"Truth and Art" Lin Ku-fang on Buddhist Music

To begin with, Buddhist music can be separated into two main types. The first type includes music that is solely religious in nature, such as the chanting of mantras, music used in special rites, and the music that lay Buddhists pay to have performed as a form of offering. The other type is contemporary music with Buddhism as its theme. These two types of Buddhist music operate on different levels, and each needs to be regarded separately in its own right.

The purest form of religious music is generally a manifestation of religious "Truth." Chanting scripture may sound meaningless for outsiders, but for devotees is the vehicle of their faith, a simple form of expression that embodies the religious experience. The music is itself the fruit of practice, and doesn't need to be made into an art form. It cannot be appraised as musical art and has no need of creative modification. For Buddhists, such music manifests the essence of their religion, and can only be created by bodhisattvas themselves. Similarly, music used in rites-by its ritual nature-is not readily altered. Music performed for offerings, however, can be adapted according to the occasion, although it still should not be confused with more secular forms of music.

The sound of compassion

As to Buddhist-themed contemporary music, this needs to combine religious spirit with artistic appeal, both in form and content. In other words it must work on the levels of "Truth and Art." The best such music creates a dialogue between those two elements, and this is what makes it so hard to create successfully.

With a lot of today's new Buddhist music, however, if you take away the title it's hard to tell that the music has anything to do with Buddhism. It might sound like a nice piece of music, but it won't bring you into contact with the dharma.

The music of different religions is driven by the underlying spirit of those religions. Christian music seeks the essence of eternity, and praises the glory of God, while Buddhist music expresses the notions of compassion, destiny and impermanence. Some contemporary Buddhist music has been heavily influenced by the ecclesiastical singing of the West, however, encouraging a sense of sublimity instead of emphasizing Buddhist notions.

Buddhism teaches that "the dharma cannot be comprehended in isolation from the world," and one of the main ways that the Buddhist message is spread and celebrated in the world is through music. We should encourage diversity in Buddhist music, and not cling solely to the established forms. But at the same time it would be wrong to take the view that "any music will do, so long as the idea of Buddha is in there." Much of the pop-type Buddhist music that is heard nowadays, like the setting of Buddhist chants to well-known tunes like "Suwu Muyang" and "Liang-Zhu Beige," clearly has no effect in terms of promoting salvation, and gives Buddhism a negative image. For devotees of Buddhism it doesn't really matter what form the music takes, because their only concern is to hear the chanting of the deity names Amitabha or Avalokitesvara. But for non-believers pop music not only fails to inspire sacred feelings, it also gives them a falsely secular impression of Buddhism.

Truth and Art

Every cultural system has its own qualitative hierarchy. When we want to make an offering of a Buddhist figurine, we nowadays tend to select one that wears a solemn expression, in preference to the mass-produced big-bellied monk figure that can be picked up at roadside stands everywhere. Likewise, any temple worth its salt expects to receive offerings of a certain aesthetic standard. In Buddhist music too, there is a range of quality, ranging from the superb to the dire.

The creative musician tends to try and produce work that is somehow distinctive, and will carry this approach through into the production of Buddhist music. But for pious Buddhists, accustomed to seeing the world in terms of equivalences, qualitative distinctions are relatively unimportant-especially given the fact that music is such an abstract art form-provided that the religious objective of the music is achieved.

Finding a complementary blend of religious truth and art is no easy matter. Most of the musicians producing Buddhist music today have been commissioned by religious groups, and have to possess personal experience of Buddhism if they are to come up with music that is in any way "different." If more full-time Buddhists could become directly involved in making music, they would gain a better grasp of the qualitative distinctions that apply in the outside world, and be clearer about the difference between good and bad Buddhist music.

Good Buddhist music helps listeners to experience compassion and wisdom, and also reaches out to countless other people. We must hope that Buddhism can produce musical work that, like the religious compositions of J.S. Bach, combines superior musicality with the very essence of religion.

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How can the new forms of Buddhist music achieve the goal of guiding people towards the light? Musicologist Lin Ku-fang feels that the key is how well the music conveys the compassionate spirit of Buddhism. (photo by Diago Chiu)