
Cambridge Composers’ Competition: towards a Western Buddhist Culture
On Tue, 6 March, 2012 - 06:22
“Engagement with the Arts is encouraged as an integral part of Buddhism in our community. Finding artistic forms that speak to us as Western Buddhists is a major part of this engagement. What would the Dharma chanted by Western Buddhists need to sound like to speak to us as Buddhists and Westerners?. With this in mind a Composers’ Competition was staged in November 2011 in Cambridge, UK.
Arthasiddhi, who envisaged and organised the competition, sent out a call to composers in Triratna to set three verses from the Dhammapada to music for an unaccompanied untrained choir. His challenge to would-be entrants was to write something simple to be taught to sangha members in a short workshop; a cash prize was to be awarded to the piece best liked by a Cambridge sangha audience. The verses were -
“Happy indeed we live, friendly amid the haters.
Amongst those who hate, we dwell free from hate.
Happy indeed we live, healthy amid the sick.
Amongst those who are sick, we dwell free from sickness.
Happy indeed we live, content amid the greedy.
Amongst those who are greedy, we dwell free from greed”.
By the closing date, five settings had been submitted - by Akashadeva, Emma Choporian, Yashodaka, Vipulakirti and Graham Patterson. And just before Sangha Day the five pieces were performed by a choir of singers from Cambridge and London to an audience of about fifty people, who were led by hosts Bodhivajra and Locana through the process of voting for the different submissions.
The pieces performed were varied. For example, one was in a style reminiscent of a Gregorian chant, while another had the form of a round. There were differing numbers of voices; some pieces used the full Dhammapada text while others just used the first verse or particular phrases from the text.
As the judges were busy adding votes and collating feedback, guest speaker Maitreyabandhu gave a talk entitled “The Poetics of Awakening: Rambles Around a New Buddhist Culture”, managing to further enrich the evening whilst distracting the audience from the anticipatory tension in the air as they waited for the result of the competition. The results were then announced by Bodhivajra and Locana in traditional reverse order, with some quotes from the feedback.
There was a surprise: an exact tie for second place! Emma Choporian’s and Vipalakirti’s pieces were therefore performed again and the audience gave a tie-breaking show of hands, which nudged Vipalakirti’s submission into second place. However, there was a clear winner, which was the setting by Graham Patterson. This piece was both lovely accessible and very versatile, incorporating 5-8 different parts in both Pali and English, including a repeated background chant of “susukham”. (meaning “completely or perfectly happy”) A short video was made of the five pieces, starting with the winner.
The following Sunday was Sangha Day at the Cambridge Centre, so we had a chance to try out the piece, which Arthasiddhi taught to a small group in an afternoon workshop over a couple of hours, and then to the sangha at large that evening in about ten minutes before the puja! It passed the test and was easy and enjoyable to learn.
The story does not quite end there as Graham very generously gave the prize money to Padmaloka Retreat Centre to put towards the project of filling their shrine room with art by Aloka. We are planning another competition this year - arthasiddhi [at] windhorse.biz (contact us) for details”.
view our community guidelines for promoting good conversation
Community Guidelines
Here are key excerpts from our community content guidelines, which are designed to help create a positive environment for everyone:
1. Please be courteous at all times. If you’re engaged in any kind of discussion, be as prepared to listen as you are to express yourself. Remember that there’s always a real person behind a computer/device screen, and they are likely quite different from you.
2. Think twice before posting anything that’s likely to give offence or be inflammatory. That doesn’t promote good conversation. If you’re upset at something you see here, perhaps let a little time pass before responding. Bear in mind this isn’t a space to vent our views, it’s about exploring respectfully with others what it means to be a Buddhist within our community and in the modern world generally.
3. We may remove posts or comments that are considered off-topic.
4. Everyone has off-moments, and we’ll always try to be in friendly dialogue with you if a problem arises with one of your contributions. But we reserve the right to remove posts and comments (or even suspend user accounts) when we feel these guidelines are not observed.
5. Our current editorial policy around Safeguarding is aligned with the advice given by those tasked with developing Triratna’s approach to this important area of ethical life. If anyone breaches current policy by posting in ways that mean The Buddhist Centre Online potentially break the law by hosting the material, then we will have to remove their posts or comments. We respectfully request that all users bear this in mind when posting. If in doubt, please feel free to ask first before posting. It will save time, energy, and lead to less potential polarisation in these spaces, even if there is disagreement.
Whatever you contribute we very much encourage you to think about it in the light of the Buddhist ethical precepts around 'Right Speech'. These encourage communication that is: truthful, kindly and gracious, helpful and harmonious. We look forward to all you have to bring to the site!
Moderation
We try to keep things light when it comes to moderation of posts and comments within this shared space. And we ask the community itself to lead with this. If you have seen something that concerns you, please feel free to contact us. However, we do ask that you bear in mind the following guidelines, which will help preserve a harmonious atmosphere throughout the site:
Remember there is always a person behind the post or comment you’re objecting to. They may just be having a bad day… If you’re upset, perhaps let a little time pass before responding to them or us. Try contacting the person first in a spirit of open, courteous engagement to see if hearing their perspective changes your own view of things, or if hearing yours changes theirs. Take care to make sure what you are asking us to look at is actually against the spirit of the group or the site itself, rather than simply a difference of view or of personal taste. If in doubt, ask a friend and/or the administrator of the group.
The most important things about this is the first bit: we ask the community to lead with this. That means you! Thanks for helping us promote good conversations on The Buddhist Centre Online.
Read the full set of Community Guidelines