The Three Jewels of Buddhism:  Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha.
The literature of early Buddhism includes frequent references to the
“Three Jewels” of Buddhism: the Buddha himself, the Dhamma (Sanskrit, Dhammadharma), or the Teachings, and
the Sangha,
or community of practitioners. The “Three
Jewels” as a formula (Trisaranam,
or Three Refuges) became the
most important concise statement of
Buddhist belief, and is chanted frequently as part of the early ritual
services. Its recitation is also required among new candidates for
admission into the Sangha.
Theravada
chanting, including the chanting of the Three Refuges, is generally
conservative and limited to a few basic notes that resemble in
principle the cantillation from which it was primarily derived. The
principal chanter
is followed line by line in response by the other monks. Chanting of
the Vedic Three Refuges is normally preceded
by a short drum sequence and an invocation (Mangalacharanam), or an auspicious
formula for revering the Buddha (example:

The musical reality of Buddhist practice.
The voice, however, is revered as essential for the performance of
Buddhist ritual not only in Mahayana
traditions, which emphasize mystical practices, but also in Theravada traditions.  The
literature of early Buddhism includes frequent references to the “Three Jewels” of Buddhism:”
the Buddha himself, the Dhamma (Sanskrit, dharma), or the Teachings, and the Sangha, or community of
practitioners. The “Three Jewels” as a formula (Trisaranam,
or Three Refuges) became the most important concise statement of
Buddhist belief, and is chanted frequently as part of the early ritual
services. Its recitation is also required among new candidates for
admission into the Sangha,
along with the Five or Ten Precepts.
Theravada chanting,
including the chanting of the Three
Refuges, is generally conservative and limited to a few basic
notes that resemble in principle the Vedic
cantillation from which it was primarily derived. The principal chanter
is followed line by line in response by the other monks. Chanting of
the Three Refuges is normally
preceded by a short drum sequence and an invocation (Mangalacharanam), or an auspicious
formula for revering the Buddha.  The following example includes
the drumming, the
invocation, and the
complete three-part Trisaranam.

Buddhist chant.
In Theravada Buddhism, music
is
appropriate only when it is subordinated to the message. Music has
little actual liturgical function, yet chanting continues to be central
to the preservation of the Pali Canon.
The Buddha’s First Sermon, including the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, is regularly
chanted in the form of the Dhamma
Chakka Sutta (The Wheel of Dhamma/Truth). The below example
includes the Pali text and
translation of verse 9 describing the Second
Noble Truth of craving as the cause of suffering (dukkha). This is a unison chant
without call and response.

The Role of chant in monasteries.
Chant is, of course, the best-known aspect of Buddhist music in the
Western world. The perusal of any music store will reveal at least a
dozen different CDs of chant, and particularly Tibetan Buddhist
chant.  In Tibetan monastic communities, learning to chant is so
important and universal that it is the one thing that almost all the
communities have in common; it is written explicitly into the
constitution of nearly every monastery. Young monks have to take
specific examinations on chant, and if they do not memorize or perform
the chants correctly, they may be dismissed from the monastery.

Different musical approaches to Buddhist chant.
All Buddhists do not rely on a single text, like the Bible or the
Qur’an.  Instead, new revelations were added for centuries after
the death of the Buddha, and many Buddhists disagree about the
canonical relevance of scripture from different cultures. There are
variations in the sutras
(literally, “thread”) or teachings of the Buddha between Theravada and Mahayana. Theravada Buddhism relies primarily
on the non-musical chanting of scriptures in the Pali language, which
few lay people understand, and Theravada
Buddhist
chanting does not follow a melody. Instead, because the words are
considered of paramount importance, this type of chant is sung in a
monotone. Placing a liturgical text over a complex melodic figure would
cloud the articulation of the text, and potentially alter the meaning
and the message of the words. In many areas of the world, the melodic
content decreases when the textual content is more important, as in,
for example, rap or opera. When it is less important to hear and
understand the words, musicians are often freer to expand
musical–especially melodic–material.

Chant in the vernacular.
With the rise of populist Mahayana
Buddhism, sutras
come to treat music in a more positive light.   Mahayana Buddhist
scriptures were originally developed in Sanskrit, but they have since
appeared in every vernacular language in which Buddhism is practised.
Buddhist services are essentially readings of doctrine, not occasions
for worship in the Western sense. Their chant texts include words
attributed to the Buddha himself, commentaries, statements of vows and
of faith, dedications, mantras (recitation formulas), and hymns of
praise. One of the most important texts in the Mahayana tradition is the Lotus sutra. Based on the sermons of
the Buddha, it forms the basis for all the major Japanese sects of
Buddhism, including the Pure Land
and Nichireri
sects. Chinese, Tibetan, Korean, and non-Asian Buddhists use other
texts specific to their cultures or translations of texts. Most
importantly, the recitation of these texts is itself an act of worship.

