[Author’s Note: This and ensuing sequels are excerpts of a new development from the original essay sequels on Korean Temple Bells and Magoism that first published January 11, 2013 in this current magazine. See (Bell Essay 1) Ancient Korean Bells and Magoism by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang.]
Whales as the Cosmic Music Maker
That whales (Gorae in Korean) are foundational to the Korean temple bell remains subliminal to this day. How do we assess the cetacean code of the Korean temple bell? What is the relationship between these two seemingly unrelated objects? We are given the whale-shaped mallet of the bell to begin with. Intriguingly, two Buddhist temples are noted today for the wooden whale-carved mallet of their bells: Sudeok-sa in Yesan, South Chungcheong, and Seonam-sa in Suncheon, South Jeolla.[1] Other temple bells reportedly have the whale mallet as well, although not as much distinctly carved as the two. The Divine Bell of King Seongdeok the Great is known as such.
What is the significance of the Korean temple bell that has a whale as its striker? However, the whale-shaped wooden mallet is only a visible symbol of Sillan cetacean veneration. The whale motif is not just physically present in the mallet but also signified in its name or title. Among many alternative names of the Korean temple bell are cetacean names; Janggyeong (長鯨 Eternal Whale), Gyeongjong (鯨鐘 Whale Bell), Hwagyeong (華鯨 Splendid Whale), and Geogyeong (巨鯨 Gigantic Whale). Here the character “gyeong 鯨” means a whale.[2] These whale names suggest that the bell itself is conceived as a whale. Korean temple bells are the code of Magoist cetaceanism. By the very nature of a temple bell that is to awaken all beings to put it bluntly, we can establish that the sound of a whale is elevated to the purpose of a temple bell. Or vice versa. The sound of a temple bell is identified as that of a whale. At the outset, suffice it to say that whales are admired and revered for their vocal behaviors so much so that they are represented in Sillan temple bells.
The cetacean representation of the Korean temple bell comes unexpected to us. Why is the song of a whale not the song of a bird or another animal? And what does it mean that the Korean temple bell employs cetacean names? These are no small questions. Answering them requires digging into the deepest layer of what has gone under the surface about Magoist Korean whale culture. I have discussed elsewhere in detail about how Korean cetaceanism is steeped in linguistics, myths, place-names, and custom.[3] For the immensity and complexity of the topic, this essay leaves out the discussion of such salient features of whales as their pre-human origin, evolution from land to sea, sizes and trans-oceanic migratory journeys. Summarily, whales connect and bridge the human mind beyond anthropocentrism.
Here we will focus on how cetacean veneration is encoded in the Korean temple bell, in particular the sound tube. Ancient Korean Magoists deemed whales as the cosmic music makers. The cetacean names of Korean temple bells redefine the bell as the acoustic instrument that conveys the music of whales. Note the plural in bells and whales. Korean temple bells are meant to be recognized as a chorus, like whales in the sea, to respond to the sonic property of all beings. In fact, the Korean temple bell is never an isolated single sound wave, to be discussed below. What is emitted from both is harmonized music. It is noted that the music of whales can travel hundreds of kilometers underwater.[4] That the song of whales travel as far as hundreds of kilometers underwater is juxtaposed with the sound of the Korean temple bells that travel far. The former is transmitted through water waves, while the latter is transmitted through air waves.
Humpback Whales
Whales compose music. Among cetacean species, known for their vocalizations are the blue whale, the fin whale, the humpback whale, the minke whale, and the killer whale.[5] In particular, such baleen whales as humpback whales and blue whales have been relatively well studied for their vocalizing behaviors.
The range of humpback whales’ sound frequencies is known as follows:
The range of frequencies that whales use are [sic] from 30 Hertz (Hz) to about 8,000 Hz, (8 kHZ). Humans can only hear part of the whales’s songs. We aren’t able to hear the lowest of the whale frequencies. Humans hear low frequency sounds starting at about 100 Hz.[6]
In comparisons, the vocalizations of blue whales are known to range from 10 to 40 Hz at a fundamental frequency (the lowest frequency of a periodic waveform). It is also noted that blue whales off the coast of Sri Lanka make music of “four notes duration lasting about two minutes each, reminiscent of the well-known humpback whale songs.”[7] To be discussed below, the frequencies of the two most noted Korean temple bells range from 65 Hz to 103.02 Hz, which fall within the range of these whales’ vocalizations.
A significant volume of scientific research has been harvested on the music of humpback whales. Katy and Roger Payne are, according to an article by Bill McQuay and Alison Richards, the first scientists who identified the calls of male humpback whales as songs.[8]
They report that humpback whales do not merely sing but compose music. McQuay and Richards describe the song of humpback whales as follows:
Surprisingly researchers have noted that at any given moment all males in a group will sing the same version of a song, even when separated over large distances, while whales in another region or hemisphere will sing a completely different song, but in unison with other whales in their area.
