中國佛教音樂亟待搶救和保護——以五台山佛教音樂為例

佛教東漸進入中國以來，很快融入中國社會，並成為中國文化的組成部分，甚至在某個歷史階段成為中國文化的主流。在佛教進入中國的同時，佛教音樂也隨之而來。但在傳播過程中由于語言問題而「金言有譯，梵響無授」，[1]因此佛教音樂必然「本土化」。「華化」了的佛教音樂在近兩千年的發展過程中，始終植根于中國傳統音樂之中並隨著中國傳統音樂的發展而傳承。中國的佛教音樂實際上是中國傳統音樂不可分割的組成部分。

「華化」了的佛教音樂從開始就是豐富的，除了有「梵唄」、「轉讀」、「唱導」等多種誦經形式外，「裁制新聲」已成風尚，而且「制無定準」、「師師異法，家家各制」，形成了不同風格的曲調和流派。在傳承過程中「雖依擬前宗，而獨拔新意」，百花齊放，愈加豐富。尤其在唐代(581–618)及之後，除了僧人們的創作外，宮廷音樂、文人音樂，甚至民間的音樂也被應用的佛教中來，佛教音樂逐漸成為了中國傳統音樂的集成地。

在兩千年的發展過程中，隨著朝代更替，社會形態變化，佛教也隨著歷史的波瀾而起伏。在21世紀的今天，在重視文化多樣性、保護民族文化的共識中，我們有必要審視中國佛教音樂的現狀，從而更加全面和深刻地認識我們民族的傳統音樂及其發展規律。

從20多年來對佛教音樂的調查和對文獻資料的研究來看：中國佛教音樂整體上是萎縮了。所謂萎縮，並不是簡單的數量上的減少，而是形式、內容等方面的變化。以五台山為例——

五台山是中國佛教四大名山之首，是全國唯一兼漢傳佛教和藏傳佛教于一山的佛教聖地。五台山的佛教音樂與中國佛教音樂同步發展，與五台山佛教同興衰。五台山佛教音樂經歷了初始、成型、完善以及衰微的過程。衰微是從民國初開始的，衰微的狀況從五台山的數據和數據可以知其大概。

在20世紀80年代中期，蒐集到五台山佛教音樂的曲譜本有3種：《宣統本》、《民國本》和《解放本》，這3個譜本的抄寫年代分別是宣統二年(1910)、民國二十四年(1935)和1978年。這3本譜本所抄寫的曲譜分別是211首、70首和78首。其中《解放本》的抄寫者1930年出家，當時是根據他出家時學習的曲調回憶抄寫的，因此，《解放本》與《民國本》其實是同一時代的材料。2007年，在對五台山佛教音樂再一次進行調查時，共獲得曲調26首。僅從數量看，由211首到78首，再到現在的26首，可以表現出衰微的表面狀況。

從佛事形式上看，五台山佛教從元、明之際樂器進入佛事起，就自成一派，也被佛教尊為「北方派」的代表。在五台山中，僧人們則稱自己的佛事為「北方佛事」，其唱調也被稱為「老北方調」。據僧人們說，「北方佛事」和相對的「南方佛事」主要區別是是否使用樂器伴奏誦經。 「北方佛事」是用樂器伴奏的，並且還有供樂器演奏的樂曲。五台山使用樂器的佛事從元、明起直到現在，但從20世紀50年代以來規模越來越小。1955年印刷的《寺院音樂》[2]中記載：在20世紀40年代「樂隊的規模也較大，最多時約有百人左右」。而且書中沒有記寫有關「南方佛事」的信息，說明當時在五台山基本都是作的五台山佛教傳統的「北方佛事」。在1993年出版的《五台山佛教音樂》[3]中記載：民國前五台山青廟(漢傳佛教)有大型的「十寺大法會」，這個大法會由當時五台山的十大寺廟聯合舉行。在法會上，五台山十大寺廟每廟要出一人組成樂隊，參加儀式的伴奏或念誦。另外，在1986年調查時發現的《吉祥會解》的抄本中，有40首左右演唱和演奏曲牌。無論是「十寺大法會」，還是「吉祥會解」法會，現在早已不作，而且連知道這種法會的僧人也幾乎沒有了。黃廟(藏傳佛教)過去曾有自己的「焰口」和每天「送太陽」的儀式，而這些儀式現在也都不作了。在2007年的調查中，五台山的青廟只有兩座寺廟可以作傳統的「北方佛事」，而且樂曲也少了許多；在黃廟，也只有一兩個廟的僧人湊在一起才能做起帶樂器的佛事來。

從20世紀80年代以後，佛教音樂從表面上似乎有重新恢復的跡象，但20多年後的今天，我們看到的只是把曾經的傳統搬到了舞台上的表演，而在佛教佛事的本身並無多大的改觀。

