soft on the inside
One of the things I miss from home is the many eclectic and atmospheric markets, hemmed in from above with string and tarp, or acres of corrugated iron, and invariably crammed with everything under the sun.
From fruits and vegetables-most-curious, as tasty as they are unusual, to the "authentic" designer labels, DVDs and software at super-knockdown prices, there's something for everyone. There are invariably items of local or religious interest, and it's often possible to discover something unusual when you rummage, but somewhere along the way I managed to completely miss a whole group entirely; I mean what the hell is a singing bowl?
I came across a couple of these in a little Tibetan shop in, of all places, Covent Garden, where I was offered one of these things to "try". Okay! Er, how? Apparently my lack of cognition was expected; it turns out that these bowls, traditionally made of seven different metals to represent the major planets of the solar system, are narrowly used in meditation to achieve a state of relaxation.
Making a wine glass 'sing' - and sometimes shatter - is something many of us have tried at least once. The premise is the same here; rub the stick along the outer edge of the bowl, and in seconds the quiet scratch of wood on metal takes on an edge, and as you fall into a more natural motion (at which my accomplice becomes unable to stop with the innuendo), the bowl starts to vibrate at a frequency very much its own, resonating so heavily that the sound it makes is surprisingly loud. And you can really feel it in your chest and fingers; heck, the whole shop stopped to peer at what I was doing.
I'm not particularly into the spiritual, much as it interests me, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this simple ritual; and it was dead calming. It makes some sense that it should affect how we feel; science has demonstrated time and time again that we respond strongly to sounds, especially deep bass tones, probably an artefact of our nine months in a watery place. If I was into meditation, I'd certainly get one of these. Intriguing.
A new angle on sticky rice.
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There are temples where you can find bowls like this over a metre across. It takes two monks to activate them by slowly walking around the edge with sticks, and the vibration is so deep that you can feel it in the air and your your chest. It feels weird, which probably makes people associate it with a connection to the spiritual world.
Strange, I've never heard of them. I'll have to keep my eyes open for one. And I've certainly never seen one at my local pasar malam...
Nor I; I'm guessing that they are very much the domain of buddhists who practice less orthodox, ritual meditation. And they're sold here as accent pieces!
I was 8-years-old when someone showed me how to make a ordinary wine-glass 'sing'. That was forty years ago but what an unforgettable day. You just made me realize that that day was the first and only time in my life that I felt a real sense of POWER. I will certainly watch for the glasses in your photo. I want one of those and I want to get my POWER back.
Glad to hear that you've re-discovered a fond memory. I've done some background reading since I made that entry, and it seems that there is quite a[n unorthodox] science behind it all. Since the bowls all differ in size and thickness, the notes they resound with can vary tremendously (better hand-made bowls produce two notes, one high, one low), and can be divided based on the regions of the body that they affect. There's a chart here:
http://discoverthesound.com/sys-tmpl/chakrachartcolors/
...which while nice to look at, would bother me a little as I'd have thought that different individuals would each react differently. Perhaps it's useful as just a guide.
In any case, if you go to www.ebay.com and put in a search for "singing bowl", you'll come up with many affordable hits.
Strange, I don't think they sell crosses or Virgin Marys as 'accent pieces'... maybe we should demand equality?