These sounds are loud, deep and low-frequency (20Hz – 10 kHz).
They can be heard many miles away and may go on for hours or even days.
Individual songs can last anywhere from a few minutes up to a half hour at which point they may then be repeated again.
The whale song is considered one of the most complex non human forms of communication created by any species in the animal kingdom.
The whale song carries a predictable melodic tone and the notes are repeated over and over again like a chorus.
Unfortunately not much else is known about the meaning of these songs, however research has shown that these songs have melodies and notes that are very similar in tone to man-made music.
Over time the song may change but all the singing males will remain in tune with one another.
In addition to singing during mating periods these marine mammals will also communicate through body language.
They can be seen spy hopping, lunging, charging, breaching and tail slapping among other forms of body language to communicate their interests and desires.
Unlike the baleen whale suborder toothed whales do not appear to create loud melodic whale songs; instead they communicate using high-pitched whistles and clicks.[9]
P. J.hillip Clapham and David K. Mattila report that humpback whale songs indicate their transoceanic migration routes:
Mattila et al. (1987) reported that some humpback whales begin singing complete songs in autumn on their feeding grounds, and sing with perhaps less frequency in early spring and late summer. Furthermore, it is likely that they continue to sing on their migration to tropical waters (Kibblewhite et al. 1967, Levenson and Leapley 1978), and they are known to sing during at least the first half of their migration back to high latitudes (Payne and McVay 1971, Stone et al. 1987). In an effort to determine migratory routes, we routinely listened for and recorded singing humpback whales during five ocean passages in the western North Atlantic.[10]
Another research team of Michael J. Noad summarizes its discovery on how whale songs are subject to change due to the influx of new immigrants, as follows:
The song patterns of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) depend on where they live, with populations inhabiting different ocean basins normally singing quite distinct songs. Here we record a unique and radical song change in the song of humpback whales in the Pacific Ocean off the Australian east coast. Their song was replaced rapidly and completely by the song of the Australian west coast population from the Indian Ocean, apparently as a result of the introduction of only a small number of ‘foreign’ singers. Such a revolutionary change is unprecedented in animal cultural vocal traditions and suggests that novelty may stimulate change in humpback whale songs.
Humpbacks have picked up a catchy tune sung by immigrants from a distant ocean.[11]
Seen above, humpback whales appear to aptly modify their songs as they adjust to new environments.
Blue Whales
Blue whales, the largest animal of the world up to 40 meters in length, are also observed for their songs. Christopher Intagliata hypothesizes through scientific research that certain blue whale calls are lowering in pitch over time. According to Intagliata, Emmanuelle Leroy, a bioacoustician, and her team has reported that blue whales have shown a steady decrease in the frequencies of their vocalizations for the last 16 years. They summarize their research, as follows:
In the past decades, in the context of a changing ocean submitted to an increasing human activity, a progressive decrease in the frequencies (pitch) of blue whale vocalizations has been observed worldwide. Its causes, of natural or anthropogenic nature, are still unclear. Based on 7 years of continuous acoustic recordings at widespread sites in the southern Indian Ocean, we show that this observation stands for five populations of large whales. The frequency of selected units of vocalizations of fin, Antarctic, and pygmy blue whales has steadily decreased at a rate of a few tenths of hertz per year since 2002. In addition to this interannual frequency decrease, blue whale vocalizations display seasonal frequency shifts. We show that these intra‐annual shifts correlate with seasonal changes in the ambient noise near their call frequency. This ambient noise level, in turn, shows a strong correlation with the seasonal presence of icebergs, which are one of the main sources of oceanic noise in the Southern Hemisphere. Although cause‐and‐effect relationships are difficult to ascertain, wide‐ranging changes in the acoustic environment seem to have a strong impact on the vocal behavior of large baleen whales. Seasonal frequency shifts may be due to short‐term changes in the ambient noise, and the interannual frequency decline to long‐term changes in the acoustic properties of the ocean and/or in postwhaling changes in whale abundances.[12]
In addition to the annual decrease in the frequency of blue whale vocalizations, a seasonal shift in their frequencies has also occurred. The cause of such change remains unknown to scientists.
