Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

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Tube of delight!

#1 2008-08-25 19:31:46

Benjamin
Member
From: Indianapolis, IN
Registered: 2008-04-19
Posts: 45
Website

Shakuhachi 101

Being a college student who is trying to figure out how to make a living, I was wondering what kind of experiences others have had with the shakuhachi in the school setting.  I have a had a hard time being satisfied with one pursuit for a degree.  I love the shakuhachi very much and often wish that donning a tengai and robe could be a possible lifestyle in todays society.  I dont want a degree, I dont want a paycheck.  A Ryokanesque hut, a bowl, and a flute.  That would be nice.

It all makes me very sad.  I am at a loss.

Ben


Coming, all is clear, no doubt about it.  Going, all is clear, without a doubt.
What then is all? -Hosshin

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#2 2008-08-25 19:37:09

edosan
Edomologist
From: Salt Lake City
Registered: 2005-10-09
Posts: 2185

Re: Shakuhachi 101

There, there, Ben....there, there.

eB


Zen is not easy.
It takes effort to attain nothingness.
And then what do you have?
Bupkes.

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#3 2008-08-25 19:42:25

Tairaku 太楽
Administrator/Performer
From: Tasmania
Registered: 2005-10-07
Posts: 3226
Website

Re: Shakuhachi 101

General rule is is you want something just go ahead and do it.

The hut? A converted shipping container. Flute-jinashi of course. Then busk for your food. It's doable.


'Progress means simplifying, not complicating' : Bruno Munari

http://www.myspace.com/tairakubrianritchie

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#4 2008-08-25 19:56:03

geni
Performer & Teacher
From: Boston MA
Registered: 2005-12-21
Posts: 830
Website

Re: Shakuhachi 101

with a degree & paycheck:-) you can enjoy shakuhachi better.
Most of people who play  shakuhachi have day jobs (to support familes-buy shakuhachi).

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#5 2008-08-25 20:02:49

edosan
Edomologist
From: Salt Lake City
Registered: 2005-10-09
Posts: 2185

Re: Shakuhachi 101

Oh, and a hair shirt.

Not to forget the hair shirt...


Zen is not easy.
It takes effort to attain nothingness.
And then what do you have?
Bupkes.

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#6 2008-08-25 21:21:04

Tairaku 太楽
Administrator/Performer
From: Tasmania
Registered: 2005-10-07
Posts: 3226
Website

Re: Shakuhachi 101

I think it would be possible to survive as a shakuhachi busker. Has anybody tried it?


'Progress means simplifying, not complicating' : Bruno Munari

http://www.myspace.com/tairakubrianritchie

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#7 2008-08-25 21:45:26

Priapus Le Zen M☮nk
Historical Zen Mod
From: St-Jerome, Quebec, Canada
Registered: 2006-04-25
Posts: 612
Website

Re: Shakuhachi 101

Get a hair cut and get a real job !!! wink

Go to Japan for a while and be a monk so #1 means you got the hair cut then once trained means #2 now you are a monk which is a real job in Japan then do the travelling all over with your flute. I can see this as somehow feasable. Much more than in North-America.

Last edited by Gishin (2008-08-25 22:55:36)


Sebastien 義真 Cyr
春風館道場 Shunpukan Dojo
St-Jerome, Quebec, Canada
http://www.myspace.com/shunpukandojo

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#8 2008-08-25 22:04:52

Benjamin
Member
From: Indianapolis, IN
Registered: 2008-04-19
Posts: 45
Website

Re: Shakuhachi 101

No doubt Geni that financial stability and a position in society would grant you a comfortable margin in order to cultivate and develop any interest.  but what I have a hard time understanding is the issue of greater monetary comfort in order to have MORE of anything, including shakuhachi. Is there not some ascetic aesthetic that is present within the shakuhachi?  A most pure life such as the great zen rebels seems most fit in order to fully appreciate the shakuhachi.  It just seems like that would be what everyone who approaches the shakuhachi with a spiritual appreciation would attempt, or want to attempt, at least for a short while. 

I did at one point want to join the Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-Ji and had a great interest in the monastic life.  However, in order to become even close to a monk these days you have to fork up as much cash as a you would have to for a semester at a local college.  Where is the verve?  I want something more than just a zen bed and breakfast.  Its bad enough as it is to see gift shops and catalogs where I can buy my zen in the form of some concrete likeness of a buddha, or display it on a t shirt.


