I was organizing and rearranging some ceremonial music for a local Buddhist group and a search led me to this site about one of the earliest Taiwanese musicians in modern time.

The site reminds me of my college musicology class. One of our classmates went to temples to transcribe the ceremonial chanting. I was not at all interested in religious music because I had the prejudice against music not being "the leading role" in any "application" (I always want to pay full attention to music itself). However, later when I started to score for films and media, I had to learn to let go of such proud attitude from several arguments with directors and producers.

A leading actor/actress can shine to the fullest degree, but a supporting role needs to know the subtle balance, artistically.

Religious music, especially those with meditational tradition, touches our heart in an amazing way. Clever and complex music doesn't always fit well in a ceremony. Only the music that's just right will do.

Over the years I've learn that music that sounds so simple, such as folk songs or new age music, may actually be very deep and very hard to write.