Music plays an important role in Buddhism and is mentioned in many Chinese-translated Buddhist scriptures. The music in these scriptures can be divided in two categories: the music in the Buddha land and the music in the human world. This division is an expression of duality in terms of sacred and secular, or ultimate and provisional as in the Two Truths doctrine. While the Buddha teaches humans to use music as an offering, he also instructs them to not waste their days playing music. In Buddhist scriptures, the Buddha describes Buddhist music as something that can only be reached through visualization, which is actually experiencing awakening. This kind of visualization expresses the yearning in human minds. Both the music in Buddha land and the human world is taught by the Buddha to humans, reflecting the humanistic nature of Buddhism. In this paper, through analysis and researching materials on the history of Chinese Buddhist scriptures and music, the author illustrates the characteristics of both sacred and secular music while also explaining how all teachings taught by the Buddha are ultimately Humanistic Buddhism.