Coming, all is clear, no doubt about it.  Going, all is clear, without a doubt.
What then is all? -Hosshin

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#9 2008-08-25 22:10:29

Priapus Le Zen M☮nk
Historical Zen Mod
From: St-Jerome, Quebec, Canada
Registered: 2006-04-25
Posts: 612
Website

Re: Shakuhachi 101

Benjamin wrote:

I did at one point want to join the Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-Ji and had a great interest in the monastic life.  However, in order to become even close to a monk these days you have to fork up as much cash as a you would have to for a semester at a local college.  Where is the verve?  I want something more than just a zen bed and breakfast.  Its bad enough as it is to see gift shops and catalogs where I can buy my zen in the form of some concrete likeness of a buddha, or display it on a t shirt.

As I said one needs to go to Japan,Korea or China, My trainings and stays at temples in Japan or China never costed me anything, the only stuff I paid for was my robes etc but generally I never had to dish out lots of cash. BUT before even starting to look into this any closer go get some decent japanese language skills. This should not be so hard anyway and would be considered as minmal effort expected by the teachers you will meet.


Sebastien 義真 Cyr
春風館道場 Shunpukan Dojo
St-Jerome, Quebec, Canada
http://www.myspace.com/shunpukandojo

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#10 2008-08-25 22:14:58

Tairaku 太楽
Administrator/Performer
From: Tasmania
Registered: 2005-10-07
Posts: 3226
Website

Re: Shakuhachi 101

You can approach the shakuhachi from any angle you want. Many of the "top" Japanese players are nothing more than the result of dynastic nepotism. A lot of them are bourgeois at best. You won't find many shakuhachi players living the life you describe, but maybe that's a reason why you should pursue it. It would be nice to find komuso strolling around the cities of the world.


'Progress means simplifying, not complicating' : Bruno Munari

http://www.myspace.com/tairakubrianritchie

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#11 2008-08-25 22:28:13

Benjamin
Member
From: Indianapolis, IN
Registered: 2008-04-19
Posts: 45
Website

Re: Shakuhachi 101

Thank you Gishin,  Your advice will be taken to heart.


Coming, all is clear, no doubt about it.  Going, all is clear, without a doubt.
What then is all? -Hosshin

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#12 2008-08-25 22:51:36

rpowers
Member
From: San Francisco
Registered: 2005-10-09
Posts: 285

Re: Shakuhachi 101

Gishin wrote:

#1 means you got the air cut then once trained means #2 now you are a mink

Flatulence?

Furs?

What topic is this relevant to?


"Shut up 'n' play . . . " -- Frank Zappa
"Gonna blow some . . ." -- Junior Walker
"It's not the flute." -- Riley Lee

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#13 2008-08-25 23:04:18

Daniel Ryudo
Shihan/Kinko Ryu
From: Kochi, Japan
Registered: 2006-02-12
Posts: 355

Re: Shakuhachi 101

I have a Japanese friend who busked for about ten years in various countries in Europe (and also the U.S.A. -- mostly Seattle, Turkey, New Zealand...) playing Delta style blues on steel guitar.  He met a shakuhachi busker in Amsterdam and they played together a few times.  Some years ago I busked a little in Cambridge, U.K.,  and in Kyoto and noticed that I did better in samue than in blue jeans.   If you can afford to buy a tengai (the beehive shaped hat) and the accompanying monk's garb I think you'd be sure to draw a crowd, but to to purchase a decent tengai these days is going to cost you about as much as a good shakuhachi.  Tengai making is a dying art; I heard there were only a couple of professional makers left in Japan.  Anyone with tengai making experience on this forum?

Last edited by Daniel Ryudo (2008-08-25 23:05:54)

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#14 2008-08-26 00:23:32

Yungflutes
Flutemaker/Performer
From: New York City
Registered: 2005-10-08
Posts: 1061
Website

Re: Shakuhachi 101

Benjamin wrote:

Being a college student who is trying to figure out how to make a living, I was wondering what kind of experiences others have had with the shakuhachi in the school setting.  I have a had a hard time being satisfied with one pursuit for a degree.  I love the shakuhachi very much and often wish that donning a tengai and robe could be a possible lifestyle in todays society.  I dont want a degree, I dont want a paycheck.  A Ryokanesque hut, a bowl, and a flute.  That would be nice.

