[Hong Xiuping] Thoughts on the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage in China's Buddhist Culture

Buddhism has been introduced to China for more than two thousand years.

During the long historical development process, Buddhism has created rich and splendid cultural achievements in the continuous collision, conflict and integration with Chinese traditional culture and social customs, adding a large number of treasures to the treasure house of China's traditional culture, including rich intangible cultural heritage.

UNESCO believes that Intangible Cultural Heritage is an important factor in determining national cultural characteristics, stimulating creativity and protecting cultural diversity.

It plays a vital role in mutual tolerance and mutual coordination between different cultures.

The Convention for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage, adopted in October 2003, officially entered into force in April 2006.

According to the latest definition of "intangible cultural heritage" in the Convention, it refers to the various practices, performances, forms of expression, knowledge and skills, as well as their related tools, objects, crafts and cultural venues, that are regarded by groups, groups, and sometimes individuals as their cultural heritage.

Various groups and groups continue to innovate this intangible cultural heritage passed down from generation to generation as their environment, interaction with nature, and historical conditions change, while giving themselves a sense of identity and history, thereby promoting cultural diversity and human creativity.

In contrast, China's Buddhist culture contains extremely rich intangible cultural heritage.

China is a signatory to the Convention for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage and has long attached great importance to the protection of cultural heritage.

In 2005, the State Council also issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Protection of Cultural Heritage", which specifically defined the connotation of "cultural heritage" and "intangible cultural heritage":"Cultural heritage includes material cultural heritage and intangible cultural heritage.

Material cultural heritage is cultural relics with historical, artistic and scientific value, including immovable cultural relics such as ancient sites, ancient tombs, ancient buildings, grotto temples, stone carvings, murals, important modern and modern historical sites and representative buildings, and important objects of various eras in history., movable cultural relics such as art, documents, manuscripts, books and materials; and famous historical and cultural cities (neighborhoods, villages and towns) with outstanding universal value in terms of architectural style, uniform distribution or combination with environmental scenery.

Intangible cultural heritage refers to various forms of traditional cultural expressions that exist in intangible forms that are closely related to people's lives and are inherited from generation to generation, including oral traditions, traditional performing arts, folk activities and rituals and festivals, folk traditions related to nature and the universe.

Knowledge and practice, traditional handicraft skills, etc., and cultural spaces related to the above traditional cultural expressions."

It can be seen that China's "intangible cultural heritage" is basically consistent with the definition of UNESCO, but at the same time it is more clearly explained based on China's specific national conditions and national cultural traditions.

With the great attention of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, my country's intangible cultural heritage protection work has achieved remarkable results in recent years and produced good social results.

However, as the State Council's "Notice" pointed out,"Currently my country The protection of cultural heritage is facing many problems, and the situation is severe and cannot be optimistic." Especially the protection of intangible cultural heritage has a long way to go.

As far as the protection of intangible cultural heritage in China's Buddhist culture is concerned, many important theoretical and practical issues need to be discussed and solved urgently.

For example, what exactly does intangible cultural heritage include in China's Buddhist culture? How can the Buddhist community itself increase its awareness of protecting intangible cultural heritage in Buddhist culture? How to better arouse the attention of the whole society to the intangible cultural heritage in China's Buddhist culture? How to better explore, organize and promote more valuable things in China's Buddhist culture into the protection of intangible cultural heritage? How to strengthen the protection of intangible cultural heritage in China's Buddhist culture that is easily lost at present? These are all important issues that have both theoretical significance and practical value.

Solving these problems well is not only related to the inheritance and development of China's excellent traditional culture and even the achievements of the entire human civilization, but also directly related to the continuation and development of China's Buddhist culture.

China's Buddhist culture, formed by foreign Buddhism taking root, blossoming and bearing fruit on the land of China, is a unique treasure in Chinese culture.

In this precious cultural heritage, there are both "tangible" material forms, such as Buddhist temples, statues and stone carvings, classics, calligraphy and painting, etc., as well as intangible forms that are mainly passed down through "intangible" methods.

For example, Buddhist festivals, the legend of Guanyin, Fanbei music, etc., some of which have been integrated with Chinese folk culture, such as the Laba Festival, temple fair culture, etc.

The different forms of "tangible" and "intangible", material and non-material in China's Buddhist culture are interdependent and mutually reinforcing.

