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Buddhist and Taoist music meditation

Chinese traditional music

China is the largest and most influential country in Southeast Asia and, together with India, is the cradle of Eastern wisdom and philosophy. China is a very large country (approx. 9,500,000 km²2) with more than 1.4 billion inhabitants. The largest number of Chinese are the Han (approx. 92% of the population) with slightly yellow skin, who began to spread south and east from the Yellow River basin around 2500 BC.
Of the minority ethnic groups, these are the Zhuang (15.5 million), Manchu (9.8 million), Hui (8.6 million), Miao (7.4 million), Uyghur (7.2 million), Io (6.6 million), Tutsi (5.7 million), Mongols (4.8 million) and Tibetans (4.6 million).
^..History in China terithory usually begins studying from the period of about 2100-1600 BC, when the Xia dynasty (about which almost nothing is known) supposedly ruled. The Shang dynasty continued in the period between the 18th and 12th centuries BC. But then, due to invasions from the west, a long period of violence, instability and warring groups began. The first unified state was founded after 220 BC by the Qing dynasty, which also established the office of emperor. The Han dynasty soon followed, which ruled successfully until 220 AD. Then another period of chaos and strife occurred, and only in 580 was China reunified by the Sui dynasty, followed by the Thang and Song dynasties. In the period from the 7th to the 14th centuries, China was probably the most advanced country in the world in terms of culture, economy and technology (it was not known in Europe for a long time, until Marco Polo described it). After 1271, northern China was controlled by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who became emperor. The Ming dynasty followed and then the Manchu Qing dynasty. The feudal-imperial period ended in 1912, when the Republic of China was proclaimed.
^..Thus, the period of more than 5,000 years of monarchy ended and (at least formal) democracy began, the Kuomintang political party was founded.. Three presidents then took turns (during many political disputes and skirmishes). After 1924, General Chiang Kai-shek became the chairman of the Kuomintang, who began to control the military forces. Then the Japanese army invaded China, during which more than 300-400 thousand Chinese civilians, including women and children, were murdered, mainly in the vicinity of Nanking. These horrific war crimes (the Nanking Massacre in December 1937) greatly damaged China's relations with Japan. Japan was then a fascist state (and even later tried to conceal its war crimes).
^..After World War II, the Kuomintang split into two groups: the nationalist group led by Chiang Kai-shek and the communist group led by Mao Zedong. In the civil war of 1946-49, the communists won and declared the People's Republic of China, with Mao Zedong as its president. The defeated nationalist faction also declared the Republic of China with Chiang Kai-shek as its president and moved to the island of Taiwan. Since then, there has been a senseless hostility between the governments of Taiwan and mainland China.
^..I have outlined the political history of China here only very briefly (without mentioning the now irrelevant names of temporary emperors and presidents), rather in a shorthand expressions, as it has no direct relation to Chinese classical music.

Chinese traditional music *) is characterized by its sophistication , softness , composure and poetic tuning , magical genre images of nature with sound-painting effects. It developed over the centuries (even millennia) both in the residences of Chinese rulers and Confucian officials, and was influenced by Buddhist and Taoist sages and poets **) meditating in the bosom of beautiful Chinese nature. For centuries, this music served as an instrument of intimate meditation for followers of Buddhism and Taoism - in harmony with poetry, painting and calligraphy (for some also with drinking wine ...) .
*) Classical Chinese music is mainly meant here. Chinese folk (ethnic) music is usually completely different - especially very diverse, depending on the geographical area or national origin. From Mongolian-type bifonic throats in the north, through Tibetan music in the northwest, Turkmen-Arabic music in the west, to gamelans in South Asia.
**) Early philosophical Taoism did not recognize music (considered it a disturbing phenomenon), but later not only Confucian but also Taoist scholars used the Chinese guitar, for example, as an uplifting tool for meditation and connection with nature. It is also depicted in a number of ancient Chinese landscape paintings, where a lone philosopher meditates and plays a string instrument in a landscape with misty mountains or a lake.
  This is the source of some motifs imitating the sounds of natureand also poetic names of compositions ***) - eg "Moon reflected on the surface of the lake", "Ducks in the reeds", "Moon night on the spring river", "Lanterns and the moon competing in glitter", "Autumn moon over the Chan Palace "," The scent of plum blossoms in the cold of the beginning of spring "," Dance in the cloak of the rainbow "," The clang of jade belts of the immortals spreading through the sky "," Departure from a world without grief ", ... There are common symbolic features with ancient Chinese poetry and painting , especially with landscape painting.
***) It should be noted, however, that (perhaps to an even greater extent than European music) there is no direct relationship between the title of a composition and the music itself. The same melody can evoke different (even conflicting) moods, feelings or images, depending on the context and subjective perception of the listeners and musicians. After all, the same melody is sometimes given under completely different names.
^..Buddhism and the influences of traditional Chinese music have spread throughout virtually Southeast Asia, including the islands of Indonesia.
The pictures capture a glimpse of some aspects of architecture and nature in China :
....
^..Chinese classical music sings about nature and the seasons, about high mountains, flowing waters of rivers and calm waters of lakes, singing of birds. Chinese music blows a gentle spring breeze between the branches of trees, the roar of waterfalls, streams swinging flowers on their banks. Dreamy voices of summer, the depth of a clear night sky full of stars, the moon reflected in the surface of lakes or in drops of dewy grass, falling snowflakes. There is a gentle rustling of rain and the roar of the storm, when "dragons roam the lightning".
Master Chinese music, despite its subtlety, resounds the whole symphony in our feelings. With the magical touch of beauty, the hidden strings of our being are awakened. Long-forgotten childhood memories return to us with a new charm. The soul speaks to the soul ...

