The Religious Meaning of “Lamenting Skeleton,” a piece of Taoist music for Releasing Lost Souls - starting with Dau Qing “Zhuangzi’s Lament for a Skeleton”

I-Chen Hsieh

General Education Center Tzu Chi College Of Technology

Folk Literature Institute of national Dong Hwa University

Abstract

"Dao Qing," a form of talking and singing arts combined with literature and Taoist music, has been used to promote the Taoist-related stories since Tang and Song Dynasty. The earliest known Dao Qing works "Northern and Southern Music of Zhuangzi’s Lament for a Skeleton" dated from the end of the Ming Dynasty. At present, traditional Dao Qing has been declining due to the impact of more and more modernized and diversified forms of entertainment and art, but why is the music of releasing lost souls “Lamenting Skeleton” still chanted in and ? Every art form rises and falls with time, but the subject "Lamenting Skeleton" continues to exist in different cultural forms in the society, because it is associated with an important custom: the ritual of releasing lost souls. However, the forms of customs also vary with time. Therefore, the foundation of the customs does not depend on the external form of rituals. In terms of anthropology and theoretical studies in folklore, the ritual of releasing lost souls has been integrated with sympathetic magic, and the essence of religion is man’s “desire to live". In conclusion, the handing down of the music of releasing lost souls “Lamenting Skeleton” lies in its eternal, universal and profound meaning of life and social significance.

Keyword：Dao Qing, lamenting skeleton, the ritual of releasing lost souls,
sympathetic magic, desire to live, social significance