a journal of congregational song - shasta abbey journal of congregational song volume 60 no. 2 ......

Spring 2009 Vol. 60, No. 2 The Hymn 1

9 2009 Hymnic Anniversaries: AddendaCOMPILED BY MARGARET LEASK

10 You Are a Woodwind and a DrumRecovering the Image of God through Congregational SongBY THOMAS H. TROEGER

22 Adapting Western Chants and Hymn Tunes to Buddhist TextsUnlocking Scriptures, Opening HeartsBY REV. HELEN CUMMINGS

34 Theses and Dissertations Related to HymnodyCOMPILED BY PAUL A. RICHARDSON

2 Editors Notes3 From the Executive Director4 News8 Research Directors Report

41 New Arrivals in the Book Service43 Hymn InterpretationBY WILLIAM L. WALLACE

46 Hymn PerformanceBY DAVID BULEY48 Reviews

A Calendar of Praise: Thirty Contemporary Hymns for Seasons of the Christian YearTIMOTHY DUDLEY-SMITH

A Treasury of Faith: Lectionary Hymns Series BGRACIA GRINDALBlessed Assurance: Hymns of Fanny J.CrosbyEDITED BY S T KIMBROUGH, JRMusic by Heart: Paperless Songs for Evening WorshipEDITED BY MARILYN HASKELRise, O Church: Reflections on the Church, Its Music, and Empire

PAUL WESTERMEYERWalking by the River: 100 New Hymn and Song Texts with Other Verses

CHRISTOPHER M. IDLEReviews of Hymn-based CompositionsReviews of Hymn-based Recordings

EditorNancy E. Hall

Editorial Advisory BoardBeverly Howard, Riverside, CA

Kenneth W. Inkster, Alliston, ONTina Schneider, Lima, OHLarry Wolz, Abilene, TXDesign Director

John Wattai

Contributing EditorsRobin Knowles-Wallace . . . . . . Book ReviewsPaul A. Richardson . . . . . . . . . . DissertationsDaniel Jay Grimminger . . . . . . . . . Hymns in

Periodical LiteratureDeborah C. Loftis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Indexer

ColumnistsMargaret Leask . . . . . . . . Hymnic AnniversariesWilliam L. Wallace . . . . Hymn InterpretationDavid Buley . . . . . . . . . . Hymn PerformanceSue Mitchell-Wallace . . . . . . . . . . Reviews of

Hymn-based CompositionsS T Kimbrough, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . Reviews of

Hymn-based Recordings

AdvertisingMark Meyer,

Hymn Society [email protected]

Executive CommitteeMary Louise Bringle, Brevard, NC

PresidentDeborah C. Loftis, Richmond, VA

President-ElectDavid Eicher, Louisville, KY

Immediate Past PresidentNancy Wicklund Gray, Doylestown, PA

SecretaryJacque Jones, Brooklyn, NY

TreasurerNancy E. Hall, Berkeley, CA

Editor of THE HYMNTina Schneider, Lima, OH

Director of ResearchDon Anderson, Toronto, ON

Anthony Ruff, OSB, Collegeville, MNAdam Tice, Hyattsville, MD

Members-at-Large

Dictionary of North American Hymnology

Mary Louise VanDyke, Project CoordinatorOberlin College Library

Oberlin, OH 44074(440) 775-8622

[email protected]

Paul R. Powell, EditorP.O. Box 58830

New Orleans, LA [email protected]

Executive DirectorCarl P. Daw, Jr. The Hymn SocietyBoston University School of Theology

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Copyright 2009, The Hymn Society inthe United States and Canada, Inc. Journal printed on recycled paper

a journal of congregational song

volume 60 no. 2spring 2009

What do Loreena McKennitt, MartinLuther, and St. Gregory the Great havein common? Their music is part of theliturgical treasury of Shasta Abbey, aSoto Zen monastic community in northern Californiafounded in 1970. I suggest that it was inevitable thatBuddhist scriptural texts would be combined with West-ern chants and hymn tunes; and in this article I wouldlike to share how one Buddhist tradition has successfullyblended Buddhist scriptural texts with Western chantsand hymn tunes for daily use in the liturgies and cere-monies in our Western Soto Zen monastic community.

A key figure in this development was Rev. MasterJiyu-Kennett,* born near Hastings in Sussex, England,on New Years Day, 1924. Baptized into the Church ofEngland as Peggy Teresa Nancy Kennett, she grew upin World War II London. At an early age she showedgreat musical ability; she earned a Bachelor of Musicdegree from Durham University (UK), with concen-trations in early music (Western plainsong) and com-position, and a Fellowship by Double Licentiate ofTrinity College of Music (London). Building on thesestudies, she spent many years as an organist in theAnglican Church, and taught music in a Catholicboarding school at Westminster.

