Posted by: headm on: February 20, 2016
A Guide to Tibetan Singing Bowls The bells of the ancient days are now what we call singing bowls. These bells indeed look like bowls, and they are not hung like bells, nor put on strings, but like real bowls, they are standing upright on their bottom side. Singing bowls can be made to sound by using a wooden mallet and hitting them gently, or you can also rub their rim with a leather covered piece of wood. Buddhists of old used singing bowls to aid in their meditation, and also for other purposes like health care, relaxation, and other religious practices. Their other name is Himalayan singing bowls because most of the ancient artifacts were found in the Himalayan countries. Singing bowls are associated with the Buddhist religion even though they were already in existence even before that time. There are historians who believe that their origin was India. It was only in the 9th century that a Buddhist monk brought the singing bowls to Tibet. Semi-precious metals and stones are the materials that made up the original singing bowls. The ancient bowls were made of different ingredients. Hammering the metals was the means used to shape the singing bowls in the olden days. Hammering is no longer used as a means of making singing bowls at the present time.
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Modern singing bowls are composed of different materials that are not like what they used in the ancient days. Before, the bowls had a richer, much complex sound that the Tibetan bowls of today.
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These original singing bowls can still be found is some places but it would be very expensive to buy them at this time. The modern singing bowls are not made from the same alloy the ancient ones were. Bronze, zinc, and iron are the main materials that are combined to make modern day singing bowls. The modern singing bowls are cast metals and are no longer made by hammering as the ancients have done. If you have ever rubbed a wet finger around the rim of a wine glass and heard its sound, that is similar to the sound that a singing bowl makes. When the wine glass vibrates because of the rubbing movement, it emits a sound. This is the same with Tibetan singing bowls although the sounds are different. The sounds emitted by the singing bowls are said to have a calming effect of the mind and the body because the vibrations also affect the brainwaves. The soothing sounds coming out from the singing bowls affect people now as it had affected people of the past. This sound of meditation is helpful for both body and mind.
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