The search for objects or devices to facilitate and boost meditation is an ancient affair – we saw it in pre-Columbian cultures, as in William Burroughs. And it’s still going on.
One of the latest frontiers in this field is the Buddha Machine, a simple, stripped down little object that looks like a toy radio from the Eighties and promises Nirvana (or a small glimpse of it).
It all started a few years ago (in 2005) in China, Beijing, when the duo of musicians Zhang Jian and Christiaan Virant had an idea for a new way to release an album of meditative sound loops.
Virant says: “I designed the machine in Beijing with my bandmate Zhang Jian. Together we have a band called FM3, which is the phonetic sound of the Chinese band name AiFuAiMuSan. In the early days of the project, we explained to people that we wanted to make a pocket radio permanently tuned to one station: FM3“.
Rapidly the Buddha Machine has become a cult object, also because of its creative implications: when people start putting two or more together and making them play at the same time, the real fun begins. “If one Buddha Machine gets tiring, add another, or try three together. The interaction between the machines creates an endless and shifting listening experience. Like a Lego block, the Buddha Machine is simple and solid on its own; add a few other machines and a myriad of possibilities bloom“.
Obviously the Buddha Machine, with its funny appearance, is not the core of the transcendental experience; the real important part of the object is the music played by it, as Virant explained: “All music is a spiritual tool of some sort. In the right mood and setting, even the most mundane pop tune can bring a flood of memories, emotion, bliss, anger, tears. Perhaps this is why music is so vital and forms an important part of our identity. As for the music inside the box, I compose with a distinct goal in mind, and all of our music aims to create a hypnotic or transcendental state in the listener“.
Learn more about the Buddha Machine through its official site.