Early in life she had found in Buddhist teachingsomething meaningful that drew her into involvementwith the London Buddhist Society. It was through thisinvolvement that she met her teacher, the VenerableKeido Chisan Koho Zenji, Chief Abbot of Soji-ji,when he came to London as part of a world tour thatincluded meeting with President Eisenhower in Wash-ington. At his invitation she went to Japan in 1962 tobecome his disciple. The first woman to train at Soji-ji, one of the two major training monasteries of theSoto Zen tradition in Japan, Rev. Kennett came to the

United States in 1969, establishing Shasta Abbey in Northern California in 1970, and Throssel HoleBuddhist Abbey in northern England in 1972. Shefounded the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives in1978, and served as Head of the Order and Abbess ofShasta Abbey until her death in 1996.

Her musical compositions prior to becoming a monkincluded several motets and songs, a cantata, twooperettas, and a string quartet; yet already in 1961, shewon an international contest for a Buddhist Wesak cel-ebratory anthem. Her entry, Welcome, Joyous WesakDay, with music written in a style that would allow itto be completely at home in an Anglican hymnal, isnow sung throughout the Buddhist world.

After she became a monk Rev. Kennetts musicallegacy may be described quite simply: she translatedthe key scriptures of the Soto Zen Buddhist traditioninto accessible, metrical English, and set them to plain-chant. At the time she did so, these were unusual prac-tices. The general practice was to leave them untrans-lated or to set them to single-beat, monotoneaccompaniments as was done in Japanor both.

When she was still Peggy Kennett, Rev. Kennettobserved, The composer really starts to composewhen he throws away his textbooks and . . . createssomething in which the form is almost accidental yetinseparable from and inevitable to the music, for formis the result of creation and not creation the result ofform.1 She set out to bring the heart of Zen teachingto the West. What she created is an altogether accessi-ble Buddhist liturgy built on the rich treasury of chantsand hymn tunes that are the religious music of theWest. She set ten major Buddhist scriptures to Angli-can chant, scriptures that our monastic communitysings regularlyseveral of them at least once a day.Similarly, she set twelve major litanies to Anglicanchant, as well as numerous offertories, mantras, dedi-cations, and the Homages that, much like the famil-iar Amen, close each of our recitations of scripture.She wrote or set to music sixty-two hymns that we singthroughout our liturgical year.2 Building on the foun-dation she laid for us, we continue to create new Bud-

22 The Hymn Vol. 60, No. 2 Spring 2009

Adapting Western Chants andHymn Tunes to Buddhist TextsUnlocking Scriptures, Opening HeartsREV. HELEN CUMMINGSSHASTA ABBEY

* It is customary within the Buddhist traditions to take carethat names, especially those of teachers and fellow monastics,are accompanied by appropriate honorifics. We have retainedthis practice of monastic courtesy and respect in the text, in thehope that it will carry with it a little of the atmosphere of thelife of the Abbey. Ed.

dhist hymns and chants, either setting scriptures andtext to hymn tunes of the past and the present or cre-ating our own music in the forms that are rooted inthe very familiar religious music of the West.

Chanting in the BuddhistWorld

Buddhism originally developed within an oral cul-ture, and as an oral tradition. Music in the North-ern Indian culture where the Buddha lived in the fifth century BC was highly developed, both for secularceremonial use and for religious purposes. Chant inparticular was the means of memorizing a religious orhistorical text. Music and making music were animportant part of the cultural milieu at all levels ofsociety. The Buddha, in fact, made use of musical sim-iles in his teaching. The Buddhist scriptures, held to bewhat the Buddha said in his almost fifty years of pub-lic teaching, developed as a vocalized reminder of theBuddhas words. In a world where the religious eliteused exclusive language to preserve esoteric teaching,chanted words in the language of the marketplace and

the street made it possible for all to have access to andto remember these teachings.

Mantras, a particular kind of vocalized sound, alsohave a significant place in Buddhism. While the wordhas developed a much wider usage today, it originallymeant sacred sounds that communicate through vibra-tion to inspire and open the heart rather than themind. Sacred sound, one definition of Buddhistmusic, indeed seeks to open the heart and mind tothat which is larger than the self, to harmonize bodyand mind, and in so doing, to create the mind of med-itation. Rev. Kennett held that chanting is consideredportable meditation.

It is no surprise, then, that chanting is an integralpractice of all forms of Buddhism, in India and in thecountries to which it spread, including Sri Lanka,China, Japan, Tibet, and Korea. But what hasunfolded in the spread of Buddhism over the last2,553 years is essentially the same problem of transla-tion and transmission from age to age and from landto land3 that Christianity has faced. The varied formsof chanting in Buddhism are cultural rather than doc-trinal. There is nothing inherent in the Buddhaslegacy that requires a certain form of chanting orsinging. Thus, there is a broad range of chanting stylesevident in Buddhism today. Pali chanting has beendescribed as speaking in a musical way. Chinese chant-ing is very percussive and regular. Sanskrit chanting ismuch less percussive and more melodic. Japanesechanting is a forceful monotone. One thing, however,common to all the varied forms is this: the religiousmusic of the East often does not make sense to the earof the Western religious person.

