RockOm

In RockOm's existence on the web, we've posted a number of compelling articles and blog posts that have since found their way into the inner archives. There are many new readers and users since those "early days" and so occasionally we will pull out old posts for you to read (or re-read) and meditate upon. Today's FLASHBACK is the telling of an ancient Zen story and how it relates to being open to new and different kinds of music.

One day Banzan was walking through a market. He overheard a customer say to the butcher, "Give me the best piece of meat you have." "Everything in my shop is the best," replied the butcher. "You can not find any piece of meat that is not the best." At these words, Banzan was enlightened. [Zen story]

Just as the point of this story is that every single moment is "the best," regardless of the content and perceived quality of that moment, it could be said that every song that one listens to is the "best." If we could begin to experience every piece of music we encounter with an open mind and heart, refusing to give a label such as GOOD or BAD, we could enjoy the process of experiencing it simply "as it is."

EXPERIMENT: Pull up a song that you dislike - or while listening to the radio, refrain from skipping to a new station when something disagreeable comes on.

As you listen, let down your guard. Stop resisting it and let it wash over and through you.

Try to put your mind in tune with that of the artist. Afterall, somebody believed in that song you "hate." They created it, nurtured it, recorded it and believes it is something to share with the world. See if you can align yourself with the artist's passion for this song.

Refuse your desire to label this song as bad. Listen with an open acceptance; follow it as it ebbs and flows, rises and falls. Pay attention to and subtleties in the melody, rhythm, and harmonies.

Attempt to find a deeper meaning in the lyrics. What is the artist trying to communicate? Even if it's only, "Hey baby, baby, I wanna get with you" - meditate on the deeper intentions and underlying human desires that leads someone to pen such lyrics.

By the end of doing these steps, you'll certainly have a whole new appreciation for this piece of music. There's most definitely a different quality of life depending on how closed or open one is - and so if you can take steps to be more open and accepting, you'll be released from that inner tension of turning away from things you think suck. And then "every piece of meat is the best."

RESPOND: Have you found a chance to do the experiment? Share with us your experience.

Discuss this article

''It's hard to describe, because on one hand you want your solo to be spontaneous. On the other hand, I feel a good guitar solo should be somewhat of a composition in itself. So, you sort of toggle back and forth between the concept of trying to initiate flow and composing. I think it's a combination of both." [Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter, Steely Dan / Doobie Brothers]

How do you feel about this quote as a life metaphor? Is the full, happy and successful life about 'creating yourself' (composition)? Is it more of an improvisation - playing off other people's "riffs," ducking and dodging melodies and reacting to the chord progressions that are supporting you?

Or - as Jeff's quote suggests - a balance, a combination of both? It sounds like an obvious answer, but there are definitely proponents of both sides.

Success coach Jack Canfield encourages people to take "100% responsibility for their own lives" (100% composition). Here you believe that everything that happens to you is of your own making. You act as if you are in no way a victim to outside circumstances and have no one to blame for your good or bad circumstances other than yourself.

Others, including some Zen Buddhists, would encourage a fully spontaneous and improvisational approach. Alan Watts, for example, spoke consistently about how you can't control your own life, no matter how much you try. The way to live then is to be open and accepting of what Life brings you and trust that you're part of a much bigger picture - all the while knowing that "you" have nothing to do with how it got that way.

Composition? Improvisation? Or balance? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

[1] "Whenever I start working on a song, I immediately try to forget everything, to empty my hands and head of anything that may be hanging over from another song or album. I try to approach it like, 'This is the first time I've ever played a guitar. What am I going to do?'" [The Edge, U2]

[2] "Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen. Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. 'It is overfull. No more will go in!' 'Like this cup,' Nan-in said, 'you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?'" [Zen Flesh Zen Bones]

I see my music as my ‘spiritual path’. Both spirituality and music are central to my life. It’s taken me quite a while to realize that this is what it’s about for me. I’ve been a Buddhist for many years and have tried a number of different ways to practice as sincerely as I can, and in the end, it seems to me that this is my path. I once saw a video of Joe Satriani playing guitar (and I really am not into heavy metal) and I had an insight experience similar to what I might get on meditation retreat. And I realized how music really is a way in for people like me.

In Buddhist circles there’s quite a bit of debate as to how Buddhism can be practiced most effectively in the West – ie what is ‘Western Buddhism’? After all, it’s still only a few decades old here. It is so new that the first Western masters are still alive. Historically, Buddhism has transformed massively whenever it has arrived in a new culture. It transforms the culture, and the culture transforms it. The underlying message is still the same, but the way it expresses itself varies massively. Tibetan Buddhism is very different from Zen, which is in turn very different from the Theravadin Buddhism of Sri Lanka. So what is Western Buddhism?

The West encourages alienation from the self. Either we are completely disembodied and hypnotized by mass media until we don’t really exist as individuals at all, or we conceive of ourselves as objects - a product to be marketed. The market is more real and more significant than we are. We dress ourselves in ways that appeal to the niche we have decided to target, we learn the lingo, take up the hobbies, come up with catchy strap lines and hang out in the right places. And when ‘Who We Really Are’ protests, showing itself up as various neuroses, we drown it out with more TV, more shopping, more alcohol, more drugs, more therapy, more medication. The hollowness has been there for so long that we think it is normal. We think that is who we are! We have lost touch completely with our inherent beauty, our inherent completeness. And then we discover Buddhism and think that maybe this is a way to escape the pain, and we hear about ‘not-Self’ and think ‘yeah that makes total sense’. And thus Buddhism adds to our confusion.

