Can ambient noise be a meditation object just like the breath? Lately I’ve been finding a lot of peace in listening to nature sounds and such. The Buddha had access to plenty of ambient nature sounds. Did he ever explicitly talk about the role of sound?
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Hi,
An example is the Bāhiya Sutta, Ud1.10:
"“In that case, Bāhiya, you should train like this: ‘In the seen will be merely the seen; in the heard will be merely the heard; in the thought will be merely the thought; in the known will be merely the known.’ That’s how you should train. When you have trained in this way, you won’t be ‘by that’. When you’re not ‘by that’, you won’t be ‘in that’. When you’re not ‘in that’, you won’t be in this world or the world beyond or between the two. Just this is the end of suffering.”
And MN143:
You should train like this: ‘I shall not grasp sight, and there shall be no consciousness of mine dependent on sight.’ … ‘I shall not grasp sound … smell … taste … touch … idea, and there shall be no consciousness of mine dependent on idea.’ That’s how you should train.
And many more suttas that deal with the senses…
Really, all experiences via the senses and aggregates can be used on the Path, such as seeing into impermanence, dukkha, and not-self.
Using sound during meditation can be relaxing and can develop ease; in the Mahayana tradition, it was said that Kannon Bodhisattva came to awakening via sound.
Hope this is helpful. 
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You play the greatest role in your Path. The Buddha proclaimed that ultimately, you should be your own Refuge.
And Buddha did decide for His Sangha to initially be a forest dwelling one, away from the corruption of the cities, palaces, and kingdoms… So being reminded of that Peace with ambient noise is surely a good thing.
I think whatever grows your Bodhicitta, selectively, is a good thing for your Path, and is one of the most important aspects of the Noble Eightfold Path.
So from my perspective, the answer is yes, to your question.
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Thank you! I wonder if anyone else finds that some ambient sound helps reduce discursive thought more than pure silence? As a temporary training tool of course. I’ll take whatever progress I can get, lol!
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I don’t know about ambient sound but
Ajahn Sumedho and Ajahn Amaro of Amaravati Monastery have incorporated the inner ear tinnitus-like sound into their meditation practice. Apparently, Ajahn Sumedho discovered it independently and later realised that it was a well established yogic practice called nāda yoga.
Ajahn Chah has a few talks on dealing with external sounds but they are mostly concerned with not letting them be a distraction.
Hope this helps.
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As a meditation object? No. At least not in the way you are probably asking about.
Of course sounds are one of the external sense bases and the Buddha had plenty to say about that.
Welcome to the forum!
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My understanding of the early Buddhist texts is that sense experience is to be abandoned, samadhi developed and maintained resulting in tranquility and clear seeing.
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Mahakasapa was with you in delighting In nature, though not as a meditation object
thag18.1
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Yeah, I was going to point this out, that the suttas often praise living in nature. Presumably the ambient sounds of nature are part of it.
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Rid of snakes, that death-mad swarm,
the lazy frogs croak:
“Today isn’t the time to stray from mountain streams;
Ajakaraṇī is safe, pleasant, and delightful.”
Oh, when will I rise up,
intent on attaining freedom from death,
hearing, in the mountain cave, the cry of the crested peacock in the forest? When will it be?
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Yes. Especially if I feel like my body has been hijacked by any number of things – rapid heart rate or tremendous fatigue, for example, are two of the prominent ones for me. (They occur for several reasons – in my case, neither are anxiety-related.)
I find that ambient sound is what helps calm the system. At that point, there’s no accessing anything through meditation other than observing the breath and perhaps focusing on that solely. (The two ailments I’ve described don’t subside for me during meditation.)
I used to open the windows a lot for such sound – we feed birds all year long and have lots of bird chirping. Unfortunately, one of our cats has developed extreme reactions to dust and pollen so that’s not an option anymore! There are ambient soundtracks I’ll use if I must sit at the desk and push through to get some professional work done.
I try to take advantage of HVAC system noise to tap into ambient sound. Oh – since @FishGuy890 appears to like fish tanks, we used to have a 125 gallon reef tank which was great for ambient sound (and sight)!
When there’s TOTAL silence without HVAC noise or refrigerator humming, I’ll try to tap into the inner ear ringing. That said, I think this could feel a bit psychotic for some people who truly must introduce themselves to “no noise” very gradually – like, over a period of years 
Walking is my next choice, if conditions are right 
. Which of course presents ambient sounds!
The Buddha is shown doing a lot of walking meditation in nature 
Yes, I must think this goes back to whether ambient sound is suitable as a meditation object in and of itself.
As our esteemed teachers have said in this thread.
I practice ambient sound as a means toward calm and also as insight into grasping. That’s why, over the years, I’ve never encouraged lay students to use meditation apps if they can work with ambient sound as they learn to meditate. Then we learn to let go of clinging to that, too.
Because I brought up the reef tank, some lay students got used to the ambient sound of the water movement and filtration. Then when we had to give up the tank, they realized they missed the sound 
I think this is really a great question! We are absolutely assaulted with sound in modern culture and we really should develop a wise relationship with it. My $.02. Which (as I say), is now $.04.
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I can relate to that! Anything in the water department (rain, waves gently approaching the shore) does the trick for me!
As to the OPs question - I don’t know if it necessarily helps on the path, but it really is a good remedy when one’s being agitated to get back to “normal mode”. And this helps staying on track so I do find it useful.
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