The idea of Chan music originated from Chan Master Shi Wule. He was the first in history to advocate the use of music for spiritual practice and the propagation of the Dharma. It is a major inheritance and development of ancient Chan Buddhism in contemporary times. The carriers of Chan music are the Jinghui Guangxuan Symphony Orchestra, the Dawn Chorus, and the Xianggen Dance Troupe, which is the first all-monk symphony orchestra in history.
In 1997, while still abbot of Taiping Temple in Hong’an, Chan Master Shi Wule put forward the idea of Chan music and began to practice it, trying to use culture as a bridge between religion and society. After various explorations, the Chan Orchestra had its first stable members until 2008, when it was founded. 2009, the name Guangxuan was given to the Orchestra by the 100-year-old monk Guangxuan, and in 2014, the Tiantai Buddhist Music Academy was established. 2019, the Chan Orchestra followed Chan Master Shi Wule across the ocean to the island nation of Madagascar, in Africa. Since its establishment, the Chan Orchestra has toured throughout the United States, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Madagascar, Hong Kong, China, the Great Hall of the People, the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Auditorium, Beijing, Tianjin, Shenzhen, and other provinces and cities in China, and will be invited by UNESCO to perform in Paris, France, and to embark on a European tour in September 2024.
All members of the Chan Orchestra started to learn music and art from zero foundation, and many of them started to learn after they became adults. They also overcame the difficulties of insufficient personnel, insufficient funds, no teachers, insufficient instruments and so on. How can they reach the world’s top platforms, how can they create such remarkable touring performance, and how can they create miracles in music education?
The core reason for the success of the Chan Orchestra lies in Chan, a great wisdom unique to Eastern culture.
The founder, Chan Master Shi Wule, is an orthodox Buddhist, an enlightened Chan master, and an heir to the contemporary mantle of the Buddha. The core of the Chan music he founded is Chan and meditation. The young monks are required to take strict precepts on cell phones and money, to be honest, to love and care for people, to be immersed in music, and they are required to memorize music, and all these requirements are for the purpose of extinguishing thoughts and returning the mind to its simplicity and innocence, so as to open up the spirituality and develop wisdom.
The young music monks of the Chan Orchestra are practical practitioners of traditional Eastern culture, and through their tours, they seek to promote the traditional Eastern culture of peace as a value to the world, and to serve world peace. Their performances are deeply inclusive of Eastern culture and include Christian chants and Islamic stories.
Chan music is born for peace and for religious holy love.