When I first embarked on my research project, I had envisioned a straightforward methodology for fieldwork: participant-observation, capturing recordings, making transcriptions for analysis, and conducting formal interviews. As I prepared my first interviews with participants in Chinese Buddhist rituals, I set about creating a list of potential questions I thought would be a gateway to understanding the provenance, function, and transmission processes of Buddhist ritual music.  

•       How did you learn the melodies used in Buddhist rituals? 

•        How have these melodies been passed down? 

•        Do you know the background or origins of these melodies? 

•        How or when are particular melodies used?

These were some of the questions that arose as I identified key interview topics. While these questions have been addressed in various literature in recent decades (Chen 1999; Di 2013; Yuan 2012; Zhou 2014), I was hoping that the different experiences and statuses of my interviewees would also provide unique personal perspectives. For a pilot interview prior to starting any formal fieldwork, I planned to pitch a couple of questions to a nun, whom I had gotten to know from visits to my local temple. When I brought up some of the questions pertaining to the learning and usage of melodies in a ritual context, the nun simply replied, “My teacher taught me [the melodies], and I just memorized [the melodies and when to use them].” While unsurprising, as fieldwork accounts have demonstrated that monastics did learn the processes and music of Buddhist rituals through oral instruction, observation, and imitation (Chen 1999; Szczepanski 2016), hearing such a comment was a recentering point as I realized that I had been overly focused on the musical and performative elements of Buddhist ritual music. I had neglected to consider how what I had regarded as “music” may be understood by other participants of Buddhist rituals, some of whom might not have any musical background. By “participants,” I refer to the monastic members and lay congregation who engage in ritual activities, whether as an active participant or as a bystander who listened to some of these melodies. 

A closer study of the members of the lay congregation during a Buddhist ritual provides a rich context for understanding how “music” might be understood and expressed on different levels. Here I provide a short excerpt from my early fieldnotes, an initial attempt at trying to make sense of the ritual event from a research perspective, describing the different groups of participants I observed at a ritual session:

Inside the main shrine, the lay congregation stand as two groups, populating the left and right side of the shrine while leaving an empty path along the middle. The congregation is chanting and singing during the ritual, and different groups can be identified. There are the “regulars,” who are so familiar with the musical material that they are sometimes able to pre-empt certain sections of the ritual before the leading monastic members even start singing. There are the “devoted ones,” some who are gifted singers, some who are not, but all who focus single-heartedly on the delivery of the scriptures—they are usually quite well-versed in the scriptures and can deliver them with clear enunciation and a loud, confident voice. There are those who are not so musically inclined—often the contributors of “off-tune” singing, though most are able to keep a consistent rhythm and pitch contour, just not on the same pitches as the rest of the congregation. There are the “quiet ones”—often newcomers who are unfamiliar with the text and the melodies, and who decide to read silently in their hearts. There are the “music-people”—a handful of people who bop their head or tap their feet in time with the sung melodies or who hum the ritual melodies like little ditties in the hallways of the temple after the end of the rituals. There are the “chanters”—who simply do not get the melodies and end up reciting the entirety of the scripture the same way, and others who may fall into multiple categories. 

In my notes, I used simpler terminology to categorize the different groups of participants, in part due to my haste in trying to textualize my experiences before I started forgetting details. The other reason was that I faced a dilemma in trying to pick out words that could also faithfully convey the thoughts and emotions that I had experienced during my observation. As Barz (2008) very fittingly commented, “[the] transformation of experience into discourse leads to dialogue between one’s knowing and reflection on that knowing, and the transcription is not easy” (218). At that point, I decided on a simpler and more casual tone that was, for me, more digestible and effective in evoking the scene and atmosphere of the ritual. 

[...]I faced a dilemma in trying to pick out words that could also faithfully convey the thoughts and emotions that I had experienced during my observation. [...] At that point, I decided on a simpler and more casual tone that was, for me, more digestible and effective in evoking the scene and atmosphere of the ritual. 

