Fan Bai: Chinese Buddhist Monastic Chants (review)

Abstract

CHINESE BUDDHIST CHANT Fan Bai: Chinese Buddhist Monastic Chants. Edited by Pi-Yen Chen. (Recent Researches in Oral Traditions of Music, 8.) Middleton, WI: A-R Editions, 2010. [Figs., p. vii; CD tracks, p. viii; pref., p. ix-x; hist. & comment., p. 1-42; plates & transcriptions, p. 43-88; facsim., p. 88-154; notes, p. 155-57; glossaries, p. 158-62; bibliog. refs., p. 163-65. Compact disc. ISBN-10 0895796724, ISBN-13 9780895796721. $150.] Buddhism in China has a long history, dating back to around first century of Common Era. For over two millennia this foreign religion from India via Central Asia has laid down roots in its adopted land, and continuously evolved to develop into a uniquely Chinese Mahayana Buddhism that has infiltrated a wide spectrum of Chinese society up to present day. There no lack of historiography of Buddhism in China. Writings in English on music and ritual in Chinese Buddhism are, however, still sparse. Despite being an intrinsic part of religion, liturgy and its musical expression are often neglected or treated as peripheral to other aspects of Buddhism. Pi-Yen Chen's volume on monastic complete with a compact disc and musical transcriptions, therefore a welcome addition to limited body of studies in Chinese Buddhist music and ritual. The first half of volume consists of three chapters. The first a forage into history and background of Chinese Buddhist following development of contemporary liturgies and Buddhist music; this followed by discussions on types of and analysis of their musical styles; third chapter then focuses on an examination of daily liturgies in monastery. The book's second half consists of musical transcriptions in Western notation (presumably by Chen herself) of a selection of different categories of chant alongside their Chinese chant texts. A facsimile of complete liturgy of daily service follows transcriptions. The first three chapters and musical transcriptions should be of much interest to music scholars. The long history of religion's development in China makes it no easy task to present a full picture of evolution of Buddhist chants in its adopted land; it a subject that deserves a separate book altogether. Information on Chinese Buddhist liturgical chant and its performance can be gleaned from canonical Buddhist literature dating from around sixth to eighth centuries; references to origin of Chinese Buddhist fanbai (referring to singing of hymns and praises), descriptions of musically adept preachers and hymnodists, and accounts of and ceremonies can all be found. Chen's historical account in chapter 1 omits early history, focusing instead on development of chant within various Buddhist schools that emerged after Tang (618-907). The establishment of large public monasteries during Song (960-1279), she points out, was a watershed in development of Chinese Buddhist chants, noting that most monastic liturgies practised today were composed during and after Song dynasty (p. 1). Chen attributes continued prevalence of chant practice from Song period to the fact that public Chan (Zen) monasteries became major Buddhist institutions in China during Song dynasty, and their monastic regulations ensured perpetuation of fundamental rituals (p. 2). Two other schools of Buddhism singled out by Chen as having played important roles in shaping liturgies and chants extant today are Tiantai and Mi/Zhenyan Esoteric schools. The influence of Pure ( Jingtu) school, however, no less than other two schools; Chen fails to draw attention to this fact in this section but mentions it a few pages later when discussing nianfo practice (pp. 5-6), and also in chapter 3 (pp. 37-41) when discussing evening service, whose aim is to direct participants to Pure Land (p. …