Buddhist Music (Northern Wudang temple music)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Buddhist Music (music of northern Wudang Temple)

Applicant: Pingluo County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Item No.: 637

Project No.: Ⅱ - 138

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: Traditional Music

Region: Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Type: new item

Applicant: Pingluo County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Protection unit: Pingluo Cultural Center

Introduction to Buddhist Music (temple music of North Wudang Temple)

Applicant: Pingluo County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

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.

The North Wudang temple is located in jiuquankou, Helan Mountain, northwest of Dawukou District, Shizuishan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The music spread in the temple is the product of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. After thousands of years of development and evolution, the music from India is integrated with local folk tunes and opera music, which has become a special form of folk music in Ningxia. At every big temple fair, monks in the northern Wudang Temple chant scriptures in the percussion of gongs, drums, wooden fish, cymbals, Sheng, Xiao, Guan, flute and other musical instruments. At that time, the hall of drum music, the sound of Lang Lang, a peaceful scene.

On the one hand, the temple music of the northern Wudang temple has the euphemism of the Southern music, and on the other hand, it does not lose the high pitched music of the northern Dangxiang, Mongolian, Tibetan and other ethnic music. Its libretto is composed of many languages, including Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan and Chinese. There are two types of temple music in North Wudang temple, namely, music of culture and music of martial arts, in which music of culture is singing music and recorded by music of ruler; music of martial arts, also known as "Zha Zha Zi", is recorded by vertical notation. The combination of the two forms the temple music of wind and percussion. There are gongs, drums, wooden fish, cymbals, cymbals, Sheng, Xiao, Guan and flute playing instruments in the temple music of northern Wudang temple, and the representative works are song of the four seasons and Xingshi CI.

The temple music of northern Wudang temple has an important reference value in the study of the history of national music. Its libretto has a variety of languages, and it is also a witness of multi-ethnic cultural integration. At present, due to the influence of modern music, the temple music of northern Wudang temple is in an endangered state, which is in urgent need of rescue and protection.