With the manifold connections that could be extrapolated from the observation data and no specific method of classifying the ritual participants, I was also conflicted with how to articulate the meaning and function of music in ritual for the different groups of participants so that their experiences did not become marginalized. These people may conceptualize music in ritual on many different levels. These observations provide some suggestions on the different levels of engagement that the participants have with the ritual music and demonstrates that, while many of them may recognize that there is an element of “sound” in use during the rituals, not everyone attends to the sounds as “music.” This is consistent with some of the viewpoints offered in the discourse of sound in Buddhism, which argues that “music-like practices, such as scriptural recitation and chanting… are not necessarily considered by Buddhists to be ‘music’ per se” (Chen 2004, 80). I suggest that some of the participants might not be actively thinking about, or aware of, musical components such as tempo and melody present in ritual music, but rather as an action to be performed during the ritual—much like bowing—and a habit they may have cultivated through constant exposure and repetition.

Furthermore, I realized that through these observations and descriptions I was only able to capture one facet of the participants’ engagement with the ritual, even though their treatment of the music may be influenced by temporal and experiential change. Reflecting upon my own experience with music in the ritual sphere, I could identify certain pivotal points where my perception of Chinese Buddhist ritual music evolved. As a young child with barely any understanding of musical elements such as pitch and tempo, the Buddhist tunes my grandmother listened to on a cassette player were just pleasant and memorable melodies, and as I developed a greater musical understanding, various musical attributes of the melodies became more prominent and identifiable. As I gained an even more holistic understanding of ritual processes and functions, I was then better able to situate musical content within a ritual space. This contemplation on my own understanding of Buddhist ritual music in different ways and at different stages was a beneficial exercise, as it offered a glimpse of how the various participants’ perceptions of ritual music might have developed over time, and also provided new pathways of thought on how best to discuss meaning with ritual participants in the future. 

I realized that through these observations and descriptions I was only able to capture one facet of the participants’ engagement with the ritual, even though their treatment of the music may be influenced by temporal and experiential change. Reflecting upon my own experience with music in the ritual sphere, I could identify certain pivotal points where my perception of Chinese Buddhist ritual music evolved.

There is still much to understand and discuss about music in Buddhist rituals, such as how ritual music may be perceived in different settings, or the varying functions of music in a ritual context. However, with the current restrictions on international travel in place, I have shifted my focus to more analytical aspects, exploring the connections between vocal Buddhist ritual music and other genres of vocal music, such as folk tunes and operatic works, to better understand the historicity of the tunes used in Buddhist ritual. For now, I am also taking this break in fieldwork for some retrospective reflection on my earlier fieldnotes and thinking about the nuances between music, lived experiences, and the conceptualization of sound. 

References

Barz, Gregory F. 2008. “Confronting the Field(note) In and Out of the Field: Music, Voices, Texts, and Experiences in Dialogue.” In Shadows in the Field: New Perspectives for Fieldwork in Ethnomusicology, 2nd ed., edited by Gregory F. Barz and Timothy J. Cooley, 206–23. New York: Oxford University Press.

Chen, Pi-yen. 1999. “Morning and Evening Service: The Practice of Ritual, Music, and Doctrine in the Chinese Buddhist Monastic Community.” Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of Chicago.

———. 2004. “The Chant of the Pure and the Music of the Popular: Conceptual Transformations in Contemporary Chinese Buddhist Chants.” Asian Music 35 (2): 79–97.

Di, Qi’an 狄其安. 2013. Jiangzhehu fanbai 江浙滬梵唄 [Buddhist Chant of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai Region]. Shanghai: Shanghai yinyue xueyuan chubanshe 上海音樂學院出版社 [Shanghai Conservatory of Music Press]. 

Szczepanski, Beth. 2016. The Instrumental Music of Wutaishan’s Buddhist Monasteries: Social and Ritual Contexts. London: Routledge.

Yuan, Jingfang 袁靜芳. 2012. Zhongguo fojiao jing yinyue yanjiu 中國佛教京音樂研究 [Research of China’s Buddhist Jing Music]. Beijing: Zongjiao wenhua chubanshe 宗教文化出版社 [Religious Culture Press].

Zhou, Yun 周耘. 2014. Tianning fanbai yanjiu 天寧梵唄研究 [Study of Tianning Temple Buddhist Chant]. Beijing: Zongjiao wenhua chubanshe 宗教文化出版社 [Religious Culture Press].