Story and Song: Learning and Living with Buddhist Chant

Instructor(s): Chenxing Han, Trent Walker

Program Description:

What stories and songs stir our hearts, reminding us of the brevity of all we cherish? And what texts and melodies still our minds, opening us to light, clarity, and compassion? This program explores the recitation of Buddhist poetry from Cambodia and beyond that speaks to themes of love, loss, devotion, and letting go. We’ll explore these poems from two perspectives: as sounds, shaped by traditional Khmer practices of singing and chanting, and as stories, crafted by Buddhist authors for the sake of unsettling our attachments and deepening our aspirations. 

We’ll begin with the basics of chant in Theravāda and other Buddhist traditions. We’ll then focus on the Cambodian tradition of melodic and highly expressive “Dharma songs” (thoa bot or smot). Our practice and inquiry together will include sessions for learning chanting techniques as well as discussions of these Buddhist poems in the context of our lives. Along the way, we’ll reflect together on questions of music, culture, language, and heritage.

In order to create a diverse student body, 50% of the spaces will be held for BIPOC participants until two months before the program opening. At that time, held spaces will be opened to all participants including anyone on the waiting list.

Noble Silence:

Noble silence will be observed following each evening session through breakfast the following morning.

Experience Level:

Suitable for beginning and experienced practitioners.

About the Instructor(s):
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  Chenxing Han

  Chenxing Han is the author of Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists (2021) and one long listening: a memoir of grief, friendship, and spiritual care (2023). She holds a BA from Stanford University, an MA in Buddhist Studies from the Graduate Theological Union, and a certificate in Buddhist chaplaincy from the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California. She is a co-teacher of Listening to the Buddhists in our Backyard at Phillips Academy Andover and a co-organizer of May We Gather: A National Buddhist Memorial for Asian American Ancestors.

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  Trent Walker

  Trent Walker is Assistant Professor of Theravada Buddhism in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan. He holds a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and has published widely on Khmer, Lao, Pali, Thai, and Vietnamese Buddhist texts and recitation practices. Trent began his training in Cambodian Buddhist chant in 2005 under the guidance of Koet Ran, Prum Ut, Yan Borin, and Preah Maha Vimaladhamma Pin Sem. He is the author of Until Nirvana’s Time: Buddhist Songs from Cambodia (Shambhala Publications, 2022) and the co-editor of Out of the Shadows of Angkor: Cambodian Poetry, Prose, and Performance through the Ages (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2022).