We at Shasta Abbey chant in Englishand metricalEnglish at that! We sing melodies rooted in a range ofWestern hymn books and traditions, many of themquite familiar to those of us coming to Buddhism fromthese traditions. The act of chanting scriptural textsitself is a gospel ordinance in all schools of Bud-dhism. In our own way, we are people of the book;whether chanting the name of Buddha, or repeating aparticular mantra, or singing an extended scripture,monks and laity alike are invited to read, recite, writedown, remember. This is done in order to become whatis read, recited, written down, remembered. Thus thereciting, the chanting, the singing: all have a transfor-mative purpose and, hopefully, effect. It expresses a liv-ing, faith-based, religious tradition. We are to bring toour daily life that which we chant at the start of the day:

In other words, Buddhist chanting serves as areminder of the practice we need to follow indaily life. If we understand and learn how to doit properly, it is another type of meditation initself. It is also at the same time a healing or blessing service. . . . When we chant if we try toconcentrate well on the chanting, our mindbecomes contemplative.4


Rev. Jiyu-Kennett. Courtesy of Shasta Abbey

And in chanting our faith grows. We can give someanswer to the question Frank Burch Brown asked in a recent article in THE HYMN: What if we reallyembraced the idea that song can provide a way oftranslating the meaning of faith into a medium thataddresses body and mind and heart together?5

This is what Buddhist chanting is all about.

Adapting Buddhist Scripturesto Western Chants: One Particular Case

How do you take a religion and its religious textswhich have come to be deeply rooted in Asiancultures with picture-based languages and make itintelligible for Westerners in a way that is naturallyWestern?

This was the task that Rev. Kennett faced. It was theexpress wish of her teacher, Rev. Koho Zenji, that shereally translate Buddhism to the West, not just importthe cultural forms that had developed around the heartof the Soto Zen tradition in Japan since Eihei Dogenin the thirteenth century. Whether translating the basicteachings or the monastic forms, Rev. Kennett lookedto bring the heart of the teaching or form, rather thanthe cultural overlay. This was true of chanting as muchas anything else. She came to believe that this taskwould require either a totally new musical form, or itwould involve the translation of that religious traditionthrough reinterpretation of the rich legacy of Westernmusic in a direct and authentic form. She chose,almost inevitably, to do the latter, wedding Buddhistscriptures to the Western chants and hymn tunes shehad played so often in her professional musical life. Inbringing the practice of Serene Reflection Meditationto the West, she harmonized her own deep religiousexperience and all aspects of rich scriptural and cere-monial life from both Eastern and Western contexts.

In literally translating the scriptures, and in creatingout of her life as a church musician the ceremonialforms for their use, she understood clearly the value ofWestern chants and hymn tunes as the religious musicof the West, worthy vessels for the expression of faith.In doing this she did what longstanding Buddhist tradition urges: put the scriptures in a language that is accessible to all people, high or low. She was notrejecting Asian forms, though she was accused ofanglicanizing Zen by some critics. Rev. Kennettalways said she did not deliberately set out to western-ize; she simply looked for the most skillful means ofunfolding the Truth of Buddhism, unlocking the rich-ness of the Buddhist scriptures, and opening Westernhearts to the deep religious experience to which thosescriptures point.

In translating the scriptural texts, Rev. Kennettwould first make a basic rendering with her teachers,who were deeply versed in these texts from many years

of religious practice rather than academic study. Shethen eliminated any repetition, and created a chantableEnglish text. She had an intuitive understanding of thenuances of meter and poetic rhythm; she was trainedin plainsong and early music and understood the heartof the chant form.

What she did was deceptively simple; as a Westernerwith full access to Western language, culture, and soci-ety, and with equal access to Japanese religious teach-ers who would help her to appreciate Soto Zen scrip-tures and traditions, she unfolded the heart of theTeaching, not the cultural overlays, into English. Shewas not the first to translate Buddhist scriptures intoEnglish or to set them to music; but she had training,intuition, and religious understandings that wereunique. What she created is a model for Buddhist litur-gical music in the West. She had the technical means,the musical and literary capacity, and the commitmentto keep true to the Source, no matter the form.

Her legacy is a full schedule of daily monastic cere-monial: Morning Service and Morning Office, Mid-Day Service, and Vespers, as well as a full annual cal-endar of festival ceremonies, regular remembrances,and specific observances. Chants, hymns, invocations,and sung offertories are an essential part of all of them.

Austin Lovelace says that the spirit of hymnody isfound in movementin development of Christianconcepts. Its purpose is not the creation of an aura ormood of vague spiritual emotion . . . but ratherdevelopment of thought along scriptural and theolog-ical lines, using those poetic devices which will speedthe process and make vivid the imagery.6

I believe that Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennetts work isrooted in this same spirit. The spirit of BuddhistHymnody as she has created it is rooted in the devel-opment of Buddhist teaching along scriptural lines, using those poetic devices that will speed the process ofbringing the Dharmathe teachings of the Buddhatolife in those who sing or chant as part of their practice.