Instrumental music.
Instrumental music most often serves to demarcate aspects of Buddhist
ritual. While Theravada Buddhism
relies more on non-musical chant, Mahayana
Buddhism uses a wide variety of wind as well as percussion instruments. These wind
instruments include horns, double-reed oboe-type instruments, end-blown flutes, and conches. 
Circular breathing–the
act of inhaling through the nose while expelling air through the
lips–can  in itself be a meditative practice that leads to tremendous
focus and breath control.  Drums are very common in Mahayana Buddhist ritual performance practice,
and are associated metaphorically with the earliest days of the
Buddha’s teaching. “The act of proclaiming the Buddhist teaching is
traditionally known as ‘sounding the
drum of the Dharma,”‘ and the drum appears frequently in
reference to Buddhist iconography.

Music and movement.
 Another important aspect of instrumental music in worship is its use in
clockwise circumambulation
around a stupa, or funerary or
reliquary building.  In walking around a stupa–particularly if musicians are
playing oboe-type
instruments that employ circular breathing–the worshippers not only
honor the Buddha and his teachings, but physically enact the movement
of the sun around the cosmic mountain, as it is represented by the
stupa. Musical performance is only one aspect that
parallels circumambulation, however, as the latter is deeply associated
with Buddhist devotional practice.

The chanting of sacred sound-formulas (mantras).
Mahayana Buddhist
tradition includes a major offshoot, Mantrayana
Buddhism. This branch gives primacy to ritual and the
transformation of consciousness through mantra, or sacred sound
formulas.  Mahayana Buddhism
predominates in Central and East Asia and, since it is better known in
the West, most studies of Buddhism and music are centred on those
areas. From an intellectual and spiritual point of view, Mantrayana Buddhism is represented
by an epistemologically oriented approach to the human situation,
codified in the Sutras, and
an experiential approach, codified in the Tantras. The Indian word tantra means, literally, “loom.” In its expanded sense, the
term may also refer to “living one’s possibilities.”

Mahayana Buddhism is
sometimes called Vajrayana
(Diamond Vehicle), Tantric Buddhism,
or Esoteric Buddhism. 
Its essential approach is that one can accomplish enlightenment much
more quickly than by expending effort stretched over the course of many
lifetimes; one may even become enlightened in a single lifetime. Mantrayana Buddhists
pay special attention to ritual practices and intellectual discipline,
and the emphasis on symbolic gesture, practice, and movement is crucial
to proper performance of the rituals.

The musical world of Buddhism.
Despite
the early proscriptions regarding music, both vocal and instrumental
music retain a position of importance within Buddhist
traditions.  According to
the Lotus Sutra, music adorns
the places where
the Buddha preaches to myriad beings. 

This period marks the first known spread
of Buddhism beyond India.
According to the edicts of Ashoka, emissaries were sent to various
countries west of India to spread Buddhism (Dharma), particularly in
eastern provinces of the neighboring Seleucid
Empire, and even farther to Hellenistic
kingdoms of the Mediterranean. It is a matter of disagreement
among scholars whether or not these emissaries were accompanied by
Buddhist missionaries.

The gradual spread of Buddhism into adjacent areas meant that it came
into contact with new ethnical groups. During this period Buddhism was
exposed to a variety of influences, from Persian and Greek
civilization, to changing trends in non-Buddhist Indian
religions—themselves influenced by Buddhism. Striking examples of this
syncretistic development can be seen in the emergence of Greek-speaking
Buddhist monarchs in the Indo-Greek Kingdom, and in the development of
the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara.
A Greek king, Menander, has even been immortalized in the Buddhist
canon.

The Theravada school spread
south from India in the 3rd century BC, to Sri Lanka and Thailand and
Burma (Myanmar) and later also Indonesia. The Dharmagupta school
spread (also in 3rd century BC) north to Kashmir, Gandhara and
Afghanistan.

The Silk Road transmission of
Buddhism to China
is most commonly thought to have started in the late 2nd or the 1st
century AD, though the literary sources are all open to question. 
The first documented translation efforts by foreign Buddhist monks in
China were in the 2nd century AD, probably as a consequence of the
expansion of the Kushan Empire into the Chinese territory of the Tarim
Basin.  In the 2nd century AD, Mahayana
Sutras
spread to China, and then to Korea and Japan, and were translated into
Chinese. During the Indian period of Esoteric Buddhism (from the 8th
century onwards), Buddhism spread from India to Tibet and Mongolia.