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#1 2006-10-06 07:57:57

Travis Winegar
Member
From: Columbia, MO
Registered: 2005-10-31
Posts: 74
Website

Important Topics

Hello everyone,

It's been a long while since I last posted here.  I really miss this place!  Unfortunately, priorities sometimes get rearranged when work and school start getting in the way of enlightenment tongue

The good news, however, is that I am taking a Buddhism course (a bit of a conflict there... ) this semester.  As a final project, I have agreed to present to the class a 40 minute lecture on Shakuhachi and Zen.  This is where I would love to get some input from all of you practitioners out there.  40 minutes isn't much time to talk about anything, let alone the shakuhachi and Zen, so I would like to ensure that the topics I discuss are as valuable as possible.

So what topics do you all feel are most vital to offering a clear as possible understanding of the connection between shakuhachi and Zen to students with little or no interest or knowledge of the practice?  Any discussion is welcome and greatly appreciated!!

Last edited by Travis Winegar (2006-10-06 07:58:54)


"As soon as you see something, you already start to intellectualize it. As soon as you intellectualize something, it is no longer what you saw." – Shunryu Suzuki

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#2 2006-10-06 11:03:23

dstone
Member
From: Vancouver, Canada
Registered: 2006-01-11
Posts: 552
Website

Re: Important Topics

You have 40 minutes?  Blow the class 40 minutes of ro buki.  That will say everything that needs to be said about the Zen of it all.

Kidding aside...  sound needs to be part of your lecture, I'm sure you'll agree.  So engaging them as listeners might be useful.  Perhaps distinguish between sound as performance/entertainment and sound as a tool.  This is important, I think, to contrast shakuhachi folk or ensemble pieces or movie soundtracks with pieces or practices reputed to be tools of enlightenment.

Good luck!

-Darren.


When it is rainy, I am in the rain. When it is windy, I am in the wind.  - Mitsuo Aida

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#3 2006-10-06 11:28:41

PSTL
Member
From: Jacksonville, FL USA
Registered: 2006-08-02
Posts: 67

Re: Important Topics

Travis,

You might want to spend time on the breathe. Not only a critical discipline for learning the shakuhachi but also for developing mindfulness.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anapanasati

Phil wink

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#4 2006-10-06 12:01:42

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

Re: Important Topics

...

I think 40 minutes is enough time to talk about almost anything...

...

I like Darren's suggestion of Ro-buki for 40 minutes, but since the enjoyment there is an acquired taste, I suggest that you
allude only briefly the the 'Komuso history' items and spend most of your time playing recordings of snippets or complete
pieces of shakuhachi music, ranging from Honkyoku, to Minyo, to Sankyoku, interspersed with some short commentary.

To talk for 40 minutes about shakuhachi history to anyone but enthusiasts would probably induce a state of somnolence...

eB


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

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#5 2006-10-06 19:28:59

Travis Winegar
Member
From: Columbia, MO
Registered: 2005-10-31
Posts: 74
Website

Re: Important Topics

Thanks for the replies....

I fully agree that the most important part of the presentation is the sounds.  I intend to bring a couple of flutes and blow on them some as well as play some recordings by people that actually know what they are doing tongue

I intend to include a very brief history of the komuso and the flute itself.  I think it is important to understand where the practice did (or didn't) come from.  Additionally, I plan on spending a few minutes talking about flute construction (very basic here -- this is an utaguchi; this is the root end; this is how finger holes are measured; etc) in the hopes of impressing the class with its "simplicity."

All of your ideas are great -- thanks!  I'll take these and play around with scheduling my time.  If you have any more I am certainly interested!

Travis


"As soon as you see something, you already start to intellectualize it. As soon as you intellectualize something, it is no longer what you saw." – Shunryu Suzuki

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