Shasta Abbey Chants: How We Use WesternChants and Hymn Tunes toExpress Our Faith

So, what specifically did Rev. Master Jiyu do inadapting the Western chants and hymn tunes to theBuddhist texts that fill Shasta Abbeys monastic days?And how are we continuing her work?

First, in keeping with our Preceptual practice, andfollowing Rev. Kennetts lead, we use some acceptedconventions:

We honor all copyrights and legal acknowledgments.

We recognize the integrity of certain musical vessels.

We seek to express the Truth of our religion in waysthat are embraceable by those in the West as we create our own tradition of religious expression.


Second, our scriptures are in English. Rev. Kennettworked with the senior monks at Soji-ji to translate thescriptures while she was in Japan, and continued whenshe came to America. When her eyesight and healthfailedshe had diabetes and suffered its complica-tionsshe entrusted the continuation of this work toher disciple, Rev. Hubert Nearman (Dr. Mark J. Near-man), a former scholar of Japanese drama and a monkfor nearly twenty years. They both understood how todo religious translation, as distinct from academic orscholarly translation, and both understood iambic pen-tameter.

Third, Rev. Kennett created The Liturgy of the Orderof Buddhist Contemplatives, a hymnal for the Order.The United Methodist Hymnal noted that our hym-nals serve as instruments by which the spiritual her-itage received from the past is celebrated in the presentand transmitted to future generations. Next to theBible, our hymnals have been our most formativeresource.7 Similarly, the Unitarian Universalist Asso-ciation notes in its excellent hymn book, Singing TheLiving Tradition, that a living faith must have bothroots and wings. A hymn book is one place we findboth.8 In our liturgy, the roots of this expression offaith are the plainsong melodies and hymn tunes thathave held sacred texts for the past five centuries in theWest; the wings are the new chants and hymn tunesthat have grown naturally from these roots. Thisaspectthe Liturgy of the Orderof Rev. Master Jiyuslegacy provides a means of expression for a living faith,and of preserving for transmission to future genera-tions the rich spiritual tradition that is Soto Zen.Indeed, what has evolved in our tradition is compara-ble to what Carl P. Daw, FHS, describes in his prefaceto A HymnTune Psalter:

Plainsong melodies, some of which may be trace-able to ancient Jewish origins, have conveyed tous (with Latin texts) a priceless body of Judeo-Christian song. Subsequently, at the Reformation,the concern that the sacred texts of the Church beavailable to ordinary people in the vernacularresulted in two significant developments: 1. Latinchant texts were translated into English and themelodies adapted to fit; and 2. metrical versionsof the psalms (precursors of the modern hymn)gained broad popularity. A further refinement ofthe chant resulted in the eighteenth-centurydevelopment of what is now known as Anglicanchant, facilitating the singing of non-metricaltranslation of the psalms.9

Rev. Kennett chose plainsong and Anglican chantsbecause they provided a priceless body of sacredsong which supported scriptural text without gettingin the way of the words. In the hope that sacred Bud-dhist texts be available to Westerners in a natural andnon-foreign way, scriptures, litanies, offertories,

dedications, and hymns were translated into English,and plainsong melodies were adapted to fit. Metricalversions of the scripturesthe precursors of ourgrowing corpus of Buddhist hymnsgained broaderusage, and perhaps popularity. Using Anglican chant,which facilitated the singing of non-metrical texts, shewas able to set the fundamental teachings of Bud-dhism to musical forms not only accessiblebutsingable!

Western hymn tunes have unfolded from a broadrange of cultures and traditions, including Eurocen-tric, African, Asian, and Native American. Rev. Ken-nett drew on the wealth of the Christian hymn booksto find both musical and textual vessels for Buddhisthymns. She did this across a broad ecumenical range,drawing from Catholic, Russian Orthodox, Church ofEngland, Methodist, and Presbyterian tradition, aswell as from the Pali chants of Sri Lanka, among oth-ers. And she drew, of course, on her own academic andprofessional experience to write music in the styles inwhich she had been trained, and in which she hadworked for so long.

Our daily scriptures, with two exceptions, are set toAnglican chant. We start the day in our Pre-DawnOffice with The Scripture of Avalokiteshwara, a chapterfrom the Lotus Sutra. Translated into metrical(iambic) English, the text explores the many manifes-tations of Avalokiteshwara, one expression of compas-sion in the world. It is set in Tonus Peregrinus, reflect-ing the pereginations of this Great Compassionthrough the many and varied situations of daily life, aswell as its resolution for good in all circumstances. Theceremony is an invocation of compassion for themonastic community and for all those in need of giv-ing or receiving compassion.