They together constitute the whole of China's Buddhist culture and jointly contribute to the prosperity and continuous development of China's Buddhist culture.

Imagine, without the Guanyin culture, would the spread and development of Buddhist culture in China reach the depth and breadth it is today? Therefore, excavating and protecting the intangible cultural heritage in China's Buddhist culture and making it continue to play a positive role today is not only a matter of protecting historical relics, but also a need for further development of China Buddhism today and in the future.

The biggest feature of the intangible cultural heritage in China's Buddhist culture is that it relies on the basic teachings and beliefs of Buddhism without deviating from the Chinese nation's lifestyle and production methods.

It is integrated with the inherent cultural traditions and customs of the Chinese nation.

It is a vivid manifestation of the cultural individuality, aesthetic habits and ethics of the Chinese nation.

For example, after the introduction of Buddhism, Buddhist doctrines such as karmic retribution and reincarnation made burning incense and worshiping Buddha, making vows and fulfilling vows, giving alms to monks, seeking blessings for the living, doing rituals for the dead, asking monks to recite scriptures to save the dead, and going to temples to kowtow or even worshiping Bodhisattva at home in many places.

Buddhism's tea drinking, vegetarian food, and promotion of "free life" have also had a certain impact on China's folk customs.

The relationship between Buddhist festivals and folk customs is even closer.

Many Buddhist festivals in China are formed by the influence of traditional folk customs on the one hand, and on the other hand, they influence traditional customs.

In China, many Buddhist festivals are closely related to folk customs, so that the integration of Buddhist festivals and folk customs has become an important feature of the development of Buddhism in China after the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Among the many Buddhist festivals, those that have a greater impact on China's folk customs include Buddha's Birthday, Ulan Bon Festival, Laba Festival, and Water Splashing Festival.

Many intangible cultural heritage in Buddhist culture is passed down orally or in action by monks or believers, so protecting "people" is very important in the process of protecting intangible cultural heritage.

For example, Buddhism has accumulated a large amount of Buddhist music throughout history.

These wonderful Buddhist sounds on the one hand demonstrate the sanctity of Buddhist beliefs, and on the other hand, expand the spread and influence of Buddhism among the people in a way that is popular with the public.

Buddhist music accumulates the historical and cultural traditions of the Chinese nation and expresses it in the form of folk culture, becoming an important part of Buddhist intangible cultural heritage.

However, today, many temple music is on the verge of being lost and urgently needs to be rescued, and the shortage of relevant talents is an important problem.

The first batch of intangible cultural heritage lists announced by the State Council has included "Wutai Mountain Buddhist Music".

This is a good opportunity to further protect the intangible cultural heritage in Buddhist culture.

While comprehensively exploring the connotation of intangible cultural heritage in China's Buddhist culture and deeply exploring the intangible cultural heritage in China's Buddhist culture, it is indeed of great significance to actively declare the intangible cultural heritage of Buddhism in China.

According to relevant materials, if you want to declare intangible cultural heritage, you must meet three basic conditions: first, it has artistic value, second, it is in an endangered situation, and third, it must have a complete protection plan.

Judging from this condition, there are a large number of intangible cultural heritage in China's Buddhist culture with a history of more than 2,000 years that can be actively declared.

For example, Putuo Mountain, one of the four famous mountains of Buddhism, the "Haitian Buddhist Land", has preserved a large amount of intangible cultural heritage through Buddhist architectural art, Buddhist music, festivals, a large number of cultural relics and handicraft skills.

It has historically made great contributions to the inheritance and development of Chinese Buddhist culture.

If it is better protected through systematic demonstration and overall application, it will obviously have positive significance for the further development of Chinese Buddhist culture.

Historically, many Buddhist groups or individuals have made important efforts to preserve and promote Buddhist culture in their times and cultural environment, and have continuously inherited and innovated the intangible cultural heritage in Buddhist culture.

This not only stimulates the inherent creativity of Buddhist culture, but also promotes the diverse development of Buddhist culture.

For example, the Jinling Sutra Engraving Office in Nanjing, founded by layman Yang Renshan, is an important dojo and an important place for engraving and circulating Buddhist scriptures in modern times.

It is not only a famous Buddhist cultural institution in my country, but also an important contribution to the inheritance of China's Buddhist culture and the revival of modern Buddhist culture.

