《中国佛教音乐文化大典》开启了宏伟的佛教艺术长城工程

佛教是世界三大宗教之一。西汉哀帝元寿元年（前2年）佛教从印度传入中国，已有两千多年的历史。公元6世纪时，佛教在印度逐渐衰微。但佛教在中国两千多年的传承中，虽几经起落，目前仍在全国各地完整地保存有佛教各主要派系及其法事音乐。事实上，隋唐以后中国已成为世界佛教与佛教音乐文化的发展中心。这些派系与法事音乐的存在与发展，不仅构成了中国佛教音乐文化独特的艺术框架，是中国传统音乐文化中一笔不可忽视的重要遗产与瑰宝；而且，也是世界宗教音乐文化宝库中的一颗灿烂明珠。但是，当前对于中国佛教音乐历史文献的梳理以及对当代佛教音乐文化的收集、整理、研究工作，在学术上历来是一个极为薄弱的环节，这一文化现象，与历史悠久、底蕴深厚的佛教音乐文化的历史发展是极不相称的。中国作为世界四大文明古国之一，将有历史的责任把这一历史悠久、底蕴深厚、形式多样、多姿多彩的佛教音乐文化，进行全面的、系统的、科学的收集整理工作，以对世界佛教乃至全人类的音乐文化艺术做出应有的贡献。

佛教音乐是中国传统音乐文化中的重要组成部分，有汉传、藏传和南传三个体系，它们都具有各自独特的音乐风貌、丰富的音乐类型、深刻的宗教涵义。古代的中国佛教音乐研究主要侧重史料收集和记述。对佛教音乐多有论及的重要历史文献有《高僧传·经师论》、《宋高僧传》、《出三藏记集》、《法苑杂缘原始集》、《经呗导师集》、《法苑珠林》、《广弘明集》、《五灯会元》、《景德传灯录》、《乐府杂录》、《因话录》、《太平广记》、《羯鼓录》、《诸佛世尊如来菩萨尊者名称歌曲》，等等。内容涉及到中国汉传佛教梵呗传入的具体源头；魏晋南北朝佛教音乐的主要形式；汉传转读方式的建立；佛教音乐乐舞的整理与创新；佛教仪轨制度的形成；唐代俗讲的形成；宋代以后佛教音乐日趋世俗化的发展趋势；佛教音乐曲目及传播状况等。

20世纪30年代至50年代中期，是当代中国佛教音乐研究的初始阶段。这一时期，中国音乐工作者开始有意识地对佛教音乐原始数据进行收集和整理，将视角投向存活在民间佛事活动中的佛教音乐。其中最具有代表性的是1952—53年中央音乐学院民族音乐研究所对北京智化寺京音乐的考察、收集、整理与研究和1956年杨荫浏对湖南佛教音乐的普查报告。

20世纪80年代，较多的音乐工作者开始关注全国广大地区佛教音乐活动，进行了实地考察，录制音响，记录曲谱。起始于80年代的全国艺术学科国家重点科研项目《中国民族民间器乐曲集成》，在全国范围内以行政区域省、市为单位，各省卷本均对佛教音乐进行了一定范围的考察与收集整理工作，目前已出版30余部，积累了一批珍贵的中国佛教音乐原始数据。

20世纪90年代至今，中国佛教音乐方面的收集、整理与研究工作得到了较大的发展。这一阶段研究状况大致具有两方面特征。其一，国内研究更具学术性。多部关于佛教音乐研究专著陆续出版。如胡耀的《佛教与音乐艺术》（1992），韩军的《五台山佛教音乐》（1993），尼树仁的《中州佛教音乐研究》（1994），田青的《中国宗教音乐》（1997），袁静芳的《中国佛教京音乐研究》（1997）、《中国汉传佛教音乐》（2004），王昆吾、何剑平的《汉文佛经中的音乐史料》（2002），杨民康的《贝叶礼赞》（2003），等等。这些专著或对特定地区、特定乐种的音乐特征进行探讨；或是从宏观角度对中国佛教音乐作总体阐述。表明当今研究正逐渐具备综合、整合中国佛教音乐的能力。本阶段学术研究范围扩大，展开了对藏传、南传佛教音乐的研究。如杨民康的《论中国南传佛教音乐的文化圈和文化丛特征》、、《中国境内南传上座部佛教课诵仪式音乐》、《论云南少数民族南传佛教的乐器、器乐音乐及其与原始佛教音乐的渊源》；、田联韬的《藏传佛教乐舞“羌姆”音乐考察》、嘉雍群培的《藏族宗教乐舞的形成与发展》；、包·达尔汗的《蒙古佛教诵经音乐的多元文化特征》，等等。其二，国际学术交流进一步加强。佛教音乐国际学术研讨会陆续召开。如“中韩佛教音乐国际学术研讨会”已经举办五届，台湾、香港地区也多次举办了佛教音乐学术研讨会，这几次大型国际研讨会促进了中国大陆与港、台及周边国家佛教音乐交流，对当今该领域的研究工作起到积极推动作用。