Our Morning Office gives us the opportunity toreflect on how and why we are doing this practice. Itincludes Sandokai, a poem by Sekito Kisen written inthe eighth century, set to chant Tone II, Ending 2.The Most Excellent Mirror Samadhi, a longer poem byTozan Ryoki describing how one should practice, is setto chant Tone VII, Ending 1. The final chant of ourMorning Office is the recitation of The Ancestral Line,the ninety-one names of the Buddhas and Ancestorsthrough which the Teaching has been transmitted.The names are chanted in Japanese, but instead of thecharacteristic Japanese percussive monotone, they arechanted with a quiet and unobtrusive improvised har-monic support in IIVV. In the concluding offertoryfor this ceremony we pray that we may be able toshow our gratitude to the Four Benefactors, rescue allbeings in the Three Worlds, and make the Four Wis-doms perfect together with all living things. We praythat this Temple may prosper and all misfortunecease.10 Each of our ceremonies has a similar offer-tory, most often sung in simple plainchant, either acappella or with very simple organ accompaniment.Chant also proves itself a worthy vehicle for The Three


Homages which end each of our ceremonies orchantsour so be it!

Morning Office is followed by Morning Service,which includes the central scripture of our tradition,The Scripture of Great Wisdom. Taken from the HeartSutra, it is set to Tone III, Ending 1. It is followed bya similar offertory and Homages.

Our morning ceremonies end with the FoundersCeremony, an expression of gratitude to the Founderof our Temple for making it possible for us to trainhere. It includes the Litany of the Great CompassionateOne which calls on the Heart of True Compassion toshow us how to express true gratitude for all in ourdaily life. It is set to chant Tone VII, Ending 2. Thefinal scripture is The Adoration of the Buddhas Relics,an expression of gratitude for this teaching and for theopportunity to train. This is set to the Kontakion forthe Departed from the Russian Orthodox Funeral Ser-vice. The music expresses the profound teaching ofprayer-full gratitude as the means of honoring thosewho have gone before. Again, there is a plainchantoffertory that asks may the Offerings we make hereshow our gratitude and joy to all living things. We praythat the merits thereof shall not only be given to ourFounder, but light the way of all who have not yet

found the Truth.11 The Homages end this ceremonyas well.

Depending on our liturgical calendar and our dailyschedule, we may come together several timesthroughout the day to sing together. And eachevening we close our monastic day with Vespers, sung a cappella, which includes the Litany of the GreatCompassionate One and several other short mantras set to Anglican chant. We are indeed a singing com-munity.

Beyond our daily schedule we have a kaleidoscopiccalendar of weekly, monthly, and yearly vigils, festivals,and memorials. Chants and hymns are an essential partof these. This is where our hymnal indeed is the instru-ment by which the spiritual heritage received fromthe past is celebrated in the present.12

In our festivals, especially, we walk as we chant,underscoring the importance of breath, whether inmeditation, in singing, or in taking the next step.Through our walking and singing in this way we movetoward harmonizing body and mind as we harmonizevoices in SATB harmony.

We use Anglican chant extensively in our festival andmemorial chants, including the litanies of the variousBuddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Ancestors that we sing


throughout our liturgical year. These are taken fromseveral Mayahana sutras that include the Maharat-nakuta Sutra (The Litany of Shakyamuni Buddha andThe Litany of Manjusri Bodhisattva), the Lotus Sutra(The Immeasurable Life of the Tathagata, The Scriptureon the Conduct that Eases the Way, or The MarvellousSpiritual Powers of the Tathagata), and other sacredtexts and writings, such as Great Master Bodhid-harmas Discourse on Pure Meditation (The Litany ofBodhidharma). Plainchant is used in some of ourhymns. One example is Great Kanzeon, Compassion-ate One, which is set to VENI, VENI, EMMANUELmode I. The hymns we use for the Festival of theAvatamsaka Scripture are also sung in plainchant:Avatamsaka, the Mystic! using mode VIII, or

Great and Universal Scripture using mode I. We alsouse the mode VIII melody VERBUM SUPERNUM fromthe Mechlin Antiphonarium Romanum for Withinthe Meditation Hall, which we sing on the Festival ofManjusri Bodhisattva. And we make use of a modeVIII melody from Vesperale Romanum for Samantab-hadra Bodhisattva.

Building on this legacy, we continue to adapt moreof the treasury of sacred Buddhist writings to appro-priate plainsong or Anglican chant, and to create ourown melodies in a plainchant style as well. We havecreated new music in this style for the Shushogiin asense, the Soto Zen Creed, five chapters compiledfrom the writings of Eihei Dogen, the Founder of theSoto Zen School of Buddhism, expressing his funda-


mental teachings. We have also set The Parable of theHerbs from the Lotus Scripture to an adaptation of aChurch of England Venite. This text is most appropri-ate for Thanksgiving or ceremonies expressing grati-tude; we have developed the music recently, drawingfrom the Sarum chants in particular. The texts forthese invocations were written specifically for particu-lar festivals, and again the chant form creates a solidplatform for the teaching contained in both thesebeautiful poems.

We have also developed plainchant-based InvokingProcessionals for the major vigils and festivals of ourliturgical calendar. Relatively simple melody and har-monies are repeated in Anglican chant style, as monksprocess into each ceremony; the words for these arethe Sanskrit mantra appropriate to the festivalortheir English equivalent if it fits better. We have somechants that are in fact derived from the ancient Palichants of Ceylon, and we continue to be open to musi-cal inspiration from a wide spectrum of religious tradi-tions, including Celtic and Native American sources.With this kind of new music our ceremonial life con-tinues to grow and flourish.

