2001 North American Buddhist Music Festival

The Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Monastic Choir
Returns with More Performances of the Sound of the Heavens

Between 1979-2001, the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Monastic Choir has given tens of performances in America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, attracting thousands of audiences young and old from various cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds.

            Buddhist music is the artistic language of Buddhism. The pristine sound of Buddhist chanting speaks the Dharma in such a way that listeners can easily immerse themselves in the Buddha’s light of compassion and wisdom. In view of the ability of Buddhist music in purifying human hearts and minds.
            Venerable Master Hsing Yun has propagated the beauty of Buddhist music for more than forty years, from country villages to international stages. Since 1979, Buddhist music has been performed in national concert halls and opera houses in Taiwan. Recordings on cassettes and CDs were also made available. Concert tours were further brought to regions in Asia, Australia, Europe, and America and presented in prestigious music halls and other similar venues where the classically elegant Buddhist music made affinity with thousands of listeners all over the world.
            The many years of efforts paid off. Many enter the gates of the Dharma on hearing Buddhist music, and many learn Buddhism after attending a Buddhist music concert and moved by the auspiciousness. As more people are involved in propagating the Dharma through music, those who once objected to the Venerable Master using music as the medium to spread Buddhism have come to recognize it as an appropriate method. Since the Buddhist music in Taiwan blossomed and there are now many who engage music as the means to propagate the Dharma.
            Since the establishment of BLIA in different parts of the globe, Buddhist music has also been performed in its various locations. Some of the major events include the “Respect and Magnanimity Buddhist Music Concert” at the Darling harbour Convention Center in Australia in 1995, and the “Buddhist Music Concert” at the Hong Kong Hung Hom Coliseum in Hong Kong in 1996. In 1997, there were performances in Singapore’s National Coliseum, Berlin’s Asien-Pazifk-Wochen Werstatt Der Kulturen, London’s Brunei Gallery Theater at the University of London, Amsterdam’s Marcanti Plaza, and Antwerp’s Marmeren Zsul Konhtrdvrnytum. There were concerts held in 1998 in Taipei’s National Concert Hall, as well as in San Francisco and Los Angeles in USA, Vancouver in Canada, Chatswood in Australia, Tokyo, Osaka, and Hong Kong. A series of concerts were also held in 1999 in various regions of Taiwan, conducted in major national venues and universities. In the same year, a “Buddhist Music Concert Tour” was launched in Europe. Presentations were held in London, Vienna, Amsterdam, Rhine, Lucerne, Berlin, Ghent, and Paris.
            In the year 2000, a performance was held in the Terrace Theater at the Center for Performing Arts in Long Beach, California in conjunction with the Buddha’s Light Youth Symphony Orchestra. In Taipei’s Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, three concerts were conducted with four themes depicting the daily activities of a monastery, Ch’an practice, tidal choral, and praise to the Buddhas, accompanied by Chinese flutes, drums, and erhus. It was a major breakthrough in the history of Buddhist music in its blending of the traditional with the contemporary, and religion and art. In Hong Kong, the audience was treated the beauty of Buddhist music and elegance of Chinese music at the Hong Kong Hung Hom Coliseum. Singapore’s performance attracted more than 4,000 and the following concert in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was another well-received performance attended by over 10,000. It was a concert loved by many of the young Malaysians whose request for encores reverberated well into the night. Those who were at the concert have been longing for the next performance in Malaysia since.
            In November, the first of the Australia Concert Tour was held at the Perth Musical Theatre Where tickets to the 1,600 seats were sold out more than a month in advance. The audience was made up of Australians from different ethnic and religious backgrounds, truly reflecting the diversity of listeners Buddhist music is capable of attracting. The concert initiated the non-Buddhists who, through their appreciation of the pristine sound of Buddhist music, to better understanding of practicing the Dharma in everyday life. Special solo performances of the Taipei National Orchestra were also much applauded. It was followed by another presentation at the Sydney Opera House, attracting 2,500 with at least half of them native Australians. Venerable Master Hsing Yun indicated in his address to the audience that Buddhist music is not only an excellent form of offering the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, but also a wonderful gift for future Buddhas present in the concert hall. He wished they could all hear the joy in their hearts in listening to the auspicious sounds of Buddhist music. In the audience were Australia’s Minister for Immigration, Philip Ruddock and Taipei Economic and Cultural Office’s Director – General Maggie Tien. Other than applauding the outstanding performance, Mr. Ruddock also expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the Venerable Master for making the event possible. He further thanked the Taipei National Orchestra for the unforgettable evening.

The series of Buddhist music concerts organized by the BLIA chapters in the various regions and presented in the national concert halls of Asia, Australia, Europe, and USA have attracted hundreds of thousands of listeners. The local media and governments have also given them due coverage and support, turning a new chapter in the history of spreading the Dharma, and purifying human hearts.
There were three themes in the Buddhist music concerts. First, music and dance were employed to depict the daily activities of monastics. Cassocks and sounding of the drum and the bell connote clement weather and other similar implications. Second, the practice of the Dharma as introduced by the familiar chanting of mantras. Third, Dharma functions for various occasions such as weddings, birthdays and funerals. Combining classical with contemporary music, and accompanied by the traditional Tunhuang dance, these presentations are perfect artistic renditions. Wherever the pristine sound of Buddhist music is heard, both Buddhists and non-Buddhists are moved by it. Especially in the regions of Europe, America and Australia, it not only brought joy to the hearts of the native residents, even Catholic nuns and Christians were full of praise for its beautiful rhythms and bought Buddhist music cassettes and CDs. Buddhist music thus provides Westerners unfamiliar with Buddhism their initiation into the religion.

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