Clerics › Religious Figure
Sengbian
Southern Qi sutra cantor of Anle Temple in Jiankang whose plaintive chanting was unrivalled, and whose Vimalakirti and Ruiying hymn settings became classics of Buddhist chant.
Mural of the cultural record “Buddhist Music”, which this person is tied to.
Also known as Shi Sengbian
Sengbian, surnamed Wu, was from Jiankang and became a monk at Anle Temple, learning sutra chanting from two masters. His plaintive, balanced voice was unrivalled in the early Qi. The Biographies of Eminent Monks says that once, as he chanted at a house in Xinting, a flock of cranes alighted by the steps and flew off when he finished a section, which made him famous. In 489, after the Prince of Jingling dreamed of chanting the Vimalakirti Sutra before the Buddha, he assembled the capital's best chanters to settle the melodies, Sengbian among them. His settings of the Old Vimalakirti and a seven-syllable Ruiying hymn were counted masterworks. He died in 493.
Life and times
Dates Birth date unknown; died 493 CE