On the morning of July 22, 2020, the opening ceremony of the Buddhist Chanting Class of Hangzhou Buddhist Academy Music Faculty entrusted by Lingyin Temple was held at Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou. Venerable Master Guangquan, the Vice Secretary-General of the Buddhist Association of China, the Chairman of Hangzhou Buddhist Association, the President of Hangzhou Buddhist Academy and the Abbot of Lingyin Temple, attended and addressed the ceremony. The Vice President of Zhejiang Conservatory of Music Professor Yang Jiuhua also attended the ceremony and delivered a congratulatory speech.
Venerable Master Guangquan said in his speech that in the past 15 years, Buddhist chanting has played an important role as a cultural and art bond in the friendly communication and exchanges between the Buddhist circle of Hangzhou and other Buddhist communities abroad. The Buddhist chanting music ensembles of Hangzhou have paid visits and brought Buddhist chanting performances to many countries and regions in the world.
For example, in November 2005, the Cross-Strait Buddhist Cultural Exchange and Music Concert was co-hosted by nearly 100 Buddhist masters of the Hangzhou Buddhist circle and the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Choir at Hangzhou Theater, bringing splendid music performances to the generable public.
In August 2014, Hangzhou Buddhist Artistic Group was invited to put on a Buddhist chanting music performance at the opening ceremony of Greece’s 20th International Music and Dance Festival, which was warmly welcomed and highly praised by the international community.
In October 2019, as an important part of the China-Canada-US Buddhist Forum, a Chinese Buddhist chanting music concert entitled “Prayer Concert” was co-organized by the Buddhist Association of China and Hangzhou Linyin Temple at Lincoln Center in New York, the United States. The music concert received wide welcome and coverage and it was very difficult to even get a ticket.
In order to better represent the unique charm of Chinese Buddhist arts and cultivate talents in the field of Buddhist chanting, Hangzhou Buddhist Academy began to prepare for the establishment of a music faculty featuring a high starting point and high standards in 2019. Now the music faculty is open to students.
Hangzhou Buddhist Academy Music Faculty aims to inherit and promote Buddhist chanting as a contribution to the enrichment and blooming of the Chinese traditional arts and culture. The first batch of students enrolled in the Music Faculty are 25 Buddhist masters of an elementary level in Buddhist chanting from Lingyin Temple.
In his speech, Venerable Master Guangquan also extended sincere gratitude to the provincial and municipal government departments for their full support for the development and promotion of Buddhist chanting for years and to all the staff for their hard work in preparing for the establishment of the entrusted Buddhist chanting class.
In addition, Venerable Master Guangquan encouraged the students to cherish the opportunity to study Buddhist chanting in the entrusted class. They should study hard to master the basics and techniques of Buddhist chanting so as to preserve and promote such an important legacy and contribute to the inheritance and propagation of the Chinese fine traditional culture.
