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Abstracts and Papers (April 8, opening sesson)

The Music of Awakening: Toward an Aesthetics of Liberation
— Andew Quintman, Professor of Religion and East Asian Studies, Wesleyan University

From the early periods of Buddhist writing, the composition of poetry and its performance in song have served the aims of cultivating devotion and faith, engendering attitudes of renunciation and compassion, and advancement on the path toward liberation. The eleventh-century yogin Milarepa (ca. 1028–1111) came to exemplify this tradition across the Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhist worlds, where his songs of realization (mgur) continue to illustrate the process of contemplative practice and illuminate states of transcendent awakening. This presentation explores two of the best-known song collections from this tradition: The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa (edited in 1488) together with an extraordinary illustrated manuscript version of The Ocean of Kagyu Songs (compiled 16th century) that deftly combines individual songs with melody and vocalization instructions (dbyangs yig) and color vignettes meant to evoke the tradition’s historical, cultural, and environmental landscapes. Together, these song collections suggest an aesthetics of liberation attending to audial, visual, environmental, and memorial engagement.

Three folios from a manuscript edition of An Ocean of Kagyu Songs (Bka’ brgyud mgur mtsho), from the library of Bemji Choje Nagtshang in northern Trongsa, Bhutan. The manuscript includes spiritual songs from the Kagyu tradition and color illustratio… — Three folios from a manuscript edition of *An Ocean of Kagyu Songs* (*Bka’ brgyud mgur mtsho*), from the library of Bemji Choje Nagtshang in northern Trongsa, Bhutan. The manuscript includes spiritual songs from the Kagyu tradition and color illustrations of the great masters who composed them, together with the melody notations (*dbyangs yig*) for their performance.This combined approach of literary, audial, visual poetry allows for total engagement in engendering devotion to the guru and the lineage, and indicates a sensory engagement with practice that parallels the various forms of liberation through the senses, here auditory, visual, and memorial. In this way, the manuscript points us toward a broader aesthetic of liberation, suggesting ways in which formal structures of poetry, music, image, and performance may influence the value of emotional and cognitive states. Photo courtesy of Dr. Karma Phuntsho and the Endangered Archives Programme.

Two Millennia of Buddhist Music – Ceremonies, Functions and Aesthetics
— Mingmei Yip, PhD, Visiting Professor of Chinese Music History, Bard College

After its introduction to China from India during the Eastern Han dynasty (23-220), both Buddhism and Buddhist music had undergone a long process of sinicization to merge with Chinese culture. Before the Song of the Three Treasures, composed by the twentieth century Buddhist monk Master Hong Yi (1880-1942), there were two main categories of Buddhist music: Traditional Buddhist chant and Buddhist folk music. Now modern Buddhist music in both vocal and purely instrumental form is a third category. The latter uses Western music techniques for composing. The main functions of Buddhist traditional and folk music are to praise the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and also to attract people to the noble path of Buddhism. Additionally, while used for the same purposes as traditional Buddhist chant, much modern Buddhist music is composed as “art for art’s sake” to be performed on a concert stage.

This paper will discuss the functions and five traditional forms of ceremonial Buddhist music: birthday celebrations; morning and evening lessons; feeding the hungry ghosts; water and land ceremony; and the Yulan Pan assembly. The aesthetics of traditional and modern Buddhist music will be discussed.

Read the full text of Dr. Yip’s paper HERE.

Learning the Tradition - Ritual Music in Zhihua Temple
— Chen Tao, Visiting Professor of Chinese Music, Bard College

Zhihua Temple music, known as the "living fossil of music,” was inherited
from the Ming Dynasty and named by Emperor YingZong, referencing “Buddha
imparting wisdom upon mankind”.

This article elaborates how I participated in the recording, preservation, and learning of the Zhihua Temple music from the monk musicians, and how I accompanied the masters to visit Europe and Singapore for unforgettable memories of Buddhist music performance.
It also narrates how I co-established the New Jersey Buddha's Light Youth Chinese Orchestra after settling in the US, and how I organized and played Zhihua Temple Music at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and promoted it at the Smithsonian National Museum in Washington DC, so the music of Zhihua Temple could be further preserved and promoted in North America.

Read Chen Tao’s full talk HERE.

Transmission and Preservation of Musical Intangible Cultural Heritage in Chinese Buddhism
— Zhai Fengjian, (Trans. Mingmei Yip)

Following its introduction into China, Buddhism became sinicized over the years. Buddhist music developed in two directions – ritual music and folk music. The intended audience for the former is metaphysical beings such as Buddha, Bodhisattva and spirits, while the latter is for living beings. The former maintains a solemn and reverent tone due to its sanctity. In contrast, Buddhist folk music has absorbed music from different regions and thus possesses different local flavors.

Before the founding of PRC, there was little research on Buddhist music in China with the exception of musicologist Liu Tianhua’s recording of Buddhist music in the thirties. More extensive research on the subject had begun in the 1950s, notably with Yang Yinliu’s publications entitled “Zhihua Temple Music” and “Hunan Music Census Report Appendix · Religion Music”. These have become the models for field work on China’s folk music. Another influential work “Temple Music” published by the China Musicians Association, Chengdu Branch in 1955. This was the largest collection of Buddhist music during that time.

Since the 1980s, to preserve the heritage of folk culture, the Ministry of culture together with and other units launched the Compilation Project of China’s Top Ten Literature and Art Collection Recordings. The first three publications were: “Collection of Chinese Folk Songs”, “Collection of Chinese Folk Instrumental Music”, and “Collection of Chinese Opera Music”. Since then, collection and research on Buddhist music has resulted in many additional publications. One notably Buddhist music scholar is Yang Yinliu’s student Tian Qing who visited about 200 temples in several provinces and was the first to record much Buddhist music. Tian has published one million words on Buddhist music. His “A Canonical Text of Chinese Buddhist Music” is a classic for Chinese Buddhist monks to learn about Buddhist chanting.

Since 2005, the Chinese government has initiated the protection of intangible cultural heritage (hereinafter referred to as ICH). Buddhist music was included in the protection system of ICH under the category of traditional music. However, Cultural Heritage is still being lost because of such problems as lack of successors, disruption of ecological and cultural space, and also the difficulty of maintaining preservation in the face of modernization. Other dilemmas include the issues of performing religious rituals on stage instead of its original temple setting and conflict between tourism development and temple life, etc.

Read Zhai Fengjian’s full paper (translated into English) HERE.
点击阅读翟风俭研究论文 (full paper in Chinese).