Did the Buddha play a singing bowl?

Among the many internet myths is one that goes, "sound healing with singing bowls goes back to the time of the historic Buddha." 

This is typical of the false myths and cultural appropriation currently espoused by new age sound healers. In a vain attempt to legitimize their beliefs and practices, these attention getters say almost anything, however false it may be. 

Wait, Joseph - you have a photo of the Buddha holding a bowl right here! I've seen lots of photos of Buddhas holding bowls - what gives? 

True but those are not singing bowls. They are alms bowls or medicine bowls. Some may even go so far as to say those bowls are singing bowls but we know they are distinctly different. Or are they? 

The historic Buddha's bowl is known to have been made of stone. The date of Shakyamuni Buddha predates singing bowls by more than 1,500 years.

Later monks bowls were made of stone, wood or metal. Most are made of multiple pieces, symbolizing the Buddha's own bowl which was broken into pieces. Metal bowls made by this method cannot produce a bell like tone. Singing bowls are always made of one piece. 

However, there is a good chance singing bowls were also alms bowls. They are used to make sound and collect donations in temples today and there is no reason to believe they were not used in similar ways in antiquity. So, even though an antique singing bowl was not used by the Buddha (someone actually tried to sell a singing bowl as the actual singing bowl used by the Buddha in the early days of the internet), it may have been used by a monk or temple. 

Certain types of singing bowls seem to have been for monastic use. You can see the type I call "monks' bowls" in the museum collection. This type was perhaps used by a monastic group. Perhaps all of the singing bowls were. Since the bowls were all found in store rooms after an unknown period of disuse, we do not know exactly where they came from or how they were used. 

One thing for sure, you can't buy the Buddha's singing bowl. Padmasambhava probably didn't have one either. However, you can use a good singing bowl to pay homage to them both. They're a great addition to daily practice.