五台山是中國佛教的重要組成部分，他的現狀是否折射著中國佛教音樂的現狀？從目前所掌握的各種資料看：在本世紀30年代中期，無論北方的五台山、南方的潮州寺廟，還是西面的峨眉山，在佛教中都還使用著樂器，這些樂器即為誦經伴奏，又演奏樂曲，聽起來各有風韻，是非常藝術化的。但是現在，除五台山還有少量殘缺的保存外，其它地方恐怕已經「變化」了，最起碼這些地方已經不使用樂器了。

鑑于此，我認為中國佛教音樂亟待保護，而保護的首要任務就是搶救。還以五台山為例：20多年前的1986年，在五台山調查時，懂得傳統佛教儀式和音樂的僧人還有一部分健在，他們還能夠說出過去法事的程序和過程，甚至還能夠演唱或演奏曾經用過的「佛曲」和「小曲」。但隨著這些僧人不斷圓寂，他們把由老一輩傳承下來的東西隨之「帶走了」。由于歷史、社會或其它原因，他們在生前大多沒有能夠把傳統作為遺產傳承下來。因為寺廟的佛事是以僧人為本的，主念的僧人決定著整個佛事的詠誦，如果不是師出同門，念誦就會不同，即使是同門同師，在不同的環境中，長年的諷誦也會發生變化。因此，從全國范圍來講，搶救那些不同宗派、不同流派的佛事以及佛事中的念誦方式和曲調是最為重要的事。

20多年來，我們曾對佛教音樂做了一些事情。首先是匯總。在20世紀70年代末開始的被譽為「文化的長城」的全國「十大文藝志書集成」的編纂過程中，考慮到了佛教音樂，並把所蒐集到的佛教音樂編輯了進去。其次是組織演出，中國藝術研究院的音樂研究所和宗教藝術研究中心分別與1990年和2003年在北京組織了「佛道音樂精粹展演」，另有一些小型的如到歐洲、美洲、台灣、香港等地的演出時有不斷。再就是學術交流，除台灣較早召開過小型「佛教音樂研討會」外，中央音樂學院佛教音樂研究中心與韓國東北亞音樂研究所合作分別在中國和韓國召開了4次「中韓佛教音樂研討會」，並在2007年改為「東亞佛教音樂交流暨學術論壇」在台灣舉行，以上的學術研討會大多都出了論文集。重要的是作為中國傳統音樂的遺存，「北京智化寺京音樂」和「五台山佛教音樂」被國家列入「第一批國家級非物質文化遺產名錄」。

我們所做的一切，對佛教音樂的認識和推動佛教音樂的社會化起到了較大的作用。但這一切似乎對佛教音樂本身來說卻沒有起到關鍵的作用。佛教音樂並沒有因為我們的重視而發生變化。所以說：中國佛教音樂目前最主要的是搶救。

我們首先要全面了解和認識中國佛教音樂。在編纂「十大文藝志書集成」時，由于歷史的侷限，佛教音樂在當時並沒有受到應有的重視，只是有目的、有重點的地進行了局部蒐集，並把蒐集結果放在了《中國民族民間器樂曲集成》中。因此，目前有必要做一次徹底的普查。通過普查甚至有可能在佛教音樂中發現我們中國傳統音樂中仍然「活」著的遺產。

其次是深入地研究，總結佛教音樂的流派、風格，以及風格流派形成的歷史原因和發展規律，並能夠描述出佛教音樂在中國的歷史，使我們對佛教音樂有理性的認識，也為中國音樂的歷史填補空白。

第三，也是最重要的，就是把我們調查、研究的結果回歸于佛教之中，使當前的佛教音樂更加豐富，法事更具有多樣性和藝術性，使佛教音樂真正在它生存的環境中「原生態」地存活下去，使法事成為藝術品，達到弘揚佛法的目的。

傳播和發展是重要的，但不認識傳統、不了解規律的發展有如無源之水、無本之木。佛教音樂要發展，但從目前的狀況來看，搶救更是非常重要、當務之急的事情。

Chinese Buddhist Music is Urgently Awaiting to Rescue and Protect

Take the Buddhist music in Mount Wutai as an example

Han Jun

Since the Buddhism moved eastward to China, it has fast blended into Chinese society, and become a part of Chinese culture, even the main stream of the culture in some historical periods. At the moment that the Buddhism was introduced into China, the Buddhist music followed. However, in the transmitting process, for the language difference, as the saying goes 「Sanskrit has annotation while the music going with the Sanskrit does not」, [1] therefore the localization of the Buddhism is inevitable. 「Chinalization Buddhist music has been rooting in the Chinese traditional music and developing with it in the near 2000 year-development. The Buddhist Music in China is actually an inseparable part of the traditional Chinese music.

