--- Mark Miller <markm@naropa.edu> wrote:
> >
> Performance can be an empty display
HI.
I'll take another stab at this.
Display/performance is not empty in the common way of
speaking. It is so full that people pay to have a
part of it. Display/performance includes sporting
events, music events, rituals (in churches, mosques,
temples or on TV), etc. Mass, a ritual, gives meaning
to people's lives, so it is not empty by my standards.
Shakuhachi performance lies in this category. This
does not degrade playing shakuhachi in public. It
places it in a category.
Subjective feelings of performer or audience do not
affect this taxonomy.
The story of the Zen master summoned to the Emperor to
preach Zen & pulling out a flute, blowing one note,
bowing and leaving - that is slightly different. You
could say that producing a note is an illustration of
Buddhist world view. Dependent origination means that
causes and conditions produce things. The next
instant a different cause & condition may produce
something else. For instance, causes and conditions
produce life, then the causes change and you are a
corpse. Neither live body nor corpse is an ultimate
reality, each is just a dependently arisen thing. So
with one note the Zen master told the emperor the
nature of things. Did the emperor understand?
If public performance of shakuhachi mimics this story,
then someone should say so. Please explain why you
play so many notes in public.
Regards,
John Baker
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