Research On The Relationship Of Yuan Opera And Buddhism Motifs

The yuan opera repertoires which included Buddhism motifs were written by creation subject who consisted of literature elites in Yuan dynasty, they intervened intensively ,they brought about wisdom migration and agglutination in especial history circumstance . It was Multi-cultural resources`s co-construction during the enormous space time . It was a new semiotic system which was infiltrated with an unique knowledge reference, livedexperience, intelligence unicom. This semiotic system was one elegant art world where Buddhist tales were bases and Chinese nation ethos were pneuma. This paper apply an new kind of thinking , an new visual field and an new angular measure to decipher the in-entrinsic inducement why creation subject incepted Buddhism motifs in the process of admitting to this art world and reveal the structural interaction synchrontically , the evolutionary succession diachronically and the spiritual accord intrinsically between the two of them . textual research yuan dramatist among of who Guan Han Qing was viewed as chief how to displace alien old Buddhism motifs and sinized Buddhism motifs so as to transform aesthetic, make them reconstruct and sublime,convert passives into positives,change decay into miracle and become a significant platform where Buddhism ideas were expressed, Buddhism elements were manifested, Buddhism culture was displayed. This paper is composed of seven chapters,athough nine Buddhism motifs and twenty Yuan opera repertoires are mentioned ,it is a kind of ideological connotation like a underground stream that run through them, namely it is an attention or an embodiment which involved humanities , theology,human life and human value.ChapterⅠ:the culture element of Yuan opera taken selections from Buddhism motifs . Yuan opera has double traits or functions,one is for enjoyment ,another is for divine blessing. At the beginning of Yuan opera, they would have formed an inter-dependent relationship.At the dawn of Buddhism,the core around humanity has still been disscussed ,it involved the crisis of existence ,persoenlich ignorance and intelligence,how to establish one`s life goal,how to find place for soul. talk about human how to come and where to go.Both of them expressed concern for life, revelation of human nature, showing ultimate loving care and inquiring into life value. Though there have some negative factor unavoidably, when Buddhism revealed life meaning of human. Its essence is exploration of human exist status and life spirit ,the purpose is for raising to live quality of human. In fact paramita world that Buddhism designed equal to expection and extension to realistic world . The innate essence of Yuan opera is a human life stage where Its background is cosmos. It broke restriction of physical world . it guide subject and object to a another simulated world . This simulated world not only could make the audience keep mental state balance but also relieve pain and own a hope . As far as it concerned, this simulated world is just paramita world that Buddhism dispalyed. Although there have difference between Buddhism and Yuan opera externally . such as"quiet"and"move","light"and"thick","sad"and"pleased". Both have dissimilar explanation and obvious contrast . But the internal esthetics requirement between them have some same places . "Empty view" of the Buddhism and the "conjecture" of Yuan opera ."to comprehend education " of the Buddhism and " to teach entertainingly" of Yuan opera ."to doctrine"of the Buddhism and "to amuse" of Yuan opera. There have many astonishing likenesses."Alternate speaking and singing"in the Buddhism monastery is factor ,which make Yuan opera become mature and make it have the decisive cultural internal explosion. From thou up to now the popularity of Chinese nation culture has closed to connect with the public . Yuan opera not only benefited ceremonial transplantation from"alternate speaking and singing"of Buddhism. The more important point is to take description literature contents from Buddhism stories . Some Buddhism tales accumulated and passed down through generations .big amount, wide contents, the meaning is deep, details are fascinating, general literature work can`t compare to them.ChapterⅡ:the age requirement of Yuan opera taken selections from Buddhism motifs .At the beginning of Yuan dynasty, A lot of prime arenas were built in the city ,because residents required for transformation text more and more. Transformation text spread out from temples to prime arenas in the city. After the first large Buddhism repertoire《Mahamaudgalyagana saving his mother》gave