Buddhist Music · Chinese Craft Stories

01 · Historical Records

Buddhism was introduced into China around the reign of Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han; Buddhist music from India and the Western Regions, over its long course of development, absorbed artistic elements of Chinese folk music and thereby took on a distinctive character, becoming an important component of Chinese Buddhist culture. It began in the period of the second Jamyang in 1743 and was developed and perfected by the several subsequent Jamyang masters, finally becoming a form of Tibetan Buddhist music with a character of its own. In November 1980, in welcome of the Tenth Panchen Lama, Labrang Monastery, following the dharma instruction of the Sixth Jamyang Living Buddha, formed a new ensemble.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Buddhist music is the music used by Buddhist monasteries in various Dharma-service activities and festival celebrations. It contains both Chinese national tunes and musical tunes of the minority peoples of India and the Western Regions. The musical zanbei directly applied by Buddhism is also called “fanbei”; it praises the Buddha and the bodhisattvas in short verse form, has singing modes such as solo, unison and chorus, and may be accompanied by instruments when sung. Labrang Monastery is located in Xiahe County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province; the temple hall music transmitted in this monastery is popularly called “dao-de-er”, and it is the music used for the daily life of the monastery's master, the Jamyang, and for his grand ceremonies. The principal instruments of dao-de-er include the zhu-guan (main pipe), the sheng, the guanzi, the nine-toned cloud gong, cymbals, the conch shell and the bone flute; the whole ensemble consists of 21 people, selected from the monks of the six great monastic colleges of Labrang Monastery — 10 from the College of Listening and Contemplation (the Great Sutra Hall), 2 from each of the other five colleges, plus one further person chosen from among the monks with outstanding performing skill. The Tibetan numerical notation used by the ensemble is basically the same as modern numbered notation, with seven pitch degrees; the pieces are mostly in gong mode, shang mode and zhi mode. The main repertory includes 《Jiang Hua Xi Suo》, 《La Ma Dan Zhen》, 《Zhi Qin Jia Ju》, 《Tou Ji Qin Bao》, 《Wan Nian Huan》 and 《Wu Tai Shan》 and others; most of them come from Tibet and are religious pieces, while some have been transmitted from the monasteries and courts of the interior. The dao-de-er music is characterised by the fusion of Tibetan and Chinese music; its most striking feature is the use of Chinese instruments, while the repertory includes both Chinese and Tibetan pieces, and even the Chinese pieces carry certain Tibetan stylistic features. Since the performing ensemble of Labrang Monastery was formed, after more than 290 years of development it has grown into Tibetan temple hall music composed of wind instruments, percussion and strings, providing accompaniment in the monastery's Buddhist activities. The dao-de-er ensemble has toured the United States, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium and other countries, as well as the Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao regions of China, causing a strong response at home and abroad.