Tiantai Temple's Buddhist art troupe has been criticized by some believers for deviating from orthodoxy, playing Western instruments and allowing men and women to sing and dance together, abbot Shi Wule says.

Director of the Chinese National Academy of Arts' religious arts research center Tian Qing prefers not to weigh in.

Instead, he says the performances are "100 percent unrelated to Buddhist music", because the genre has its own traditions.