a public performance at that time, Buddhism repertoire became subject matter which the audience liked, so dramatist craved for creation. Opening of cities , prosperity of trade resulted in the disparity between the rich and the poor and two poles divided. At that time, Yuan opera dramatist wrote a batch of woks that related to money and Buddhism, money and morals, money and life . This plays persuaded people to exterminate excessive avidity for wealth and emphasized inner feeling of life consciousness. The classic culture was essential culture in Chinese feudalistic society, its thinking mode and cultural mental structure brought bidirectional influence to Yuan opera . The cultural spirit included ethics norm such as"bevevolence","sense of honor","etiquette","wisdom","trustworthiness"and Golden mean of Confuciaism . In open mixed cultural atmosphere of Yuan`s dynasty, classic culture in Yuan elite`s mind was impacted ,there happened huge changes in their thought ideas, thinking modes. for setting up"India-Tibet-Mongolia"three rule by divine power kingdom development mode, Mongolia monarch built public opinion greatly that their culture came from Buddhism motifs. but it had the function of value Buddhism objectively. One of important reason why Ye Lv Chu Cai and Liu Bing Zhong...etc worked hard for Mongolia monarch was that Mongolia culture came from Buddhism motifs. Turn over, monks of high renown participated in politics , which changed and influenced Mongolia royalty imperceptibly. So Mongolia royalty governed Central Plains loose, dramaists not only could contend for a place for Buddhism, but also won a ray of hope for common people.ChapterⅢ: Playwright`s spirit converting and work`s support embodiment . Currently we haven`t find one man to be monk in well-known Yuan opera dramatists. but some of them made friends with poem monks . so they took selection from Buddhism motifs consciously or unconsciously .For example, when refering to the chaotic vicissitudes and life impermanence .《parasol tree rain》representative work of Bai Pu has conviction.《parasol tree rain》described a love tragedy about Li Long Ji and Yang Yu Huan`s happy reunion as well as separation in life or death, about exclaiming impermanent destiny, it is consistent with"empty view""No-ego""eternalessness"of Buddhism. When referring to"rank idea and all living creation equality", There have three yuan opera repertoires《Gao Zu returned to hometown》,《glorious homecoming》and《To treat his spouse with respect》.Although three repertoires don`t select material from Buddhism. they contain all living creation equality idea , the idea only lay in Buddhism in those days. When referring to"cruel force rule and real awakening to truth", There have also three yuan opera repertoires,《embrace a makeup box》by Ji Jun Xiang《,orphan of clan Zhao》by anonymous author ,《one man`s hero》by Guan Han Qing, they are good examples which display this idea. According to central plain`s cultural atmosphere, the authors reorganized and refined original Buddhism motifs to make them become perfect . When referring to officialdom corruption and experience the real world. A good case is《Automn in the Han Palace》by Ma Zhi Yuan . It widen viewers` horizon greatly. Through Wang Zhao Jun`s characteristics, author expressed a dream longing for bright paramita world in dark Yuan dynasty .ChapterⅣ: Visual angle displacement and esthetics conversion of"response motif". A climax in this chapter is that we shook former judgment that there had no Buddhism plot in Guan Han Qing `s plays . this conclusion was drawn by famous scholar, Zheng Zhen Duo . he said"Guan Han Qing is good at writing except Buddhism and Taoism subject matter , he has never written that type of thing" . In the third scene of Guan Han Qing`s representative《Snow in midsummer》, the plot of "the nature and man response " selected from our native historiography data. but its virtuality conotation has common with"response motif"of Buddhism. According to research, there have at least twenty spots related to"response motif"of Buddhism in the existing Buddhist sutra and folk tales . The advantage of《Snow in midsummer》is: When adopting Chinese and Foreign motif , he could take over and carry forward even more vigorously. The purpose of redressing an injustice for people denied that"Heaven"should be highest-rank personification god. an important breakthrough is carried out with essential thoutht . No matter where and when"response motif"show on ,《Snow in midsummer》come out first and transcend same motif.ChapterⅤ: Positive factor and realistic witnessing of"karma motif". Buddhism tallied up a set of retribution