Buddhist Monk DJs
Electronic music as a path to enlightenment?
In the last article on Korean Buddhist monk drumming contests, I touched on the more radical end of Buddhist cultural outreach: DJ monks.
Their efforts serve to make Buddhism accessible and engaging to new generations, particularly important in an era of declining faith amongst the youth. Past generations of monks used the art forms of their time (temple architecture, paintings, traditional chanting) to inspire faith, so perhaps it’s not entirely surprising to see DJ monks in the modern day.
Despite this, these figures remain controversial.
Gyōsen Asakura
Japanese Buddhist priest and head minister of Shō-onji temple, Gyōsen Asakura is a very interesting case.
Asakura has recently gained international attention for his audio-visual techno Buddhist services, blending chant and ritual with electronic music. The visual element, consisting of dynamic light projections, aims to express the Pure Land (nirvana) in contemporary form. He discusses how sacred scripture describes the Buddhist “pure land” as a beautiful world filled with radiant light, and how, prior to electricity, people tried to recreate this atmosphere by lacing sculptures with gold leaf to reflect candlelight.
Particularly interesting about Asakura is that he comes from a historic Buddhist family that has been running Shō-onji temple for hundreds of years. Despite this lineage, he had doubts during his early twenties, exploring the world of techno and electronic music away from the temple. He says he found that being a DJ and being a monk were surprisingly similar, and that it was actually this realisation that led him back to the temple to continue as the 17th chief.
Check out his music here.
Yogetsu Akasaka
Another Japanese ordained Buddhist monk and electronic musician is Yogetsu Akasaka, who merges beatboxing, handpans, and looping technology with Buddhist chanting (sutras). His “Heart Sutra Beatbox Remix” video (below) went viral on YouTube, propelling his career onto the global stage.
Aside from stage performances and his YouTube presence, Akasaka also delivers workshops and talks, spreading Zen Buddhist teachings and practices through integrating breathwork, meditation, and improvised music.
NewJeansNim
Now returning to Korea: as mentioned in the previous article, Youn Seong-ho (NewJeansNim) is a comedian-turned-musician, not an ordained monk, who performs as a Buddhist monk DJ. Whilst he has received support from the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism for promoting Buddhism to younger audiences, his performances have also caused controversy in other countries, such as Malaysia and Singapore, where some have criticised his act as disrespectful to Buddhist values.
I’m not quite sure what to make of his music and persona; it strikes me as a little cheesy, mass-produced, and gimmicky. I’ll let you decide for yourself:
In summary, the rise of DJ monks around the world brings ancient wisdom to people through contemporary culture. I ponder the extent to which this kind of outreach actually works in attracting people to the religion. There’s no real way of knowing.
But regardless, these examples tie into something that’s become a recurring theme here at Ancestral Tones: the question of revival and preservation, and how innovation, technology, and change feed into it.
These monks seem to share a fluid, open-minded approach to reimagining tradition. I find myself praising this adaptability whilst remaining quietly sceptical. These kind of innovations tend to revolve around aesthetics grounded in a capitalist music industry that overwhelmingly prioritises Western paradigms: equal temperament and western tonality, standardised production values, the sonic assumptions of European and American markets.
This isn’t to criticise what these monks are doing; progression and innovation are necessary for a tradition’s continuity, certainly. But there’s always the risk of succumbing to homogenisation, of losing the very diversity that makes these traditions worth preserving in the first place. The line between adaptation and erasure can be uncomfortably thin.