The Shakuhachi is an ancient flute that captivates many who cross its path. Hidden in its simplicity is profound possibility. The windy, resonant sound of the Shakuhachi brings deep serenity to sympathetic ears. For the devoted player, it is also a spiritual tool for training the mind and breath. Zen monks have been using the Shakuhachi for Sui Zen for centuries. Sui Zen, which means blowing Zen, is meditation using Buddhist music composed for the Shakuhachi.
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Listen to free MP3s Honkyoku (Buddhist music), Sankyoku (Court music) and Western songs played on the shakuhachi. |
Shakuhachi Buddhist music seems simple. It doesn’t use a great range of octaves or impressive musical techniques. In fact, you can begin your first Buddhist piece within a few months. However, you can easily spend the rest of your life ‘being’ it. In this regard, this Buddhist music is to mindfulness and sound, what Tai Chi is to mindfulness and movement.
A Musical Meditation
Simplicity—and the simplicity of doing nothing—is a cornerstone of Zen. The Shakuhachi serves this ideal well. It is just a resonant pipe with five holes. The five basic notes, musical notation, and rhythm can be learned in a few hours. And yet the Shakuhachi offers those who play it a lifelong experience in the joy of simply blowing nothing.
When in the Yoga of holy contemplation, the movements of the mind and of the breath of life are in a harmony of peace, there is steadiness, and that steadiness is pure. –Bhagavad Gita 18-33
History
The Shakuhachi came to Japan from China in the 3rd century AD. Over that time it has been used extensively by Zen monks for meditation. It is found in various forms all over the world, from the Pygmies in the Congo to the Sherpas in the Himalayas, but only in Japan is it put to such an esoteric use.
More recently it has been used for playing classical, popular and jazz music. This is easy to see why, as it has a sound uniquely “soulful”, with an expressiveness almost equal to the human voice. If you listen closely, you can often hear the Shakuhachi playing hauntingly ‘windy’ background music in various video productions.
Blowing Zen: The Book and CD
Blowing Zen enables you to learn the Shakuhachi, with or without a teacher or musical talent. The book contains detailed instructions to guide you from making your first sound to playing music. To the left is a sample of Shakuhachi music notation. Look closely and you’ll see that its simply the repetition of five basic notes: a Japanese “do, re, me” tabulature, shown at the right. In fact, you can learn the five basic notes, musical notation, and rhythm in one day—far easier than Western notation.
This book also includes fully illustrated instructions to guide you step by step through the construction of two types of Shakuhachi; there is the easy 60 minute flute anyone can make and the traditional root bamboo flute for those who enjoy a challenge. The CD contains the music covered in the book, from the easiest Japanese folk melodies to the Buddhist music compositions (Hon Kyoku).
More Details
Let us take a closer look at the benefits of the Shakuhachi. According to Yoga and Buddhism, life’s joys and sorrows originate in your mind. Of course events shape and direct your life, but only relative to the way these events are interpreted by your mind and emotions. Thus the quest for true contentment in life must begin within your own mind and emotions.
The neurological connection between respiration and emotion can cause one to effect the other in a destructive downward spiral. For example, when you are angry, afraid, rushing, or excited, etc., your breathing becomes irregular. This influences the nervous system which further disrupts breathing. Much depends on breath harmony. From the first moment you begin the Shakuhachi, you start laying this crucial foundation.
Your breathing becomes deeper, slower, and more even. The return of natural breathing rhythm soothes and invigorates your nervous system. The ability to maintain this—especially in times of stress—increases stamina, self control and health. In fact, according to Yoga tradition, a life span is measured in breaths, not years.
Later on, you’ll use the sound of the Buddhist Honkyoku music as a mirror of your mind. This feedback guides you into states of calm reflective consciousness. This silent watchfulness open the mind’s eye to seeing subtleties of life you may have missed.
The Buddhist music compositions (Hon Kyoku) have an earthy naturalness like the wind in the trees, the pounding surf, or the call of wild geese. These compositions reflect in them the full dynamics on nature—rom the “yin” of the gentle trickling of a mountain stream to the “yang” of a mighty waterfall. This ‘natural flow’ rides on ‘eternal rhythm’ (this is very hard to put into words). Here, rhythm doesn’t drive the music’s ‘flow’. This is what allows Hon Kyoku to convey the ‘orderly asymetry’ of nature as few other human activities can.
Just listening to the Buddhist music can give you symptomatic relief of stress and help you feel more in tune with nature. The unique resonance of the sound combines with the rhythm to synchronize and thus harmonize the natural resonance of your own nervous system. In a frantic modern world such a simple means of refined musical expression and tranquilization are to be highly valued.
To the Blowing Zen Product Page (on our Abbott Family Music site)