Emeishan Buddhist Music

Emeishan Buddhist music traces to the earliest transmission of Buddhism to the mountain in the Eastern Han dynasty. As successive eminent monks built temples and taught here, chant and ritual music gradually matured and fused with Sichuan folk music to form the distinctive Emei school of Buddhist music.

The music is performed during Buddhist ritual services, centred on chanted liturgy and accompanied by wooden fish, stone chimes, drums, temple bells and conch shells. The repertoire covers morning and evening recitations, ceremonial music and water-land ritual music, solemn yet richly musical.

Emeishan Buddhist music is an important component of Chinese Han-tradition Buddhist musical culture and an invaluable resource for studying the evolution and localisation of Buddhist music as it transmitted from Central Asia into China.

Baoguo Temple and Wannian Temple are the main venues for experiencing Emeishan Buddhist music, audible during the daily morning and evening recitation services and at ritual ceremonies.