It all makes me very sad.  I am at a loss.

Ben

Hey Ben,
When I was in college, I couldn't wait to graduate so that I could move to New York City.
I was majoring in fine art and just kept thinking that life was going to start when I got to NYC. But, half way through school I really got into performance art and music (my art rock band) and that eclipsed my studies. The art took a back seat to the all night gigs (I some how I manage to graduate at the top pf my class but that probably says more about my fellow students). Well, I made it to NYC and all along I kept doing what I loved doing - making collage wood cut prints when I could and playing music and performing at every opportunity. Soon, I found myself being able to live entirely on what I loved doing - theater and music. Of course I was single then and needed very little to survive. I remember thinking, "Dreams do come true".

Ben, my only advice is to follow your bliss.

Tairaku wrote:

I think it would be possible to survive as a shakuhachi busker. Has anybody tried it?

The day after 911, I played in the tunnel at the 42nd Street Station. I made about $40 in two hours. The proceeds were donated to the families affected by the tragedy. I imagine that if I were to play 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, I would fare better than selling shakuhachi on eBay smile

Interesting story about the about  Rob Hirst and the Suzuki kid in OZ Brian. I'm sure that if I put Sasa and Jet in the tunnel with a flute each, they would make tons more than I would!

A while back, I was on a train platform playing Kumoijishi as I was waiting for the C going uptown.  I tapered off the song as the train approached and as soon as I stopped playing, a woman came up and handed me a dollar bill. I was a bit startled but my hand reached out for the bill in some uncanny natural way. Then we both got on the train and she realized I wasn't busking and look a bit embarrassed.  I kept the dollar...child care smile


Peace, Perry

Last edited by Yungflutes (2008-08-26 00:33:41)


"A hot dog is not an animal." - Jet Yung

My Blog/Website on the art of shakuhachi...and parenting.
How to make an Urban Shakuhachi (PVC)

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#15 2008-08-26 00:33:42

Tairaku 太楽
Administrator/Performer
From: Tasmania
Registered: 2005-10-07
Posts: 3226
Website

Re: Shakuhachi 101

Yungflutes wrote:

Tairaku wrote:

I think it would be possible to survive as a shakuhachi busker. Has anybody tried it?

The day after 911, I played in the tunnel at the 42nd Street Station. I made about $40 in two hours. The proceeds were donated to the families affected by the tragedy. I imagine that if I were to play 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, I would fare better than selling shakuhachi on eBay smile

If you played shakuhachi 8 hours a day you'd have arthritis, carpal tunnel, tendonitis and you'd be insane! wink


'Progress means simplifying, not complicating' : Bruno Munari

http://www.myspace.com/tairakubrianritchie

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#16 2008-08-26 00:39:30

Yungflutes
Flutemaker/Performer
From: New York City
Registered: 2005-10-08
Posts: 1061
Website

Re: Shakuhachi 101

Tairaku wrote:

Yungflutes wrote:

Tairaku wrote:

I think it would be possible to survive as a shakuhachi busker. Has anybody tried it?

The day after 911, I played in the tunnel at the 42nd Street Station. I made about $40 in two hours. The proceeds were donated to the families affected by the tragedy. I imagine that if I were to play 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, I would fare better than selling shakuhachi on eBay smile

If you played shakuhachi 8 hours a day you'd have arthritis, carpal tunnel, tendonitis and you'd be insane! wink

But, at least my meri would be deep and louder!


"A hot dog is not an animal." - Jet Yung

My Blog/Website on the art of shakuhachi...and parenting.
How to make an Urban Shakuhachi (PVC)

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#17 2008-08-26 00:49:29

Justin
Shihan/Maker
From: Japan
Registered: 2006-08-12
Posts: 540
Website

Re: Shakuhachi 101

Daniel Ryudo wrote:

If you can afford to buy a tengai (the beehive shaped hat) and the accompanying monk's garb I think you'd be sure to draw a crowd, but to to purchase a decent tengai these days is going to cost you about as much as a good shakuhachi.  Tengai making is a dying art; I heard there were only a couple of professional makers left in Japan.  Anyone with tengai making experience on this forum?

Kurahashi-sensei once told me, there are no komuso - if you see any, they are fake. If you really want to dress up in a komuso costume though, you can buy a tengai at Mejiro for 17000 yen. Or the full kit for 45000 yen.

