On The Oral Tradition Of Dunhuang Bianwen

Dunhuang Bianwen (A popular form of narrative literature flourishing in the Tang Dynasty, with alternate prose and rhymed parts for recitation and singing), with its literal value of importance, is the research focus of the academic circle all through the ages. Brilliant results have been achieved after the unremitting efforts of scholars of several generations, but scientific research knows no limits. It is necessary to go deep into the studies of Bianwen from different perspectives. As far as the current situation of the research is concerned, most of the achievements concentrate on the collection and reorganization of literature, which indicates the obvious limitations in literature studies. Meanwhile some scholars are always, with literal theories and traditional text notions, study and judge the oral Bianwen which are not completely at the same system with them. Therefore some conclusions are not in conformity with the actual situation.Based on the research fruits of the predecessors, this dissertation, centering around the oral tradition and oral nature, systematically elaborates Dunhuang Bianwen from five aspects. The first is the fundamental problems in Bianwen studies. This part mainly discusses the origin of "bian" and the classification of Bianwen, which are two controversial problems in academic field. The "ft/an" in Bianwen, the author thinks, originates from the Bianqu in the folk-song-styled poetry of Yuefu. The "bian" is the chapter's unit for music and dancing works, which narrate certain affairs through some "bian ". Their words are sometimes called "so and so bian". For the reason of this influence , afterwards, the other performance similar to this is called "bian " too, while its written text is to be called "Bianwen", which cannot besimplified as "Man" as educational circles do. Although it is not sure if Bianwen can only be talked and sung with the help of pictures, Bianxiang{ " ^40 " ) and Bianwen have the same reasons in naming. Bianxiang is also used to tell stories in the form of strip cartoon.As to the classification of Bianwen, there is a multiplicity of views on the subject. The author thinks "Man" is originally not a style. Meanwhile similar writings, if studied from different perspectives, have different names. Therefore, the studies of Bianwen should be started with the tradition of talking and singing performances. In adequate consideration of the special nature of Bianwen text, this study should rigidly stick neither to the name nor the text we have now, or the researchers will get down hopelessly in a quagmire. Only when the researchers go beyond the practice of classifying Bianwen according to text features and names and start with the oral tradition, will more profound achievements be achieved.The second aspect is the historical traditions of Bianwen's oral nature. Based on the summary of studies of Bianwen origins in academic field, the historical traditions of Bianwen''s oral nature are traced. From the oral natures of Buddhism Scriptures, of Changdao^ "Pji-fj1" ), of Chinese traditional talking and singing, the relationships between them and oral traditions are respectively discussed. In effect, it aims to illuminate that Bianwen is an art with oral nature. Of course, the so-called oral nature does not only refer to oral talking and singing. More importantly, it refers to the oral composition. The oral composition of Buddhist sutras can be proved through the records of documents and Buddhist sutras. The oral nature of classical Buddhist Scriptures, broadly speaking, has a significant effect on the Bianwerts oral tradition; and narrowly speaking, has an important influence on its language and narrative. The fact that the repeatedly-appeared formulas in Buddhist Scriptures return to be oral and again appear in Bianwen is a specific exhibition of these influences.According to the records of the monks of Changdao and the exposition about Changdao in the literature like Biography of Eminent Monks etc, the oral problems of Changdao are analyzed. At least, the parts which are closely related to theZhucmbian{ " $ï¿¡3ï¿¡" ) of artistic relationship should be compiled orally. At the same time, the sources of "old version" in Changdao are also analyzed.The traditional talking and singing in China was popular and spread orally in early Tang Dynasty, and presented a splendid sight in Song Dynasty. There are still some controversies about the nature of Song versions, but the fact that early Song talking is recreated orally is beyond all doubt. Meanwhile this oral nature has greatly influenced the oral traditions of Bianwen.By means of these observations, at least one point can be made sure that at the beginning of development, Bianwen, as an art of Zhuanbian, is a kind of oral literature. Thus even if the written texts are facing us, it is sure that Biamven is a kind of literature of oral nature.The third aspect is Bianwerfs types and text features. Zhuanbian is an art of oral talking and singing, but what we have is text form. The text process of Zhaunbian art has complicated reasons. The talker and singer's "pre-composition" and the records of audience are all sources of early texts. Talking and singing performance has become a professional activity of female dancer or singer in ancient China. Because of various motivations, some people who had no creative abilities also became Zhuanbian artists. What they could rely on was only the written text, which promotes the text process of Zhuanbian art. Religious belief was the major spiritual strength for some people to copy Bianwen at all costs. The development of social material also provided positive support for the large-scale record and copy. Monastery education had trained large numfeers of persons for recording and copying.The forms of Bianwen are quite complicated due to different purposes of recording and copying. Generally speaking, there are outlines or extracts, oral transcripts or copies for reproduction, hand-written copies and so on. The specific classification of text forms can avoid the pseudo-scientific and mechanical ideas.Variability is the important tribute of Bianwen text. The reasons of it can be explained by, besides the universal reasons of folk literature, the transcriptions of different purposes by different copyists.The fourth is about the formula analysis of Bianwen. Formula is the product of oral tradition, which plays positive and constructive roles for both the listeners and speakers. It is not only the component which the singers will use at any moment, but also the shortcut for the audience to receive and obtain aesthetic enjoyment. Formularization's composition is an important means for oral literature, so it is an effective way to explore oral literature to depth by analyzing formulas, which refer to the repeatedly-appeared fixed expressions, plot and so on. The analysis of formulas can also prove the oral nature of texts. This dissertation discusses in detail the formula of time, formula of emotion, formula of introductory and type-scenes in texts, and further explains the formula features and breadth and frequency of formulas in Bianwen. Because of formula composition, it is unavoidable to find the inconsistent and incoherent narratives, thus resulting in so-called text limitations, which is also an important feature of oral literature. By means of examples, this paper points out the inconsistencies in Bianwen and analyzes the reasons blamed for the inconsistencies. The existence of text limitations further proves the feature of oral formula composition of Bianwen.The last part is about the aesthetic styles and features. In light of oral tradition, the aesthetic exposition is presented. First, Bianwen is an art of listening and talking. Its different aesthetic relationship with other written works makes it have different aesthetic features in text modality, thus presenting an open aesthetic form. Satisfying the common people's pursuit of aesthetic styles, Bianwen expresses the feature of consistent combination of legends and facts. In the legendary plot, the emphasis on truth can be seen everywhere; Bianwen, the "living fossil" of common people's aesthetic and cultural psychology, reveals the common people's aesthetic and cultural psychology in the Tang and the Five Dynasties. In Bianwen, common people's simple ideals are realized; some moral notions are represented and folk customs are reproduced.