Buddhist Music
01 · Historical Records
The Jonang school is one of the earlier schools formed within Tibetan Buddhism. Its Sanskrit music has long been current around Rangtang, transmitted together with the rituals of the monasteries, where the five parts — welcoming, bathing, taking refuge, praise and harmonizing music — are linked into a suite with a plot; it has been practised as a living tradition in the snowy Tibetan region for more than a thousand years.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Jonang Sanskrit music melts many forms into one — blowing instruments, percussion, music and dance, praise verses, chanting, hand seals and offerings — and is composed of content in five aspects, welcoming, bathing, taking refuge, praise and harmonizing music, forming a suite of Sanskrit music with a certain dramatic plot.
Welcoming
One of the five component parts of Jonang Sanskrit music.
Bathing
One of the five component parts of Jonang Sanskrit music.
Taking refuge
One of the five component parts of Jonang Sanskrit music.
Praise
One of the five component parts of Jonang Sanskrit music.
Harmonizing music
One of the five component parts of Jonang Sanskrit music.
Yang-yi notation
A self-contained notation method that uses lines of various shapes and various thicknesses to indicate the pitch and the length of notes, and that has preserved more than three hundred manuscript scores existing nowhere else.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The transmission of Jonang Sanskrit music relies on the monastic communities of the monasteries: novice musicians learn from childhood with their masters the chanting, the blowing and percussion and the hand seals, and master the complete suite of Sanskrit music step by step according to the order of the rituals; because the “yang-yi” notation preserves only the linear shapes, the detailed treatment of many pieces still depends on oral transmission from teacher to disciple, and once the line of transmission is broken it is difficult to restore.
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
It has been practised as a living tradition in the snowy Tibetan region for more than a thousand years. With its great many pieces, its ancient instruments and its self-contained notation method (the “yang-yi” notation, which uses lines of various shapes and various thicknesses to indicate the pitch and the length of notes), Jonang Sanskrit music has preserved more than three hundred manuscript scores that exist nowhere else, forming a cultural treasure-house for the study of ancient Buddhist musical works and musical information. For its long history as Buddhist music and its plural cultural characteristics, Jonang Sanskrit music is regarded in the musicological world as a “living fossil of the history of Chinese music”, and it is of great academic research value. Jonang Sanskrit music accords with the Buddhist moral norms and social values of “a harmonious world begins in the mind” and “a harmonious world in which all conditions come together”; it is a heavenly sound that brings goodwill and compassion into the heart, keeps a person calm and even-tempered, and so gives rise to an ethereal and happy feeling. Jonang Sanskrit music not only propagates the Dharma through “music as a Buddhist service”, satisfying the most urgent inner needs of the great body of the faithful, but also faithfully preserves the basic character of traditional Chinese Tibetan Buddhist music, providing a typical and vivid instance for the study of the content and the changes of traditional Chinese Tibetan Buddhist culture. Jiayang Yezhu (official archive record of the associated inheritor): Male, Tibetan, born in June 1974, a native of Rangtang County, Sichuan Province. He inherited more than three hundred scores of traditional Jonang Sanskrit music, and systematically studied and completely mastered the performance techniques of Buddhist music (Jonang Sanskrit music). In discharging his duty of transmission he firmly took on disciples and taught them the art, transmitting Jonang Sanskrit music. He has toured and performed many times in the major cities and universities of the country, receiving unanimous praise from experts and scholars and from students and teachers. Representative inheritor of Jonang Sanskrit music of the fourth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage.
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)
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