70余年的中国佛教音乐文化研究，取得了许多成果。为《中国佛教音乐文化大典》项目的启动与展开，起到了重要的奠基作用。但中国佛教音乐文化的研究也存在以下三方面的问题。其一，对丰富的历史文献缺乏系统的整理；其二，对当前丰富的法事音乐缺乏有计划、有重点的采集、收录；其三，对现代科技手段运用不够。这一切导致迄今为止我国尚无一部经过系统整理的佛教音乐历史文献，也没有一部较全面深入论述佛教音乐历史文化的论著。这种研究现状既不利于学者从宏观角度观察佛教音乐，也不利于中国宗教音乐学学科的建设与发展。在此背景下，《中国佛教音乐文化大典》项目的启动也就因此具有迫切性、必要性、重要性。

《中国佛教音乐文化大典》的内容主要包括《汉传佛教音乐文化分典》、《藏传佛教音乐文化分典》、《南传佛教音乐文化分典》三大部分。各分典的基本内容框架有：

一、有关佛教音乐历史文献方面的查阅、整理。

如佛教经典文献、史论文献、杂史杂论（截止1910年）、现当代佛教音乐论著（始于1911年）、佛教相关艺术等方面。

二、佛教音乐构成与类别

佛教音乐的构成包括有乐器、乐队、乐曲、乐谱等方面；

佛教音乐的类别包括有吟诵、梵呗、音乐、法器、乐舞等方面。

三、佛教法事音乐、人物与组织。

四、佛教音乐教育，等等。

《中国佛教音乐文化大典》项目的特点，主要表现在以下几个方面。

（一）开拓性。《中国佛教音乐文化大典》工程将在系统梳理历代佛教音乐文献并对现存的佛教音乐进行全面考察、收集、整理的基础上，将撰写迄今为止规模最为宏大、最为系统、最为科学的《中国佛教音乐文化史长编》，这将是一部全面的、系统的、可靠的、准确的佛教音乐文献类书，是世界上第一部总结论述中国佛教音乐产生、衍变、发展的历史巨著。对于国内外专家学者深入研究中国佛教音乐文化具有不可替代的文献意义。

（二）学术性。本项工程将最大可能的集聚全国研究汉传、藏传、南传佛教音乐之学术力量，除系统地、全方位地梳理研究佛教音乐历史文化史料外，重要的是对现存佛教音乐文化在全面考察的基础上，选择对佛教三大派系中具有代表性、典型性的佛教法事音乐进行科学的收集整理与深入的研究工作。其成果将弥补该领域的学术空白，有极高的学术价值。

（三） 科学性。本项目的成果内容包涵量大，资料涵盖丰富，音、像、图、文并茂，形式多样。其成果除文本论著外，应用了多媒体数据库的形式，研究佛教音乐数字化处理与服务技术标准，填补我国尚无这一领域技术标准的空白，为服务平台的建设和资源整理奠定基础。其音像、音响的展示等都具有可操作性，其成果具有很高的社会应用价值。

《中国佛教音乐文化大典》将在系统梳理历代佛教音乐文献并对现存的佛教音乐进行全面考察的基础上，对佛教音乐文化进行深入的学术研究。项目将聚集全国有关佛教音乐研究最具实力的学术力量，利用最新的科技手段，完成此项中国佛教音乐文化史上最为宏大的系统工程。项目的完成，将对今后中国佛教音乐文化的发展具有十分重要的学术价值、社会实践价值。

该项目酝酿至今，国内有30余位学者参与讨论与研究，前后也有四、五年了，我们认为这项工程是非常有历史意义和学术价值的；但是我们也深知，这项工作未来路途的艰辛。一方面，我们的信念使我们的工作坚持不懈，另一方面，我们也希望能得到有志于佛教音乐文化传承与发展的国内外的高僧大德、学者们、教授们的支持和鼓励，使我们弘扬佛教音乐文化的宏远目标得以实现。在神圣的佛光普照下，获得圆满成功。

The General Great Encyclopedia of Chinese Buddhist Music Culture Opens up the Magnificent Project of the Great Wall for the Buddhist Arts

Yuan Jinfang

Buddhism is one of the three major religions in the World. Since the Yuanshou (2 B.C.) of Emperor Ai of the Western Han Dynasty, the Buddhism has been introduced into China from India for more than 2000 years. In the sixth century, Buddhism had gradually declined in India. But in China, its major sects and ritual music have been completely preserved throught the country currently although it experieced several ups and downs during its dissemination in China. In fact, China has become the center of development of Buddisim and Buddist music in the world after Sui and Tang Dynasties.

