Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

I am not sure if there are specific texts on shakuhachi, but the Soto sect encorporates creative practices (caligraphy, poetry, painting, and others) as part of their daily practice.  Perhaps this creative practice in general could be a topic of discussion.  This is not stressed so much by my Dharma instructor in Linji, but it is an interest of mine.  I'd enjoy learning more about it as well.  I may have a resource on another board that I can exploit for some information on it as well.  I'll look into it.  It seems that Gishin practices some of these arts within the Linji tradition, so I'd enjoy hearing his comments on his own practice and creative practice in general.

In relation to what Jordan mentions how about a list of the various Buddhism related shakuhachi myths and a status report on how factual they actually are.

How about, "Teaching shakuhachi from a Buddhist perspective" i.e. what and how you would teach it to people who only want to do the Zen thing and don't care about it as a musical instrument.

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If you don't like to play scales, play scales until you DO like to play them."

                                                                               ~ Artur Rubenstein
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If you want to be 'spontaneous', you must first learn something, so that you have some tools to be 'spontaneous' WITH.

eB

Of course that is not what I meant when talking about shakuhachi from a Buddhist perspective.

If you want to have a flute you just blow on without any musical framework or restrictions I recommend Iwabue. That's associated with Shinto. It's an interesting sound.

I just posted a groovy iwabue track on my myspace page for those who want to hear what truly free blowing sounds like. It's the second part of a series of duets with Dr. Eugene Chadbourne on electric rake.

Gishin wrote:

This will be my first time to perform on stage apart from when I used to be a male stripper

And I thought the chanting from the Monshogodo CD was coming from a purely religious tradition... now I realize that the chanting of the sutras may in fact have been the Kama Sutra

Zak -- jinashi size queen

madoherty wrote:

"specialized Buddhist mumbo Jumbo" sounds just about perfect to me.

Lately I have been thinking about Buddhist practice and the shakuhachi.  I guess I am wondering if there are wittings of Zen masters that incorporate the shakuhachi as practice... or are honkyoku testaments to that discourse in themselves...

Thanks Gishin.  I wish I could be in that audience!

Humm there is blurbs here and there but no final or decisive writings like you would find on seated meditation or the Zen mode of thinking etc..

As I had mentioned before when comparing the Komuso to the Yamabushi that were also wiped out at the same time. The Yamabushi almost lost no scriptures etc but Komuso would have lost everything? I strongly feel that there was nothing much that existed other than the Music itself and some historical records as to who what when where. Anyawy lately I have started to investigate Taoism since I feel that the music itslef could have been greatly influenced by Taoism, not in its sounds but in the esthetic.

lowonthetotem wrote:

I am not sure if there are specific texts on shakuhachi, but the Soto sect encorporates creative practices (caligraphy, poetry, painting, and others) as part of their daily practice.  Perhaps this creative practice in general could be a topic of discussion.  This is not stressed so much by my Dharma instructor in Linji, but it is an interest of mine.  I'd enjoy learning more about it as well.  I may have a resource on another board that I can exploit for some information on it as well.  I'll look into it.  It seems that Gishin practices some of these arts within the Linji tradition, so I'd enjoy hearing his comments on his own practice and creative practice in general.

I feel the whole arts and Soto thing is more a modern thing that was started in modern times and espeicially in North-America. Now for it being more connected with Soto than Rinzai I did not see much difference between both. Anyway its all compatible. The point being that Zazen is all good but I feel that one should be able to actualize himself in a form of Physical practice, arts etc... outside of just freaking Zazen and Koan Sutras etc... So this is why my main thing is Shakuhachi.

Lance wrote:

If that's not enough to contemplate, maybe a little review on "Zen" in general, in that 'Zen Buddism' is apparently not really Buddism, and not religious practice, but simply discovering the essence of all things though your own methods leading to enlightenment, not through any dogma or specific ritual.

I wil open this one in the morning as a separate thread since this would be a great discussion for all of us to have.

Zakarius wrote:

Gishin wrote:

This will be my first time to perform on stage apart from when I used to be a male stripper

And I thought the chanting from the Monshogodo CD was coming from a purely religious tradition... now I realize that the chanting of the sutras may in fact have been the Kama Sutra

Zak -- jinashi size queen

We actualy both joked about that stuff this weekend and had good laughs about it. Even were thinking of some stage names

The exchange between Lance and Edosan above was quite short but yet very meaningful.

On one extreme shakuhachi is a tool for spiritual practitioners for whom their sound and performance quality is of little value next to their personal spiritual development when blowing.  And on the other extreme are the musicians who may greatly enjoy blowing, but first and foremost want to sound great, because, after all, they are performers.

Now between these two extremes (which we can call blowing versus playing, introverted versus extroverted, meditational versus sensual, or spiritualist versus performer) there are all sorts of midpoints and combinations of these two perspective, which means, of course, there are some people who see themselves as both spiritualists and performers.

And if you are not sure where you stand you might want to ask yourself:  Would you still play shakuhachi if you sounded just plain awful nearly every time you picked it up?  Would you still play shakuhachi if no one ever ever wanted to hear you play?

In my experience there is a real tension between these two motivations behind playing or blowing shakuhachi. 

If you are obsessed with getting your pitch perfect you need to get a pitch meter and to practice your pitch over and over and you need to get, again, obsessed with achieving a particular goal.  This passion and drive for achieving a particular goal, is, in my opinion, very un-spiritual and very un-meditative.  It’s simply a sort of highly refined craving and ambition.   And is that not the complete opposite of what spiritual development is supposed to encourage?  Would it not make the Buddha gently shake his head with sad pity watching all of these spiritual minded shakuhachi players begin to slowly burn with the desire of becoming great performers?   

But here is the paradox in all of the above:  All that non-spiritual craving and ambition can ultimately produce a most sublime spiritual experience for… the audience!