Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Hi Rosa

Some feelings I experience when playing Shakuhachi:

When I play, I am sometimes drawn into a place of not quite knowing where the time went, which has a feeling of completion about it.

When I play for people, and they like it, something happens and I start to play more beautifully. I feel sometimes that God takes over at those times and 'plays through me' to bless the people.

When I approach the instrument expecting my playing of it to fix some problem or bad attitude that I'm carrying, I am usually disappointed.

When I approach with an open attitude to see what happens, and play, then often I feel elated.

When I play alone in a natural place, I usually feel more whole, and am able to relax.

I hope this is of value to you.

Shalom

John

Please could you tell us more about your project Rosa.

It sounds like you are collecting some interesting info.

John

Rosa,

Thank you for asking what you did. Your timing was perfect for me. I have been moving toward a different understanding of myself. Something that is often spoken in words but rarely fully absorbed by the listener.

After thinking this over for the last 24 hours, I came to one realization:

I am nothing.

I do not mean that as an insult to myself. This statement refers to my ego. Ego stops growth. The Shakuhachi is not played well by the ego. The ego is too short sighted and too impatient to play the Shakuhachi with the fullness that it reflects.

The Shakuhachi reflects the soul. One must be empty for that to happen. Once emptied, then the true beauty of who we are can come though our breath and sound itself as the joy we hear.

How do I feel when I am truly playing the Shakuhachi?  I feel nothing. No pain. No worry. Nothing. Therefore I feel total freedom.

Thank you for asking,

D.J.

Hi ^^
I just saw I had another open question:
How does the Shakuhachi affect the listener?...
Thnks so much for answering!!
Rosa
(ok, ok... so I didn't get off yet. Project be more important than sleep!)

Hi Rosa,

I think it's great that you are working on this project and I would love to have an english copy if you do make one. For me, sometimes when  playing a few honkyoku pieces in a row, or one long piece, or after a lesson with my teacher, I feel a full body high and a mental clarity that I feel could be considered a state of emptiness.

Sean

Jeff Cairns wrote:

I can tell you that when I don't play for anything more than a day while otherwise taking care of my normal activities, I feel compressed, detached and sometimes easily irritated by what I would, in a better state, probably not think twice about.  Simply blowing the shakuhachi frees me of those undesirable feelings almost immediately.   The act is obviously an oasis for me.

Yes!  Well said.  I share the feeling of relative irritation when a day goes by and I haven't been to the oasis.

I can access my oasis in other ways, but breathing through bamboo is just so darn simple...  it should be done!

-Darren.

Wow. I see it has a very positive effect on people.
Do people use the shakuhachi for treatment, too?
I mean, else from just playing it for the sake of music, what are the uses of the shakuhachi?...
For example, as I said, for treatment; or maybe relegious uses?...

Thanks again ^___^

Hola Rosa,

Interesting topic. Here are some related references:

Debbie Danbrook makes healing music with the Shakuhachi (http://www.healingmusic.com/)

Then, Ronnie Nyogetsu Seldin has a CD on the issue: "Komuso:  The Healing Art of Zen Shakuhachi "

And in the ANNALS of the INTERNATIONAL SHAKUHACHI SOCIETY Volume 2, there is an article by Veronza Bowers Jr about "Meditation Healing with Shakuhachi"

Hope that helps

Alex

Hey guys =]
Thanks for everything =]
I wanted to ask if it's ok to quote some of this and your nicks beside the quotes.
It would really help me, too =]

THANKS!!!!!!

Rosa.

thanks =]

Hi Rosa, The first time I really heard the shakuhachi was during a performance run in New York City when I was a performer in the experimental Opera Oedipus the King directed by Ellen Stewart. The sound was coming coming from the orchestra pit. The musician had been playing the flute during rehearsals but I didn't really noticed it until the actual performances, when my senses were at it's most heightened state of awareness. During the first performance, I noticed my body reacting to the sound and even thought to myself, "What is that sound? And, why am I only hearing it now?!" It sent shivers down my spine. I looked forward to that sound for the subsequent performances.

Another time, I heard in player who had been playing for over 30 years. The room changed colors as he played.

Namaste, Perry

Rosa,
To answer your question about what the listener feels when hearing shakuhachi, the best advice I can give is to listen to shakuhachi. I have found that the feeling is different for each listener, much the same way that each person who listens to jazz, or rap, or classical music feels differently.
As for me, the first time I heard shakuhachi, I had been given a cassette tape of 'meditation' music. When I played this tape for the first time, using headphones, the sound of the shakuhachi  was something I had never heard before, the feeling was beyond words. I had never felt so moved by any sound or music or instrument before or since. Every sound is a vibration, and that vibration is interpreted by the brain, the sound can be interpreted as emotion. For me, I felt an intense sense of calmness, elation, a deep spiritual awakening. I immediately felt a NEED to know what this sound was, what this instrument was. I needed to learn to play this instrument.
I had never played an instrument before, never had a desire to learn an instrument before. It took some time before I was able to learn anything about shakuhachi, but when I did, I also learned that there was a teacher who lived very near where I was living. A short time later, I found myself sitting across from my new teacher, being handed what was to become my first shakuhachi.
After only a few minutes of trying, my first semblance of a note came emerging from this piece of bamboo - I was hooked. By the end of my first lesson I had learned to play my first honkyoku (this is the meditation music played by Zen monks). The intense feeling that I had when I first listened to the shakuhachi paled in comparison to the feeling I had when I played shakuhachi.
The vibrations that are produced by the hearing of the music are only a small part of energy produced by holding, blowing, and playing the shakuhachi.
As many have stated above, the feeling, the effect of playing shakuhachi, is dependant upon the feeling that you breath into the shakuhachi. If I am tense, irritated, distracted, non-commital when I play, then the bamboo knows and my playing is poor. If I am attentive and at peace when I play or allow myself to let go the distraction or ill feeling, then I am overtaken with a deep feeling of peace that draws me away from my egoic state and takes me on a kind of journey towards what I can only imagine as a divine state of consciousness. The feeling cannot be accurately described in words, it can only be experienced.
I wish you all the best in your research and your understanding of what this very special bamboo is about. Please feel free to quote me (if I am not too late in responding). I would also be very interested reading your report when finished. It also makes me very happy to see a young person taking the time to want to understand something so foreign to them.
If you have not had the experience of hearing shakuhachi, I would be honored if you would let me purchase and send to you a CD of honkyoku. This way you can experience it for yourself and share it as part of your report.
Shalom
Damon