Musical Imagination of 'Emptiness' in Contemporary Buddhism-related Music Based on the Present Understanding of Selected Features in Buddhist Philosophies

從佛教哲理檢視當代「佛教音樂」裡的「空性」

曹爾威(CHOW Ow Wei) ； 吉薩．耶尼森(Gisa JÄHNICHEN)

《關渡音樂學刊》 24期 (2016/07) Pp. 17-38

摘要

'Buddhist music', which has become a commonly used term only in the recent decades, articulates an ambiguous but yet incongruously multi-faceted sphere of imagination for cultural musicologists with certain emphasis in musical shape and religious ideology. Despite the negotiation of the religious sound between secularism and sacredness within Buddhist society, the doctrine of 'emptiness' in the Buddhist philosophy that gives rise to the concept of phenomenality evokes a highly imaginative idea on the matter of 'non-sounding' music qualities and 'non-musicality' in the context of religious practice. Cultural, social, material and cognitive conditions within communities that are highly affected by religious considerations in daily life shape the environment in which the behaviour towards 'sound' and the 'non-sounding' is embedded. Views on this issue allow for further applications on specific religious societies as well as an individuation of elements in dealing with 'emptiness' that is musically imagined and as such understood by a group of people. The music analysis in this paper is limited to some selected features of the present understanding of the Buddhist philosophy since the historical dimension can only be roughly touched. The examples chosen to demonstrate the musical imagination of 'emptiness' are taken from two small archives in Malaysia and Laos that were set up in order to support further music studies in an Asian multi-ethnic, multi-social and multi-religious context. Buddhism-related music appears or should be deemed as 'non-sounding' is scrutinized as religious requirement, as an aesthetic preference, as an ideological state, and as a normative category that is widely individualised. For these cases, individual descriptions of clear imagination are considered as in the following unconventional music examples: ＂lotuses in the sky flying to passengers on the missing Flight 370＂; and ＂listening to the free reed pipe is as if being taken by high ocean waves while only occasionally diving under water and feeling temporarily deaf when the air flow is interrupted＂. Other descriptions made in literature that is over thousand years old demand the absence of any distractive perception in sound in order to concentrate in the realm of subjectivity as a true living life. In contrast, other concepts consider 'emptiness' non-productive and fill the communal space with sound in order to avoid the 'non-sounding' moment. In narrative and metaphorical analyses, some surprising sonic appearances become more understandable and can be better related to local differentiations in dealing with the perspective of 'emptiness', as well as the human imagination on a construct of the an imagined 'emptiness' in music. The final outcome is the presentation of an overview of concepts and philosophies on the musical imagination of 'emptiness', as 'Buddhist music' is deemed as a musical genre that requires an imaginative sphere influencing an audience's understanding and his ways to consume the music. This overview is set into the present Asian space at the threshold to a speedy and large urban development transforming with globalisation and some local counter currents in various Asian cultures.

關鍵字

Buddhist music ； Buddhist philosophy ； emptiness ； musical imagination ； non-sounding

並列摘要

「佛教音樂」雖在近幾十年成為一個流行詞，但對文化音樂學者來說，它即強調一些音樂形式和宗教上的意識形態，又勾畫出一個含糊卻異樣而多面的想像空間。縱使這宗教性聲音的定位依然折中於佛教社會的世俗派和聖潔派之間，佛教哲學裡「空」的思想則喚起一種富想像力的構思，讓人可從宗教習俗的角度去探討「無聲」、「無樂」的音樂性質。社群的文化性、社會性、物質性和認知性條件常被日常生活中的宗教考量影響。這些條件也同時塑造了依據「有聲」與「無聲」而衍生人類行為的一種環境。在這課題上的見解可採用在特定的宗教社會或組成的個性（individuation）去探討一些群眾所瞭解以及音樂想像中的「空」。文章的音樂分析局限於佛教哲學當前特定的理解去分析，而對於歷史的論述只能略略帶過。本次探討「空」的音樂想像而採用的音樂檔案取自兩個分別位於馬來西亞和寮國的微型典藏庫。這些典藏庫是為了支援以亞洲多元種族、多元社會和多元宗教為背景的音樂研究而設。「佛教音樂」是否被視為「有聲」或「無聲」，本論文將從多角度細察。這些角度包括宗教需求、審美觀、意識形態、和廣泛被個性化的規範類型。本論文其中的案例敘述一些個人所形容的清晰意象，例如：「空中許多的蓮花飄向失聯的MH370航班上的乘客們」和「聽著巴烏猶如被捲入巨浪，每當氣流中斷時，感覺像潛入深水而短暫失聰」。超過千年的文獻中有提及若要專注在成為真實生命的主體境界，由聲音而產生的意識形同干擾，故須去除之。反之，也有一些觀念認為「空」並無生產性，故須在公共場所注入聲音以去除「無聲」時刻。在本文的敘述和隱喻分析中，一些意想不到的聲音存在變得越可理解，以及越能與對「空」的看法上和音樂中想像的種種區別產生聯繫。本篇論文最後要呈現的結果是關於「空」的音樂想像在觀念上和哲理上的概貌。「佛教音樂」被視為一個需要想像空間的音樂類型，而這空間牽動著聽眾去理解和決定如何運用所聽到的音樂。這個概貌設定在當代的亞洲場景，它正瀕臨全球化都市發展的劇變而遭受到本土文化的逆流衝擊。

並列關鍵字

佛教音樂 ； 佛教哲學 ； 空 ； 音樂想像 ； 無聲

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