The following report made in 2006 categorizes the songs of blue whales in nine types by their regional populations. Mark A. McDonald and his team summarize their research as follows:
Blue whale songs provide a measure for characterising worldwide blue whale population structure. These songs are divided into nine regional types, which maintain a stable character. Five of the nine song types have been recorded over time spans greater than 30 years showing no significant change in character. The nine song types can be divided into those containing only simple tonal components (high latitude North Pacific, North Atlantic and Southern Ocean song types), those comprised of complex pulsed units in addition to the tonal components (Pacific Ocean margin song types from California, Chile and New Zealand), and those which have the greatest complexity of all and the longest cycling times (Indian Ocean song types from Sri Lanka, Fremantle and Diego Garcia). We suggest that temporally stable differences in song provide another characteristic for comparison with genetic and morphological data when defining blue whale populations. Furthermore, as Mellinger and Barlow (2003) recommend, when there is a lack of other data or lack of clarity in other data sets, evidence of distinct differences in songs between areas should be used as a provisional hypothesis about population structure when making management decisions. Worldwide study is needed to better understand the various populations and subspecies within species like the blue whale that have large geographic distributions and have both migrating and resident populations.[13]
Imagine the gigantic scale of the blue whale orchestra performed under water. Imagine a large pod of blue whale musicians. Apart from their bioecological behaviors that sustain livelihood for marine life as a whole, their musical performances are equally salvific, speaking from the perspective of the Magoist Cosmogony. Whale music represents the acoustic balance (sonic resonance) of the Earth, which is the task of the Mago Clan on earth, according to the Magoist Cosmogony. Sillan temple bells ring to awaken us of this whale-led terrestrial chorus.
(To be continued)
(Meet Mago Contributor) Helen Hye-Sook Hwang.
[1] Intriguingly, both temples are associated with the Seon (read Magoist) tradition. Unfortunately, however, the latter, the mallet of Seonamsa bell is reportedly defaced in the head part of the whale: Its head was deliberately cut off so that the mallet did not look like a whale. See “Story of Thousands of Buddhas and and Pagodas: Suncheon Seonam-sa” in Bravo My Life (September 12, 2018). http://bravo.etoday.co.kr/view/atc_view.php?varAtcId=9012 (September 30, 2018).
[2] Other names of the Korean temple bell include Dangjong (Striking Bell 撞鐘), Hongjong (Broadening Bell洪鐘), and Jojong (Fishing Bell釣鐘).
[3] My essay on Magoist Korean Cetacean Culture is forthcoming in 2020.
[4] Christopher Intagliata, “Blue Whales Have Changed Their Tune” in Scientific American (November 30, 2018). https://bit.ly/2DUiaNL (December 1, 2018).
[5] “List of whale vocalizations.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_whale_vocalizations (December 8, 2018).
[6] “The Humpback song” in Journey North. https://journeynorth.org/tm/hwhale/SingingHumpback.html (December 8, 2018).
[7] “List of whale vocalizations.”
[8] Bill McQuay and Alison Richards, “It Took A Musician’s Ear To Decode The Complex Song In Whale Calls” in National Public Radio (August 6, 2015). https://www.npr.org/2015/08/06/427851306/it-took-a-musicians-ear-to-decode-the-complex-song-in-whale-calls (January 22, 2019).
[9] “Whale is a whale song?” in Whale Facts: Marine Mammal Facts and Information (December 5, 2018). https://www.whalefacts.org/what-is-a-whale-song/ (February 19, 2019).
[10] P. J.hillip Clapham and David K. Mattila, “Humpback Whale Songs as Indicators of Migration Routes” in Marine Mammal Science 6(2): 155-160 (April 1990). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-7692.1990.tb00238.x/. (February 19, 2019).
[11] Michael J. Noad, Douglas H. Cato, M. M. Bryden, Micheline-N. Janner and K. Curt S. Jenner, “Cultural revolution in whale songs” in Nature volume 408, 537 (November 30, 2000). https://www.nature.com/articles/35046199 (February 19, 2019).
[12] Emmanuelle C. Leroy, Jean-Yves Royer, Julien Bonnel, Flore Samaran, “Long‐Term and Seasonal Changes of Large Whale Call Frequency in the Southern Indian Ocean” in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans (November 27, 2018). Cited in Christopher Intagliata, “Blue Whales.”
[13] Mark A McDonal et al., “Biogeographic characterization of blue whale song worldwide: Using song to identify populations,” in Journal Journal of Cetacean Research and Management, 8 (1), 2006. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5r16c2mz (February 19, 2019).
Re: The Magoist Whale Bell – Helen I look forward eagerly to these essays, not just because they are so informative but because intuitively it makes so much sense to me that whales would be associated with the Powers of Earth, and the music of the Cosmos.
It disturbs me that the frequencies of the blue whale songs has decreased over the years due to human intervention…I don’t know what this means but I worry. These ancient and venerable beings are under siege like the rest of Nature and a decrease in communication must indicate distress .
Intuitively it makes perfect sense to me that whale “hammers” would be used to ring the Koren Bell…. Whales and Cosmic music just belong together….
Wonderful essay and impeccable research as usual.
Dear Sara,
Thanks so much for your feedback and comments. I am fascianted with this topic and there is so much to share for us to be happy and be sad at the same time…
Oh yes Helen, it is indeed both…