It seems to me therefore, that the initial challenge for Westerners wishing to practice, is to reconnect with themselves. To heal from the alienation which is the almost inevitable result of growing up in contemporary Western society. You can’t realize the Buddhist ‘not-Self’ concept before you have realized who you are as a ‘self’. And music is excellent for this.

So music is a way for me to be connected with myself, and to communicate authentically with others. And if there is ever to be such a thing as Western Buddhist art, it will not be a standard image of a Buddha sitting in the full lotus. It will not be Buddhist mantras sung in the style of a Christian choir. It will be people who are genuine Buddhist practitioners, and genuine Western artists, expressing themselves without a conscious agenda. To the extent that they have realized the teaching, their work will be genuine Western Buddhist art. As Jack Kerouac, inventor of the practice of writing ‘spontaneous prose’ once said, ‘[if] mind is shapely, art is shapely’. That was before he rejected Buddhism, returned to his Catholic roots and drank himself to death, of course, and thus gave his own answer to my Zen koan. My Zen koan is not ‘What is the sound of one hand clapping?’, or ‘Does a dog have Buddha nature?’. It is something like ‘Your life is meaningless, beautiful, and passing. Now what?’

[This post entitled "Music and Buddhism" was written by Padma of JustMusic (www.justmusic.co.uk) - an excellent independent music label out of the UK. Check out their website to see and hear their artists and share in additional writings and news.]

One day Banzan was walking through a market. He overheard a customer say to the butcher, "Give me the best piece of meat you have." "Everything in my shop is the best," replied the butcher. "You can not find any piece of meat that is not the best." At these words, Banzan was enlightened. [Zen story]

Just as the point of this story is that every single moment is "the best," regardless of the content and perceived quality of that moment, it could be said that every song that one listens to is the "best." If we could begin to experience every piece of music we encounter with an open mind and heart, refusing to give a label such as GOOD or BAD, we could enjoy the process of experiencing it simply "as it is."

EXPERIMENT: Pull up a song that you dislike - or while listening to the radio, refrain from skipping to a new station when something disagreeable comes on.

As you listen, let down your guard. Stop resisting it and let it wash over and through you.

Try to put your mind in tune with that of the artist. Afterall, somebody believed in that song you "hate." They created it, nurtured it, recorded it and believes it is something to share with the world. See if you can align yourself with the artist's passion for this song.

Refuse your desire to label this song as bad. Listen with an open acceptance; follow it as it ebbs and flows, rises and falls. Pay attention to and subtleties in the melody, rhythm, and harmonies.

Attempt to find a deeper meaning in the lyrics. What is the artist trying to communicate? Even if it's only, "Hey baby, baby, I wanna get with you" - meditate on the deeper intentions and underlying human desires that leads someone to pen such lyrics.

By the end of doing these steps, you'll certainly have a whole new appreciation for this piece of music. There's most definitely a different quality of life depending on how closed or open one is - and so if you can take steps to be more open and accepting, you'll be released from that inner tension of turning away from things you think suck . And then "every piece of meat is the best."

RESPOND: Have you found a chance to do the experiment? Share with us your experience.

I don't quite know what it is about the Trance genre of electronica music but it always brings me into a beautiful state of meditation. It is relaxing yet energized at the same time, a synchronicity of sensations without one overpowering any other.

Music is an ever-patient and present teacher that guides me in my many forms of meditation. It pulls me up out of my ego into a place of beautiful nothingness where everything is possible. All channels are open to my heart and I flow effortlessly in the present moment as if I was being softly cradled on my back in the vast, endless clear blue ocean. Then the present moment shifts as the music lifts me softly but methodically up into the vastness of space where I find myself again floating - however, this time in a field of purple effervescent light that wraps me in warmth as my thinking is suspended and I just exist or do not exist. It does not really matter as thoughts can not describe this moment or any moment for that matter. I'm not even sure how I'm writing this post right now to tell you the truth.

All "things" and descriptions fall apart to reveal the "real reality" - where the beautiful, silent yet powerful lotus of Nirvana pushes through the confusing layers of mud that is the ego to bloom in the clear light of Oneness. In this present moment where the union of body, space and mind are realized I find true freedom.

Music is a great teacher that penetrates the crust around our heart that is formed by our delusions, to reveal our inner Buddha-nature - but only if we allow it to work its healing energy. It is like a gentle but constant breeze that refreshes our true Self if we only open the windows to our very being and let it fill our lungs and bring us home to where we always were--the present moment. With new eyes we realize that the present moment and Nirvana are not separate.

Will you open the doors of your heart and let it in or let it pass you by again as you waste away in chasing the winds of delusion? I know for myself that I am tired of chasing after the vapor trails of an illusion.

~Peace to all beings~

[By James Ure. James is a Western Zen Buddhist who writes at "The Buddhist Blog" - thebuddhistblog.blogspot.com ]