contemporary dharma music designed for modern listeners.

The examples cited remain relatively niche and scattered across decades. And the contemporary music landscape is filled with aesthetic borrowing—singing bowls sampled over generic beats, Buddha imagery slapped onto covers—but genuine transmission of dharma through modern musical forms remains rare.

This gap represents both a challenge and an opportunity. Today's audiences—especially the 18-35 demographic that has embraced meditation, mindfulness apps, and ambient music—are hungry for content that delivers both sonic quality and substantive wisdom. They're streaming billions of "chill beats to study/relax to," yet none of these tracks carry any authentic wisdom or deeper meaning beyond pleasant background noise.

The need isn't for more traditional chanting recordings or Western musicians vaguely gesturing toward "Eastern spirituality." What's missing is a greater generation of artists who can do the difficult work of genuine translation—taking classical Buddhist teachings and encoding them into contemporary genres with both musical integrity and spiritual authenticity.

As Lion's Roar notes, the dharma has always spoken through the musical forms of its time. Milarepa didn't preserve ancient songs; he created new ones for his students. The question facing us now: who will create the dharma music that speaks to this generation? Who will fill the playlists of seekers looking for something deeper than generic "mindfulness music"?

The article points toward possibility. The actual catalog of work reveals how much room remains for artists willing to bridge ancient wisdom and modern sound with skill, authenticity, and creative courage.

Read the full article: "What Is the Sound of Buddhist Music Today?" by Lion's Roar, December 14, 2020.

Bodhisattva Vow - Beastie Boys (1994)