Shasta Abbey Hymns

As I have mentioned, many hymn tunes have theirroots in the metrical psalmody that Calvin andLuther used to make the Psalms more accessible; suchhymn tunes are equally appropriate for making theDharma more accessible, and to that end Rev. Kennettmade good use of them. She created hymns not onlyfor our festival ceremonies, but also for the thresholdmoments, where religion has an essential offering tomake. For example, one of our funeral invocations,Twilight and Evening Star, is sung to the tuneFRESHWATER; Rev. Chushin Passmore built upon thefamiliar lines of Crossing the Bar, adding stanzasthat harmonize with Tennysons words and expressBuddhist teaching on dying, death, and all-acceptance.

Perhaps it was Rev. Master Jiyus experience ofWorld War II, or that of giving up her British passportto become an American citizen, or of her life in Japanduring the time of the Vietnam war, but whatever thecause, national remembrances are another importantpart of our ceremonial rota. The President is remem-bered as one of The Four Benefactors in the blessingwe say at each meal; and every month, on the first andthe fifteenth, we perform a Ceremony for the Blessing ofthe Nation. So it should not be surprising that we havea treasury of music for such national remembrances asThanksgiving, all of them adapted from familiar tunes.

In particular, Rev. Kennett drew many of these fromHymns Ancient and Modern of 1924. O Beautiful MyCountry, set to AURELIA, is sung with Hosmers pow-erful words unchanged. Rev. Master Jiyu harmonizedand arranged the tune ST. BEATRICE for our version ofThe Sower Went Forth Sowing; she used the firststanza of W. St. Hill Bournes text, and adapted twostanzas to express Buddhist teaching in metaphors ofseed and harvest. She created similar harmonizationsand arrangements of GOLDEN SHEAVES for our versionof To Thee, Eternal Lord We Raise, building onW.C. Dixs text, and of EWING, for our version ofWithin the World Around Us, building on a text byG. K. Chesterton. On Memorial Day and on VeteransDay (or Remembrance Day, as she knew it) we singDay of Remembrance (CLOISTERS) and O, ValiantHearts (HARRIS) with texts only slightly altered. Andmore recently, we have created an original text set toFINLANDIA for these national days: Simhas Questions(Buddhas Words on War). We celebrate the Fourthof July with these invocations, as well as with GustavHolsts music and Rev. Kennetts adapted words to IVow to Thee My Country an especially apt pairing,since Holst himself had a deep interest in the religionsof the East, and many of his works are rooted in East-ern texts and understandings.

Rev. Kennett used not only Western chants andhymn tunes, but also ceremonial formswhen theyworked! One of the delightful ceremonies she broughtwith her from the Anglican tradition, and adapted foruse within our own, is the Ceremony of Nine Lessons


Great Kanzeon, Compassionate OneTune: VENI, VENI, EMMANUEL

Great Kanzeon, Compassionate One, All Hail!We greet Thee on this joyful Day of Days.In all of life we see Thy handConsoling us and all within this land.All Hail! All Hail! Compassionate One, All Hail!We greet Thee on this joyful Day of Days.

In trouble, sorrow, always Thou art thereTo hear our cries and give us comfort rare.Thou shinest in the darkest night,Sustaining us no matter what our plight.All Hail! All Hail! Compassionate One, All Hail!We greet Thee on this joyful Day of Days.

When deaths dark portal looms before our eyes,To Thee we look for Thou wilt hear our cries.Thy helping hand is always thereNo matter what; Thy Heart will always care.All Hail! All Hail! Compassionate One, All Hail!We greet Thee on this joyful Day of Days.

Great Kanzeon, Compassionate One, All Hail!We greet Thee on this joyful Day of Days.In all of life we see Thy handConsoling us and all within this land.All Hail! All Hail! Compassionate One, All Hail!We greet Thee on this joyful Day of Days.

Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett

and Carols. We sing this twice a year, on the vigils ofthe two most important festivals of the Buddhist year,the Festival of the Enlightenment in December, andthat of Wesak, the Buddhist New Year, in May. Rev.Kennett wrote much of the music for the hymns thatwe use at these festivities. She also used several tradi-tional carols for the Wesak songs: The World ItselfKeeps Wesak Day takes its melody from Piae Can-tiones, with words adapted from J. M. Neales Easterhymn, and Sala Tree is set to the familiarGREENSLEEVES. We also use the award-winninganthem mentioned earlier, Joyfully We Greet theComing, with text by Venerable Sumangalo and Rev.Kennetts music written in 1961. This hymn nowappears in Buddhist hymn books throughout theworld. We have followed in her footsteps, creating fur-ther music for these celebrations from a tune out ofthe Russian traditionWE GIVE HONOR AND THANKS.Its glorious joyfulness is particularly appropriate forboth our Wesak ceremony and our EnlightenmentDay festival.

