Spot Light
Music Therapy
The Importance Of Music
By Sister Initiate Pipi, Taipei, Formosa
"Music therapy" has been a
popular topic of research by
physiological and psychological
experts, who have recently
released data and statistics
supporting the fact that music
can affect the entire body. That
means, when one is listening to
music, the sensation is not just
limited to the hearing organs
and the hearing nerves in the
brain, the reception is
omni-directional. When one is in
an environment pervaded by
music, one's "whole body" is
"listening" and reacting. Music
has been found to produce a
three-dimensional influence on
the human body by affecting the
secretion and transmission of
the neurotransmitter polyphenol.
Some scientists have made use of
the transmission quality of
water by having deaf people
"listen" to music in this
liquid. Of course, they do not
listen with their defective
ears; rather, they "listen" with
their bodies. In the water, they
can sense the sound vibrations,
which make the hearing nerves in
their brain feel the music.
Therefore, we can clearly
understand the power of music
and its therapeutic effects. In
physics terminology, "music" and
"sound" are defined as that
generated by objects in intense
vibration which is transmitted
into the surrounding air,
changing the air density and
producing sound waves of
different wavelengths. When
these sound waves spread and
reach our eardrums, they
stimulate the hearing nerves and
yield a sound effect. This
brings us to the conclusion that
sound is one of many forms of
vibration. Light and sound are
actually two aspects of one and
the same thing. Vibration is
perceived by the eyes as light,
and received by the ears as
sound. Sound is audible light,
and light is visible sound. The
interface between the intangible
light and tangible substances is
the sound which falls somewhere
between the tangible and
intangible, serving as a
transformer or rectifier between
the two.
The sound wave is a path or
bridge for communication. When
we come home physically
exhausted, we play some light
music and let it pervade the
whole room, and we feel much
relaxed after a while. It is
because, after the connection
between our physical body and
soul has been severed, the sound
wave of music becomes a bridge
that helps the constricted
energy to circulate smoothly,
and thus revitalizes our
exhausted body. This resembles
the ribbon exercises that
children do. The ribbon stick is
held and shaken vigorously up
and down to create a sequence of
waves that are transmitted along
the ribbon, from the energizing
end to the free end until the
waves become uniform.
1. ------, the stable ribbon.
2. --, energy transmitting from
one end to the other
3. , equal vibration at both
ends
From a video tape for
educational purposes about the
work of Children's Development
Center, Cambridge British, I saw
how musical therapy was used to
help a child with multiple
deficiencies. The little girl
was unable to speak a whole
sentence and could not calm down
due to emotional handicaps. At
her first treatment, the
therapists failed to establish a
friendship with her. Unable to
cope with the strange
surroundings and people, she
kept screaming and wailing, and
even became aggressive.
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To divert her attention, a
therapist suddenly played a few
loud and harsh "musical" notes
on the piano. The child was
amazed to hear a sound even more
powerful than her wailing. Her
curiosity was aroused, her
puzzled expression indicating
her interest in finding out
where this strange sound came
from. And she calmed down.
The therapist stopped banging
down on the piano keys. Instead,
she switched to a soft and
melodious tune, and even
imitated the sounds of animals
in order to develop an
understanding and friendship
with the child. Gradually,
through musical activities,
rhythmic exercises and games,
the child became free of
agitation and felt herself on
firmer ground. She began to have
greater confidence in the
surroundings and in herself.
Simple utterances slowly gave
way to melodious humming. After
a period of two years in which
she also received a language
therapy, she was finally able to
speak in complete sentences.
A teacher of mine was originally
introvert, shy and quiet by
nature. However, heshe changed
completely into a lively,
active, and cheerful person
after studying at the Orff
Institute of Salzburg. The
institute had employed
instructional techniques that
were often used by musical
therapists.
Martin Luther once said, "All
music lovers are endowed with
heaven's grace."
I am sure that fellow Quan Yin
practitioners can best
understand the meaning of this
statement. As a popular
advertisement goes, "Children
who learn music won't become
bad!" Just by playing music or
receiving treatment using
musical instruments, patients
have been found to overcome
their depression and become
cheerful and self-confident;
even children who cannot receive
normal education due to multiple
mental deficiencies can be
taught to speak and overcome
their restlessness and bad
temper. As we practice the
supra-worldly sound of the Quan
Yin Method, the sound current
will definitely pervade our
body, heart and mind to purify
and elevate us, and take us back
to the magnificent homeland of
our souls-the heavenly kingdom.
This is the truly superb
"musical therapy" that
transcends all else!¡¹ |
¡i¡j==============================
Spoken By Supreme Master Ching Hai , MEXICO
April 1, 1993 (Originally In English)
Q : What's the importance of music
in our lives? Does it have any
importance ?
M: Yes. It does. It's very
important. This is why many
people in mental hospitals use
music as one of the healing
instruments. And sometimes after
a hard day's work, we listen to
some soft soothing music. It's
very relaxing and recharging.
And in some of the factories
they put music so that the
people work better. But that's
only the outer music. Can you
image how more beneficial it is
if we listen to the inner music,
the music from heaven, which
initiation will help you to
rediscover.
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This music is the word of God.
