One Song

[Choujou]

Hello dear Sangha,

Sometimes it’s funny how some of the most profound truths can be hidden in plain sight.

This morning I was contemplating how to express “oneness beyond oneness”, such is our existence and reality. But how does one convey that to someone who is asking what we mean, or what the Buddhist view of the Universe is…

….and that’s when it struck me. Universe… it’s right there in the name! UNI (One) VERSE (song). One song.

When you consider a symphony, it is one song, one beautiful piece swirling and dancing along… yet, played by individual instruments, all unique in sound and tone, different notes being played, and yet all notes contained in each one, swirling and dancing with each other, moving in harmony with one another, creating a masterpiece of wonder and delight…it is both the whole as well as the individual notes, all at the same time… just this!

Of course there can be discord, disharmony…tension builds, and one wonders if the piece will be ruined, but one usually finds that a piece resolves that tension with the next movement… and yet, at the same time, when you listen closely, you realize, there are no “right” or “wrong” notes, only notes! It was all part of the symphony all along!

Keep singing, keep playing your unique and wonderful note that adds to the beauty of the song, and teach others to sing and play along as well, all in harmony. Just imagine the symphony we could create!

Gassho,
Choujou

sat/lah today

[Onkai]

Thank you, Choujou. That's a lovely metaphor/reflection.

Gassho Onkai

[Hosai]

_/\_
sat/ah
hōsai

[Jundo]

You are not just one instrument, nor one string, nor a momentary vibration of a string ... you are the entire symphony, the the entire symphony pours into and is fully contained in each single note and pause.

Actually, you stole my musical theme ...

Shikantaza Symphony No. 2

Shikantaza as Symphony reveals another truth to embody: We are the musicians, composers, the instruments, the music and sound, the spectators too, the entire grand theatre, the Whole Great Work!

We are spectators to this performance, among its audience, because we are witnessing this life with all our senses. Suddenly, mysteriously, we find ourselves born into this life, and now we are experiencing the live performance.

But we are also the musicians being witnessed, the performers, both sound maker and sound hearer, an active musician among an ensemble of countless musicians. All together, we are creating this sound by our will and actions, whether harmonious or disharmonious, beautiful or ugly, happy or sad, light or dark, by what we play. Individually, we are not the only musician in this world orchestra, for all the other musicians are playing too and, sadly, can each add ugly and violent tones, unskillful notes, to the total composition despite our peaceful and lovely little bits.

Still, our roll is to play as skillfully as we can, making as peaceful and lovely music as we can. Perhaps we cannot control the others, but we can bring some beauty and calm to those who hear our small sound ...

For we are composers too, interpreters and inventors. The part we are handed is half written, half unwritten, and while we are not totally free to play all as we might choose, yet we are free to play and improvise much as we choose. Oh, we are born on this stage with some set circumstances and restrictions, and are handed a stage setting of how life is, the bodily instrument that we are given even if with broken strings and hard to keep in tune. With this inheritance, we must somehow blend in with all the other composer-musicians all around.

...

In fact, what we Zen folks discover is that theatre and seats, lights and violins, horns and hearers, musicians and music, the stars and ocean, you and me ... are all the Great Symphony. This "Symphony" is not a "thing," mind you ... it cannot be nailed down, even as notes on paper ... for it is a changing process, no pin to stick in it, no jar to keep it in, no shelf wide enough to hold it, not even a recording can fully contain but a fraction of it ...

MORE HERE: LINK

Gassho, J
stlah

[Choujou]

You are not just one instrument, nor one string, nor a momentary vibration of a string ... you are the entire symphony, the the entire symphony pours into and is fully contained in each single note and pause.

Actually, you stole my musical theme ...



Gassho, J
stlah

Oh no! I’m sorry Jundo! Completely unintentional! I was sitting contemplating while listening to Mozart with my altar trees (yes I play music for them, they love it- Symphony 40, in case you were wondering, one of my favorites!)

I will take a read! Thank you!