theory which is composed of the causality spanning the three periods. the six great division in the wheel of karma . the twelve-linked causal formula for playing up preordained fate. Hereby Heaven and Hell were fabricated to to lure and threaten to believers. the twelve-linked causal formula has the palce of lileness with "individuation progress" by Jung Carl Gustav. It could be regarded as the process of spontaneous character integration . The good-evil cause and effect view in ancient India Buddhism could developed smoothly and become popular in China , another reason is that it depend on "filial morality view" of Confucianism and make Chinese monarch as well as the people produce strong resonance. The moral education in Buddhist karma theory is located in highest layer. there was a direct relationship that Yuan opera took selection from karma motif of Buddhism and gave performance widely .For instance, repertoire《Mahamaudgalyagana saving his mother》at the beginning of Yuan dynasty was rewrited on the base of《Mahamaudgalyagana transformation text》of《The Buddha-spoken Ullambana Sutra》which had adhered to "filial morality view" of Central Plains in Sothern and Northern dynasties.Although the repertoire have scatterd and disappered, Ming poetic drama《Mahamaudgalyagana saving his mother》based on the Yuan repertoire was reserved down and shown on for a long time . How to accumulate energy and do good works so that to obtain retributive justice? The Buddhism think that the biggest philanthropic act is to give alms. As far as it concerned, there are three kinds of alm ,Dharma alm, Wealth alm, Inpavidity alm. we could find formation and source of Dharma alm, exaggeration and extremes of Inpavidity alm, fanaticism and cold reception of emperor alm, sympathy and realistic meaning of Wealth alm, all of above are expressed through Yuan opera performances correspondingly.《January Chicks》and《miser》reveals Buddhism idea that to donation would get good recompense and stinginess would get evil recompense from two different aspects. The Buddhism idea emphasized the person's oneself function has aggressive factor. In fact it would punish and praise people clearly , promote morals level, integrate society.ChapterⅥ: Blend and human nature esthetics of"going on a pilgrimage for Buddhist scriptures motif". With the reputation of classic novel《Journey to the West》and TV serial , It seems that the Yuan opera《Journey to the West》has forgotten in recent years, The core of this chapter is to stress the art function of Yuan opera《Journey to the West》. firstly, Its major contribution is to make opera roles integrate . Second one is to enrich a great deal of satge detail. Third one is that its comedic style of humor and abuse has a demonstration and guidance function. The depiction of fairy and demon in Yuan opera《Journey to the West》took materials from"going on a pilgrimage for Buddhist scriptures motif"as well as from Buddhism fables ,other relevant prototypes and distinctive fantasy patterns . it broke the fetter of principle that Chinese traditional culture advocated"striving for creditability and truthfulness".So a very spacious myth realm was broadened limitlessly. the character personality was made widely known bravely. the mankind's amentia pursue was written . the esthetics tesion of character personality was expanded extremely . the art influence which was brought to audiences was also the strongest.ChapterⅦ: Transmutation of"Avalokitesvara motif"and Strengthen of feminine consciousness. In this chapter , Avalokitesvara`s apotheosis and need of the mainland , evolution of Avalokitesvara`s image and time change , Avalokitesvara religion and female self-help, connotation of Avalokitesvara as female role in a play and female right of saying are all expounded. It is first time that Avalokitesvara as female role appeared on the stage. It related to consummation of Sinicized"Avalokitesvara motif"directly. Because of prevalence of Avalokitesvara religion, there are many female tragedies in Yuan operas, these tragedies` forms are different, the essence are same, Those performances and subsequent great effect enlarged believers of Avalokitesvara religion and convert salvation religion from holy illusion into a trustworthy degree as if genuine. Certainly , the praise and belittle to female beauty are a kind of prejudice and contradiction in several thousand years. If we want to break this vicious circle that history did make, we must regard female as second sex to change the collective unconsciousness under historical culture context and female group disadvantageous situation , like this,we could get a real good outcome.