It will give us more and more
wisdom, more and more
intelligence each day. Together
with the light of God, it will
bring us closer and closer to
the Father, and then tell us
everything in this non-verbal
language how to handle our daily
lives. That's how the life of
the initiates becomes better,
more comfortable, more
intelligent and nearer to God
each day.¡¹ |
Spoken By Supreme Master Ching Hai United Nations N.Y. U.S.A.
June 26, 1992 (Originally In English)
It sounds too religious when we
say the Kingdom of God. It's
actually just some level of
higher consciousness. The people
in the old days, they said that
it is heaven, but in scientific
terms, we can say it is a
different higher level of
knowledge, a higher level of
wisdom. This we can have access
to, should we know how.
So lately in America, we have
all heard of the latest
invention -- that people even
have a machine to put you into
samadhi. Have you experienced
this? You haven't? No? It's in
America, four hundred to seven
hundred, depending on what level
you want. This is for the lazy
people who don't want to
meditate, just want to be right
in samadhi. Now, in case you
don't know, I'll be brief about
that.
They say that this kind of
machine can put you into a
relaxed mental state then you
will achieve a high level of IQ.
That's supposed to give you high
knowledge, high wisdom and then
you feel great, etc etera. This
machine uses some selected outer
music, so you need earphones,
and then they put some electric,
probably, currents that
stimulate you, Then you probably
see some flashes. So you need
also a blindfold. The earphones
and a blindfold, that's all you
need for samadhi. This is very
good, and four hundred dollars
-- very cheap. But our samadhi
is even cheaper, it costs
nothing, and it's forever. You
don't need to charge with
batteries or electricity, plug
in, plug out; or in case the
machine goes out of order, you
don't need to go and fix it.
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Now, even if the artificial
light and music can make people
become so relaxed and so wise --
it is supposed to give them
this, but I have only read in a
newspaper what it's supposed to
do, I haven't tried it myself.
So that's why it is very hot and
has sold a lot, I've heard. Even
these artificial things can put
us into a relaxed mood and
increase our IQ, then can you
imagine how much the real thing
can help us in our wisdom? The
real thing is beyond this world
but it's accessible to every
man, should we want to contact
it. This is the inner heavenly
music and the inner heavenly
sound. And depending on the
intensity of the inner light or
inner music, we can push
ourselves beyond this world, go
into a deeper level of
understanding.
I guess it's just like the laws
of physics. If you want to send
some rocket beyond gravity, you
have to have a lot of pushing
power behind it. Also when it
flies very fast it emanates some
light. So I guess when we go
fast into the beyond, we also,
radiate some light, and can hear
the sound.
The sound is a kind of
vibrational power that pushes us
into the higher levels, but it
does that without any noise,
without much trouble and no cost
and no discomfort to the
"experiencer". That's the way to
go into the beyond.
And what is beyond this world
that is better than our world?
Everything that we can imagine
and cannot imagine. Once we
experience it, then we know. No
one else can tell us really. But
we have to be persistent in
that, and we have to be truly
sincere.¡¹ |
Spoken By Supreme Master Ching Hai in Canada
February 26, 1991 (Originally In English)
So, Quan Yin means contemplating
the sound. Now, I'll explain
something more about the sound
so that you understand. In order
to practice to be near God we
must follow the source, the
stream, the life current -- to
go back to where it comes from
because we come from that. Just
like the river, if we go along
the river side, we'll go back to
the source where the river comes
from. Now the sound manifests
itself in many stages. The
coarsest stage is in this world.
And we hear many things --
music, talking, language. We use
this kind of visible or audible
sound to the ordinary ears to
communicate and even to transmit
some of the understanding of the
invisible sound. The invisible
sound is God, which is also
connected with this visible
sound, but in a finer, in a more
subtle degree. Once we
understand what the so-called
master or our teacher or our
guide says about the invisible
sound, and that we want to
connect with that source,
through the spoken words, then
after instruction by this
teacher or guide or expert, we
can contact the finer sound
which is above this physical
sound, above this physical
world. We must raise our
consciousness higher in order to
catch this sound.
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Now our consciousness is just
stuck in the physical body in
different directions. Through
the eyes, it sees things.
Through the ears, it hears the
sounds of the physical world.
Through the touch, it
experiences the surroundings and
all the entities, and all the
existing objects in this world.
But if we withdraw this
so-called consciousness to a
certain point in the body, for
example, here (Master points to
the wisdom eye). Then, we can
rise higher through this door to
a more subtle world, in order to
experience the more subtle
levels of consciousness, the
more subtle existences or
worlds, and hear the more subtle
sound.
But the subtle sound also
connects with this physical
sound, too. But it's just on a
different level. In order to
hear that, we must be
concentrated and somewhat
distracted from the outer
environment for a while. And the
so-called masters or experts
should be able to help us to do
this in no time, immediately.
That's why it's called immediate
enlightenment. enlightenment
means we can see light. The
light in us is enlightened. Now,
we can see light or the heavenly
world and hear the sound of the
higher world. That's what's
called enlightenment, through
the process of sound connecting
with the original sound of the
universe, which is the "word" in
the Bible, or the sound of many
waters, etc. in the Buddhist
Sutras. Anyone who is able to
help us to connect ourselves
with this original sound or
God's energy, is called a
master.¡¹ |
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