Chanting Inner Peace

So it's been 3 good years since I discovered this wonderful song above. It is The Prayer (Chanting Inner Peace) by Ketsana and it is truly one of the most peaceful and beautiful song I've ever heard in life. I am a bit sad that I cannot find this anywhere on iTunes or elsewhere. I really hope that she will make it available for purchase somewhere. Because it is truly a beautiful song! Apologies first, but I actually took the song off Youtube - and have been listening to this song almost everyday since I discovered it. 

It has 880 plays on iTunes! And if I'm not wrong it has a thousand plays on my old iPod :P

Like the title of the song, it truly gives me inner peace. I really have to thank Ketsana for this song. This song has helped me to get through tough times, back when I was still in Singapore and up till now. When I feel angry or stressed, sad or frustrated, I would just listen to this song to find a "balance" to my emotions and yep, this song is able to make me stable again. There are times in Singapore where I would put this song on repeat for an hour. Just to calm myself down.

So thank you very much Ketsana for this beautiful song. It has helped me a lot.

Talking about chanting, I'm currently doing my third resolution of the year! Which is to start my mini-book of Buddhism. I've been reading up a lot on Buddhist articles the past few days and it is pretty much an enlightening experience. I've been a bad Buddhist hah. I'm currently on the Noble Eightfold Path, and just finished on the Four Noble Truths. These two topics are the Buddha's first teachings after he gained enlightenment. Well I have heard and briefly read about them but I've never gotten into such depths like what I'm doing now. It is never too late to start I suppose! :)

I don't think I've told you this, but I have also been chanting Sutras everyday for... About a month? Or two? I forgot actually. But yes, I've been chanting 大悲咒 (The Great Compassion Sutra) and (般若波罗蜜多心经 (The Heart Sutra, or Prajna-Paramita Sutra) everyday, three times for each Sutra. It is also another resolution of mine to memorise these Sutras so that I can chant anywhere. And I've memorised almost the whole Sutra :D If you want to do the same, just chant everyday. Effortless memorising.

Now come the question - Why chant?

Okay this is a question I've been asking myself too. It is said that chanting the Great Compassion Sutra helps to alleviate or even free the sufferings of all living things. And to be honest, this is my main objective for chanting the Sutra everyday. As for the Heart Sutra, like I once mentioned in a post last month, I love the wisdom of the Sutra, and chanting everyday is like reminding myself of the wisdom of Prajna-Paramita everyday too. Reminder not to cling to the 5 aggregates, and be free of suffering.

And chanting the Great Compassion Sutra also helps to invoke compassion within us.

You know I read somewhere that chanting the Great Compassion Sutra may also clear all your bad karma, even the ones you had from your previous lives. But... I somehow don't really believe in this? I mean from what I know, whatever karma we create, good and bad, will always be there once created. And it cannot be cleared, and of course we will reap the good and bad karma as time goes by too. So I'm not sure if we can really clear our bad karmas simply by chanting.

And I also read somewhere that doubting a Dhamma is considered a sin.... Oh dear don't tell me I'm creating bad karma by "doubting" the benefit of chanting. But anyway like I said, I don't chant the Sutra to "clear" my bad karma, but mainly to wish and help free other living beings from their sufferings, and to invoke compassion within me. If chanting the Sutra helps to cleanse my bad karma then of course, I am thankful for it. But these two are my main objectives for chanting.

But all in all, a few days ago I came upon a saying by the late Venerable Dr. H. Saddhatissa Mahanayaka Thero, who said that almost all Buddhist practices are nothing else but some form of meditation. And I think these words sparked a bit of enlightening flame within me. Come to think of it, I do feel that chanting is a form of meditation too? Where we sit down, quietly, calmly, and do nothing but chant. After every chanting session, I feel calm and peaceful. And my mind is "light" and fresh. 

I remember a wonderful saying by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi: "In meditation, leave your front door and back door open. Let thoughts come and go. Just don't serve them tea."

From this quote, I have this analogy for our minds. Our mind is like a house. And everyday this house is being visited by a lot of guests known as thoughts and emotions. Imagine having a lot of guests coming to your house throughout the day. You'll feel tired right? So... When is the time of the day when you don't have these guests in your house? It's either when you're asleep, or when you're resting. You can help your house rest, by meditating, and chanting! These two activities are the times in your day when your mind doesn't have guests. When your mind is finally resting.

And like I've always believed, our mind is a very powerful thing. By letting your mind rest, you're training and taming your mind. And by training your mind you can do some powerful things with it. So I suppose this is where the healing part of chanting comes from. Some Sutras are deemed to help alleviate sickness and pain, some are able to heal too. So in a way, you're "healed" and "blessed" and "blissed" not because you chant the Sutras, but because you unconsciously train your mind while chanting the Sutras, and yup, your mind helps you to "heal" your condition. 

But anyho, I am just a human being. These are just my thoughts and my opinion so they are definitely not a 100% correct and proven true. At the end of the day, the teachings that I found to be true are the teachings of the Buddha - The teachings which I seek refuge in. And the way I want to follow is the Boddhisatva's way. Where I hope to help free the suffering of all living things on earth. And hence, like I said previously, I hope I can help alleviate the sufferings of all living things by chanting the Great Compassion Sutra, and I hope I can get the wisdom of Prajna-Paramita by chanting the Heart Sutra. 

Alright that's all for now, time to chant the Sutras soon! May all living things be happy :)