Given a full liturgical calendar, with festival cere-monies in honor of so many facets of Buddhist teach-

ing, Rev. Kennett not only provided a wealth of hymnsfor them herself, but encouraged her disciples to writetexts as well. A few examples:

The Lord Returns to our True Home, whichwe sing in the commemoration of the Buddhasdeath (Parinirvana), is set to the tune LUTHER,written by Martin Luther. The version we use isthat of the Wittenberg Geistliche Lieder of1535. Rev. Master Jiyu wrote the four stanzasof text, reflecting on the Buddhas return toour True Home.

Whoever True Kindness, sung at the Festival ofJizo Bodhisattva, is set to the Welsh hymn tuneST. DENIO (Immortal, Invisible, God OnlyWise). The first and last stanzas are adaptedfrom John Bunyan and others; Rev. Master Jiyuwrote the middle three.

On January 1 we celebrate both the Festival ofMaitreya Bodhisattva and the secular New Year.For the Maitreya Festival, Rev. Master DaizuiMacPhillamys evocative Theres One WhoWaits Beyond the Dream, honoringVairochana, is sung to the tune MAGNUS, whichwell complements the reflective iambic text.Rev. Master Daizui also wrote words to RAVEN-SHAW for the secular New Year, Time for Cel-ebration; W. H. Monk abridged the tradi-tional German melody from Ave Hierarchiain Weisses Ein New Gesengbuchlen (1531).

Rev. Master Daizui also wrote the text Lord ofHealing, Lord of Light, set to BUCKLAND,which we use for Bhaisajya-guru, the Bod-hisattva of Healing; the bright tune fits wellwith the text reflecting on the vast brilliance ofthis Bodhisattva.

Because ours is a dynamic and ever-unfolding tradi-tion, our current Abbot, Rev. Eko, has encouraged fur-ther development of our music in the spirit of Rev.Kennett. As a result, we have new music for funeral cer-emonies, based on ST. COLUMBA, that we shared at the2005 Conference of The Hymn Society. This tradi-tional Irish melody evokes both grief and its transfor-mation, befitting a funeral or memorial. In writing thetext, we gave consideration to our observation thatfamily members or friends attending a Buddhist funeraloften are not Buddhist themselves. Thus the languagewe created strove to be as inclusive as possible, so thatall who listen might find comfort and peace.

There are many more. Set to the carol tune THATENDRIS NIGHT, The Founders Vow is based on atalk given by our Abbot. The Birth of the Buddha,a text from Sir Edwin Arnolds The Light of Asia, issung to an original chant melody; setting an originaltext, Shakyamuni Found The Meaning of Birth andof Death, to the carol melody PRAISE TO GOD IN THE


Simhas QuestionsTune: FINLANDIA

The General came and bowed before the Buddha.Then asked of warfare, struggle, and of strife.What is the karma of this conquering spirit?What is the burden of defending might?What is the karma of this grasping spirit?What is the burden of defending mind?

The Buddha, once the warrior prince Gautama,Well trained in arts of military might,Answered in words that spoke of self surrender;Answered in verse that showed a gentler way;Answered in words that spoke of true surrender;Answered in verse that showed The Nobler Way.

Who goes to battle, even though tis righteous,Must be prepared for karmic destiny.So free your mind from holds of fierce delusion.So yield your fears to great compassion pure.So free your heart from crulty and illusion.So yield revenge to gratitude, and peace.

Go then courageously and fight the battle,Living each day the Noble Eightfold Way.Victory is won in bowing to anicca.Victory is conquering all the greeds of self.Victory is won in patiently enduring.Victory is conquering all the fears of self.

Rev. Helen Cummings

HIGHEST, from the Russian tradition, we have an invo-cation that we can use both on Wesak and, with minoradaptations, on Enlightenment Day. For our Transferof Merit ceremonies, we use (with her permission) aLoreena McKennitt tune, THE DARK NIGHT OF THESOUL, that we have harmonized and arranged to theDedication of Merit, a text by Venerable Heng Sureof the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. We used thisfor the weekly vigil we held during the declared war inIraq, as well as for funerals and memorials.

We have also created texts that express the Dharmaby taking material from our Abbots talks. A talk hegave on Founders Day became The Founders Vow,mentioned earlier; another, given during our Search-ing of the Heart retreats, we developed into EverJoyful, Ever Wise! set to DIVINUM MYSTERIUM. And,responding to emerging needs, we have begun to cre-ate childrens songs for our Dharma School. For exam-

ple, the text I Am a Link in Buddhas Golden Chainby Venerable Sumangalo is set to a tune by ThomasTallis!

One of the serendipitous effects of having this trea-sury of music is that the more we sing and take delightin it, the better we sing as a community. And we rec-ognize in this a true opportunity to harmonizeliter-allybody and mind as we make music together.Singing together in harmony, learning to sing onesnote, to find ones place in the tunethese form us asa community, showing forth to others (and remindingus!) what it is like to live together without competitionor rivalry. As has been said, you see how a communitylives together when you hear it sing. Harmony is theSangha Treasure!

