Buddhist Music
01 · Historical Records
Lenyan Temple in Zuoyun County is an ancient monastery of northern Shanxi. The hymn-like songs and instrumental wind pieces learned by generation after generation of monks in the temple are survivals here of the eastern branch of the northern Chinese fanbei vocal style; their formation is closely bound up with the Buddhist activities brought by frontier garrison towns and immigrant reclamation since the Ming, and afterwards they continually absorbed elements of Buddhist music such as the music of Tianzhu, Kucha and Anguo and merged it with local folk music, gradually forming temple music with both Mongolian and Chinese characteristics.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Lenyan Temple music consists of two parts, hymn-like songs and instrumental wind pieces. The hymn-like songs number a dozen or more, chiefly the Six-Syllable Hymn, the Verse of Facility and the Three Refuges; the instrumental wind pieces number twenty-eight, among them Liu Yao Jin, the Left Tibetan Sutra and the Right Tibetan Sutra. The instruments used are the guanzi, sheng, frame drum, gong, dangzi, yinqing, chuozi, naoba, shouzhi and the like. Lenyan Temple hall music is generally chanted by monks during the chanting of sutras and in Buddhist rites, and is also played at the various folk ritual observances. Its hymn-like songs begin in a deep and steady key and their melody is solemn and elegant; matched with the chanted sutra words, they create an extremely solemn musical atmosphere. Its instrumental pieces are of varied style, combining the roughness and boldness of Mongolian tunes with the supple flow of Chinese tunes, and amid the impassioned and tumbling melodies there is also the ethereal remoteness of Sanskrit chant.
Hymn-like songs
These are the representative hymn-like songs of Lenyan Temple music, a dozen or more in number; they begin in a deep and steady key, their melody is solemn and elegant, and matched with the chanted sutra words they create an extremely solemn musical atmosphere.
Instrumental pieces
These are the representative instrumental wind pieces of Lenyan Temple music, twenty-eight in number, of varied style, combining the roughness and boldness of Mongolian tunes with the supple flow of Chinese tunes.
Nine-instrument setup
The instruments used for Lenyan Temple music are the guanzi, sheng, frame drum, gong, dangzi, yinqing, chuozi, naoba, shouzhi and the like.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Buddhist music of Lenyan Temple in Zuoyun County is current in Zuoyun and in the area around Liangcheng County of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region; it originally belonged to the eastern branch of the northern Chinese fanbei vocal style, and arose and was sung at the beginning of the Ming together with the monks' chanting of sutras and their Buddhist rites, being enriched and developed in the Ming and Qing dynasties. In the course of long transmission it absorbed elements of Buddhist music such as the music of Tianzhu, Kucha and Anguo and combined them with local folk music, gradually forming a style of temple music with both Mongolian and Chinese characteristics and an exotic flavour. In ritual observances Lenyan Temple music chooses its pieces according to the order of the chanting of sutras, the praise of the Buddha, the offering of food and the sending of the saints; the guan and the sheng lead, the percussion instruments beat the time along with the vocal line, and the tonal quality moves from deep and steady into impassioned and tumbling.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Buddhist Music · Buddhist Music · Buddhist Music · Buddhist Music · Buddhist Music · Buddhist Music · Buddhist Music · Buddhist Music · Buddhist Music · Buddhist Music · Buddhist Music · Buddhist Music.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The instruments used for Lenyan Temple music are the guanzi, sheng, frame drum, gong, dangzi, yinqing, chuozi, naoba, shouzhi and the like; within the gate the music is taught orally from master to apprentice, and the manuscript books and the repertory pass down through generations inside the temple. It is both chanted by monks during the chanting of sutras and in Buddhist rites and played at the various folk ritual observances; as the old monks pass away and the ritual observances grow fewer, few people can now play some of the drum-and-wind pieces complete, and there is an urgent need to sort them out and to teach them.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Song Chun 03-0889
- Shilongjiang 03-0890
- Dunzhu 03-0891
- Cheng Laijiacuo 03-0892
- Xu Jianye 03-0893
- Shiyongwu 04-1535
- Jiayanglezhu 04-1536
- Nimazhuoga 05-2149
- Suonanzhuoma 05-2150
- Luocangguanque 05-2151
- Luocanggengga 05-2152
- Kuochen
- Xincheng
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。