What is an Audiophile's Dharma?

In Hinduism we have the concept of Dharma. In its simplest essence Dharma is the code of conduct or guideline of whatever discipline a man/woman is doing at any point in time. Be it acting as a warrior, a father, a mother, a student etc. For context a Singer's Dharma is to dedicate his life to attain the highest form of in his art from and riyaaz, no be distracted by fame or other worldly distractions and when he is on stage his Dharma is to honestly and wit utmost care convey his art. A listeners Dharma is to give his undivided attention to the art from, grasp everything we have the artist has to offer, like a humble student let go of his ego and simply be. Dharma, however is theoretical guideline, telling us what we should be striving for any endeavor we take on at any point our lives.

Having chased gear after gear, year after year, I'm now wondering what being audiophile really is? What truly is the Dharma someone who is chasing this mental model of a sound signature? I wonder quite like the artist is it about enhancing our skill of simply being able to listen not just to music but generally be able to listen and the gear is just the material distraction we get lost in? I remember the story of a tea reviewer; he said his teacher from whom he learnt how to rate tea, made him drink poor quality tea for 2 years and forbade him to drink an good quality tea. The rationale of the teacher being, if you cannot appreciate a poor quality tea you will never know how to appreciate a good quality tea. Almost seems like a parallel to our hobby.

The intention of the topic is not to reach any conclusion, bur rather have dialog with folks who are passionate about the skill of being audiophile. Its not about having a debate about which gear is better bur rather what does an audio gear enable us to endeavor ? When we are listening to our gear what is an Audiophile's Dharma?

 

Let us approach this question of dharma with a lesson from dog-ma...

 

It seems to me, if there is a dharma of an audiophile it would be identical to a listener's dharma, or at least very close/similar to it. It's not about chasing so much as hearing and consequently being moved by music. Everything else is just window dressing.

Appreciate the strengths of what you have now. There's nothing wrong with striving for more/better, but becoming more "in tune" with what you like /don't like about what you have now is the key to deciding where to go from here. That and budget of course.

Every listening experience is it's own event and changes with mood, background noise etc. I think it can take a while to get used to your own system and honestly gauge it's strengths and weaknesses. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try.

 

@Thad E Ginathom , that's a very wise dogma. But we must remember that ultimately, an audiophile's dogma will always get run over by his karma.

 

Adding on to what others have said, this is what I feel about this subject. An Audiophile should
1. Seek but not covet: Seek every form of sound reproduction you can find. But do not judge the sound itself. Be grateful for each new experience and to the gear. Do not covet the experience, emotion or the gear. I'm also including hate or not liking a particular piece of experience in coveting. Its just in different form of coveting, its rejection.
2. You are in charge of your audio karma: Strive to elevate your experience as you listen. No judgement, no technical analysis. Simply your undivided attention with mindfulness.
3. Learn to be joyful and grateful: Through all you audio karma, learn to be at peace. Knowing that there are audio experiences the mind will tell you to covet but having the awareness to be joyful and grateful for the present moment.

The last point has a subtle but very powerful force; the mind which in turn gives rise to ego.

 

That is the problem exactly!