As usual, I find Riley's remarks to the point, well-stated, and correct.
Ronnie
> Happy New Year!
>=20
> Well not quite, but soon - February 1 brings in the Year of the Goat!
>=20
> During the holidays, I've enjoyed going through past discussions on
> this list. I felt compelled to reply to one thread. It's partly to do
> with spirituality, which, according to the introduction to recently
> posted questionaire, is of particular interest to shakuhachi players
> outside of Japan.
>=20
> In some of the discussions about shakuhachi/hochiku/hoki, etc., there
> seems to be some confusion between music making and spiritual
> practice/blowing Zen (suizen).
>=20
> Nothing new here, as this confusion has been in Japan and elsewhere
> long before we shakuhachi list people came on the scene.
>=20
> Here is, in my opinion, one example of this confusion.
> There seems to be the idea that the meditative/spiritual endeavour of a
> person playing one type of instrument, eg, a shakuhachi, is somehow
> more or less valuable than that of one playing another type of
> instrument, eg, a hochiku or hocchiku.
>=20
> A belief that the nature of one's instrument defines one's spiritual
> experience is, to me, as absurb as believing that doing meditation in,
> for example, a temple (built specifically for the purpose) is by
> definition, and always will be, 'better' than doing meditation, for
> example, at home (built for other purposes). Sometimes this may be
> true, but not because of the buildings themselves.
>=20
> Some instruments might be more condusive to meditation, just as some
> buildings are more condusive to meditation. But no material 'thing'
> exists that is more or less inately spiritual than any other 'thing'.
>=20
> I would take it one step further: to think that a hochiku is
> particularly more spiritual than a regular shakuhachi, or an electric
> guitar, or any other musical instrument, is risking mistaking the plate
> for the food.
>=20
> I appreciate the pleasure of making and playing simple bamboo flutes,
> hochiku or otherwise. I also respect and acknowledge the challenges
> these instruments present to their players. I know that often a
> challenging instrument can make for a great performance, eg, the
> recording recently mentioned on the list, of Choshi played on a quickly
> and roughly made flute.
>=20
> However....
>=20
> If "the main difference between a shakuhachi and a hochiku is the
> philosophy behind the two instruments," and, if one plays a shakuhachi
> with the same PHILOSOPHICAL attitude as when one plays a hochiku, then
> where is the difference? There may have been a difference in attitude
> during the making of the instrument, but we are talking here about
> playing the bamboo, not making the flute.
>=20
> For example, imagine (it's not hard!) someone who practices 'blowing
> Zen' for years on what s/he thinks is a really good hochiku, made in
> the spirit of the hochiku. But actually the flute is really just a
> badly made shakuhachi. Or imagine that the person knows that the flute
> wasn't made as a hochiku, but, doesn't care how the flute was made;
> s/he just wants to do 'blowing Zen'.
>=20
> So, for argument's sake, this shakuhachi wasn=B9t made in the =8Cspirit=B9 of
> a hochiku, but rather by someone who had never even heard of the
> hochiku tradition, and who just wasn=B9t very skilled at making
> shakuhachi. The flute can't play dai kan; the sound disappears with all
> but a small volume of air; it is so out of tune that it can't easily
> play pitches based on natural laws of physics (such as octaves); it
> can't be played together with other folks, etc. It requires a gentle,
> controlled breath to make it work. This could be a description of a
> hochiku, but it isn't. It's just a difficult shakuhachi. In any case,
> the player thinks that this shakuhachi, even though it isn't a hochiku,
> does very nicely when 'blowing Zen'.
>=20
> What is the difference between the person using this instrument and
> another person who practices 'blowing Zen' on an 'authentic' hochiku
> made by a maker who is very much into the 'hochiku' tradition?
>=20
> In my opinion, sometimes discussions of differences between hochiku and
> shakuhachi might be unconscious attempts at placing a high value on one
> thing at the expense of other things. Generally speaking, value
> judgments are counterproductive in meditative practice.
>=20
> Also, think a moment about the idea that it is very important to hear
> hochiku live. We are told this is so because much of the tone colour is
> lost on CDs. This may be true, but how does this differ from regular
> shakuhachi, or any other musical instrument?
>=20
> [By the way, someone on this list last year asked/lamented how he could
> ever sound like a performer whose CD he recently listened to. Do not
> despair. From my limited experience, it is amazing what magic can occur
> in recording studios. Just try playing in a large concrete stairwell to
> get an idea of this. A good recording engineer can improve anybody's
> sound even more than a good stairwell can!]
>=20
> If the point of playing hochiku is to do blowing Zen, then the question
> is: Why would someone want to listen to 'blowing Zen' anyway, live or
> recorded? That would be like watching someone meditating. I suppose
> that doing so can be a calming, meditative experience, and if it helps
> one meditate, then that's great.
>=20
> One could argue that listening to a teacher play his/her hochiku helps
> one become better at playing one's own hochiku. But then one is now
> talking about music making, not about spiritual practice. In general,
> you don't get very good at meditating by watching someone else play a
> flute.
>=20
> It can be meditative watching people meditate, but likewise, it can be
> meditative listening to music. Observing spiritual practice isn't very
> rewarding as a spectator activity. Listening to music however, is.
>=20
> Here is my main point:
>=20
> With spiritual practice, it DOES NOT matter what sort of bamboo flute
> you blow into, and really it might be just as well if you threw all of
> your pieces of bamboo away as just more distraction, and got on with
> meditating.
>=20
> Music making can be spiritual practice, and spritual practice can
> include the making of music. They are, nevertheless, two distinct
> activities. They work under different rules. Confusing the two can
> result both in bad music and ineffective spiritual practice.
>=20
> Best regards, Riley
>=20
> Dr. Riley Lee
> PO Box 939
> Manly 1655 NSW Australia
> Tel: +61 (0)2 9976 6904
> Fax: +61 (0)2 9976 6905
> mobile: +61 (0)414 626 453
> www.rileylee.net
>=20
> ____________________________________________________
>=20
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