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Perfectly Compassionate and Perfectly Beautiful Chinese Dance By Gu Dao
(Clearwisdom.net) In ancient times, in the Nation of Qi, after Confucius
listened to the grand musical dance "Shao," which was created in the
time of Shun Emperor, he "was unable to eat meat for three months." He
sighed, "I did not expect that music could reach such a state." He
also said the musical dance "Shao" was "both perfectly beautiful
and perfectly compassionate." But when he commended the musical dance
"Wu," which had been created for extolling King Wu's achievements of
defeating Emperor Zhou [a very ruthless king of the Shan Dynasty], Confucius
praised the music as being "perfectly beautiful, but not perfectly
compassionate." Thus through these stories, Confucius left the criteria in
Chinese history for judging musical dances: that is, being both perfectly
compassionate and perfectly beautiful. The Origin of Eulogizing Gods The origin of musical dances can be traced back to the eulogy of gods. In the
article "Ancient Music" alone from the book "Lushi Chunqiu
(that is, Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals, a book of Chinese history
authored by Lu Buwei) - Notes of Summer," there were three such stories. In
ancient time, after Emperor Zhuanxu came to power, he noticed a splendid
tinkling sound of wind, which came from all directions. He ordered his
subordinate Fei Long to create music by imitating the sound of wind. Emperor
Zhuanxu also ordered another person to be the musician. He lay on the ground and
tapped on his own belly, which gave out a sound like the chirping of birds.
Zhuanxu named this musical dance "Cheng Yun" and used it during the
ceremony of worshiping the Emperor of Heaven. During the time of Emperor Ku, he ordered his official Xian Hei to create
songs of "Jiu Zhao," "Liu Lie," and "Liu Ying." He
also ordered Chui to create musical instruments such as Pi [a drum used
in battle], Gu [drum], Zhong [bell], Qing [musical stone],
Sheng [a reed pipe wind instrument], Guan [a wind instrument], Chi
[a bamboo flute with eight holes], etc. When these instruments were played,
they gave out such appealing sounds that the phoenixes and pheasants started to
dance to the music. Emperor Ku was very happy, and he used this musical dance to
eulogize the virtues of Heaven. Emperor Shun ordered Zhi to create a musical dance. Zhi created the music by
imitating the sounds from mountains, forests, rivers and valleys. He made a drum
by covering a piece of pottery with elk skin and then tapping it. He also struck
heavily or gently on stone knives and axes to imitate the sound of the Jade Qing
of the Emperor of Heaven. All animals in the forest started to dance to the
music. Regarding the origin of musical dance, there was such a description in Shi
Jing [or the Book of Poems, which included 305 poems from the
beginning of the Zhou Dynasty] - Preface to the Mao's Edition, "A
poem describes ones' aspirations. Being in the heart, it is an aspiration; being
spoken out, it is a poem. One's sentiment originates from one's heart and is
expressed by speaking. When the speaking cannot describe the feeling enough, one
sighs. When sighing is not enough, one sings. When singing is not enough to
express the sentiment, one dances with joy by moving one's hands and feet and
body." These words mean that dancing is unconsciously using movements of
one's hands and feet and body to express oneself when one cannot sufficiently
express one's feeling with mere speech, and when one even cannot sufficiently
express one's feeling through sighing, and even when singing is still not
enough. When we read the three hundred poems in Shi Jing, are there any
whose meaning cannot be expressed in the form of dance accompanied by music? Zuo Zhuan [that is, The Commentary of Zuo, a Chinese
chronological history book authored by Zuo Qiuming] said that the things of
great importance to a nation are worship and military affairs. Worship refers to
worshipping Heaven and ones' ancestors. During worshipping, staging large-scale
and solemn musical dances was an extremely important part of the ceremony. While
the future generations appreciate the poems of the Shi Jing [Book of
Poems], people's imagination can still perceive the ancient, simple but
solemn, large-scale musical dance performances. The Postures and Dances of the Heavenly Beings The best words that have been used to praise music should be "This piece
of music should only come from the heavens, and how few times could one be able
to listen to it in the human world." Music can be played alone, while a
dance has to be accompanied by music. The most well-known Tang Dynasty
"Dancing in Rainbow and Feathered Clothes" was said to have been
created by Tang Dynasty Emperor Xuanzong, who saw in a dream the heavenly girls'
graceful dances and heard the lingering divine music, and then wrote it down.
The music was then passed down. After Buddhism was introduced into China, the Buddhist Dharma spread in
China. The wonderful scenes, such as heavenly girls scattering flowers, are
widely known among people through the form of stories, sculptures, and
paintings. The fresco in the Dunghuan Grottoes that depicted the heavenly girls'
flying was vivid and conveying. The realm of Wu Daozi's painting "Heavenly
Beings' Clothes Flying" appeared as if he had received help from the
deities. The heavenly beings' postures and dances have become the ultimate realm
of Chinese dancing. Dances with Divine Connotations are Perfectly Compassionate and Perfectly
Beautiful For a dance to be divinely charming depends not only on the dancers having
reached the realm of divinity in their cultivation and skills, but also because
the dance is a direct presentation of divine will. In the performances of the
New Tang Dynasty Television's Divine Performing Art Troupe, the musical dance
"Creation" displays the tremendous cosmic changes in the universe.
Because it directly reflects divine will through the perfect dancing and musical
performance, the greatness and compassion of the enlightened beings have
strongly moved the viewers. Many of them had tears in their eyes while watching
the performance; they even exclaimed that the dance seemed to be performed by
deities. In the dance "A Dunhuang Dream," the sculptor's pure compassion,
unselfishness, and his pious faith in gods and Buddhas enabled him to see in his
dream the magnificence and extraordinariness of gods and Buddhas. This story
further let people know how the many and well-known statues in the grottoes were
created. Compassion, harmony, the extraordinary, and sacredness are conveyed by one
after another presentation of beautiful music and one and after another graceful
dance. They play the roles of cleansing people's souls and inspiring people's
wisdom. March 23, 2007
Posting date: 3/29/2007 |