「Chinalization」 Buddhist music was abundant in the very beginning, apart from the chanting sutra ways such as 「Fanbei (to chant the scriptures with Sanskrit)」, 「Zhuandu (to chant the scriptures with languages other than Sanskrit」, 「Changdao (to preach Buddhist doctrines and civilize living beings 」 etc,. Creativity has become fashionable, and 「No concreted standard」, 「Different instructions in different groups」, forming the tunes and schools in various styles. In the succeeding process, with the principle of succeeding the former and creating new」, the works of music takes on booming and various states. Especially in Tang Dynasty (581-681) and the after, the sources of works are not only from the creation of monks, but also the palace music, scholar music, even the folk music; and gradually, Buddhist music become the integrated land for the traditional music.

With the alternation of dynasties and social formations in the 2000 years』 development, the Buddhism follows the changes of history. Now, in the consensus of attaching importance to culture diversity and protecting national culture, we need to review the current situation of Buddhist music in China for more comprehensive and profound understanding of our nation』s traditional music and rules of its development.

Judging from the documentations and investigations for the Buddhist music in the past 20 years: in general, the Buddhist music in China is shrinked. Here the shrinking means not the decreasing in quantity, but the changes of forms, contents, etc,. Take Mount Wutai as an example—

Mount Wutai is the head of the four Buddhist holy mountains in China, and the only holy mount for both Chinese Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. Buddhist music in Mount Wutai developed with the Buddhist music in China synchronously, and went ebb and flow with the Buddhism in Mount Wutai. The Buddhist music there experienced the process of beginning, forming, perfecting and waning. Began in the early years of Republic of China, the condition of waning could be understood from the documentations and datum of Mount Wutai

In the middle of 1980s , there are three kinds of Mount Wutai Buddhist music operns: 「Xuantong (era name) Version」, 「ROC Version」 and 「Liberation Version」. The three operns books were copied separately in 1910, 1935 and 1978, with 211, 70 and 78 songs respectively. The copier of the 「Liberation Version」 became a monk in 1930. And the copy of these tunes totally followed his memory in temple, therefore, the 「Liberation Version」 and 「ROC Version」 are the same materials in the same year. In 2007, when the second investigation for the Buddhist music in Mount Wutai, there are only 26 operns. The situation of the wane can be understood clearly by judging the operns number, which is 221 in 1910 and 78 in 1978 and 26 nowadays. Judging from the Buddhism ceremony, the Mount Wutai Buddhism has developed a school of its own since the music instruments introduced in ceremony in Yuan and Ming Dynasties, and valued as the representative of 「Northern School」. The monks in Wutai called their ceremony as 「Northern Buddhism Ceremony」 and their tunes as 「Old Northern Tune」. The monks said that the difference between the northern and the southern is that whether there are instruments to accompany with chanting sutra. There is accompanying and musical composition for the former. The using of instruments originated from Yuan Dynasty and succeeded to nowadays. However, the scale has become smaller and smaller since 1950s. The Temple Music [2] issued in 1955 recorded: there were almost 100 monks in the largest band in 1940s. There is no record about the southern ceremony, so basically the ceremony in Wutai is of northern ceremony. Mount Wutai Buddhist music [3] issued in 1993 recorded: there was large 「Great Dharma Sabha of Ten Temples」 in Qing Temple (Chinese Buddhism) before Republic of China, the ceremony was co-held by ten great temples in Wutai.

Every temple will send a band for the accompanying and chanting of ceremony. Additionally, the copy of Jixiang Interpretation found in the investigation of 1986 has about 40 brands for chanting and playing. Both matter the 「Great Dharma Sabha of Ten Temples」 and the Jixiang Interpretation ceremony had been abandoned, and the monks who know the ceremony are almost all gone. Huang Temple (Tibetan Buddhism) used to have its own Yankou Ritual and the daily Sun-sending Ritual. But now they are all abandoned, too. In the investigation of 2007, there were two Qing Temples could do traditional 「Northern Ceremony」, and the musical compositions were far less than before. And in Huang Temples, only by assembling of the monks of two temples together could do the ceremony with instruments.

Buddhist music seemingly had a sign of revival after 1980s.However, with 20 years』 development, today we just see the traditions become shows on stages; the nature of Buddhist ceremonies has not that much changed.

