妙法蓮華經玄贊 4.192

4.192

贊曰：此以音樂供養。「樂」音五覺反，以生樂故，亦慮各反，黃帝世伶倫作樂，《說文》「五聲八音之總名」，《禮記》「干戚羽毛謂之樂」。鄭玄云「八音克諧謂之樂。」「鼓」動也鳴也，凡出音曰鼓，今木有皮動之即鳴。「角」者曲形而似角。「貝」者螺也，《涅槃經》吹貝知時。「簫」管也，《玉篇》「編小管所吹」，又箾也。「笛」七孔籥，俗名直，《玉篇》「五孔竹笛，羌笛三孔」。「琴」禁也，君子守正自禁，神農所作。箜篌、琵琶相可知矣。「鐃」如鈴而大，《玉篇》「小鉦也」。軍法十長執鐃，五人為伍，五伍二十五人為兩，兩司馬執鐸。銅拔兩扇相擊出聲，有作「鈸」無所從，或為「跋」字。《發菩提心經》云：「音樂、女色不以施人，亂眾生故」，此供養佛故不相違，如金藏中音樂供養事。

The Eulogy says: This is making offerings with music. "Yuè" (music) is pronounced with the fanqie wǔ-jué, because it produces joy (lè); it is also pronounced lǜ-gè. In the time of the Yellow Emperor, Linglun created music. The Shuowen says: 'It is the collective name for the five tones and eight timbres.' The Liji says: 'Shields, axes, feathers, and ox-tails are called music.' Zheng Xuan says: 'When the eight timbres are harmonized, it is called music.' "Gǔ" (drum) means to move or to sound; generally, producing sound is called gǔ; here wood has skin, which sounds when struck. "Jiǎo" (horn) is curved in shape and resembles an animal horn. "Bèi" (conch) is a spiral shell; the Nirvāṇa Sūtra speaks of blowing a conch to know the time. "Xiāo" (panpipes) is a pipe; the Yupian says: 'Small pipes arranged together to be blown'; it is also called xiāo. "Dí" (flute) is a seven-holed flute (yuè), vulgarly named zhí; the Yupian says: 'A five-holed bamboo flute; Qiang flutes have three holes.' "Qín" (zither) means restraint (jìn); a gentleman maintains correctness to restrain himself; it was created by Shennong. The kǒnghóu (harp) and pípá (lute) can be understood by their forms. "Ráo" (cymbals/bells) are like small bells but larger; the Yupian says: 'A small gōng.' In military law, a squad leader of ten holds a ráo; five men make a wǔ; five wǔ make twenty-five men, which is a liǎng, and the liǎng officer holds a duó (clapper-bell). Cymbals (tóngbá) are two plates struck together to emit sound; some write bá without a radical, or use the character bá (跋). The Sūtra on Generating the Bodhicitta says: 'Music and female beauty are not to be given to people, because they confuse sentient beings.' Here, offering to the Buddha does not conflict with this, as in the case of musical offerings in the golden treasury.