Buddhist music generally falls into two
categories: Buddhist ceremonial music and popular music with Buddhist subjects
or adapted from Buddhist ceremonial music. Buddhist ceremonial music will be
introduced here as follows:
Reading Class in the Morning and
Evening:
Reading class is held once in the morning
and evening, respectively, in the same form and procedures but different in
content.
Buddhist Ceremonial Services
This type of Buddhist services is a series
of activities to celebrate the birthday of Buddha and Bodhisattva, including
Buddha's birthday, converting date, the date of being enlightened, and Nirvana
date, Bodhisattva's birthday, converting date, the date of being enlightened,
and date of death commemoration, etc. For instance, the Buddha Bath Festival on
every lunar April 8 is to celebrate the birth of Sakyamuni. According to
Buddhist records, when Sakyamuni was born, dragons spurt scented rain to bathe
Sakyamuni. Therefore his disciples bathe his statue with all kinds of scented
water when they celebrate Sakyamuni's birthday.
Procedures of Bathing Ceremony
1). Gather together all monks; 2) greet
figures of Buddha; 3) send figures of Buddha back, while singing sutra; 4) put
figures of Buddha on the pedestal, and bathe it with scented water, while
singing sutra; 5) the presiding person addresses participants; 6) go around the
figures of Buddha, while singing sutra; 7) make proclamation, while singing
sutra; 8) conclude the ceremony, while singing sutra.
Universal Relief Buddhist
Service
This type of Buddhist service is held for
people to confess his sin to the God, to wish for a good fortune and a longer
life, or to save people from sin and get rid of evil. The main forms include
class work (reading and reciting sutras in class), confess sins according to
doctrines, yoga flame mouth (a ceremony used to release souls of the dead from
purgatory), and water and land Buddhist service (a ceremony to release all souls
in the water and on the land from purgatory.