Benjamin wrote:

No doubt Geni that financial stability and a position in society would grant you a comfortable margin in order to cultivate and develop any interest.  but what I have a hard time understanding is the issue of greater monetary comfort in order to have MORE of anything, including shakuhachi.

Sometimes it can be good to do the money thing just so you know you can. That can give you a confidence. So you know you can do it. Also if you get a family, that really does come in handy. If you are really intent on living a poor wandering life, I guess it's best to do it while you are young. One way is to work damn hard to save money, then go to be free for a while. I met many people who work half the year, and wander the other half. They have the peace of mind that they can support themselves, and then also they know why they are doing it. It can become otherwise a habit to rely on other people, and getting stuck in that can end up in seemingly good reasons for justifying that actually being subtle ways of covering fear, etc. It seems safest to choose such a life when it is easily not the only choice.

Benjamin wrote:

Is there not some ascetic aesthetic that is present within the shakuhachi?  A most pure life such as the great zen rebels seems most fit in order to fully appreciate the shakuhachi.  It just seems like that would be what everyone who approaches the shakuhachi with a spiritual appreciation would attempt, or want to attempt, at least for a short while.

A pure life in the end has no connection to the external life. Or at least, no direct connection. Some of the most attached people are renunciates (many of the komuso even were thugs), attached to what they don't have, or even attached to their scriptures or whatever, and some of the most non-attached people are ordinary householders with regular jobs and families. That's not to say it can't be the other way round. It is to say that purity is internal. The external can definitely help. The internal work however is the vital part.

Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh has written a book on this topic of living "alone", "Our Appointment with Life: Discourse on Living Happily in the Present Moment".
http://www.amazon.com/Our-Appointment-L … amp;sr=8-1

You can also read a talk online:
http://www.budsas.org/ebud/ebsut038.htm

Benjamin wrote:

I did at one point want to join the Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-Ji and had a great interest in the monastic life.  However, in order to become even close to a monk these days you have to fork up as much cash as a you would have to for a semester at a local college.  Where is the verve?  I want something more than just a zen bed and breakfast.  Its bad enough as it is to see gift shops and catalogs where I can buy my zen in the form of some concrete likeness of a buddha, or display it on a t shirt.

"Spirituality" is big business. Not just the new stuff but the old too - you've got loads of new age stuff, and all the Christian commercial stuff, etc. In Japan also Buddhism is mainly just a business. I think the best masters ended up going overseas, such as Suzuki Roshi to the U.S.

I recommend you go to Adyashanti. If you spoke fluent Japanese, I honestly think you would not find a better teacher here in Japan.

http://www.adyashanti.org/

...

Is this the new Zen forum? wink

Seriously though, this is an inseparable part of shakuhachi, or the shakuhachi tradition. Zen is inseparable from the honkyoku, and for many Japanese, Buddhism is important for them in this connection. It is nice to see the same overseas.

Best wishes

Justin
http://senryushakuhachi.com/

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#18 2008-08-26 01:31:43

Moran from Planet X
Member
From: Here to There
Registered: 2005-10-11
Posts: 1524
Website

Re: Shakuhachi 101

Tairaku wrote:

If you played shakuhachi 8 hours a day you'd have arthritis, carpal tunnel, tendonitis and you'd be insane! wink

Is that what happened to Dr. Lee?


"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass...and I am all out of bubblegum." —Rowdy Piper, They Live!

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#19 2008-08-26 02:46:30

Mujitsu
Administrator/Flutemaker
From: San Francisco
Registered: 2005-10-05
Posts: 885
Website

Re: Shakuhachi 101

Benjamin wrote:

I love the shakuhachi very much and often wish that donning a tengai and robe could be a possible lifestyle in todays society.  I dont want a degree, I dont want a paycheck.  A Ryokanesque hut, a bowl, and a flute.  That would be nice.

It all makes me very sad.  I am at a loss.

Ben

The best advice I've received in school, shakuhachi and life is, "Do what you think is right."

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#20 2008-08-26 13:05:13

Zakarius
Member
From: Taichung, TAIWAN
Registered: 2006-04-12
Posts: 361

Re: Shakuhachi 101

Mujitsu wrote:

The best advice I've received in school, shakuhachi and life is, "Do what you think is right."

From a purely psychological perspective, no one ever does anything that they don't think is right. It's only after you've done something that you have a chance to regret it. Obviously, the judgement calls one makes to avoid foreseeable regrets is what separates humans from our distant cousins.