It is also famous for its numerous Buddhist carving and printing skills.

The "Jinling Sutra Engraving and Printing Skills" of the Jinling Sutra Engraving Office has been included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists announced by the State Council and has been protected, providing good experience for Buddhism in China to apply for intangible cultural heritage protection.

With the in-depth research on Buddhist culture in China, Buddhist culture has been vigorously promoted at home and abroad.

However, in contrast, the intangible cultural heritage contained in China's Buddhist culture, especially those on the verge of loss, seems to have not received full attention from all walks of life.

How to use the Second World Buddhist Forum to promote the research and protection of the intangible cultural heritage in China's Buddhist culture, enhance the understanding of all sectors of society on the intangible cultural heritage in Buddhist culture, and promote the Buddhist community itself to establish a conscious awareness of the achievements of Buddhist culture and arouse all sectors of society to jointly participate in the protection of the intangible cultural heritage in Buddhist culture have become an urgent task.

In order to better promote the protection of Buddhist intangible cultural heritage in China, we first need to truly understand the precious value of Buddhist intangible cultural heritage ideologically, so that we can better explore and protect Buddhist culture with a culturally conscious attitude.

Intangible cultural heritage promotes its rich cultural connotation to continue and carry forward in our modern life.

In particular, the Buddhist community should play a greater role in this regard.

It must truly realize that the protection of Buddhist intangible cultural heritage is a major event that will benefit the present and future generations.

It is not only promoting Chinese Buddhist culture and maintaining human cultural diversity.

An important measure of sex is also an important part of inheriting Chinese civilization and prospering socialist culture.

It is also a fundamental need for the survival and development of Chinese Buddhism itself.

Secondly, it is necessary to conduct in-depth research on the rich connotation of intangible cultural heritage in China's Buddhist culture, carry out a down-to-earth investigation of Buddhist intangible cultural heritage, and if possible, gradually establish and continuously improve the list of Buddhist intangible cultural heritage in China.

Only by fully understanding how much intangible cultural heritage there is in China's Buddhist culture and what rich content it contains can we better protect it.

There is actually one problem that needs to be clarified here, that is, there should be a difference between intangible cultural heritage and intangible cultural heritage that is in urgent need of protection.

The former is much more extensive and rich in content, including Buddhism's superb speculation and rich artistic expression techniques.

However, not all of these are endangered, while the latter specifically refers to the parts of the former that are in urgent need of rescue.

In this way, when we create a list, we should actually create a "Heritage List" and a "Protected Heritage List" respectively.

The latter more needs to organize and apply for entry into the national intangible cultural heritage list in order to get better rescue and protection.

In this regard, the Buddhist community also has unique advantages.

Since ancient times, Buddhism has built many monasteries in beautiful scenery in famous mountains and rivers in China, creating rich intangible cultural heritage based on this.

Therefore, Buddhist associations or monasteries in various regions can actively cooperate with local governments to further carry out the census, identification and registration of intangible cultural heritage, and comprehensively understand and master the types, quantity, distribution status, living environment, protection status and existing problems of intangible cultural heritage resources in Buddhist culture.

The census results will be announced to the public in a timely manner, so that the whole society can better understand the current situation of intangible cultural heritage in Buddhist culture and promote its better protection.

Third, on the basis of in-depth research and extensive investigation, it is necessary to formulate practical plans for the protection of intangible cultural heritage in Buddhist culture and clarify the scope of protection.

While establishing long-term protection goals, we should also propose specific short-term tasks.

Applying for entry into the directory is not the ultimate goal.

Entering the directory is only for better rescue and protection.

For those important intangible cultural heritage that is in urgent need of rescue, a scientific protection plan must be formulated, the responsible entities for protection must be clarified, and effective protection must be carried out.

For representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage, it is necessary to provide financial aid in a planned manner, encourage and support them to carry out teaching activities, and try to cultivate successors to ensure that excellent intangible cultural heritage is well passed down.

Where conditions permit, consideration can also be given to establishing a database, museum or display center for Buddhist intangible cultural heritage to better rescue, preserve and promote these precious intangible cultural heritage.

As long as we work together, the intangible cultural heritage in China's Buddhist culture will surely be better protected, and the protection of the intangible cultural heritage in China's Buddhist culture will further promote the development and innovation of China's Buddhist culture.

(Source: China Ethnic Daily)