“Singing bowl enthusiast Rain Gray shared an interview with an elderly Tibetan monk in 1989 which he claims finally proves that Tibetans DID use and know about singing bowls. The interview transcript is a fascinating (and frustrating) exercise in miscommunication and confirmation bias. Interviewing his informant Lama Lobsang Leshe through another refugee monk with limited English, it’s clear that Gray has already decided a priori that singing bowls existed in Tibet and were used as musical, mystical instruments. Gray’s monk informant from Drepung monastery in Tibet appears to be talking about various bowl-shaped relics, bowl manufacturing centers, and eating and offering bowls possessed by monks at his monastery, and later on, Buddhist ideas about the nature of sound and emptiness as mentioned above, but Gray interprets these statements within his existing framework. Gray assumes most of the time that when his informant is talking about a bowl, he is talking about the ‘singing bowl’ with which he is concerned, a problem no doubt compounded by his translator, who seems to use ‘singing bowl’ quite loosely to translate the older monk’s statements, considering that no specific equivalent term for ‘singing bowl’ exists in Tibetan.”

One thing that’s useful about Gray’s interview is that it touches on metal bowl manufacturing practices in general in pre-1950’s Tibet, and brings up the question of bowl relics. Throughout the Buddhist world, various legendary histories and elaborations have developed around the nature and fate of the Buddha’s begging bowl, all of which is interesting to look at as part of more general ideas about religion and materiality, sacred objects, and oral history. I’m not sure that these histories relate directly to the history of New Age singing bowls, however.

Thanks again, Mitch. I too look forward to reading more about your research on Bönpo sound healing practices!