The Sutra of Druma, King of the Kinnara and the Buddhist Philosophy of Music
Abstract
This chapter discusses a little-known Buddhist scripture, the Sutra of the Questions by Druma, King of the Kinnara (Daiju kinnara-ō shomon-gyō), translated into Chinese by Kumārajīva in the early fifth century. This sutra is unique in that it proposes a powerful, and sympathetic, philosophy of music rooted in the Mahayana doctrines of emptiness; it also offers a template for Buddhist rituals involving music and dance that have been performed in Japan since the eighth century as part of the Gagaku and Bugaku repertory.
Submitted: Jan. 26, 2021 | Accepted: Feb. 23, 2021 | Published Oct. 18, 2021 | Language: en
Keywords Sutra of the Questions by Druma, King of the Kinna • Gagaku • Buddhism and music • Philosophy of music (Japan)
Copyright © 2021 Fabio Rambelli. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
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