The beneficiary of greatness

The beneficiary of greatness

Today I am still concerned for the tiger.
I would like to thank him; he has helped me clarify something I had not been thinking about.

On to more important things! I have been the recipient of a magnificent act of non-attachment.

I have removed the name and edited the e-mails at my benefactor’s request.

I came across your blog from your comments on Brad's blog which I read upon occasion. I am ex-military stationed on the OMITTED and am also a Buddhist among others things. I also occasionally save turtles (most of mine were during a solo bike ride I took from OMITTED to OMITTED earlier this year, though they were considerably smaller than your turtle). As part of my Buddhist practice of non-attachment I like to give away things that I have to people I think would make better use of them. I have two shakuhatchis that I had made for me back in grad school in 98 when I first encountered the instrument and became interested in learning to play. Since then, while I still love the sound, I have not had the time to really pursue my interest in the instruments nor am likely to anytime soon. Rather than continue to gather dust I would rather have them used by someone who will appreciate them. The pair cost me about $700 back then, custom made by someone in the OMITED area who, while not a master, had been making them for about 10 years at the time and so while they are not concert quality they are better then something you are likely to pick up in a music store. The larger one is in the key of B and the smaller one D (if I remember correctly). They larger one has a hairline crack in the top which I have filled in with beeswax though since both have cast resin inserts it does not affect the sound as far as I can tell. If you will send me a mailing address I will ship them both off to you gratis with the following stipulations:

1: you enjoy playing them.
2: If you record any songs with them you send me a copy occasionally as I sometimes like to meditate with shakuhatchi music in the background.
3: if you get a $20 million recording contract playing them you give me a cut so I can pay off my student loans this incarnation.
4: if you know a secret to sitting zazen all day long without legs falling asleep or kneecaps catching on fire you let me in on it.

Gassho,

OMITTED

And my own response:

Gassho! Of course I am the turtle I spend most of my efforts trying
to save. The one in the picture is a desert tortoise I met while in
29 palms playing OPFOR (the bad guys) during my last MEUEX. He was
crossing the dirt road when we were headed back to main side, when I
saw him we stopped and waited for him to go on his merry way. I was
grateful for the opportunity to meet such a rare and magnificent
being.

I am sorry to here that you are unable to play and would be happy to
be the beneficiary of your non-attachment.
I will put my address here because I know I would enjoy them and they
would be played (poorly but lovingly) but before I do this I will also
recommend that you may want to consider placing them on E-Bay and
donating the money to a worthy cause?

If you decide to pass them on to me I will certainly play a rendition
of my three songs and some Suizen as soon as I am able to put a
microphone on my computer.

To answer your stipulations:

1: I would enjoy deepening my practice with these flutes.
2: I will make a special effort to ensure you get a recording of my
playing, I will likely even practice more knowing there is someone
listening.
3: In the unlikely event that I get any money from playing Shakuhachi
I will ensure you get a cut. Although after I send you a recording
you may see that it is not likely.
4: This one I can actually help with. For the legs falling asleep try
to only sit on the edge of your cushion. That should prevent
the circulation from being cut off, for preventing your kneecaps from
catching on fire try this,
A: do not try and sit Zazen all day, try
to keep it between 30-40 minute intervals.
B: Between sitting intervals, do some walking meditation or even better some basic Yoga stretching.
C: in the morning before you sit try the exercises outlined here:
http://membres.lycos.fr/zenmontpellier/Lotus-english.html some of the
translation is a bit dodgy but if you just follow the pictures it is
enough.
I find a huge difference in my own practice when I make time to do
these exercises and when I do not. I hope it works for you as well as
it has for me.

Be well and happy!
Jordan

The flutes came Thursday and they are beautiful. The larger produces a booming Ro that is truly amazing. I have a Microphone for my computer and will begin trying to figure out how to do a recording soon. If anyone out there reading this knows the “skillful means” of putting sound files on blogger please let me know and I will post sounds up here on occasion.

One last thing, my benefactor asked to remain anonymous for fear it may swell his ego.

If your ego can encompass the whole universe it is just big enough not to exist.

I was going to write something about non attachment, but I think this is fine for now.

Gassho!
Jordan