The Research On Ritual Music Of Shui-lu Rites In Chengdu Manjusri Temple And Its Inheritance

This thesis is a case study onritual musicof Shui-Lu ritesin contemporary Manjusri Temple.It is an empirical study setting the most exemplary and grandest ceremony of the Chinese Buddhism,the ritual music of Shui-Lu rites,as the research object,under the guidance of the related theory of ethnomusicology and ethnic pedagogy and based on the theoretical study of the transmission system of Chinese religious music.The Buddhist ritual music,an important part of Chinese traditional music,is the treasure of national culture.It widely exists in the contemporary world in living form.As the grandest confessional ceremony of the Chinese Buddhism,Shui-Lu rites still keeps the tradition of being a closed ceremony,not open to the outsiders.Possessing the unique artistic quality,the ritual music retains large number of ancient traditional content,having important historical value,artistic value and cultural value.It is regarded as the treasure house of Buddhist music.But the present research on Shui-Lu ritual music still lacks a systemic,complete and reliable case database.There is nosystemic and comprehensive understanding of the overall appearance and the style quality of the ritual music,nor of itsessence or regular discovery.The research on the core of the ritual music,Shui-Lu ritual music within the altar,is particularly inadequate.Undoubtedly,it provides large space for this research and naturally becomes the main content and focus of the study.With the rapid development of the society,facing the great changes of the world,what on earth supports its living state and strict inheritance in the contemporary cultural environment? What is the overall appearance and style? Whether it changes or not during the process of inheritance? What are the inspirations on the inheritance of Chinese traditional culture and modern education? As for these questions,there is no specific and complete case study in the academic field,and many of them stay on the surface,which can't be certified clearly.While the existence of these questions are bound to affect the deep understanding of the essence of the Buddhist ritual music and the right attitude and the operation means of contemporary scholars to the preservation and development of Buddhist music.It is unfavorable to the inheritance of the outstanding Chinese traditional culture.On the basis of field study,by fully taking advantage of first-hand materials in field study and combining with abundant literatures,the study is filled with practicalness.The paper can be divided into five parts:In the chapter one,the author discusses cultural origin,living environment,history,status and music concept of ritual music in Shui-lu Rites,Manjusri Temple in Chengdu.In the chapter two,the author applies a writing method of music ethnography to write ritual music in Shui-lu Rites,Manjusri Temple in Chengdu and music activity process.In the chapter three,the author describes and analyzes morphological characteristics of rural music in ritual music in Shui-lu Rites,Manjusri Temple in Chengdu,conducts in-depth music morphological study from the relationship between rite and music,rhythmic morphology and musical structural morphology on ritual music arias.First of all,assembly method is applied to conduct morphological classification for all arias.Then,the author records and analyzes music main cavity(primary melody),applies “nuclear cavity” theory to peel off and eliminate repeatability and variation on the theoretical basis of simplification and reduction,and finally analyzes the highest rate of operation and fundamental structural “nuclear cavity” of melody,so as to reveal essential features of ritual music in Shui-Lu RitesIn the chapter four,the author studies music styles of ritual music ritual music in Shui-lu Rites,Manjusri Temple in Chengdu.By conducting statistical analysis of main cavity materials of ritual music in Shui-Lu Rites and comparative analysis of typical tracks,the author ensures that ritual music in Shui-Lu Rites,Manjusri Temple belongs to ten-direction cavity system and has regional styles.It has general core of ten-direction cavity and regional peripheral style.After Jiangnan Buddhist music is introduced to Sichuan area,it adapts to local cultural soil,generates compatible music style integrating with local music and forms local variation of ten-direction cavity style.In the chapter five,the author discusses inheritance of ritual music in Shui-Lu Rites,explores pedagogic significance of music cultural inheritance system in ritual music in Shui-lu Rites,Manjusri Temple in Chengdu,studies and analyzes inherited elements of ritual music in ritual music in Shui-Lu Rites,Manjusri Temple,including heritance subjects,inheritance ways,inheritance system,and inheritance ecology,etc.,and discusses contemporary significance of ritual music education and educational inheritance.As an importantconstituent part of traditional Chinese music culture,ritual music culture in Shui-Lu Rites has the strong vitality and it is the “living fossil” of traditional music that still animates in temple environment.To research and analyze inheritance system systematically is good for exploring protection and heritance mechanism of oral folk songs in China and has the profound significance on protection and heritance of oral folk songs under the modernization challenges.Innovation of the paper includes the following aspects:Firstly,the author conducts in-depth and complete study on ritual music in Shui-Lu Rites,which is the grandest religious rite in Chinese Buddhism.This not only contributes to realizing overall features,arias styles and features of ritual music in Shui-Lu Rites,but also has the positive role on ritual music culture of Buddhism comprehensively.Secondly,three-year field study has acquired lots of first-hand data,especially for music data in closed rites,which have some academic reference value and belong to scarce records and settlement of Buddhist ritual music under modernization challenges.Thirdly,the author attempts to use “Theoretical Research on Religious Music Inheritance System in China”(quoted from theoretical opinions of Professor Pu Hengqiang and it was proposed in the bidding document of the Study on Religious Music Inheritance Study in China,which was the first batch of major project in National Social Science Foundation in 2012 at the earliest)to apply it in case study in ritual music cultural inheritance of Shui-Lu Rites.It is the in-depth exploration on ritual music inheritance and music style causes in modern Shui-Lu Rites and avoids immethodical issues in Buddhist ritual music inheritance study.Limited by the study ability,the author should further study ritual music system in Shui-Lu Rites,except for the relationship between ritual music of Shui-Lu Rites and melody system of ten-direction cavity,as well as field inspection and it is a pity.