Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T19:46:47.681Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Duality of the Sacred and the Secular in Chinese Buddhist Music: An Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2019

Li Wei
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In Chinese Buddhist music studies, an investigation of the meaning and concept of music should involve not only a study of the codified doctrine but also a study of the Buddhist practice and its sound products. The aim of this paper is to examine the meanings of music in Chinese Buddhist doctrinal and practical contexts, and to demonstrate how the codified norms of music have significantly been reinterpreted in the contemporary Buddhist practice. I shall first discuss the notions of music in Chinese Buddhist discourse, under an analytical framework based on a Buddhist-oriented classification. I shall then examine the practice of these different categories of music from a historical perspective. This will be followed by a brief survey of Chinese Buddhist musical practice in the present-day, which is based on field work in the United States and China, showing the changes and adaptations in Chinese Buddhist music-making under the process of global modernization.

Type
Articles
Information
Yearbook for Traditional Music , Volume 24 , 1992 , pp. 81 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 by the International Council for Traditional Music

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This paper was originally presented at the 31st ICTM World Conference in Hong Kong in July, 1991, under the title “Tianyue, Fanbei, and Suyue: Some Notions of Music in Chinese Buddhism.”

References

References Cited

Anonymous 1990 “Buddhist Hymns Performed in SYS Hall,” Torch of Wisdom News Weekly, Taipei, 12 May, 1990. 11: 1.Google Scholar
Buddhist Sutras Circulation Office, ed. 1981 “Amita Sutra.” In Niansong Yigui [Instruction for Chanting and Worship]. Hong Kong: Buddhist Sutras Circulation Office.Google Scholar
Chinese Buddhist Association, ed. 1981 Zhongguo Fojiao [Chinese Buddhism], Vol. 2. Beijing: Knowledge Publishing House.Google Scholar
Ci Hai Editorial Board, ed. 1979 “Zhengshen,” “Zhengwei Zhiyin.” In Ci Hai [Ci Hai Lexicon]. Shanghai: Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House.Google Scholar
Gulik, Gulik Robert Hans. 1940 The Lore of the Chinese Lute: An Essay in Ch'in Ideology. Tokyo: Sophia University.Google Scholar
Liang, Yu-Quan 1987 “Ouzhou Jiangxiangqi Zhihuasi Yinyue” [Europe will Hear Zhi Hua Temple's Music]. People's Daily (Overseas Edition) Jan. 21. p. 7.Google Scholar
Musical Research Institute, China Academy of Arts, ed. 1984 “Bianwen,” “Sujiang.” In Zhonggua Yinyue Cidian [A Dictionary of Chinese Music]. Beijing: People's Music Publishing House.Google Scholar
Ren, Ji-Yu, ed. 1981 Zhongguo Fojiaoshi [A History of Chinese Buddhism]. Beijing: China Social Science Publishing House.Google Scholar
Soothill, W. and Hodous, L., comp. 1977 A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms. Gaoxiong, Taiwan: Buddhist Light Publishing House.Google Scholar
Tian, Qing 1987 “Qianlun Fojiao Yu Zhongguo Yinyue” [“On Buddhism and Chinese Music“], Yinyue Yanjiu [Music Research] 4: 26–34 (Beijing).Google Scholar
Yang, Yin-Liu 1964 Zhongguo Gudai Yinyue Shigao [A Outline for Ancient Chinese Music History]. Vol. 1. Beijing: Music Publishing House.Google Scholar
Yu, Luk Charles, tran. 1972 The Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra. Berkeley, CA: Shambala Publications, Inc.Google Scholar
Yuan, He 1991 “Dui Fojiao Yuewu ‘Yu Fo’ Shuo De Zhiyi” [“Query the validity of ‘Entertaining Buddha by Buddhist Music and Dance’ “]. Zhongguo Yishu Yanjiuyuan Yanjiushen Bu Xuekan [Journal for Graduate Department of China Arts Academy] 1991 (1): 53-58 (Beijing).Google Scholar
Zemp, Hugo 1978 “'Are'are Classification of Musical Types and Instrument.” Ethnomusicology 22: 37–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar