Buddhist Music and Ritual

by Lotus Lantern
November, 1999

Introduction

Buddhist music has been a part of Buddhist rituals and services throughout Korean history since the introduction of Buddhism in the 4th century.

There are two uses of Buddhist music: one is for educational purposes and the other for Buddhist ceremonies or rituals. In the case of the former, it is well known that the Great Monk WonHyo (617-686 C.E.) adapted the Sutra into stories, which were translated into Korean and put into popular folk tunes or songs in order to popularise the Sutra to a wide range of people. In regard to the latter, Buddhist music enhanced people's religious lives which were highlighted by state ceremonies such as Yondunghoe (Buddhist court ceremonies) and various national rites; Suryukjae (a Buddhist rite to console the spirits on both land and water); and the Yongsanjae (a ceremony reenacting the Buddha's delivery of the Lotus Sutra), all of which were performed at temples. This type of music was composed formally to suit such grand ceremonies with solemn and magnificent styles to inspire people about the righteousness and awesomeness of the Buddha and his teachings. In this respect, it is natural that Buddhist music has continued to grow out of the whole musical culture and is shared with people's everyday lives and practices.

Ven. InMook: Seeking Awakening Through Pompae

Buddhism has had a great influence on traditional Korean literature, visual arts and performing arts since its introduction to Korea. Among these, music was the most effective and direct medium in propagating the Buddha's teachings. Korean Buddhist music, which includes Pompae, Pomum and Pomsong, played a significant role in penetrating people's lives and beliefs. Accompani-ed tunes and songs enabled people to gain access to the easily translated text of the Sutra and helped them understand the Buddha's teaching better.

Pompae, which is used in Buddhist rituals at temples, is the world of glorification of the Buddha in a long solemn and magnificent chant, and it is called Osan. It is based on purity, righteousness, harmony and profundity. Pompae has been handed down by oral tradition in simple poetic and melodic phrases. At this point in history, we are now called upon to develop better, modern methods of preserving and transmitting Pompae for posterity.

Ven. InMook (temple master at Hoiamsa Temple) has been studying and performing Pompae for more than three decades as a way of practicing the Buddha's teachings. Pompae is in fact his only hwadu (koan) to achieve enlightenment. He has tried to obtain the truth in the sea of Pompae since he became a monk at the age of 14. Since boyhood he grew up listening to Buddhist music at a monastery. In particular, he was attracted and touched by the clear, righteous, harmonious, pure, and profound sound of Pompae. So he began to learn and perform Pompae because he was attracted to it, and for no other particular reason. His teacher is Ven. IlUng who is designated as an official apprentice in Intangible Cultural Asset No. 50, Yongsanjae.

Ven. InMook was greatly influenced by his teacher, Ven. IlUng. He confesses that from earlier times, listening carefully has always been the more important way to understand tone and to perform Pompae well. Above all, he stresses that a righteous mind is essential to approach the technique of Pompae. He hopes to become an Ochang, or Pompae master, with an upright mind.

Pompae is a way to praise the merits of the Buddha through three secrets: gesture, voice and thinking, i.e. the trikarma of deed, voice and thought. Consequently, he emphasizes that those who became monastics naturally should learn and perform Pompae. Pompae is not so extremely esoteric, so in fact we all should learn and perform it. From his view of practicing, it may be an expedient to achieve enlightenment.

Pompae as the Resonance of Pure Mind

Ven. InMook thinks that the attraction of Pompae is in calming and concentrating our wandering mind and scattered thinking. The Pompae performer should follow the sound only with an integrated mind since the sound can't be produced when the mind is distracted. He says that he feels a fresh spirit and energy rising from his inner self when he performs Pompae. Therefore Ven. InMook hopes to make Pompae accessible to everybody, not to just a small segment of specialists.

Actually, his training was never easy under his very strict teacher. Learning Pompae may be difficult because it is the sound of concentration produced from repeated cultivation. Ven. InMook regards his training in Pompae as his fate. He renounced the mundane world in his youth only because he liked the sound of chanting, or yombul. He considers his study of Pompae, which he chose himself from among many practices, the result of accumulated karma. So he had no choice but to learn Pompae.

According to Chogye Order doctrine, which emphasizes Zen, such studies as Osan are not permitted. But thanks to Ven. WolWoon's understanding concerning the importance of Pompae as a ritual which relieves sentient beings'suffering, Ven. InMook was given permission to pursuit the study.

Pompae has no musical scores. When a teacher makes a tone after a tone, a disciple ought to produce his own sound by capturing the sound in the air. This is the very lesson of Pompae. Thus one who does not make his own sound from both the expression of the teacher's face and his feeling cannot learn the essence of Pomum (the sound of Dharma). Hence, Ven. InMook insists that the disciple take a righteous posture as a trainee in order to establish a harmonious and single-hearted mind between teacher and disciple. Only under such a relationship can the disciple be qualified for learning Pompae. Teacher and disciple produce the sound with all their heart, even in the face of death. This spirit was handed down to Ven. InMook from his teacher, Ven. IlUng.

Ven. InMook wishes to teach Pompae to as many people as possible in the future. He desires to let the general public know that Pompae is not elitist and also to make Pompae a part of daily life as a popularized and generalized ritual. When its sound, produced from thorough cultivation, expresses as much the depth of practice as the depth of sound, it reveals both the resonance of his clean pure mind and his true attitude of seeking Truth in the sea of Pompae.