A small Buddhist monastery of the southern type

Chinese musical instruments

The most commonly used musical instruments in traditional Chinese music are:
Flutes :
Ti - transverse bamboo flute ...
Hsiao - bamboo flute about 56 cm long, with 6 holes on the top and one on the bottom tent.
Kchou - chin - the smallest flute (whistle), only about 8 cm long with 3 holes, on which virtuoso Chinese players can masterfully imitate especially the singing of birds.
Hsuin - an ancient flute ("ocarina") made of burnt clay with 6 holes (one at the top, three at the front and two at the back), decorated on the surface with Chinese ornaments, mostly dragons.
String instruments :
Er - chu- Chinese "violin" with a hollow cylindrical body and a long neck on which two strings are stretched.
Chung - chu - Chinese "viola", similar to er-chu, but larger and with deeper tones; it also occurs in a variant called Nan-chu .
Pchi - pcha - classical Chinese lute with 4 strings and 23-25 ??frets.
Qin - an ancient 7-string fretless zither, an instrument of intimate meditation by Chinese philosophers.
Ku - Zheng - ancient zither long table about 1,5metru. On the longitudinal body (made of sandalwood and sycamore wood) the strings are stretched over the moving locusts. It is played with picks attached to the fingers. The pitch is affected by pressing the string behind the bridge.
(Note: the Japanese Koto evolved from the Ku-cheng zither ).

The most common traditional Chinese musical instruments :

Flute .... violin Er-hu .. lute Pchi-pcha .... organ Sheng ... "lunar" lute Ruan

.. Ancient table zither Ku-cheng ......................... .......... Cymbals

Other instruments :
Sheng - blowing oral "organ".
Suo-na - an ancient Chinese shalmaj (came to China from Central Asia about 800 years ago), a sliced ??instrument (similar to an oboe) with a piercing screaming tone, suitable for imitating the voices of birds.
Pa-wu - a South Chinese sliced (shalmay) instrument made of gourd and bamboo.
Yangzhou - a Chinese cymbal from Persia, its strings resounding with the blows of wooden mallets.
Bells - hanging ritual bells in Buddhist monasteries, gongs ....
Drums - one-sided and two-sided ....
Cymbals - brass cymbals large and small .....

Some types of drums used in traditional Chinese music

Note: Traditional Chinese musical instruments have penetrated, in addition to Japan, into all the countries of Southeast Asia, where they have become a starting point for the instrumental equipment of local traditional music. We can mention for example. Zither Kyageum (similar to Chinese zither Zheng and Japanese Koto ) dvoustrunnné violin Haegeum (originated from Chinese Er-chu ), oboe wafer tool P'iri or drums puck and Cang .

		Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Mgr. Jan Chmelarcík for a number of important information, comments and ideas. For more serious interested parties, I can recommend, for example, his work on the Ceng zither.
Chinese orchestra of traditional instruments	Some traditional Chinese musical instruments

Sound library :

Traditional Chinese Music - Most Important Songs
Starring: Chinese National Radio Orchestra. Er-hu solo: Jiang Jang Hua
Traditional music from Li-Jiang province
Starring: Da-Yang city orchestra
Moon over the lake - lyrical ancient Chinese music
Fine ancient tuning - the oldest Chinese compositions
..........
Lanterns and the moon in glitter - Chinese lute compositions
Pchich lute solo: Wu Man
Fan-Baj - liturgical music of Buddhist monks from Shanghai
Psalmodic morning songs accompanied by bronze bells, drums, gongs and cymbals
Buddhist music from northern China 1, 2
Accompanied by zither , gongs, drums and organ Sheng. Musicologist: Tien Ching
China - Spirit and Wisdom
China - Many Faces A
cross section of classical and folk Chinese music. Recorded by: Shi Zeng
Nan - kuan - palace music of ancient China
Starring: Chan-than
Qin ensemble - zither of Chinese philosophers
Starring: Tai
Xia -lien Virtuosity of Chinese lute - compositions for traditional Chinese lute Pchich
Starring: Lin Shicheng and Kao Chung
Chinese instrumental heritage - the oldest and newest Chinese instrumental compositions
Cheng: Liang Tsai-Ping and Liang Ming-Shih, Sheng: Liang Ming-Yueh, Hsiao: Wong Chen-Hwa, Nan-Hu: Lin Pei
P'ansori - Korean vocal and instrumental music
Cast: Kim So-hee - vocals, Kim Yoon-duk, Chi Young-hee, Sung Keum-yun - puck, p'iri, chango, kyageum, haegeum
...........
.... ..........- will be added
  The list of other compositions of traditional Chinese music will be gradually added here. However, some of these songs were recorded occasionally from older media or from the radio, so in addition to a somewhat reduced technical quality, I did not have the names and details of interpretation - I apologize for the incompleteness, or. distorted or distorted names.

Vojtech Ullmann