I say suizen schmooeyzen.
When practicing ANY instrument diligently, you're doing Right Concentration.
If you play with others sensitively or interact well with the environment,
you're doing Right Mindfulness. With a flute stuck in your mouth so you
can't talk, you're doing Righter Speech than usual. Get good enough to make
a few bucks playing music and you're doing Right Livelihood. Etc. etc. down
the eightfold path. There's a reason it is said of serious musicians that
they practice religiously.
OK, having just flashed my membership credentials for the Royal Apodictic
Wankers Club, and realizing I'm not already a stellar shakuhachi player or
an enlightened being, I will shut up now and go practice flute rather than
putzing around with what the Buddha would have called, at least in bad
translations, "questions which tend not to edification."
>
>Hello Nelson et al,
>
>Happy New Year! 1 February brings us into the Year of the Goat!!
>
>>Could you expound on this. I for one would really like to hear your
>>thinking. This is a distinction you've clearly made, now I'm asking you to
>>make it clear. You know something about all of this, I don't. What are
>>the
>>differences between playing suizen and music? What's required for each?
>>What's the point of each? Suppose two people came to you, one to learn
>>suizen and the other music. How would your advice and instruction differ?
>>Such clarity would help both camps.
>>
>
>You told me that sometimes you liked tossing something out to the
>shakuhachi list when it got a bit slow, in order to stir things up.
>
>Thank you for your words of defense and encouragement. They were
>unnecessary, as I certainly don't need defending, and, as everyone on this
>list must know by now, I don't need any encouragement to express my
>opinions. But I like to read nice things about myself as much as anyone
>does, so thank you.
>
>Sometimes when I read through what others write, I think to myself, how
>fortunate I am to be a part of this wonderful community!
>
>Other times, when I read what I've written and some of the other postings,
>I think, what a bunch of right royal wankers we are!
>
>Right now, I'm less inclined, nor do I have the time to express too much
>more of my own personal opinions. I think I might have said too much
>already.
>
>But, after those encouraging words from you.....
>
>--------------------------
>>What are the differences between playing suizen and music?
>The differences between playing suizen and music might be the differences
>between the absolute and the relative. They are like chalk and cheese on
>the one hand, and inseparable, or maybe the same thing, on the other. I
>don't know anything about the absolute, so I can't really talk about it
>with any authority. When I say things like "the music aspect frequently
>suffers", I am speaking in relative terms.
>
>I don't find it is very beneficial or productive to talk much about the
>absolute. Especially as I don't really know anything about it.
>
>>What's required for each?
>I think the main requirement for both suizen and music is awareness. That's
>really what I want for myself and from other fellow shakuhachi players. For
>example, if there is a distinction between suizen and music, then I want to
>be aware of it. The distinction may not matter, the two might coexist, but
>I still try to be aware of the distinction, and how it might affect
>'everything'.
>
>>What's the point of each?
>There isn't any point in either activity, suizen or music making, as far as
>I can see, at least in absolute terms, or rather, what I imagine to be
>absolute terms.
>
>Relatively speaking, the point of both activities depends on oneself. Both
>might illuminate the inner and the outer, the 10,000, spiritual
>understanding, etc. Both have the potential to give enjoyment to oneself
>and others. Both have even the potential to provide a modest income, though
>playing music might be the more obvious choice for this. The list goes
>on....
>
>>Suppose two people came to you, one to learn suizen and the other music.
>>How would your advice and instruction differ?
>Whether a student came to me to learn suizen or to learn music, my advice
>and instruction would not differ. I wouldn't change my teaching methods. I
>can't teach anything about the absolute. I can teach things like pieces,
>technique, pitch control, breath control, and so on, and maybe I can tell a
>few anecdotal stories. All of these things are very much about the
>relative, though.
>
>I would advise both people that the more they practiced, the more their
>flutes would sing for them. I would advise them that they could never
>practice enough, whether for suizen or music.
>
>I sometimes do describe my personal perception of suizen a little bit. But
>I can only speak in relative terms, and so I never get very far with the
>description.
>
>End of Q/A.
>
>
>----------------------
>Finally, I'd like toss another something out to the list for everyone's
>consumption:
>
>What I do know as surely as a kangaroo knows which way to jump in a
>bushfire is that with honkyoku (new subject here!), there is most
>definitely a right. And a wrong. Lots and lots of rights and wrongs,
>really.
>
>If one wants to play honkyoku the way they are meant to be played, the way
>they have been played long before we came on the scene, then there is no
>quick, feel good, I'll-just-blow-my-flute-as-meditation sort of way to play
>them. The ability to play them cannot be gained through contemplation only.
>Also, learning them has very little to do with individualism.
>
>Not everyone has to play honkyoku, of course.
>
>Though suizen has always been, at least until now, associated with the act
>of playing honkyoku....
>
>Best regards, Riley
>
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>____________________________________________________
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><a
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