The existance and development of these sects and their ritural music not only make up of a unique artistic frame of Chinese Buddhist music and an importante heritege and treasure of traditional Chinese muisc which can not be ignored, but also a briliant and bright pearl in heritage of religious music in the world. But the current research work of sorting out the historical literatures off the Chinese Buddhist music, collecting, arranging and invesgating the contemporary Buddhidst music was rather weak academically in the history, and this phenomenon could not match with the long development of Buddhist music. As one of the 4 great civilized ancient countries, China has the historical responsibility to collect and sort out these various, colorful Buddhist music overally and systematiclly so as to make the deserved contribution to the Buddisim in the world and music culture of the mankind.

Buddhist music is an important component of traditional Chinese music, which includes three systems of Han Chinese, Tibetan and Theravada with their unique musical styles, rich musical genres and profound religious meaning. The study of traditional Chinese Buddhist music mainly emphasized on the collection of historical materials and recount in ancient China. Generally speaking, Tibetan and Theravada Buddhist music survived less historical materials while the Han Chinese Buddhist preserved more textual literatures. The important literatures include “Biography of Dignitary (Gaoseng): On Scripture and Teaching”, “Biography of Dignitary (Gaoseng) in Song Dynasty”, “Tripitaka (Chusanzangjiji)”, “Original Collection of Buddhist Miscellaneous Origins (Fayuanzayuanyuanshiji)” , “Hierophants Collection for Buddhist Chanting (Jingbeidaoshiji)”, “Miscellanea of Music Bureau ( Yuefuzaji)” etc..

These literatures concern the aspects on specific origin of introduction of Buddhist chant (music) in Han Chinese Buddhist sects, the major forms of Buddhist music in Wei, Jin and Nanbei Dynasty, the establishment of interpretation of Han sect, the arrangement and innovation of dance in Buddhist music, the formation of Buddhist ceremonious system, the formation of popular explanation in Tang Dynasty, the tendency of secularization of Buddhist music after Song Dynasty, and the Buddhist music repertoires and their dissemination.

The period from 1930s to the middle of the 1950s was the initial stage of the research on Chinese Buddhist music. During this stage, Chinese music scholars began to collect and sort out consciously the source materials of Buddhist music and focused on the Buddhist music in existed Buddhist ceremony in the folk. Among them, the most representative results were the investigation, collection, arrangement and research on the Jing Music practiced in Beijing Zhihua Temple made by Music Institute of the Central Conservatory of Music from 1952 to 1953 and the Report of General Survey on Buddhist Music in Hunan Province completed by Yang Yinliu in 1956.

The recovery of Chinese Buddhist music research began in 1980s, during this period more and more music scholars began to concern with the Buddhist music activities in the country and made fieldwork, record, notated and transcribed the music. The national wide project of The Compilation of Chinese Ethnic and Folk Instrumental Music started from 1980s, which contained more than 30 volumes, each provincial volume collected Buddhist music in a certain degree and piled up a great amount of the source materials of Chinese Buddhist music.

From 1990s to the present, the research of Chinese Buddhist music entered a period of development. There are two features in this stage:

Firstly, the research in the country become more scholastic, a lot of research books have been published, such as The Buddhism and Music Art (Hu Yao, 1992), Buddhist music in Wutaishan ( Han Jun, 1993), Research on Zhongzhou Buddhist music (Ni Shuren, 1994), Chinese Religious Music (Tian Qing, 1997), Research on Jing Music in Chinese Buddhist Music (1997) and Chinese Buddhist music in Han People (Yuan Jingfang, 1997), The Music Documents in Buddhist Scriptures in Chinese (Wang Kunwu and He Jianping, 2002), Ceremony of Beiye (Yang Mingkang, 2003). Some of these books investigated the musical features of specific regions and genres, others concentrated on the general survey of Chinese Buddhist music as a whole. These showed us that the current research gradually has the capability of integration and conformity of Chinese Buddhist music. The obvious feature of this stage is the scholastic extension of research scope through the research to the Tibetan and Theravada Buddhist music.