Mount Wutai is one important component of Chinese Buddhism. Does its current situation just reflect that of Chinese Buddhist music? So far from the materials we have, we notice that: in the middle of 1930s, no matter the Mount Wutai in the north, Chaozhou Temples in the south, Mount Emei in the west, musical instruments were widely used in Buddhist activities. These musical instruments not only can be used to accompany chanting sutras, but also to play musical compositions. Each kind of Buddhist music had its different wonderful charm, and was very artistic. But now, only Mount Wutai has kept a little incomplete Buddhist music, other places may have already 「changed」, at least they don』t use musical instruments at all.

In consideration of this current situation, I think Chinese Buddhist music is urgently needed protection. While the first task of this protect project is to rescue the existing Buddhist music. We take Mount Wutai for example again: in 1986, that is more than 20 years ago, when I investigated at Mount Wutai, I found there still existed some monks who knew traditional Buddhist ceremonies and music. They knew the rules and process of past religious rites, some even could sing or play the 「Buddhist Songs」 and 「Buddhist Ditties」 once being used. After these monks passed into Parinirvana one by one, they also 「took away」 those traditions inherited from older generations. Because of historical, social or some other reasons, most of them had not passed on those traditions to today as heritage. Also the Buddhist ceremonies in temples usually base on monks, the monk who leads the chanting controls the whole chanting of the Buddhist ceremonies. The chanting are different in different sects, even if monks belong to the same sect, the chanting may be different in different environments after many years』 developments. Therefore, rescue those Buddhist ceremonies, melodies and ways of chanting in different sects and schools is the most important thing.

We once tried some rescues for Buddhist music for more than 20 years. The first thing is to collect Buddhist music together. During the compilation process of national top 10 literature, art and record collections which has been honored as 「the great wall of culture」 and began at the end of 1970s, the Buddhist music has been taken into consideration ,so all the Buddhist music we have collected are compiled in these collections. The second thing is to perform this Buddhist music. The music institute and religious art institute of China Art Research Institute had organized the 「Buddhist music essence performance」 separately in Beijing in 1990 and 2003. Besides, some small performances has been held in Europe, US, Taiwan, Hong Kong and many other places every now and then. The third thing is to hold academic exchanges. Taiwan once held 「Buddhist Music Conference」 at early time. And the Buddhist music research center of China Central Conservatory of University cooperated with South Korea northeast Asian music research institute and held 「Chinese and South Korean Buddhist Music Conference」 for 4 times. This conference had renamed as 「East Asia Buddhist Music Exchange and Academic Forum」 and was held in Taiwan in 2007. Most of these academic conferences above had published memoirs. One thing more important than above things is the 「Beijing Music of Zhihua Temple」 and the 「Buddhist Music of Mount Wutai」, which are considered as the heritage of Chinese traditional music, have been listed in the 「the First Batch of State-level Non-material Cultural Heritage List」.

What we done has made some efforts for the understandings and socialization of Buddhist music. But it seems that all these efforts haven』t played the key role for Buddhist music itself. Buddhist music has not developed by our care. Therefore, the major task in current for Chinese Buddhist music is to rescue them.

First, we must fully learn and understand Chinese Buddhist music. When compiled the 「Top 10 literature, art and record collections」, because of the historical limitations, Buddhist music had not been enough valued, it was only collected in some key areas with purpose, and even the collecting result had been compiled into Chinese folk instrumental works collection. So now a complete research for Buddhist music is strongly recommended. Maybe we can find some 「living」 heritages of Buddhist music existing among Chinese traditional music through this research.

Second, we need to do deep research and summary the schools and styles of Buddhist music and their historical reasons of formation and development tracks. And we need to be able to describe the Chinese Buddhist music history, so as to get a rational understanding for Buddhist music, and supply a gap for the history of Chinese music.

Third, and the most important thing is that our investigation and research results should recombine with the Buddhism and produce more Buddhist music, make the Buddhist ceremonies more various and artistic. Thus, Buddhist music can really live on in its original way, and the Buddhist ceremonies can finally become artworks, for achieving the purpose of publicizing the Buddhism.

To spread and develop Buddhism is important. But if without clear understanding for the traditions and disciplines, the development will be leaves without figs. Buddhist music needs to be developed, but rescue is more important and urgent in current situation.

[1] Biography of Great Monks, Shi Hui (Liang Dynasty), Zhong Hua Press, 1st version of 1992: Vol 13.

[2] Ya Xin, Music of Temple, 1995, compiled by Chengdu Branch of Chinese Musicians Association

[3] Han Jun, Music of Buddhism in Mount Wutai, published by Shanxi People Press

[1]見〔梁〕釋慧皎《高僧傳》卷十三，中華書局出版，1992年第1版。

[2]亞欣，1955：《寺廟音樂》，中國音樂家協會成都分會編。

[3]韓軍，1993年：《五台山佛教音樂》，山西人民出版社出版。

作者簡介：

韓軍，山西省音樂舞蹈曲藝研究所副所長。