I began my latest book, Blowing Zen Honkyoku with the secret I found to playing honkyoku… playing it by heart. In Chinese, 心 xīn: the heart; heart; mind; feeling; intention; centre; core. Playing by heart permits you to close your eyes and devote total awareness to the sound until you touch the essence of sound… until you become the sound. Playing by heart also invites greater awareness on the breath.… Continue reading…
Yamaguchi Sensei
I was going to name this post The Real Lesson, but somehow that felt a little off base, so I named it after my shakuhachi flute teacher, Yamaguchi Goro. This photo is of him and Aoki Reibo playing a beautiful suizen piece, Shika No Tohne (The Distant Cry of Deer). To see this performance, see: Yamaguchi Goro Shika No Tohne.… Continue reading…
Cave Man Shakuhachi?
Google [Stone Age flutes found in Germany] for a report on people living in Europe 35,000 years ago who made this flute out of a vulture bone. It’s shown here from three different angles with a magnified portion of the flute providing a closer look at two of the flute’s finger holes.
Find the Zen in the blowing
Ashi No Shirabe the Beach, Santa Cruz, 2008
I imagine everyone is naturally both over-rigorous and under-rigorous… just in different areas, according to their natures. It is when over or under rigor causes pain for us that it becomes problematic. The pain we feel is a symptom of the loss of balance into which we have fallen. We yearn for balance, even if we don’t know it.… Continue reading…
Stumble as a Child
With infant son Luke, Carmel river, mid 80’s
What we seek lies within us. The more confused we get, the more likely we will look deeper within for resolution. This process corresponds to the Taoist view, If you would have a thing shrink, You must first stretch it. In other words, we often need to make ‘arduous mountains out of mole hills’ before we can ‘make mountains into effortless mole hills’. This is the life path we follow from infancy onward. Only by stumbling do we learn to walk and run.… Continue reading…
Music for Those with No Musical Talent?
In mid 70’s, I played daily after yoga in Meiji Park, Tokyo
Yes! This is true for the Buddhist Honkyoku. What you do need, however, is to pay attention. Yet, you don’t even need to do that. Of course, if you don’t really listen to what you are doing, you will not enjoy what you are doing. This makes playing Honkyoku a practical means of training watchfulness in non-stimulating situations. Paying attention when there are no environmental conditions to trigger need, desire, fear, or worry is most useful, I find. The bonus: your improved listening ability (mindful watching) naturally taps into your hidden musical talent, much of which centers around listening!
By the way, playing honkyoku by heart is the most direct way of “playing music without playing music”. This is Taoist wéi wú wéi (为无为) or “doing without doing”. (see chapter 3)