Abstract
This article analyzes the treatment of music in Buddhist monastic life through the rules on music in Buddhist canon law (vinaya) within the six extant traditions, which are preserved in Chinese, Tibetan, Pāli, and fragmentary Sanskrit manuscripts. These texts distinguish and differentiate instrumental and vocal music, presenting song, dance, and instrumental music as a triad and further subdividing vocal music into reciting, chanting, and singing. The performance and consumption of singing is strictly prohibited. Regulations on chanting and recitation are mutually exclusive and context dependent. Chanting is required on two occasions: when one praises the Buddha’s virtues and when one performs the Tridaṇḍaka ritual. Chanting is prohibited on three other occasions: when one recites the Prātimokṣasūtra and other ordinary Buddhist texts, and when one preaches Dharma. These regulations demonstrate that text and context are decisive in determining what forms of vocal music are appropriate in Buddhist practice. The use of embellished chanting is reserved for performing rituals whose primary goal is to please divine recipients but must be prohibited when clear articulation is expected for educating the audience. Given that making or consuming vocal music is not a criminal offense, yet is strictly regulated, I argue that the establishment of Buddhist canon law was compelled by a pressing demand to demarcate and maintain a social boundary between the Buddhist monastic order and the lay community of adherents.
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Abbreviations
- T:
-
Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe 渡邊海旭. 100 vols. Tokyo: Taishō issaikyō kankōkai大正一切經刊行會, 1924–1935
- KP:
-
Bka’ ‘gyur 甘珠爾對勘本. 108 vols. Pe cin: Krung go’i bod rig pa’i dpe skrun khang, 2006–2009
- TP:
-
Bstan ‘gyur 丹珠爾對勘本. 120 vols. Pe cin: Krung go’i bod rig pa’i dpe skrun khang, 1994–2008
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Liu, C. Reciting, Chanting, and Singing: The Codification of Vocal Music in Buddhist Canon Law. J Indian Philos 46, 713–752 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-018-9360-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-018-9360-8