Such as “On the Characteristics of Cultural Circle and Cultural Complex of Theravada Buddhist music in China” ( Yang Mingkang), “The Study on Ceremonious music in Recitation of Theravada Buddhism in Chinese Regions and The Origin of Musical Instruments, Instrumental Music and other Primitive Buddhist music of Theravada Buddhism in Yunnan Ethnic Groups (Yang Mingkang); Investigation to the “Qiangmu” Music in Tibetan Buddhist Dance Music (Tian Liantao), The formation and Development of Tibetan Religious Dance Music (Jiayongqunpei), The Multicultural Characteristics of Mongolian Buddhist Chant Music ( Bao Darhan)

Secondly, the enhancement of international academic exchange. Many International Symposiums on Buddhist Music were held continuously. For example, the Sino-Korean International Symposium of Buddhist music has been held for 5 times, Buddhist Forums have also been held in Taiwan twice; The International Symposium on Chinese music research in the new century held in Hong Kong Chinese University in 2002, the scholars home and abroad have also discussed the issues related to the Chinese Buddhist music. These major international conferences strengthened the exchange between Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, Taiwan, Chinese mainland neighboring Countries on the issues of Buddhist music, and promoted the research work in this field.

The 70 year research on Chinese Buddhist music culture has produced many achievements. But the there are still three problems on the research of Chinese Buddhist music culture:

1. The lack of systematic sorting out to the rich historical documents;

2. The lack of overall collecting and recording of ample existed ritual music.

3. Being short of application of modern technology.

All of these led to the results that we have no such a historical literature of Buddhist music which has been systematically sorted out so far, and have no a book that dealt with the overall research on the cultural history of Buddhist music. The situation is not favorable for the scholars to look into the Buddhist music as a whole, and also not help to the construction and development of Chinese Buddhist music as a discipline. Under this background, the establishment of the project on the Compilation of Chinese Buddhist Music Culture is very urgent, necessary and important.

The General Great Encyclopedia of Chinese Buddhist Music Culture mainly includes three parts of Buddhist music of Chinese sects, Tibetan Buddhist music and Theravada Buddhism, the main content and structure of the separate books are as following:

1. Literature of Buddhist music

(1) Classics of Buddhism

(2) Literature of History and Criticism

(3) Historical book of single event or anecdotes and miscellaneous writings (before 1910)

(4) Modern and contemporary books on Buddhist music (after 1911)

(5) Arts related to the Buddhism

2. Composition and category of the Buddhist music

(1) The construction of the Buddhist music

(2) The category of the Buddhist music

3. Buddhist ritual music, character and organization

(1) Buddhist ritual music

(2) Buddhist music characters

(3) Buddhist music organization

4. Buddhist music education

The inovations of project of The General Great Encyclopedia for Chinese Buddhist Music Culture mainly present as following:

1. Creativity. Under the basis of sorting out systematically the music literature of Buddhisim in the past dynasties and overall investigation of the existed Buddhist music, the project will complete a largest, most systematic and sciensific Preliminary Draft Book of History of Chinese Buddhist Music Culture so far, which is the overall, systematic, authentic and acurate book of literatures on Buddhist muisc, and will play an unreplaceble documental role for scholars home and abroad to further study the Chinese Buddhist music. Meanwhile, the book of History of Chinese Buddhist Music Culture which contained the original thinking and academic depth will be completed. This will be the first grand book summarizing the origin, evolution and development of Chinese Buddhist music.

2. Academic value. The project is the first time in the history of China to gather the academic forces of the whole country to sort out and study the Buddhist source materials systematically and overally, and to investigate, conllect, arrange and study the existed Buddhist music. Its result will fill the academic margin and has a highly academic value.

3. Scientific value. The achievement of the project contains a great amount of information and variety of forms with audio, video and pictures realized by the modern technology, is a breakthrough to the practice of textual presentation with occasional recording or CD-rom in the research of Buddhist music

4. Applicability. The research of this project not only attaches the importance to the creative, academic and scientific values, but also stresses the importance of applied value. Apart from the textural presentation, it also adopted the form of database to study the digitalization and technical specification of service on Buddhist muisc, fill in the gaps of lack of technical specification in this field in China and laid a foundation to the construction of service platform and source arrangement. To make use of latest software to inquire the index of catalogue, the project and its products not only contain the resourcefull textual materials, but also have the maneuverability for demonstration of audio and video materials and are of highly practical value for society.

The General Great Encyclopedia of Chinese Buddhist Music Culture will further scholastic research in Buddhist music under the basis of sorting out systematically the music literature of Buddhisim in the past dynasties and the overrall investigation of the existed Buddhist music, and will gather scholastic forces in Buddhist music research at home to undertake this most grand systematic project in the history of Chinese Buddhist music culture. The completion of the project has an important academic and practical value to the development of Chinese Buddhist music.