Daoist Music
01 · Historical Records
Since the 1990s, Zhang Jintao, the sixty-fifth generation transmitter, has organized training for Daoist adherents and collected over 130 musical scores of the Tianshi Dao (Way of the Celestial Master).
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The core area of transmission of the Zhengyi Yintianshi Dao Taoist music of Longhu Mountain is Mount Longhu within Guixi City, Yingtan City, Jiangxi Province. It has spread widely together with the Zhengyi Yintianshi Dao, and its area of distribution includes the provinces south of the Yangtze River, the minority areas of the southwest, as well as Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan of China and Southeast Asia. Since ancient times Mount Longhu has been famous throughout the world as the “abode of immortals and deities” and a “blessed land on earth”; it is a Taoist sacred mountain with a long history. The development of the Daoist music of the Way of the Celestial Master is a history of constantly absorbing and blending Jiangxi folk music. Besides folk songs, minor melodies, quyi and the music of Gan opera, it widely absorbs folk music such as Kunqu, Jiangnan sizhu and Southern Jiangsu wind-and-percussion music, forming distinctive Mount Longhu Daoist music such as “Shangqing yun”, “Yiyang yun” and “paizi qu”. In its musical style and its modes of expression it displays the strong cultural character of the Gan-Po region, gradually shifting from the ethereal and mystical “music of immortals” to “secular music” that is refined and sweet in style and rich in local accent. The Zhengyi Yintianshi Dao Taoist music of Longhu Mountain comprises 126 pieces of jingyun (scriptural chant) and 23 pieces of instrumental music, ritual-instrument music and tune patterns. The phenomenon of one melody serving many uses and one chant mode carrying many tunes is common; the names and titles of some chant tunes contain a great deal of historical information. Its common jingyun pieces include the Qingwen shui, the Chengqing yun, the Yingqing shizun zan, the Anlong diantu xuanyi jizi, the Buxu (Taiji zan), the Jinghui zhou, the Zhongyang anzhen zan, the Jinguang zhou and the Fushi zan, and so on. Its common instrumental tune patterns include the Xiao Ka Men, the Xiao Guochang, the Lu Gang Diao, the Yizi Da Ka Men, the Yingke Xian, the Xiao Taohong and the Shanpo Yang, fifteen pieces in all. Its ritual-instrument tune patterns are the Sijie, the Luobo jizi, the three-sound gong, the five-sound gong and the nine-sound gong. This heritage project embraces and includes Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism alike. The Celestial Master Mansion performs the Buddhist scriptures “Cihang zan”, “Mituo zan” and “Putuo zan” in full. The jingyun pieces that praise the founding masters of the three teachings — Confucian, Buddhist and Taoist — are a major characteristic of the Longhu Mountain Taoist music.
Common sutra-chant tunes
One of the common jingyun pieces of the Zhengyi Yintianshi Dao Taoist music of Longhu Mountain.
Buxu and purification chants
Common jingyun pieces of the Zhengyi Yintianshi Dao Taoist music of Longhu Mountain.
Fifteen instrumental tunes
The common instrumental tune patterns are the Xiao Ka Men, the Xiao Guochang, the Lu Gang Diao, the Yizi Da Ka Men, the Yingke Xian, the Xiao Taohong, the Shanpo Yang and others, fifteen pieces in all.
Ritual-instrument tune titles
The ritual-instrument tune patterns are the Sijie, the Luobo jizi, the three-sound gong, the five-sound gong and the nine-sound gong.
Three Longhu-shan styles
The distinctive tunes formed by Mount Longhu Daoist music after it absorbed folk music such as Kunqu, Jiangnan sizhu and Southern Jiangsu wind-and-percussion music; in musical style and expression they display the strong cultural character of the Gan-Po region, gradually shifting from the ethereal and mystical “music of immortals” to “secular music” that is refined and sweet in style and rich in local accent.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Daoist music of the Way of the Celestial Master is handed down generation by generation in the area of Guixi’s Mount Longhu in the master-apprentice line, and the morning and evening devotions of the adherents and the zhaijiao rituals all perform music according to the prescribed ritual tracks. Besides folk songs, minor melodies, quyi and the music of Gan opera, it widely absorbs folk music such as Kunqu, Jiangnan sizhu and Southern Jiangsu wind-and-percussion music, forming distinctive Mount Longhu Daoist music such as “Shangqing yun”, “Yiyang yun” and “paizi qu”, which displays the strong cultural character of the Gan-Po region.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Zhengyi Yintianshi Dao Taoist music of Longhu Mountain is transmitted in the master-apprentice line. This heritage project preserves a great many ancient tunes, making it an extremely precious documentary source for the study of traditional music; the deep connotations and rich forms of expression it reveals also have high research value. The Taoist doctrines and ideas carried by the Zhengyi Yintianshi Dao Taoist music of Longhu Mountain contain many moral notions such as exhorting people to be good, respecting the old and cherishing the young, and being honest and kind; they guide people towards establishing correct values and moral outlooks, and play a certain positive part in building a harmonious society. Zhang Jintao (official archival record of the associated inheritor): Male, of Han ethnicity, born in September 1964, a native of Yingtan City, Jiangxi Province. Vice-president of the Chinese Taoist Association and president of the Mount Longhu Taoist Association. He entered the China Taoist College to study in 1983. In 2013 the “Longhu on Dao — hu xiao long yin yue sheng, yue sheng, wenhua” Taoist master lecture hall, which he initiated and implemented, became one of the more influential cultural-exchange platforms in the domestic Taoist world. He collected over 130 musical scores of the Way of the Celestial Master, and the Celestial Master Mansion chanting ensemble he founded is the main group transmitting the Zhengyi Yintianshi Dao Taoist music of Longhu Mountain. He is the chief editor of such books as “Tianshi Dao of Mount Longhu, China”, “The Daoist Music of Tianshi Dao of Mount Longhu, China” and “A Glimpse into Daoist Culture”, and has written and published more than a dozen academic papers. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch intangible cultural heritage project Daojiao Yinyue (Zhengyi Yintianshi Dao Taoist music of Longhu Mountain).
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zhang Yubao 03-0894
- Li Manshan 03-0895
- Shi Jitong 03-0896
- You Wuzhong 03-0897
- Zhang Minggui 03-0898
- Wu Bingzhi 04-1537
- Feng Yingzhan 05-2153
- He Chunsheng 05-2154
- Wu Lixun 05-2155
- Zhan Heping 05-2156
- Zhang Jintao 05-2157
- Huo Dezhong 05-2158
- An Baohui 05-2159
- Wu Huyong
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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