UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO The Development and Conceptual Transformation of Chinese Buddhist Songs in the Twentieth Century A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Music by Tse-Hsiung Larry Lin Committee in charge: Professor Nancy Guy, Chair Professor Marcel Henaff Professor Lei Liang Professor Ping-hui Liao Professor Richard Madsen Professor Jane Stevens 2012 Copyright Tse-Hsiung Larry Lin, 2012 All rights reserved. ii The Dissertation of Tse-Hsiung Larry Lin is approved, and is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: Chair University of California, San Diego 2012 iii For a generation of Chinese and Taiwanese Buddhists and their devotion to the development of Buddhist songs in the twentieth century This is also dedicated to my mother, Hsiao Yin Li-chiang iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature page…………………………………………………………………. iii Dedication……………………………………………………………………… iv Table of Contents………………………………………………………………. v List of Figures………………………………………………………………….. vii List of Charts…………………………………………………………………... x Notes on Romanization and Translation………………………………………. xi Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………. xiii Vita…………………………………………………………………………….. xvii Abstract………………………………………………………………………… xix Introduction……………………………………………………………………. 1 1. The Context of Chinese Buddhist Reform and the Development of Buddhist Songs………………………………………………………………… 10 Chinese Modernization Movements and Buddhist Reform…………… 15 The Crisis of Chinese Buddhism and Taixu’s Buddhist Reform……… 40 Music as a Useful Means: The Controversy of Using Music in Buddhism……………………………………………………………. 45 2. The Early Development of Chinese Buddhist Songs in Shanghai………….. 50 Introduction……………………………………………………………. 50 Education Reform and the Chinese School Song……………………… 53 Buddhist Songs and School Songs…………………………………….. 60 Buddhist Songs in Shanghai: The Development Beginning in the 1930s…………………………………………………………………… 69 The Initial Development of Buddhist Songs in the 1930s……... 71 The Development in the 1940s………………………………… 84 The Development during the Late 1940s and Early 1950s……. 96 Chinese Buddhism and Buddhist Songs in Taiwan in the 1950s……… 109 Conclusion……………………………………………………………... 110 3. The Post-1949 Development of Chinese Buddhist Songs in Taiwan: v A Case Study of the Early Musical Activities of Lei Yin Temple……………... 113 Introduction……………………………………………………………. 113 The Historical Context……………………………………………...…. 114 Hsing Yun (1927–), his Early Years………………………………….… 119 The Way to Ilan………………………………………………………... 124 Music in the Temple: The Organization of the Buddhist Choir…………………………………………………………………… 132 Early Musical Activities: Some Examples…………………………….. 137 Repertoires of the 1950s and Early 1960s……………………………... 149 New Development in the mid-1960s Onward…………………………. 155 Conclusion……………………………………………………………... 159 4. Yang Yongpu, Wu Chu-che, and Their Buddhist Songs…..………………... 164 Introduction……………………………………………………………. 164 Yang Yongpu (1918–1984)…………………………………………….. 166 The Early Life in Mainland China before 1949……………….. 168 Taiwan/Ilan…………………………………………………….. 174 Yang Yongpu and Hsing Yun’s Buddhist Song Movement….… 183 The Last Years…………………………………………………. 188 Wu Chu-che (1924–2005)………………...…………………………… 190 The Life Story of Wu Chu-che………………………………… 192 Influences in Wu’s Buddhist Songs: an Analysis……………… 199 Influence of Protestant Songs………………………….. 201 Influence of Min-Tai Folk Songs……………………… 207 Influence of Taiwanese Pop Songs…………………….. 213 Wu’s Buddhist Songs in a Historical Perspective……………... 216 Conclusion……………………………………………………………... 220 5. A Course of History in Search of a New Cultural Identity…………………. 224 Appendix………………………………………………………………………. 245 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………… 252 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Important cities in China and Taiwan that supported the development of Chinese Buddhist songs during the earlier half of the twentieth century. ………………………………………………………………………….. 14 Figure 2.1: “The Message of the West Wind” by Huang Zi, the first six measures. ………………………………………………………………………... 56 Figure 2.2: “Praise the Buddha” in the original edition of The Sounds of Ocean Waves, Vol. 1. …………………………………………………………………… 63 Figure 2.3a: “Dreaming of Home and Mother,” reproduced from the original score by J. P. Ordway. …………………………………………………………... 66 Figure 2.3b: “Ryoshu” (旅愁) by Indo Kyukei. Original score adapted from its second print in 1908. ……………………………………………………………. 67 Figure 2.3c: Li Shu’tong’s “Seeing off a Friend.” ……………………………… 67 Figure 2.3d: “Praise the Buddha” by Chen Hailiang, reproduced in Western standard notation. ………………………………………………………………... 68 Figure 2.4: “Song of Triple Gems,” the first three lines. ………………………... 