Wutaishanfule

01 · Historical Records

Wutai Mountain lies in the north-east of Shanxi Province and is the only Buddhist sacred place in the country that combines Han Buddhism (called the "green monasteries") with Tibetan Buddhism (called the "yellow monasteries"). Buddhist music came to Wutai Mountain together with Buddhism, and over nearly two thousand years of development it has not only consistently used the forms that entered China with Buddhism, such as "ge zan", "zhuan du" and "chang dao", but has also preserved songs and instrumental pieces popular in various periods since the Tang and Song dynasties.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Wutai Mountain lies in the north-east of Shanxi Province and belongs to the Taihang range; it takes its name from its five peaks whose summits resemble a platform, and is the only Buddhist sacred place in the country that combines Han Buddhism (called the "green monasteries") with Tibetan Buddhism (called the "yellow monasteries"). Wutai Mountain Buddhist music comprises two parts, the vocal music and the instrumental music. The "vocal music" is the singing of various sutra texts in Dharma assemblies, mainly in four forms: "he nian", "ling diao", "yin song" and "zhi shu". The "instrumental music" forms a band from a number of musical instruments and ritual implements, accompanying some of the tunes in the chanting of sutra texts or performing on its own as instrumental music. The pieces played as instrumental music are called "xiao qu" (little tunes). The monks of Wutai Mountain have their own technical means and tuning methods for tuning the sheng. Over nearly two thousand years of development, Wutai Mountain Buddhist music has not only consistently used the forms that entered China with Buddhism, such as "ge zan", "zhuan du" and "chang dao", but has also preserved songs and instrumental pieces popular in various periods since the Tang and Song dynasties. Common morning-chant pieces include Lengyan Zhou (Sutra of the Supreme Array), Dabei Zhou (Great Compassion Mantra) and the Ten Little Mantras, and evening-chant pieces include the Mituo Jing (Sutra of Amitabha), the Chan Hui Wen (Text of Repentance) and the Mengshan Wen (Mengshan Text). Wutai Mountain Buddhist music is the product of the combination of musical art and religion, a special cultural phenomenon in social development, and also an important component of Wutai Mountain Buddhist culture.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

It is regarded as the representative of northern Buddhist music and, apart from the region to which Wutai Mountain belongs, exerts considerable influence throughout the north of the country and nationwide.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The notation of Wutai Mountain Buddhist music is "gongche notation", and it is transmitted orally from master to apprentice, taught by heart and imitation. Shi Huiguang (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Han, born in January 1966, a native of Fanshi County, Shanxi Province. At the age of 26 he entered Nanshan Temple on Wutai Mountain and took Shi Wanfu as his master, practising Chan meditation and paying homage to the Buddha, and learning the tune patterns for chanting sutra texts and the technique of playing the guan. During this period he began the work of excavating and collating the scores for chanting and for the wind pieces accompanying sung sutras. Through decades of practice he can perform all the pieces in the Yoga yankou, the Chan daily recitation, the Buddhist miscellaneous tunes and the three-day-and-three-night texts, such as Hua Yan Hui, Cui Huang Hua, Wu Fang Jie Guo, Ling Gan Zhen Yan, Fang Bian Ji, Jin Lan Fang, Da Cheng Jing, Mi Mo Yan and Ku Ling Tang. Representative inheritor of Wutai Mountain Buddhist music of the third national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage projects. While refining his technique he attached great importance to the transmission and continuity of Buddhist music; in 1986 Nanshan Temple formally established a training class for Chan Buddhist music, and by expanding the ranks of Buddhist musicians and concentrating on the training of the music monks in the class it cultivated batch after batch of young monks engaged in Buddhist music. Zhangyang Molan (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Han, born in July 1969, a native of Wutai County, Shanxi Province. At the age of 13 he formed a connection with the Buddha, entered Pusading on Wutai Mountain and took Gesang Danzeng as his master, learning the tune patterns of the yellow monastery music and the techniques of instrumental performance. During this period he carried the sheng and pipe with him, constantly correcting and restoring them, and devoted himself wholeheartedly to collating all the Buddhist music and tune patterns of the Tibetan Vajra dance, and also restored a good deal of temple music characterised by folk music, making a contribution to Sino-Tibetan cultural exchange. After studying Buddhist performance for many years he can now perform more than forty tune patterns from the Chan Pieces for Chanting Sutras, the Wind Chamber Section and the Ceremonial Pieces, such as Dian Dong Yi Le Mian, Peng Cuo Dian Lian, Guo Gong Da Dan, Ge Dan Er Ma Yi, Ning Ge Er Ma, Jia Wei Jin Ku and Qi Gong Yang. Representative inheritor of Wutai Mountain Buddhist music of the third national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage projects. Since serving as steward of Pusading he has devoted himself wholeheartedly to the development of Tibetan Buddhist music on Wutai Mountain, organising and guiding the lamas of the temple to study Buddhist music, and has trained a large number of yellow monastery monks who play wind instruments.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

• Shihuiguang 03-0855
• Zhang Yangmolan 03-0856
• Guoxiang 04-1530

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Wutaishanfule (Wutai, Shanxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Shihuiguang · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Zhang Yangmolan · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