Well what Riley Lee's student is refering to are the first Zen lessons of th=
e=20
shakuhachi. Precisely here. I wrote a few paragraphs about this for myself=
=20
and some friends who were interested, however, in the essay I did not give=20
precise instructions at to how to do this; that is still missing and the=20
necessary subject of a second possible writting. They are on my website=20
under the title of the essay, "The Bamboo Way."
I am also reminded of the quote by...Kobayashi Shizan, "if the shakuhachi=20
does not sound as you would like it, the unwanted sound should be savoured.=20=
=20
In this way you come to appreciate the taste of true accomplishment, of art=20
which is artless." This is quoted by Gregg W. Howard in his article, "On th=
e=20
'Religious' in Music, Zen and the Shakuhachi." He then goes on to say, "Suc=
h=20
non-discrimination, however, is far from an attitude of not caring or an=20
acceptance of 'anything will do.' Rather, it is a recognition of the=20
relative imperfection which is the fundamental condition of existence=20
(sometimes described in Buddhist thought as the 'unsatisfactoriness' of=20
existence) and a personal accomodation to it. Thus the experience of the=20
student is to be consistently thrown back onto what is as opposed to ideal=20
concepts of what might or should be, and the immanent identification of the=20
absolute with immediate phenomenal experience is implicitly=20
reinforced....Thus the contradiction between the need to exert effort and th=
e=20
exhortation to play without effort ('to blow without blowing') must be=20
resolved by the student, but this can only be achieved through intuitive=20
realization and by means of non-discrimination."=20
Well that gets a little abstract there and it is really a very practical=20
nitty gritty thing to pay attention to the minutia of difficulty and our=20
self-centered thinking around it and the wanting and what that does to the=20
body and the sound. If we barrel through to accomplishment on the shakuhach=
i=20
(demanding of ourselves to accomplish it right now), we miss all the=20
important lessons of zen learning it can provide. They are always there=20
anyway, but since they are out of our focused attention, we miss them all. =20
What a shame!
Someone said shakuhachi is difficult.... what makes it difficult? Isn't it=20
only thinking that it is... if you love something there is no difficulty...=20
and the things one must go through to get it, are only the things one must g=
o=20
through to get it and not difficult nor easy...only things to do.
All my best,
Mary Lu Brandwein
In a message dated 3/24/02 12:48:32 PM Pacific Standard Time,=20
riley@rileylee.net writes:
<<=20
re lesson today
=20
know it=B9s late notice
but still don=B9t feel I=B9m up to it
=20
have been practising
[but admittedly not every day]
=20
still unable to make notes at will
=20
and most often =20
hardly at all
=20
at times when I can squeak something out
flute position seems very uncomfortable on the chin
[is it supposed to be an uncomfortable position?]
=20
get quite demoralised
=20
but I will not give up
=20
contact me if there=B9s a problem
=20
cheers
=20
(student's name)
=20
p.s. I still owe you 5 dollars
>>
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