80 Figure 2.5: “Worldly Dream” (the first page), as it appears in the original edition in The Cooling Songs by Hongyi. ……………………………………….. 83 Figure 2.6: Student choir in rehearsal, Jue Shi School in Shantou, Guangdong. Use by permission of Bureau of Shantou City Archive………… 88 Figure 2.7: “The March of the Great Hero’s Disciples” (first five lines) in Chen Hailiang’s A Handbook for Buddhist Self-Cultivation at Home. ……………..... 90 Figure 2.8: “March On,” as it originally appeared in A Handbook for Buddhist Self-Cultivation at Home. ……………………………………………................ 92 Figure 2.9: The Sounds of Ocean Waves, book cover. ………………………….. 101 Figure 3.1: A map of Taiwan marked with important cities where Buddhist songs activities began to emerge in the 1950s. …………………………….…... 125 vii Figure 3.2: Hsing Yun standing in front of the newly built Buddha Recitation Hall of Ilan Buddha Recitation Society, Ilan, Taiwan. ……………….……….. 131 Figure 3.3: The Buddhist Choir of the Ilan Chanting Society in 1955–1956.…. 134 Figure 3.4: Choir members singing in a Buddhist conference featuring lectures and songs, an event possibly held in 1956.………………………….………… 141 Figure 3.5: A picture of Master Hsing Yun (middle) and the team members of The Buddhist Choir standing in front of the “Truck of Truth” before setting off for Dharma propagation. ………………………………………………….…… 145 Figure 3.6: The Buddhist Choir of Ilan Buddha Recitation Society, a picture taken after a recording session on October 17, 1954. …………….…………… 146 Figure 3.7: “The Buddhist Wedding Song” as it appeared in Puti Shu 24 (November 1954). ……………………………………………….…………….. 151 Figure 3.8: “The Bodhi Tree” as it appeared in Puti Shu 20 (July 1954)………. 152 Figure 3.9: The Buddhist Holy Songs, published in 1956 by Ilan Buddha Recitation Society, was among the earliest Buddhist songbooks published in Taiwan. ………………………………………………………………….…….. 154 Figure 4.1: Yang Yongpu prior to 1950. ……………………………….……... 172 Figure 4.2: A dramatic performance of Yang Yongpu, sponsored by Henan Ministry of Education during wartime against Japanese invasion (1937–1945)... 178 Figure 4.3: “The Sound of the Bells” in the original page of The Buddhist Holy Songs published in 1956. …………………………………………….………... 185 Figure 4.4: Wu Chu-che during his early years. ……………………….……… 193 Figure 4.5: Wu Chu-che and his students from Longshan Temple’s civil education program posing for an end-of-course shot in 1959. ………….…….. 198 Figure 4.6: “Praise to the Holy Bodhisattva Guanyin” in comparison with “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” ……………………………………….….. 202 Figure 4.7: “Praise to the Holy Bodhisattva Guanyin,” an analysis on motivic development. ……………………………………………………………….….. 204 Figure 4.8: “Year, Month, Day, Hour,” an analysis on motivic development.…. 206 viii Figure 4.9a: Min-Tai melodic pattern. ………………………………………... 208 Figure 4.9b: “Heart Testament,” with melodic pattern derived from Min-Tai musical tradition. ……………………………………………………………... 209 Figure 4.9c: “Rootless Tree,” with melodic pattern derived from Min-Tai musical tradition. ……………………………………………………………... 210 Figure 4.10: “Journey to the Pureland” in comparison with the Taiwanese folksong “Jasmine in June.” ………………………………………………….. 212 Figure 4.11: “The Perfect Connection” in comparison with examples of Taiwanese pop songs. ………………………………………………………… 214 Figure 4.12: “The Perfect Connection” in comparison line by line with “A Cut of a Plum Twig” and “Bird in the Rain.” …………………………………….. 215 ix LIST OF CHARTS Chart 2.1: The percentages show the different emphases on the four compositional methods for school songs as applied to the Buddhist songs from The Sounds of Ocean Waves. ……………………………………………………. 64 x NOTES ON ROMANIZATION AND TRANSLATION Transliteration of proper names in Chinese is a task that has been approached differently by people from various Chinese-speaking areas and among scholars devoted to the research into Chinese history and related disciplines. Mainland China, Hong Kong (the former British colony), and Taiwan experienced different sociocultural developments under their respective political reigns in the previous hundred years. Different ways of romanizing Chinese names in these areas have come to serve their political ideologies, representing people’s political and cultural identity. It is therefore my best hope that when I romanize individuals’ names, I do so following their personal wishes. With this consideration in mind, I develop the following transliteration approach for personal names: names from the People’s Republic of China are unanimously spelled in pinyin, be it from the pre-1949 or post- 1949 periods. With names from Taiwan, I use the individuals’ preferred spelling when I know it. Otherwise, I use pinyin. Spellings of city and geographical names are romanized according to what is best known in the West. For