Bianwen

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Bianwen ( Chinese  變 文  /  变 文 , Pinyin biànwén , W.-G. pien-wen , English transformation text / 'incident-text'  - " Umwandlungstexte / Wandlungstexte"), also Dunhuang -Bianwen ( 燉 煌 變 文  /  敦煌 变文 , Dūnhuáng biànwén , Tun-huang pien-wen ) or Bian ( 變  /  变 , biàn , pien ) for short , were a ballad-like form of poetry popular in the time of the Tang Dynasty (618–907), mostly on Buddhist themes with alternating ge rhyming and unsympathetic passages. The Bianwen poems also frequently use Buddhist terminology.

In the style of poetry using narrative and chant forms, the Buddhist temples and monasteries made it easier for the common people to absorb the contents of the sutras through more easily understandable slang texts. The Buddhism found in China by the WEI (220-265) and Jin (265-420) on to the Sui (581-618) and Tang Dynasty used (618-907) widespread and diverse monasteries and temples Popularization tools such as Zhuandu (reading), Changdao (singing) and Sujiang (popular sermon).

The Sujiang (popular sermons) performed with instrumental and vocal accompaniment were very popular in the time of the Tang Dynasty (618–907) when folk artists also began to use Shuochang (a form of storytelling that combines narration and song) in to tell the form of the Bianwen . Back then, not only singing and narration were combined in Shuochang , but drawings were also used for the presentation in order to better illustrate the content to the audience.

The bianwen style between verse and prose is akin to the Sanskrit - sutras . The traditional style is not only propagated and developed, but it also provides a good example of so-called Guqu Changci (arias / songs / libretti / ballads accompanied by drums ).

Various literary forms have emerged since the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127), including Huaben (slang narrative), Cihua (narration with parts in verse), Xiqu (traditional opera) and so on. The Bianwen , popular during the Tang Dynasty, were in decline because of their unfavorable staging and discrimination by feudal rulers.

The form of storytelling, which has prevailed since the Tang Dynasty (618–907) and combines narration and song, was a milestone in the history of the Chinese quyi (popular form of singing and performing ). Various traditional operas later largely emerged from this form. Like the Bianwen , the Bianxiang murals in cave temples come from a Buddhist sutra, although it is disputed whether these pictures had a narrative character and how otherwise portable scroll paintings served as an illustration of the narration.

Three guys

There are essentially three types of Bianwen :

  1. Bianwen with Buddhist themes, e.g. B. Xiangmo bianwen 降魔 變 文 (subjugation of demons ), Pomo bianwen 破 魔 變 文 ( victory over demons ), Damuqianlian mingjian jiumu bianwen 大 目 乾 連 冥 間 救 母 變 文 ( Mahāmaudgalyāyana saves his mother from hell ).
  2. Bianwen with historical topics, e.g. B. Wu Zixu bianwen 伍子胥 變 文 ( Wu Zixu ), Wang Zhaojun bianwen 王昭君 變 文 ( Wang Zhaojun ), Han Qinhu huaben 韓擒虎 話 本 ( story of the Tigercatcher Han ), Tang Taizong ruming ji 唐太宗 入 冥 記 ( Records of Tang Taizong's Entry into the Underworld ).
  3. Bianwen with themes from old folk tales, e.g. B. Shunzi zhixiao bianwen 舜 子 至孝 變 文 ( Shunzi ), Liujia taizi bianwen 劉家 太子 變 文 ( The Crown Prince of the House of Liu ), Dong Yong bianwen 董永 變 文 ( Dong Yong ).

Modern editions

  • Dunhuang bianwen ji ; Dunhuang geci zongbian ; Dunhuang bianwen xuanzhu ; Dunhuang bianwen jiaozhu

literature

reference books

Web links

Wikisource: Dunhuang bianwen ji  - Sources and full texts (Chinese)

References and comments

  1. ^ Waley, p. 245.
  2. ↑ Based on the famous site of Dunhuang in the northwestern Chinese province of Gansu . Most of the Bianwen transcripts known today were discovered in Dunhuang in 1899 in the "Cave for the Storage of Sutras".
  3. ↑ For example dusheng 多 生, fashanyuan 發 善 願, zhishi 知識, tiantang 天堂, zhuo'e 濁 惡, dishi 帝釋, tiannü 天 女, anouchi 阿 耨 池 (see zh.wikipedia, article: Bianwen , list of authors )
  4. ↑ zhuǎndú 转 读
  5. ↑ "to chant the scriptures with languages ​​other than Sanskrit", see 中国 佛教 音乐 亟待 抢救 和 保护 —— 以 五台山 佛教 音乐 为例 / Chinese Buddhist Music is Urgently Awaiting to Rescue and Protect - Take the Buddhist music in Mount Wutai as an example ( Memento from December 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) longquanzs.org; Retrieved April 11, 2010
  6. ↑ chàngdǎo 唱 导 / 唱 導
  7. ↑ "to preach Buddhist doctrines and civilize living beings", see 中国 佛教 音乐 亟待 抢救 和 保护 —— 以 五台山 佛教 音乐 为例 / Chinese Buddhist Music is Urgently Awaiting to Rescue and Protect - Take the Buddhist music in Mount Wutai as an example . ( Memento of December 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) longquanzs.org; Retrieved April 11, 2010
  8. ↑ sújiǎng 俗 讲 / 俗 講
  9. ↑ cf. Monk Sujiang Artist: Wen Xu. ( Memento of September 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) chinaculture.org
    Zeng Jinshou: China's music and music education in cultural exchange with neighboring countries and the West. Bremen 2003 (Diss.) ( Online (PDF); PDF; 9.5 MB), p. 105 (quote):

    " Sujiang and bianwen [...] celebrated by the monks were often performed together with folk songs, dance performances, acrobatics and magic tricks."

  10. ↑ a b c d e Bianwen. ( September 4, 2008 memento on Internet Archive ) chinaculture.org; Retrieved April 11, 2010
  11. ↑ shuōchàng 说唱 / 說唱
  12. ↑ See Waley, p. 242 f. ( The Connection with Painting ).
  13. ↑ gǔqū chàngcí 鼓曲 唱词; on the term cf. Minjian wenxue gaiyao. Retrieved April 11, 2010
  14. ↑ huàběn 话 本 / 話 本
  15. ↑ cíhuà 词 话 / 詞 話
  16. ↑ xìqǔ 戏曲 / 戲曲
  17. ↑ cf. Chuanqi (chuánqí 传奇 / 傳奇) and Zaju (zájù 杂剧 / 雜劇)
  18. ↑ qǔyì 曲艺 / 曲藝
  19. ↑ Wu Hung: What is Bianxiang? On The Relationship Between Dunhuang Art and Dunhuang Literature. (PDF) In: Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Volume 52, No. 1, June 1992, pp. 111–192, here p. 170
  20. ↑ See zh.wikipedia, article: Bianwen ( list of authors ). The term is apparently not precisely defined in Chinese , and many works from other genres have also been included in the modern Bianwen text collections. The exact classification of some bianwen is disputed among Chinese scholars; see. Schmidt-Glintzer, p. 280.
  21. ↑ Dunhuang bianwen ji ( Wikisource ); a pioneering work by Wang Zhongmin et al. a. (1957), which Arthur Waley (1960) based his translations of the ballads and stories from Dunhuang on.