Carl Abbott

Carl Abbott wrote a new post, Wéi wú wéi is Blowing Zen 4 months, 3 weeks ago

Doing without doing, following without exception rules
Chapter 3 of the Tao Te Ching offers useful, though somewhat inscrutable, hints on the secret to blowing Zen.

Not to value worthy people, enables people […]
Carl Abbott wrote a new post, Playing by Heart is Blowing Zen 6 months ago

I’m uploading a series of informal videos (with some tips) that may help one play honkyoku by heart. For me, playing by heart has brought me deeper into the sound than I ever achieved over my decades of playing […]
Carl Abbott wrote a new post, Finally! 10 months, 2 weeks ago

I intend to do all I can to help others play honkyoku by heart. Of course, I don’t really know what I’m going to do, or in fact what I’m doing. This playing by heart has been a recent revelation for me. I just […]
Carl Abbott wrote a new post, Hi Fu Mi = Akebono Cho 4 years, 7 months ago

First, here is the PDF of these two honkyoku: HiFuMi & Akebono
*** Play them by heart ***
I wrote this post as a duet to attempt. That is rather difficult to accomplish given the need for 2 very different […]
Carl Abbott wrote a new post, Akita Sugagaki #4 to the end 4 years, 8 months ago

Akita Sugagaki #4 to #6
Akita Sugagaki #6 to #7
Akita Sugagaki #7 to End
Note: This is the rest of this piece. I’m not sure how helpful this approach is, so I thought I’d try something else next time. Perhaps […]
Carl Abbott wrote a new post, Akita Sugagaki #3 to #4 4 years, 8 months ago

Akita Sugagaki #3 to #4
Note: This section goes from HA-YURI-RO of line 3 to HA-YURI-RO of line 4. I play it twice, straight and diagonal (although I don’t know if the diagonal view is that useful)

The […]
Carl Abbott wrote a new post, Akita Sugagaki #1 to #3 4 years, 9 months ago

Akita Sugagaki #1 to #3
The notation for these honkyoku are in Blowing Zen Expanded Edition and Blowing Zen II
Honkyoku Line by Line
Every now and then I’ll post a small section of honkyoku. My guess is th […]
Carl Abbott wrote a new post, Akita Sugagaki #2 4 years, 9 months ago

Akita Sugagaki #2
The notation for these honkyoku are in Blowing Zen Expanded Edition and Blowing Zen II
Honkyoku Line by Line
Every now and then I’ll post a small section of honkyoku. My guess is that b […]
Carl Abbott wrote a new post, Akita Sugagaki #1 4 years, 9 months ago

Akita Sugagaki #1
The notation for these honkyoku are in Blowing Zen Expanded Edition and Blowing Zen II
Honkyoku Line by Line
Every now and then I’ll post a small section of honkyoku. My guess is that br […]
Carl Abbott wrote a new post, Honkyoku Line by Line 4 years, 9 months ago

Every now and then I’ll post a small section of honkyoku (1). My guess is that breaking honkyoku down into bite size parts may help some at the beginning of this journey… or not. This is an experiment, after a […]
Carl Abbott wrote a new post, Hi Fu Mi – Part A & C 4 years, 10 months ago

Hi Fu Mi – Part A & C

The notation for these honkyoku are in Blowing Zen Expanded Edition and Blowing Zen II
Honkyoku Line by Line
Every now and then I’ll post a small section of honkyoku (1). My guess is t […]
Carl Abbott started the topic in the forum 5 years, 1 month ago

It is surprising how ignorant we are about our sense of time. I say ‘we’ because I’m seeing this from a human lifetime perspective. For us, a lifetime is a long time. In truth it is less than the blink of an eye. Now to just be able to see (feel) that truer nature of time is liberating… almost lends a sense of immortality… ironically I suppose.
Carl Abbott started the topic in the forum 5 years, 1 month ago

Just to get the breeze started…
Carl Abbott wrote a new post, Kyle meets Takeo 5 years, 3 months ago

Kyle meets Takeo & Yamaguchi Goro’s Shakuhachi! I met Takeo at Yamaguchi san’s house. Yamaguchi’s practice was to schedule students in such a way as to have a few lined up and observing him and the current student […]
Carl Abbott wrote a new post, A Honkyoku Secret 5 years, 4 months ago

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 permi […]
Carl Abbott wrote a new post, Yamaguchi Sensei 5 years, 4 months ago

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 […]
Carl Abbott wrote a new post, Cave Man Shakuhachi? 5 years, 4 months ago

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 o […]
Carl Abbott wrote a new post, Find the Zen in the blowing 5 years, 6 months ago

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 […]
Carl Abbott wrote a new post, Stumble as a Child 5 years, 6 months ago

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 […]
Carl Abbott wrote a new post, Music for Those with No Musical Talent? 5 years, 6 months ago

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 […]
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