Zen and Music | Godinne, July 2013
How can music be the expression of the practice of awakening?
How can listening to it be part of that practice?
Can music teach us to live with an open mind?
Can it open our heart?
These were some of the questions that guided us during 5 afternoon workshops
We listened to some outstanding music of ancient spiritual traditions, including Classical Indian, Japanese Shakuhachi and Medieval Western music; but we also discovered compositions by contemporary masters as David Hykes, John Cage, and Morton Feldman.
Starting from the listening experience, we developed some useful tools, based on the Sandokai of master Sekito, to structure our thoughts and feelings about the music. How, and to what degree does this piece realize San (the experience of reality as an infinite number of different phenomena), Do (reality as one process, transcending our concepts), and Kai (the fact that both of these views are as two sides of one coin) ?
Far from being a mere theory, this framework helped us to experience the music in connection with our practice.
The music of the Shakuhachi (Japanese Bamboo flute), the traditional Zen music, was of course an important part of our study. Mindful of the old precept, that mastering one piece completely is enough to understand suizen (“blowing Zen”), we listened 3 times to the same piece, getting more and more familiar with it: in this way, we were able to discuss it and to appreciate it on a deeper level.
We also listened to music, and watched videos of the American avant-garde composer John Cage, who, after a personal crisis, became a student of D.T. Suzuki. Cage’s project, to unify art and daily life from a Zen perspective (“listen to the traffic”, he said, “it’s always different – whereas the music of Beethoven or Mozart is always the same”) influenced many contemporary composers. Among them, Morton Feldman and his quiet music take a unique place, reminding us of the shakuhachi tradition in its simplicity, its directionless motion and it’s profound feeling of compassion.
Workshop by Luc de Winter