I realize I have touched upon only a small part ofRev. Kennetts legacy. Her collected works and theircontinued unfolding have indeed unlocked Buddhist


scriptures not only for her monastic family but for thoseinterested in opening the door to the Buddha Dharma,whatever their tradition may be, and whatever faithguides their search. Her affirmation of Western chantsand hymn tunes has indeed opened the hearts of thosewho come into contact with this practice.

Her legacy is significant for us, as well as for otherWestern Buddhist monastics. We at Shasta Abbey, andthroughout the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives,have occasion to be grateful for this legacy every timesomeone from another monastic community or fromanother Buddhist tradition shares in our ceremonialand expresses appreciation for its truth. Our transla-tions of scripture and the music that carries them serveas the model for several emerging Zen monastic com-munities. We look forward to offering this dynamiclegacy to all who may find it of use, to all who maybenefit by it.

In Summary

Let me close by affirming that Western chants andhymn tunes are the religious music of the West.From whatever Christian tradition they arise, they area form of practical faith, which opens seeking heartsto that which is larger than the self. Since this is exactlythe intention of Buddhist practice, it was inevitablethat Buddhist scriptural texts and teaching would findtheir way to Western chants and hymn tunes. Thesechants and tunes bring Buddhist scriptures and texts tolife in the ways they support and make accessible thefundamental truths of Buddhism, and in the way themusic itself opens a path for harmonizing body andmind. Western chants and hymn tunes are indeedworthy vessels for Buddhist scriptures and texts.

Music, chanting, songall are an apt and wondrousmeans of religious expression, a means of translatingfaith and the words of faith, quite in keeping withBuddhist tradition and quite in place in Shasta Abbeyceremonial. The result in our liturgy is that we meanwhat we are singing. Even if we dont get the words,we recognize their wholeheartedness: I never heardthe words before but I know what they mean.Authentic search recognizes authentic search; authen-ticity does recognize authenticity.

As in all things in Buddhism, it is the attitude ofmind that is the heart of any chanting, singing or cere-mony. Form always embodies the mind of meditation.The ceremonies are not magic or magical. They arenot meant to hypnotize the participants into apathy.The mind should become quiet, clear and receptive, sothat it may know what is beyond concepts and beneathactivities. In this experience mind and body must bothparticipate. . . . [So] each morning the whole commu-nity comes together and sings the scriptures that are atthe heart of the teaching. After a surprisingly shorttime, one begins to memorize them and they are thusalways available. . . . Ceremonies are a means of

expressing gratitude, and bygiving it expression, wecome to know it moredeeply13

Our fundamental prac-tice is the harmonizing ofbody and mind. One waywe do this is to bring bothbody and mind toour chanting. Weliterally have tovoice our faith.Indeed, thosefamiliar with theBenedictine tradi-tion will recognizethis as being quitein line with St.Benedicts Rule: . . . and let us sing in such a way that our minds arein harmony with our voices.14

Wishing that all sentient beings may live in harmony,as well as harmonize the general multitudes,

without any obstruction whatsoeverand that all shall respect the sacred Sangha.

Rev. Helen Cummings, a disciple of Rev. Eko Little, has been a monksince 1999. She is the organist at Shasta Abbey.

Musical examples and hymn texts Shasta Abbey. Used by permission.

Notes1Kennett, Peggy T. N. Music is Zen in The Middle Way (Lon-

don: London Buddhist Society, n. d.), 57.2The bulk of her work is available in The Liturgy of the Order of

Buddhist Contemplatives for the Laity (Mount Shasta, CA: ShastaAbbey Press, 1990) and in The Monastic Office (Mount Shasta, CA:Shasta Abbey Press, 1993).

3Frank Burch Brown, How Moveable is the Feast? THE HYMN,55:4 (October 2004), 9.

4Bhikkhu Dhammasami, The Practice of Chanting in Bud-dhism, www.nibbana.com/dmasami3.htm.

5Brown, HYMN 55:4, 10.6Austin Lovelace, The Anatomy of Hymnody (Chicago: G.I.A.

Publications, Inc., 1965), 103104.7Introduction to The United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville:

United Methodist Publishing House, 1989), v.8Introduction to Singing The Living Tradition (Boston: Beacon

Press, 1993), vii.9Carl P. Daw, Jr., and Kevin R. Hackett, A HymnTune Psalter,

Book One: Advent through the Day of Pentecost (New York: ChurchPublishing Inc., 1998), v (emphasis mine).

10Liturgy of the Order, 69.11Ibid., 86.12United Methodist Hymnal, v.13Liner notes accompanying Scriptures and Ceremonies at

Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey, audio CD (Hexham, UK: ThrosselHole Buddhist Abbey, 2004).

14Joan Chittister, OSB, The Rule of Benedict: Insights for the Ages(New York: Crossroad, 1999), 19.2.


Rev. Jiyu-Kennett. Courtesy of Shasta Abbey

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