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.
blowing zen
Playing by Heart is Blowing Zen
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 by the notation. I can’t say how true that may be for others. Try these out and see. Please see John Singer’s Youtube playlist KINKO RYU HONKYOKU SERIES for a more masterful performance of these honkyoku. For the notation, see Blowing Zen Honkyoku.
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…