"There are many famous mountain monks in the world", Buddhist music is active in various mountain temples and has made important contributions to the development of Chinese folk music. There have also been many well-known qin monks in the field of guqin. Especially after the Sui and Tang dynasties, the number of qin monks has increased even more, and the monk qin school has also appeared in the Song Dynasty. Their performance activities are reflected in various documents. Li Bai's famous qin poem "Listening to Shu Seng's Playing the Qin" is one of the representative works: "Shu Seng hugs Lvqi and descends to Mount Emei in the west. Wave your hand for me, such as Listen to Wanhe pine. Be kind to wash the flowing water, and the bell rings into the frost. I don’t realize that the blue mountains are twilight, and the autumn clouds are dark.” In addition, Bai Juyi, Meng Jiao, Han Yu, Ouyang Xiu, Su Shi and other literati’s poems all involve The content of the qin monks and the qin poems created by the monks are also widely circulated in the world. The art activities of the qin monks are also very frequent, and the playing skills are very superb. Ouyang Xiu once wrote a poem to praise the monk Zhibai, "How can I know that the mountains are high and the waters are profound, and I have written this Zhu Sixian for a long time." Shen Kuo once praised Seng Yihai's performance in "Mengxi Bi Tan": "The art of the sea does not lie in the sound, but its meaning and rhythm are subtle, and beyond the sound, it is beyond the reach of others."

Qinyi rejects Buddhist monks

In stark contrast to the actual artistic activities of qin monks, Buddhist thought is extremely poor in the records of qin theories. Compared with the status of Confucianism and Taoism in Guqin music, Buddhism has little influence on Guqin aesthetics. In the vast sea of guqin literature, there are very few reflections on the ideological content of Buddhism, and the same is true in the creation of qin music. Among the many qin scores, there are only a few "Shi Tanzhang", "Pu'an Mantra", "Sex Kong" related to Buddhist music. "Treasures", "Fa Qu Xian Xian Yin" and other songs. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, there was a strong rejection of Buddhism in the theory of the qin, and even in reality, it was forbidden to pass the qin to monks, and it was forbidden to play the qin to monks. There are roughly three reasons for qin people to reject Buddhist music: first, Guqin is the representative of Chinese elegant music, while Buddhist music is the music of Hu Yi which is inferior to Zheng Wei's music, so these music cannot be used; second, Guqin must be taught to Wenya Virtuous people, but monks are a barbarian state, and should not be passed on. Third, when playing the guqin, players are required to wash their hands and burn incense beforehand, and undress and clean their face. The monks have incomplete hair and dirty elegant instruments, so monks should not play the qin. . The fundamental reason for these views is the biased understanding of Huayi music. Traditional music aesthetics has always regarded the sound of China as the main music, and opposed the intrusion of the music of Hu Yi. Even in the Tang Dynasty, when "Chickens croaked in the top of the city, and every family in Luoyang learned Hu music", Bai Juyi still said that "French music and French music are combined. Yi songs, Yi voices are evil and chaotic Chinese voices and... Yuanqiu’s teeth are open and upright, and they will not let Yixia cross each other and invade.” Although with the increase of Buddhist monasteries and the popularization of Buddhist teachings, there have been many achievements in Buddhist music among the people, but the prejudice of literati against Hu Le is still deeply rooted. As a representative of literati music, the aesthetics of guqin was deeply influenced by the thought of literati despising Hu Yi's music, which to a certain extent restricted the development of Buddhist music in the field of guqin. Although there are also piano scores such as "Three Teachings Simultaneous Voice" in the history of the piano, Buddhist music has never been able to occupy an important position in the piano world.

Playing the piano is like practicing Zen

On the whole, the Buddhist thought that has an influence on the aesthetics of the guqin is the epiphany theory of Zen. The earliest link between Zen theory and qin study was Song Renchengyu. Nothing works...". This idea was brought into play by Li Zhi, a Ming scholar. Li Zhi believed that "the way of sound can be connected with Zen." He also cited the example of Boya learning the qin from Chenglian. It is difficult to achieve a wonderful state. This kind of epiphany is a kind of self-realization that "those who can get it by accident, can't learn from other people's actions", so "the sound of Chenglian has the sound of Chenglian, although it cannot be taught to disciples; Boya has Boya. The sound, although Boya cannot necessarily obtain it in Chenglian." This kind of epiphany can only be achieved in a specific nature and in a lonely state of meditation. "If Boya does not go to the sea, and if he goes to the sea, Mr. Lian is still with him, and he will not be able to get it. Only in the absolute sea. The shores and the empty fields are indistinct and uninhabited, and there is no trace of the map left behind, there is no instruction, no masters can see, and everything that was available in the past and passed on can’t be recovered today, so it’s a self-fulfilling one.” . Boya obtained enlightenment and understanding in the vast nature, so that his spirit suddenly sublimated in an instant, transcending the boundaries of things and self, realizing the integration of the Tao of the heart and the Tao of nature, and reaching the highest level of music aesthetics. This kind of psychological process is the same way as meditation in Zen Taoism and the realization of the transcendence of all things.

