Listening to a "This-Wordly Pure Land": Buddhist Temple Acoustemologies in Taiwan

Introduction
As perhaps made apparent in a previous
post, I have been curious about the function of
electroacoustic devices in Buddhist temples in Taiwan. From
more prominent speakers to smaller hand-held “Buddha-name
recitation devices” (nianfoji 念佛機), hearing
electronically reproduced sound is a ubiquitous part of
visiting these spaces. The above is not necessarily
intended to replace sounding practices (oral recitation,
religious instruments) but rather to establish a
`spiritually efficacious environment’ [5]. Here,
electronically reproduced sound delineates sacred space,
providing the ear with a medium to tune oneself to
religious sensibilities, whether moral or
transcendental.
Apart from the purely doctrinal, expedient or aesthetic
justifications for reproducing such sound, I have also been
curious about its epistemic or `acoustemological’ qualities
[4,3]. As a form of
acoustic knowing situated within a relational ontology,
acoustemology explores how sounding practices help us make
sense of our surroundings. With this in mind, this post
freely explores these recitation devices, suggesting that
they can act as potent mediums for religious place-making
in Taiwanese Buddhism. It further proposes that their study
can help reveal the sonic conditions by which religious
experience is conditioned and maintained. The above points
are illustrated with audio examples from temples around
Taipei City recorded by the author1.
On Acoustemology
Field-recording 1: Soundscape of Shiguanyin xiangguang si 石觀音祥光寺 (Taipei), recorded on a quiet rainy day.
Note: Headphones recommended 🎧.
Acoustemology emphasises the role of audible sound in
the experience of place, together with acoustic ways of
knowledge production and dissemination [4,3]. This
modality of knowing is concerned with how the physical
aspects of sound interrelate with the social, political and
cultural processes of listening. In this context, what is
known through sound is relational, experiential and
contextual. By being mindful of these notions within our
soundscapes, we can begin to understand how sound shapes
and mediates our experiences. Acoustemology evolves out of
ethnographic efforts and appreciates the reflexive and
contingent nature of doing research. As discussed above, it
is not related to metaphysical approaches to epistemology
but is based on experiential truth. Within the academic
study of religion, scholars who have utilised
acoustemological approaches include Andrew J. Eisenberg. In
his study of Muslim communities in Mombasa (Kenya), the
researcher emphasises the centrality of religious sounding
and listening practice in Muslim subject formation
[2]. He argues
how Islamic sounding practices (notably the electroacoustic
adhān) reinforce the identity of the Muslim–Swahili
community, itself surrounded by a larger non-Muslim
populace. The author suggests that such practices are ways
of understanding and enacting the material environment as a
’place-in-the-world.’
Listening to the Pure Land
Field-recording 2: Soundscape of Lungshan Temple 龍山寺 (Taipei), recorded during a normal Friday afternoon.
Note: Headphones recommended 🎧.
The humble Buddha-name recitation device is a radio-like
box (often portable) that produces different recordings of
nianfo. The sounds emanating from these devices are partly
intended to mirror the environmental sounds heard in the
Western Pure Land (Jile Jingtu 極樂淨土), a prevalent
eschatological goal in Chinese Buddhism [5]. In this Pure
Land, these sounds arise from the environment for the
spiritual benefit of the hearer on their march towards
Buddhahood. While conventionally categorised as music,
Buddhist scriptural sources indicate that this is only a
result of the fleeting mental constructions that pertain to
culturally organised sound [1]. These sounds are
better understood as aids towards nianfo, a practice that
emphasises constantly keeping in mind the name of the
Buddha, which results in meditative absorption.

In Taiwan, these devices seem ubiquitous, being
sometimes carried on-person by devotees outside of temples
during, for example, hikes or other outdoor activities.
They can, in this sense, function as part of wearable
religious paraphernalia, akin to Buddhist rosaries or
protective amulet necklaces [5]. The tinny
recording that they produce is a soundmark [7] of Taiwanese
religious spaces and completes the sensory experience of
temple visits. It invites all beings, corporeal and
non-corporeal, to attune towards the salvatory functions of
hearing the name of an efficacious (ling 靈) Buddhist
spiritual being. Upon entering such a religious ambience,
our sensory faculties settle unto the stimuli therein, a
process through which place starts to make sense for us
[3,4]. These processes are
mediated by individual listening histories, with as many
unfolding religious soundscapes as there are
listeners.
A Buddhist Techoustemology?
Field-recording 3: Zhangshansi 樟山寺 (Taipei) ambience, recorded during a busy Sunday.