Zak


塵も積もれば山となる -- "Chiri mo tsumoreba yama to naru." -- Piled-up specks of dust become a mountain.

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#21 2008-08-26 13:34:50

lowonthetotem
Member
From: Cape Coral, FL
Registered: 2008-04-05
Posts: 529
Website

Re: Shakuhachi 101

From my perspective, I'd say, "Try it now.  Later, you may not be able to."  I love writing poetry and spent a long time studying it in school.  My professors all told me I had talent, and I even was published a few times and won some awards.  But, I always told myself that there would never be a way to make money with poetry, so I'd have to get a real job (I also never wanted to write for a living, as I'd have to write what sells as opposed to what I wanted to write.  I was pretty short sighted, admittedly).  That way I could support myself and write poetry during my time off.  Now, I find little time to write (recently because I have been practicing Kyorei during my off time wink).  Things pile up, and if you don't take time to cultivate your interests, they may just stop being your interests and get replaced with things that seem lke necessities.  Of course, it is nice to have things like air conditioning, a wife, and a roof.


"Turn like a wheel inside a wheel."

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#22 2008-08-26 13:37:41

Vevolis
Member
From: Toronto, ON
Registered: 2007-12-24
Posts: 175
Website

Re: Shakuhachi 101

I've come to realize (along with anyone else who doesn't smell like an exploded sewer main rainbow or talks to the individual rusted staples in any given telephone pole) that money is a necessity. I used to intern at a few music studio’s in Toronto. The last ditched attempt to get my “foot in the door” involved an interview with a studio that could “take me on fulltime from 10-8PM daily with no pay for 6-8 months and no promise of an actual job”. Living in Toronto, this was impossible.

On the positive side, I learned (like you may notice being in college) is that you aren’t particularly interested in doing what other people are doing, what they want you to do and how they expect you to do it. The day begins and ends with you. You’ve got to get out there, DO the necessary work to get the money necessary to do whatever it is you actually want to do. If it’s an absence of material possessions you seek, you’ve got a fairly short trip. You never know what may come of dressing up, playing the Shakuhachi and busking. It’s not common in today’s society (well, busking is…) but my father once told me that sometimes it’s important to revisit an idea. You might get a following and make some form of living off it. You never know. Good luck!

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#23 2008-08-26 14:08:21

Mujitsu
Administrator/Flutemaker
From: San Francisco
Registered: 2005-10-05
Posts: 885
Website

Re: Shakuhachi 101

Tairaku wrote:

I think it would be possible to survive as a shakuhachi busker. Has anybody tried it?

I remember Richard Donner as a regular busker in San Francisco and the East Bay in the Eighties and Nineties. What a character! From what I understand, that's all he did for money.

I've asked before but has anyone seen him lately?

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#24 2008-08-26 16:49:30

jdanza
Moderator
From: Vancouver, Canada
Registered: 2008-06-19
Posts: 85
Website

Re: Shakuhachi 101

Zen is an inner realization. If you've realized Zen it doesn't mater whether you are busking on a subway station or swimming in your private pool. Those are all mind trips and they can be enjoyed as the movie they are.
If you are looking to live a Zen life make sure you find it inside yourself first, whatever your present circumstance is. The outer form will take care of itself later.
It seems your mind has made a picture of what the Shakuhachi and Zen life "should" be. A hut, bowl and flute are great, but take a deep breath and check out where you are right here and now. There's no more Zen than that... then blow your flute and say... Thank You... there's no more prayer than that.

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#25 2008-08-26 20:52:24

Jeff Cairns
teacher, performer,promoter of shakuhachi
From: Kumamoto, Japan
Registered: 2005-10-10
Posts: 517
Website

Re: Shakuhachi 101

Justin wrote:

Zen is inseparable from the honkyoku

I'm not sure what you're getting at with this statement Justin.  Are you suggesting that if one plays honkyoku, one is practicing zen, or in order to play honkyoku, one must practice zen formally?  Also, are you suggesting that honkyoku are different from  other forms of composed music in that they inherently somehow reflect the player's "zenness" , or that when one plays a honkyoku piece correctly, they are in some  state that can be identified with something attributed to zen?  Or, are you suggesting something completely different?
...just looking for clarity. hmm
cheers


shakuhachi flute
I step out into the wind
with holes in my bones

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