Li Zhi believes that the path of learning the qin and the path of practicing Zen are also reflected in the fact that "the path of the path is based on the appearance of silk and the outside of the instruction", that is, the pursuit of meaning beyond the sound, because Zen cultivates the path through real life , Enlightenment, pursue the nameless and boundless, transcend all things to seek the eternal but empty Buddha-nature in the universe, and achieve the liberation of the soul. Music is also to seek the spiritual realm of the wonderful life that transcends the material level and comprehends the unity of the mind and nature through the music of sound. The idea of applying Zen thinking to music aesthetics, emphasizing self-experience, comprehension, comprehension of the samadhi of qin learning in music, and realization of the pursuit of life has a certain influence on guqin aesthetics. It is easy to learn", "The Qin Music of the Dead Wood Zen", "using the qin theory to describe Zen", "using the qin to teach", etc., are the development of "attacking the qin is like practicing Zen" and "the way of sound can be connected with Zen".

Clear mind and see nature, wonderful sound and wonderful finger

Xu Shangying, the master of piano studies, once lived in a monastery in his later years, so Buddhist thought had a great influence on him, which is more reflected in "Xi Shan Qin Kuang". In this work, he absorbed some of the Buddhist ideas and applied them to the practice of Guqin music. For example, Buddhism proposed that "know the mind and see the nature, and become the Buddha's way." Insightful." When practicing meditation, Buddhism pays attention to adjusting the breath and calming the mind, and taking this as a prerequisite for enlightenment, Xu Shangying proposed the "adjustment of air" for playing the guqin: "About his fingering skills, one is adjusting the air, and the other is practicing the finger. Adjusting the qi will calm the spirit, and practicing the fingers will calm the sound." Buddhist enlightenment emphasizes transcending the mundane world and the unity of Brahma and self, and takes "things are not different from me, I am not foreign things, things are mysterious, and return to Wuji" as the highest state , Xu Shangying took "the heart is free from dust" and "the body is like a fairy" as the pursuit of the performer. Buddhism advocates believers to transcend the world and seek spiritual liberation in the Buddha land. Xu Shangying asked the performers to "remove the hustle and bustle", "leave the world independent", and "remove their impatience and release their competitive heart". Buddhism, on the grounds of abstinence, denies the enjoyment of music. Xu Shangying said, "Let those who listen...the heart of entertainment do not know where to go."

In the case of "cleanness", Xu Shangying discussed the qin in terms of Buddhism, focusing on his Buddhist music thought that "those who want to cultivate wonderful sounds are based on fingers. Those who want to cultivate fingers must first be based on cleanliness". Xu Shangying first quoted from the Shurangama Sutra, "For example, the qin, serpent, Konghou, and pipa have wonderful sounds, but if there are no wonderful fingers, they will never be pronounced." Later, the Buddhist practice of purifying the mind and enlightening the Tao was incorporated into the way of practicing the fingers of the qin players, requiring the performers to focus on "purity of the heart". One ounce of Fuliu" means that Jing's ability to "take the sound more and more hopeful", to "the more permanent the interest", and to achieve the state of "mysterious and subtle". What is worth affirming in the above thought is that the commentator recognizes the relationship between the wonderful sound and the wonderful finger, and points out that the finger movement is very important to the quality of the sound. Here Xu Shangying runs the Buddhist concept of purity throughout the practice of fingers, emphasizing that it begins with the purification of the heart, through the purification of the fingers, and achieves the purity of the sound, and proposes the aesthetic view of "the more beautiful the sound, the more eternal the meaning", in order to affirm the sound "Light" style in music. The characteristics of "Xi" emphasized in "Xishanqin Kuang" are not "inaudible", but "sparse and light" and "low tone of ancient sounds". "The vowel of the qin is inherently light", only the sound "light" can get rid of the time and vulgarity and realize the ancient and elegant. "Dan" was proposed by Laozi, absorbed by Zhou Dunyi, and became the aesthetics of Confucianism and Taoism. Here, it was merged with Buddhist thought by Xu Shangying and developed into the aesthetics of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. The evolution of "Dan" reflects the characteristics of mutual absorption and fusion of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in music aesthetics. This phenomenon also shows that although Buddhist thought is rejected by many qin people, some of its ideas are still absorbed by some guqin theorists, which enriches the traditional guqin aesthetics.