Note: Headphones recommended 🎧.
The above notions are perhaps best understood as part of
religious attunement via technology [8]. Religious
atmospheres (of which sound is a key component) have the
power to stage religious experience that is always embodied
and situated. An ambience favourable to these experiences
must be designed and maintained for attunement to take
place successfully. Importantly, this requires sacred space
to be delineated as a part of the mundane world and its
habits. Eisenberg writes how upon hearing the adhan,
Mombasa Old-Town Muslims instinctively perform prescribed
responses, such as quietly uttering the Takbir
(`Allahu Akbar’). These practices are responses to a
constructed Islamic soundscape that help to index a
Muslim’s ethical life and religious devotion [2]. Analogous in form
to the Takbir, devotees of Chinese Buddhism often utter the
name of Amitābha (Emituofo 阿彌陀佛; the Buddha of the Western
Pure Land) as a greeting or a habitual response to
something auspicious.
Acoustemology understands that one’s life processes are
always shared with other actors, whether living or
non-living, including technological [4]. Leaning on Thomas
Porcello’s `techoustemology’ (technology and acoustemology)
[6], the impact of
electroacoustically mediated religious soundscapes further
shapes our in-situ perceptions of the Pure Land. To quote
Porcello, the idea of techoustemology was
developed:
`to foreground the implication of forms of technological
mediation on individuals’ knowledge and interpretations of,
sensations in, and consequent actions upon their acoustic
environments as grounded in the specific times and places of
the production and reception of sound’ [6]
Techoustemology suggests that acoustemological inquiry
needs to emphasise the engineering processes of sounding
practices as historically situated, socially constructed
and culturally defined. In this sense, the way we express a
this-worldly Pure Land is mediated by the individual
perceiver’s historical, cultural and social processes. And
the engineering decisions that construct and maintain our
religious ambiences.
Conclusion
This post shared a few notes related to how
electroacoustic sound shapes religious place in Taiwanese
Buddhism. Further efforts could involve expanding
Porcello’s notion of techoustemology in the study of
digital religion, especially as it pairs with religious
attunement [8].
Additionally, it would be interesting to further focus on
techoustemology in different mediums, asking how
technological mediation extends to other acoustic
environments. As food for thought, I have added a
hydrophone (underwater microphone) recording of the Tamsui
淡水 river that I took near a private Buddhist temple
(Appendix 1). In the recording, one can hear the reach of
nianfo into an acoustic space that humans have evolved past
the need to hear clearly in. Underwater soundscapes extend
the reach of a `this-worldly Pure Land’ beyond the human,
contributing to a more nuanced sound portrait of our
religious environments.
References
[1] | Pi-yen Chen. Sound and emptiness: Music, philosophy, and the monastic practice of buddhist doctrine. History of Religions, 41(1):24--48, 2001. [ bib ] |
[2] | Andrew J. Eisenberg. Islam, sound and space: Acoustemology and muslim citizenship on the kenyan coast. In Georgina Born, editor, Music, Sound and Space: Transformations of Public and Private Experience, pages 186--202. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2013. [ bib | DOI ] |
[3] | Steven Feld. Waterfall of songs: An acoustemology of place resounding in bosavi, papua new guinea. In Steven Feld and Keith H. Basso, editors, Senses of Place, pages 91--135. NM: School of American Research Press, Santa Fe, 1996. [ bib ] |
[4] | Steven Feld. Acoustemology. In David Novak and Matt Sakakeeny, editors, Keywords in sound, pages 12--21. Duke University Press, London, 2015. [ bib ] |
[5] | Natasha Heller. Buddha in a box: The materiality of recitation in contemporary chinese buddhism. Material Religion, 10(3):294--314, 2014. [ bib ] |
[6] | Thomas Porcello. Afterword. In Paul D. Greene and Thomas Porcello, editors, Wired for sound: engineering and technologies in sonic cultures, Music/culture, pages 269--282. Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, Conn, 2005. [ bib ] |
[7] | R. Murray Schafer. The soundscape: Our sonic environment and the tuning of the world. Destiny Books, Rochester, 1993. [ bib ] |
[8] | Jean-Paul Thibaud. Afterword: a world of attunements. In Christine Guillebaud and Catherine Lavandier, editors, Worship Sound Spaces: Architecture, Acoustics and Anthropology, pages 212--219. Routledge, Oxon, 2020. [ bib ] |
Appendix 1: Hydrophone Recording of Private Temple in Tamsui 淡水, Taipei
Footnotes
I recorded all sounds with a pair
of Soundman OKM II binaural (in-ear)
microphones.