Buddhist music

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Buddhist music

Applicant: Xinghai County, Qinghai Province

Item No.: 637

Project No.: Ⅱ - 138

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: Traditional Music

Region: Qinghai Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Xinghai County, Qinghai Province

Protection unit: Xinghai Cultural Center

Introduction to Buddhist Music (Qinghai Tibetan chanting Sutra tune)

Applicant: Xinghai County, Qinghai Province

Buddhist music is the music used by Buddhist temples in various religious activities and festivals. Buddhism was introduced into China around the reign of Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the long-term development process, Buddhist music from India and the western regions has a unique appearance because of absorbing the artistic factors of Chinese folk music, and has become an important part of Chinese Buddhist culture. It contains not only Chinese national music tunes, but also Indian and western minority music tunes. Music chanting, also known as "Buddhist Chanting", which is directly used in Buddhism, praises Buddha and Bodhisattva in the form of short verses. There are solo, chorus and other chanting methods. Musical instruments can be used to accompany chanting.

Tibetan Sutra chanting tunes are mainly spread in saizong temple, Xinghai County, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, and in jiawugou, sangdang, Heka and other agricultural and pastoral areas. Among them, "mani style Sutra chanting Tunes" spread among farmers in jiawugou village has a history of more than 100 years. There are titles and lyrics in Qinghai Tibetan songs, which belong to the oral literature of temple literature. The popular chanting tune is composed of three parts: "mani style chanting tune", "Milarepa and qulawa gongbaoduojie duel chanting tune" and "Dharma God greeting style chanting tune". There are not only music for singing, but also instrumental music for playing. There are more than 100 existing chanting tunes. "Mani style chanting classic tune" can be divided into "Ni Dong" and "Yi Dong" according to chanting tune, "single singing" and "multi singing" according to singing form, and "tamping tune", "mourning tune" and "blessing tune" according to content. "Milarepa and qulawa gongbaoduojie sing Sutra and tune" publicizes Buddhism to believers in the form of poetry, with beautiful tone. "The chanting tune of the Dharma protector's greeting style" has a strong primitive religious color, and is mainly sung in various large-scale Dharma fairs. Qinghai Tibetans sing classic tunes are deeply loved by Tibetans because of their simplicity, elegance, clearness and conciseness, as well as their integration into folk melodies. Representative works include "Milarepa Daoge" and so on.

Qinghai Tibetan chanting is the concentrated embodiment of the creative wisdom of the monks and the common people in Qinghai Tibetan area. As a spiritual link between the Buddhist monks and the believers, it has an irreplaceable high status in the life of the local Tibetans. At present, the Buddhist activities of various festivals and Dharma associations tend to be simplified, which leads to the variation of chanting Sutra tunes. At the same time, the monks of chanting Sutra tunes also have faults. Therefore, we must actively do a good job in rescue and protection to ensure the smooth inheritance of this traditional religious art.