Re: Zen and etc [Shaku] Re: shakuhachi V1 #738

From: T. M. Hoffman  (ijmusath@po.wind.ne.jp)
Date: Fri Jan 07 2005 - 10:31:54 PST


Nicholas et al

Zen (note the proper noun indicator, the 'big Z'), Chen (big C), dhyan (and
the lack of it here). You may know of this chain, I would write the former
here in Japanese (actually, an idiographic 'ate-ji' lifted from Chinese),
the next in Chinese (another picture-form), and the latter in Sanskrit (the
only language of these three capable of truly representing abstraction), if
we all had the necessary language kits installed. Seeing may then be
believing, but that would be contrary to this... The transformation of
non-substance to substance is more 'substantial' than is that of water
turned into ice, or even crude oil into plastic. Like turning the Buddha
dharma into Bodhidhamma (or, even yet more removed from the intangible
reality of dharma, into statues of the Buddha), or like the 20th century
turning into the 21st; anyway, immensely significant. What is left behind,
what appears - wow!

Here is one (e.g., Ashtanga) way to look back (to whatever degree that may
be done) to the origins (whatever they may be) of 'Zen' (whatever that is) -
'Dhyan'(meditation) is the study of deep concentration, calmness and
tranquility of the mind, of attaining complete control over ones mind.
How do we achieve that?
In the fundamental stages of meditation one has to decide upon some target
upon which one can concentrate.
Look at the target, recite a small mantra with the help of the mouth, and
listen to the mantra with ears, think of nothing else except the target.
Sooooooooooo, perhaps the process begins with setting your shakuhachi down
to really see and understand first as an object (not a tool) of
contemplation, using your own voice and body to connect your conscious self
to the concrete instrument which can serve you multifariously.

Okay, dudes and dutchesses out there who know me as the source of this
commentary would say 'there he goes again!' (actually, 'still' rather than
'again'), the Indo-Japanese German-American on an extended trip with
something expressed by R. H. Blyth (somewhere in Chapter One of Vol. I of
the definitive 4-volume 'Haiku' - sorry, lent it out, no page no.
available), Koizumi Fumio (p. 148 of 'Fieldwork', in Japanese and reissued
recently), linguists and poets of 19th-century Germany (at least one of my
better-known ancestors among them) who had just uncovered an 'order' that
liberates one from the ordered. I refer to India (but not the elephant,
curry or sitar). If the topic is bamboo, India has nothing in particular to
add to the discussion; if you are talking about sound, we either start there
or end up there.

Entertaining it would all be to (in addition to YunMen, as Nicholas
suggests) Panini, Patanjali and Nagarjuna - all the haiku, senryu, koan, etc
in English on the 'Web, and the plays on words (in English, also many in
Japanese & Chinese?) that we toss back and forth. And entertaining it is to
us, we think, therefore we are.

This is all very closely related to my earlier comment which drew not even a
nibble (thank the gods, for I have no time to get into protracted dialogue
with my brothers & sisters of the bamboo order on this), but there is really
a whale at the end of the thread, one a wise mortal would possibly not risk
biting into. Nonetheless, for your reference, my comment of 12/26/04 (a sad
day for all so many, I also lost a few old friends from my year as a young
music student in Sri Lanka) -
------------------------
Dominic, Justin, Bamboo Brothers & Sisters

'Re meri is Tsu for Tozan' - worthy of inscription in marble in the gallery
of ko-an, a most significant observation for all of us - Kinko, Tozan,
kazoo, and pachinko player; contemplating the background and ramifications
of this can lead one to a significant understanding of the tradition(s) of
shakuhachi, indigenous music, national language, and all forms of and
developments in communication through sound and symbol in Japan, past,
present (and future?)

----------------------

If this all sounds like a koan, of course it would be - there are 12
distinctly different meanings (and sets of kanji characters to go with them)
and many other connotations given for the word 'koan' in my 'Ko-ji-en'
Japanese dictionary; this fact itself is also so inextricably part of the
above (two not-at-all-unconnected) issues. Whoa! Sorry about all this! It
would be more fun in a hands-on music-and-language workshop setting, which I
will again have the pleasure of experienceng a few times in the coming
months in Japan and India, also on planned trip to USA in September.

Finally, wishing a HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and our friends in the four nations
most in need of such ---

SELAMAT TAHUN BARU (Bahasa Indonesia)
SUBA ALUT AVURUDDAK VEVA (Sinhala)
PUTHANDU VAZHTHUKKHAL (Tamil)
SAWATDII PII MAI (Thai)

Tim Hoffman

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nicholas Pierotti" <eurydice@cruzio.com>
To: <Shakuhachi@communication.ucsd.edu>
Sent: Friday, January 07, 2005 11:19 PM
Subject: Re: [Shaku] Re: shakuhachi V1 #738

> Such a storm of words we have all generated! And so much Zen! Somewhere
> I hear YunMen laughing!
>
> Thank you for reminding us, Jeff.
>
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