My collection of mostly self-recorded singing and chanting of religious scripture and verse. Monks in Thailand are highly prized for their individual vocal performances of liturgical text and the ability to create an evening of compelling storytelling reciting jataka (stories of the past lives of the Buddha).

Listening to performances of singing is prohibited in the ten precepts for novices, monks, and nuns. When monks “perform” canonical texts throughout the Theravada world, they usually chant them. There are a few regional exceptions of monks singing in the performance of popular texts, such as those of jataka in parts of northern Thailand.*

The most prized of the Jatakas is the Story of Prince Vessantara recited at the Thet Mahachat during the festival of Loy Krathong. The Thai believe that hearing the complete Vessantara Jataka will ensure the listener of rebirth in the time of Maitreya (the future and last Buddha) promising them nibanna (nirvana).

The actual contents of the chant may also be of secondary importance to the monks. The importance of the monks’ deportment, appearance and sweetness of voice during the paritta suttas, over and above the contents of the texts, which in many cases is not even understood by the monks themselves.**

Buddhist chant is rooted in the Indian religious tradition called the gatha. Gatha means a narrative song or sung verse. The use of various vocal techniques such as tonality, sustain, slur, varieties of cadence, tempo, pitch, incantations, laments, and plaintive rhythms add to the significant range of styles used  by monks in ceremonies in the temples of Thailand.

*Theravada Buddhism, Continuity, Diversity, and Identity by Kate Crosby

**Jataka Stories in Theravada Buddhism, Narrating the Bodhisatta Path by Naomi Appleton