Chapter 117 Taoist music

Taoist music is the music used in religious activities such as fasting and offering rituals in Taoism. Taoism is a native religion in China, and its birth time was probably at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.The use of Taoist music began around the Northern and Southern Dynasties.According to "Wei Shu·Shi Laozhi", in the second year of Shenrui (415) of Emperor Ming of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Kou Qianzhi met the Taishang Laojun in Songshan, granted him the position of celestial master, and gave him "Yunzhongyin Chanting Xinke Sutra Precepts" ", formulated the "New Law of Reciting Precepts of Musical Chapters", and then produced the first Daoist music such as "Ode to Huaxia" and "Buxu Ci".The so-called "Ode to China" is probably a kind of music chanted during the march before the opening of the Taoist ceremony. "Buxu Ci" is mostly praises to gods, usually five-character or seven-character poems, regardless of length, depending on the needs of religious affairs. "Its chapters are all high immortals who went to the sacred city of Yujing, Xuandu, and satirized and chanted the sky, so they are called Buxu" ("Junzhai Shushuzhi" by Chao Gongwu), because its music is like immortals walking in the sky and singing in the sky. Named after the sound, the style is quaint.

The Tang Dynasty was one of the heydays for the development of Taoist music.Tang Gaozong once ordered the palace musicians to make Taoism.Tang Xuanzong once ordered Taoist priests and ministers to present Taoist music, and wrote and taught Taoist music himself. Volume 54 of "Cefu Yuangui" has a record that "in April (the tenth year of Tianbao), the emperor personally taught the Taoist priests Buxu sound rhyme in the Taoist temple". During the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, Du Guangting, a famous Taoist priest, collected the culmination of the Taoist rituals of fasting and offering sacrifices in the previous dynasties, and edited the "Taomen Kefan Daquan Collection", which further standardized the rituals of fasting and offering sacrifices in Taoism.At this time, Daoyue had added windpipe and plucked string instruments to the simple percussion instruments such as bells, chimes, and drums.

The Song Dynasty was another important period for the development of Taoist music. Song Taizong, Song Zhenzong, and Song Huizong respectively wrote dozens of Taoist music, such as "Buxuci", "Sanhuaci", "White Crane Praise", "Yuqingle" "Tai Qing Le" and so on.In particular, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty was good at Taoism. He used Taoist priest Lin Lingsu to revise and supplement the Taoist sacrificial ceremony, issued 426 volumes of "Golden Seal Lingbao Taoist Rituals", and selected Taoist priests from all over the country to go to Beijing to practice Taoist music.The earliest surviving collection of Daoist music in my country, "Yuyin Fashi", was compiled in the Northern Song Dynasty. It recorded poems from the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and 50 poems composed by Song Zhenzong and Song Huizong in curved notation.

During the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Taoist music was further developed.In the folk, Daoyue is widely integrated with local tunes in various places, forming different Daoyue styles in different places.Now, many famous Taoist temples have Taoist bands, which not only play in religious activities, but also participate in some cultural exchange performances. Taoist sacrificial offering music has various forms such as solo singing (usually performed by Gao Gong and Du Shao), unison singing, loose-panel singing, drum music, wind and percussion music, and ensemble music.Simple instrumental music forms are often used in scenes such as the beginning and end of religious affairs, the transition of singing songs, queue changes, Yubu (steps similar to dances), and vocal music forms are the main part of Zhaijiao music. Formats such as "Zan", "Buxu", "Gathering".