Explain the Zen Music Shaolin Grand Ceremony with pictures

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Zen Music Shaolin Grand Ceremony is a virtual performance at the foot of Songshan Mountain, Henan Dengfeng City. It is said that the performance has won a lot of honor. Music is the best way to express the conception of Zen because Zen does not pursue characters but mind, as well as sudden realization.

I went to see this play when travelling in Songshan Mountain, though it was rain heavily, and cold, but no matter in terms of music or lighting effect, it was really excellent, awesome! So I recorded it and share with you all… I know little about Zen Buddhism, so there may be seldom caption of the picture, just some brief of every chapter for you to enjoy and reference.

Music is the best way to express the conception of Zen because Zen does not pursue characters but mind, as well as sudden realization. The melody of Zen from the valley is combined with various kinds of sound from the nature, such as the sound of water, wind, forest and insect, and all these kinds of sound form a fabulous harmony of Zen. The performance is a visual and aural feast which includes music, light, dance, kungfu, and so on. What is more attractive is that the performance is held on the site which is the origin of Zen and kungfu, therefore, each artistic element owns its particular annotation of background and become unique. You can imagine yourselves sitting on prayer mats around the brook in the wind, watching the water, hearing the music of Zen and appreciating the performance, with your mind easy and relax. In the night, you can escape from the worries and business in the modern cities, even conduct mediation.

The first chapter: water music

Divided into two sections: 1. Mountains Zen Meditation; 2. Tread Water Songs

The performance was started from water, and we meditated with the monks: Bodhidharma's figure appeared, girls came out, music of lime, noise of mountains, and dialogue between the monks and secular… everything turn into cool Zen in the sound of stream, and flow into our hearts…

The second chapter: wood music

Wooden fish is a Buddhist instrument, but the composer turns it into music. Multi-part wooden fish playing the growth process of Shaolin monks: naughty boy, strong young, cultivating old... the legendary shepherdess was coming: herding sheep. The song breaks the meditation of wooden fish, bringing beauty to this pure land of Buddhist. So Zen has the interpretation of secular...
Look, the monks were hardly practicing wooden fish, rolling or turning in circles, but the wooden fish in the hands still was rhythmic beat.

The third chapter: wind music

Formed by the “Temple Bell” and “Mountain Wind”
Suddenly we came to realize that great beauty of the world, which is the display of martial arts, and also the picture of mountains and rivers.

Intermezzo “flower water", zither playing…

The fourth chapter: light music

Seasons, seasonal cycling in music; Cold Mountain, temple, tower shadow, moon, passing by...

The fifth chapter: stone music

Collect Songshan Mountain stone and made into wonderful musical instruments to play the harmony tones of heaven and earth. The chanting of Shaolin monks is solemn and soothing. This is a chant between Zen and nature, the chant of love to life, and the chant of the praise of all things!

Below, the appearance of the Shaolin hosted, and the scene is a grand luxury. I do not know whether the reality is also such like that?