Gassho,
Choujou

sat/lah today

[Jundo]

Oh no! I’m sorry Jundo! Completely unintentional! I was sitting contemplating while listening to Mozart with my altar trees (yes I play music for them, they love it- Symphony 40, in case you were wondering, one of my favorites!)

I will take a read! Thank you!

Gassho,
Choujou

sat/lah today

Oh, you misunderstood about "stealing." Stealing Dharma from a Zen fellow is not stealing, because there is nothing that can be taken ... no stolen, nothing deprived and no thief! To "steal the music" is a compliment in Zen circles. We were "in harmony" and "jamming together." I was just commenting something elsewhere about a Zen term: 知⾳ zhiyin (or chih-yin; J., chiin), one who knows or "gets" the sounds played by another. It is based on an old Daoist story from The Book of Lieh-tzu ...

Bo Ya was a good zither-player, and Zhong Ziqi was a good listener. Bo Ya strummed his zither, with his mind on climbing high mountains; and Zhong Ziqi said: “Good! Lofty, like Mount Tai!” When his mind was on flowing waters, Zhong Ziqi said: “Good! Boundless, like the Yellow River and the Yangzi!” Whatever came into Bo Ya’s thoughts, Zhong Ziqi always grasped it.

Bo Ya was roaming on the north side of Mount Tai; he was caught in a sudden rainstorm and took shelter under a cliff. Feeling sad, he took up his zither and strummed it; first he composed an air about the persistent rain, then he improvised the sound of crashing mountains. Whatever melody he played, Zhong Ziqi never missed the direction of his thought. Then Bo Ya put away his zither and sighed: “Good! Good! How well you listen! What you imagine is just what is in my mind. Is there nowhere for my notes to flee to?”

Gassho, J
stlah

[Choujou]

Oh, you misunderstood about "stealing." Stealing Dharma from a Zen fellow is not stealing, because there is nothing that can be taken ... no stolen, nothing deprived and no thief! To "steal the music" is a compliment in Zen circles. We were "in harmony" and "jamming together." I was just commenting something elsewhere about a Zen term: 知⾳ zhiyin (or chih-yin; J., chiin), one who knows or "gets" the sounds played by another. It is based on an old Daoist story from The Book of Lieh-tzu ...



Gassho, J
stlah

Ah! Ok, good! For a second there I was going to pop over to the "Zen in Prison" thread and pay closer attention just in case ...

I'm always up for a Jam session! Thank you Roshi, I really liked those posts, and how you discuss being the whole sha-bang; the lights, stage, the popcorn ( or cheese ), the car you drove there in, etc.... Buddha Nature pervades the entire Universe... Something I need to remember...

Gassho,
Choujou

sat/lah today

[Shoshin]

Hello dear Sangha,

Sometimes it’s funny how some of the most profound truths can be hidden in plain sight.

This morning I was contemplating how to express “oneness beyond oneness”, such is our existence and reality. But how does one convey that to someone who is asking what we mean, or what the Buddhist view of the Universe is…

….and that’s when it struck me. Universe… it’s right there in the name! UNI (One) VERSE (song). One song.

When you consider a symphony, it is one song, one beautiful piece swirling and dancing along… yet, played by individual instruments, all unique in sound and tone, different notes being played, and yet all notes contained in each one, swirling and dancing with each other, moving in harmony with one another, creating a masterpiece of wonder and delight…it is both the whole as well as the individual notes, all at the same time… just this!

Of course there can be discord, disharmony…tension builds, and one wonders if the piece will be ruined, but one usually finds that a piece resolves that tension with the next movement… and yet, at the same time, when you listen closely, you realize, there are no “right” or “wrong” notes, only notes! It was all part of the symphony all along!

Keep singing, keep playing your unique and wonderful note that adds to the beauty of the song, and teach others to sing and play along as well, all in harmony. Just imagine the symphony we could create!

Gassho,
Choujou

sat/lah today

Aaaaaah beautiful <3 !!

Gassho
Satlah