The Bamboo Flute

Shakuhachi Honkyoku pieces were primarily used for meditation practices. They reflect a zen art form in Suizen practices, translating to "blowing zen". More specifically, it was Buddhists who utilized the instrument in meditation to reach a certain level of enlightenment, wisdom, and morality.

Buddhism is practical in nature and does not follow the concept of Gods. Rather, Buddhists follow the path of their revered Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, who achieved enlightenment in following a path of neither luxury nor poverty. People do not say this is an atheist religion, but a non-theistic religion unattached to worldly processes. After its initial emergence in India in 6th century BCE, Buddhism spread across Asia to Mongolia, Japan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, etc. There are some arguments of whether Buddhism is a philosophy or religion with good evidence behind both. 

Siddhartha Gautama escaped his royal life to travel lands in search of a meaning to life. 

As legends recall, Gautama’s path to become spiritual involved encounters with an aged man, a sick man, and a dead man. Through these encounters, Gautama came to the conclusion that all existence ends in suffering. He realized that the enduring self-integral to everyone's identity was false in the sense that it failed to recognize change. He also believed that the self was illusory and false. The perpetuated nature of the “self” is ultimately the cause of ones suffering, as the world is constantly changing while the individual is not.

This revelation fits into one of the key principles of Buddhism; the world is constantly changing. Buddha realized that enlightenment allows one to escape the eternal cycle of samsara, or suffering, rebirth, and death. In this, one is free from human ignorance. He identified Four Noble Truths that illustrated the nature of human lives:

 

• Life is suffering
• The cause of suffering is craving
• The end of suffering comes with an end to craving
• There is a path which leads one away from craving and suffering

Buddha proceeded to lay out the Eightfold Path to free ones self from worldly attachments. Once one fulfilled the path, they were able to reach spiritual enlightenment.

Buddhism was brought to Japan in 553 BCE. 

Few emperors tried to reject the widespread adoption of Buddhism and it managed to co-existed with other worldly religions such as Shinto and Confucianism. It was praised by both the rich and poor. The rich used the concept of cyclical spiritual rebirth as justification for their riches, believing their actions and blessings from past lives led them to success. The poor saw Buddhism as a means of education, salvation, and individual enlightenment that did not require monetary wealth. In the grand scheme of the world, by freeing one’s self and in a communal adoption of these principles, a country becomes more orderly and removed from the idea of suffering. The appeal of Buddhism to all levels of class helped it grow into one of the largest religions today.

• The most popular school of Buddhism is Mahayana Buddhism (developed in India) which includes Zen Buddhism. 
• Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, a zen priest, brought Zen Buddhism to the U.S. for the first time in 1959 to San Fransisco
• Established Buddhism and zen practices as a prominent doctrine in the U.S.

Buddhist monks use meditation to calm the mind, to reach a different conscious state, and to listen and observe their body and breath. Mindfulness relaxes the body and mind to a natural state of concentration, allowing one to live in the reality of the present.

I find that principles of Buddhism align with my attitudes towards life. I meditate to remove bias, perception, and expectations I reflect onto the world. It neutralizes my perspective and rationalizes my emotions. Disappointment becomes inevitable with high standards, as I’ve learned that going into a situation with expectations can often cloud my judgement and create a picture that was impossible to create in the first place. 

Listen to this Shakuhachi Honkyoku piece again, now that you know some of the history of Buddhism practices and how meditative music relates to it!

Very airy but I like the raw quality and sound the resonance gives off. The echo gives off a gentle, raw dynamic in the piece that grounds the listener.

Dynamics drive the emotions of the piece. The smooth transitions between hard blowing to soft blowing can be metaphorically pictured as the thoughts entering and leaving ones mind during meditation, the up and down nature of life, etc

The lack of other instruments and improvised ornaments makes the listener even more hyperaware to the sounds. It also allows them to be more in tune with their body and consciousness. 

Feld defines acousmetology as the means “to animate deeper connections between cultural studies of music and the broader arena of sound studies, itself a convergence of conversations from musical humanities and media, science and technology studies” (94).

In other words, it is the intersectionality of cultural and religious music studies with natural and other worldly sounds. In the context of the use of Shakuhachi Honkyoku, the shakuhachi encapsulated the simplicity of nature, a state of peace meditation sought to bring out of the human mind. Listening to pieces like this puts the world and my problems into perspective and deepens spiritual connections inherently related to Buddhism. Becker defines this as secular trancing, where the act of religious practicing is absent but the sentiments and principles are used. In the context of “casual” meditation, this is seen in transcending and connecting with a power above the concept of the ego.

While I am not religious, I can definitively see how appealing Buddhism is to the everyday person. It is an extremely individualized religion, giving one complete control and authority over themselves rather than a higher power, whether it be political or spiritual one.