My Dear friends, both shakuhachi and non shakuhachi alike,
The tragic events of last Tuesday caused deep pain in my heart. My heart
wept at the loss of life. My heart wept at the division that appeared in
our shakuhachi list because of differing political views. My heart was
warmed and reassured as people wrote to give examples of gatherings to play
or concerts to commemorate the people who died, to suggest to play Tamuke
or Banshiki as prayers, or to simply share their heart felt feelings.
I struggled within myself with how to related to these events. For various
reasons I have hardly played my shakuhachi this year and have virtually not
touched it in the last six months. So I was deeply touched to hear how
others allowed their heart's pain to pour out as they played their flute. I
was awed and amazed that you could do that. Thank you.
After a few days, my heart spoke to me with what I could do as a personal
act of remembrance. An idea came to me to play Tamuke 1,000 times as a
prayer of peace for the souls who passed on, for their families and for all
of us who are effected in the wake of last weeks events. After some
reflection, I have vowed to do so. It is something I can do, and -need- do
to, as much for myself as for the world. And it will provide the
opportunity to reacquaint myself with my shakuhachi and my original reason
for wanting to learn it. Music touches my heart the most as a way of
expression. It is a simple act, a first step, as I'm sure others will follow.
I was reminded of the chapter in Ray Brooks' book where he speaks about his
shugyo, "practice", training. On re-reading the chapter and seeing the
variety of shugyo conditions, and seeing that it was a matter of personal
decision, I came up with my own conditions:
1) I will play Tamuke as a prayer, as a meditation, as an offering of peace
from my heart, each time I play it.
2) I will finish the 1,000 repetitions by the 1 year anniversary, 9/11/2002
3) I will play daily, as many times as my heart feels appropriate, but at
least once daily.
I share this with you not to boast, as playing such a short piece 1,000
times within a year should be easy to do. I will probably finish well
before the 1 year anniversary. 1,000 is just a symbolic number. In fact,
picking up my flute on a -daily- basis will be much more of a challenge for
me than the thought of 1,000 repetitions within a year. I can be lazy when
it comes to my practicing.
I struggled with whether to share this with anyone at all. I am doing this
as a personal devotional practice, not as a shugyo practice to make my
shakuhachi playing "better". I view devotional practices as private
affairs. But upon some days of reflection, I felt the need to do so. I
share this with you as a way affirming my vow to myself, to ask for your
support in my practice, and as a way of inviting you all to share back with
all of us what actions or practices you are doing as a way of helping you
process your feelings and/or maintain and promote peace. Your sharing will
help all of us in many ways.
Even in the few days of doing it I have felt an effect. Last Saturday, I
went for a hike in the mountains. Within moments of beginning the hike I
was overwhelmed with deep sorry and began to weep uncontrollably. This
continued for a long time as I was hiking. So deep was my grief that I
often had to stop, unable to walk further. At one point I came across a
powerful stream cascading down some rocks. I paused to rest, enjoying the
beauty around me, listening to the sound of the rushing water, and soon
realized this was a good place to play Tamuke. I only needed to play it
once, fully, as the power and beauty of nature and the song began to wash
away my grief and sooth my soul. I was able to continue my hike with a
greater sense of peace and better able smile and make a connections with
fellow hikers as we passed.
I feel it is important to decide were we focus our minds and intentions. As
the saying goes, what we focus on, grows. Rather than focusing on the
terror, fear, anger, division, helplessness, I am choosing to focus on a
prayer for peace. I hope that my daily playing will aid me in remembering
peace rather than succumbing to terror and helplessness, as it is so easy
to do with the way the media presents things.
Whether a single event or a continuing practice, I feel we need to
constantly share these actions/practices with each other as a way of
supporting ourselves and to keep ever present in our minds our devotion for
peace. I invite all of you to share what you have done or are doing in your
small way for peace. We need to keep reminding ourselves! We need to keep
supporting each other. At the very least, *I* need to hear your stories. I
support all of you in your endeavors for peace.
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And for my shakuhachi brethren who want to keep this list "on topic", I
offer the following question that can be answered on a separate thread:
What is Shugyo? What are its various definitions? What is its purpose? What
forms does it take? Are there personal experiences you can share? What are
other examples of shakuhachi shugyo?
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Much love and peace to all of you. I hope you will share from your heart.
Herb Rodriguez
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jan 08 2002 - 09:19:36 PST