Hello Everyone,
I'm wearing my Komuso t-shirt to work today. Someone asked about it and I
described the chinese characters as meaning "Priests or Monks of
nothingness or emptiness".
I was reminded that when I bought the t-shirt at the festival, last year, I
went to a fast food chinese place for lunch and the wait person tried to
read the shirt. He had a hard time and said one of the characters meant
"nonsense". Monks of nonsense???
Now, I can certainly see how some of our family and friends might think our
devotion to shakuhachi is nonsense after hearing some of the music. And
that the only emptiness we achieve is between our ears and pocketbooks. But
I was wondering if the characters mean different things in Japanese vs
Chinese. Anybody know? Also, what is the range of the various different
meanings to the Komuso characters?
Herb
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