9/12/01
Dear Shakuhachi friends,
This morning my heart overflows with many and contradictory emotions. Grief,
anger, frustration, holy fear, yearning to help, empathy, desire for revenge,
love. All that is human comes to the front. Yesterday's attacks in New York
and Washington are more horrible than our rational minds can absorb, taking
us beyond our ordinary beliefs and behaviors. We have entered into a time
that is liminal, out of the ordinary. A time that calls forth our ultimate
ground. And so, for me, this is a holy time for the shakuhachi.
What is playing shakuhachi all about? It is only the wind through the trees,
only the breath through the bamboo. Yes. But in that simplicity, a holiness
circulates, a holiness that brings to light everything in our hearts. This
is not merely music, a flat horizon of notes strung together in a coordinated
way to produce an effect in the listener. This is not merely technical
proficiency. The stakes are higher. For those who can perceive it, the
shakuhachi is a voice of the earth come to full awareness of itself. The
voice of bamboo rooted in the human heart, a tender, strong heart that has
come to consciousness, transcending our usual mind-states of self-concern and
image-management. It is the voice of the One in each of us who seeks only
beauty, love, mercy, healing, forgiveness and truth. The shakuhachi player
who sees this dimension knows that "this is not about me." Playing
shakuhachi at this time of American and planetary mourning is something
larger, having to do with universal longings that all beings be happy, healed
and fulfilled in the deepest way.
I pray that today and in the days ahead, each piece that we play resonate
empathetically in the cabins of terror of the four airliners that were
hijacked and destroyed, in the tall buildings that came crashing down on
innocent people, in the inconsolable hearts of those families who have lost
loved ones, in the circles of decision-makers who will plan their revenge.
May all the holy ones of every religion, and all the holy voices of every
heart, sing with us in each note that we blow down the shakuhachi.
In gratitude,
Robert Jonas
Boston, MA
RbtJonas@aol.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jan 08 2002 - 09:19:36 PST